I Had a Birthday!

I guess that's worth mentioning on here. It was on February 4th and I turned 26! I think it's a good age to be. My birthday was on a Monday, which is Bryan's SUPER long day at school so we decided to have dinner and "cake" and home and then go out to dinner the next day. Bryan picked me up a gyro for my birthday dinner and he and Max had something from home, I can't remember what though. Bryan made my mom's delicious cream cheese pie/cheesecake thing that I hadn't had in forever! I'm not a big cake fan, so this was perfect for me. The only downside is that it's a lot smaller than cake so it didn't last as long as I would have liked. Next time we'll have to make two. I had been craving shrimp, so we went to Red Lobster for dinner the next day; sooooo worth it!

 I got a wonderful stash for my birthday this year: Hershey's kisses (I love having my b-day so close to Valentine's day), The King's Speech, Extraordinary Measure's, Walmart gift card (to buy new nail polish), a super cool bamboo plant, and best of all, tickets to see Sweeney Todd!!!! We LOVE Sweeney Todd and it was such a good production! We had second row seats and Bryan even got pointed out as a potential victim during the song "A Little Priest".

 Bryan took Max with him to get my gyro and the owner was so kind to them. He gave Max an apple and Max munched on it the whole way home and didn't put it down until he was finished. (This picture obviously reminds me of what the boys had for dinner: leftover pizza. Yum.)

 Mmmmm!

 Close-up!

 The best picture I could get with Max.

 This really makes me want to make another pie thingy (I don't know what it is technically).

 

We forgot the camera when we went to Red Lobster, so this is the only picture we took with Bryan's phone. He's stingy with his phone. Max had shrimp for the first time though and he actually liked it!

Cali 6: The Final Chapter

I guess it's about time I finish up my California posts and catch up on everything else that has been going on. I don't know why it took me so long to finish up here, since there are barely any more pictures to post from our California trip.

Old Friends
I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting up with my great friends from high school, Ashley Daley and Tammy Frustaci. We've met up two years in a row now and I sure hope we can keep up this newly established tradition!

 Max and Tammy's kid, Paulo, are only three weeks apart in age. I love it!

 Paulo is such a sweetie! He gave Max a super long hug and hugged him again when we were saying our goodbyes.

 Ashley and her cute pregnant belly. I can't wait for her to have that sweet little girl!

Saying Goodbye

 Some final pics with the fam-bam before heading back to Spokane the next day.

 Abuela

 Grandpa

 Cousin Gaby

 The morning we flew out.

 Playing with Grandma early in the morning while we finished packing.

 Max loved looking out the window during take-off. On the second flight, he fell asleep while we were still taking off, still sitting up and looking out the window.

Snow is what we came home to.

Cali Numero 5

2013
My cousin Gabriela came to visit from Uruguay!!! It was SO wonderful to see her after a few years. (Pictures in the next section). We did lots of activities in our last week in Cali, but she stayed with y parents for two more weeks after that (one of those weeks they went to Hawaii! LUCKY!).

 I LOVE Max's reaction when he saw the truck. He absolutely loves vehicles!

 Max liked to push this stroller around the house.

 My brother brought a model rocket to shoot off and this was the best picture I could get of it. I wasn't expecting it to go so fast and so high and so far! Unfortunately, since my parents live on a hill, the rocket was taken by the breeze over many streets and houses and was never recovered.

 Bryan and nephew Henry playing my other brother's new Xbox Kinect.

DISNEYLAND!!!

All I wanted this vacation was to go to Disneyland! We were so lucky to have that chance thanks so much to Bryan's parents who surprised us with tickets for Christmas. They very unfortunately weren't able to come with us, but my cousin Gaby joined us instead. We had the joy of visiting Cars Land for the first time, but as it's still pretty new, we only managed to go on one ride: Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. There was actually a height limit for this ride, which Max BARELY reached. The guy was really nice and made me stand him up super straight and lift his head up so he could make the limit. They had a whole bunch of "props" from Max's all-time favorite movie, Mater's Tall Tales. It was pretty awesome. *The Radiator Spring's wait time was two-and-a-half hours long! That's like sitting through a whole showing of Les Mis!!!

 Max absolutely LOVED this ride! When we got off the tractor, he kept pointing and whining towards them and when we walked away from them, he started crying.

P.S. The song for this was ride so unbelievably catchy! I wish I could find it to download!

 I had never been to Bug's Land before and wasn't even sure where inside California Adventure it was located. I took Max here while Bryan and Gaby rode Tower of Terror. All the rides we so perfect for Max.

 -Heimlich's Chew Chew Train (left). The only time Max didn't like it was when we were stopped, waiting for the train in front of us to unload: he kept trying to stand up.

-Francis' Ladybug Boogie (right). Bryan and Gaby found us again just as we were getting on.

 That's my cousin Gaby from Uruguay (who speaks perfect English by the way). Isn't she gorgeous?!

 Max finally fell asleep after about 7 hours. He's not good at sleeping anywhere other than his crib or playpen and only slept for 45 minutes before he stayed awake for another 5 hours or so.

 In line for Jungle Cruise. Max wanted me to hold him instead.

We wanted to take Max on some Fantasyland rides, but it was way more crowded than we would have liked.

We rode enough rides to keep us satisfied, but would have like to ride way more. Next time, we will have to go BEFORE the week of Christmas because anytime after is too full of people.

Rounding Off Our Trip

 Staying up past his bedtime to play with Grandma Jones.

 Max and Kilika.

My dada took Kilika out so Max could play with her better, but Max made sure to keep at least a 5-foot buffer between them. I was kind of surprised, considering how much he like touching her through the window.

 Max gets so excited when he can sit in the driver's seat. I think they played like this (with Aburla and Gaby) for at least a half an hour.

 Max and Gaby.

Cali Vacay 4: End of 2012

Just Hanging Out

                                                                                     Devouring a candy bar.

                    Chatting it up on the phone.                       Sitting on Grandma Jones' chair.

 

 Max loved this gift to my mom from my brother and his wife so much, that he ended up shattering it. I felt so so so so bad!!!!!!!!!

 Uncle Derek got this for Max, but instead of pulling it around himself, he insisted on someone else chasing him with it.

 Admiring Abuela's necklace.

     Max finally learned to fall asleep in               A day at the park with Grandpa and Abuela

   the car on this trip!                                        Simonds while Bryan works on moving and
                                                                          cleaning his parent's house.

 San Diego Wild Animal Park...I mean, San Diego Safari Park
That's still taking getting some used to! I guess I didn't take very many pictures. I started raining shortly after we got there and didn't stop. Max still had a great time, but he's still too young to really care about the actual animals. Though he does like to feed the ducks.

 Max wasn't really a fan of the carousel.

We Like to Hang

 On top of Papa and Grandma Jones' bed.         Max's car seat did a lot of transferring from one                                                                              car to another, so he thought he'd make
                                                                            use of it.

  Meeting Brydan, the dog Bryan's parents got to replace Bryan and his brother, Daniel, while they were both on their missions.

Sea World, San Diego

 This trip included lots of visits to San Diego. We spent New Year's Eve at Sea World with Papa and Grandma Jones. I hadn't been there since I was a little kid! I was so excited to go! Luckily, it wasn't crowded at all.

 Grandma Jones and Max.

 We went through the shark tunnel, but all Max cared about was riding the moving walkway.

 Bryan and Papa Jones held Max up on the penguin moving walkway so he could see.

 Can you spot the beluga whale? I think they may be my new favorite animal. They are seriously the whitest creatures I have ever seen!

 The polar bear was sleeping.

 It was just two beluga whales for a while, then they opened a door and released three young ones. It looked like a baby (hidden in the shadows) and two kids. Soooo cute! The kids had a blast swimming around while the baby stayed in the shadow behind the mama and dada whales.

 I though Max looked hilarious walking around stark naked with socks on.

Last picture of 2012!!