USS Midway

On Friday after Thanksgiving... we visited the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier. It was commissioned in 1945 and opened as a museum in San Diego in 1992.



We toured the hanger deck and forecastle where we saw where the sailors slept. Matt is crammed in his bunk.



And here's where the junior officers slept! A huge step up!



This is our Sarah in the brig. She doesn't look very happy...



Then we went up to the flight deck...here's the island.



Here are the kids in the island looking at some of the equipment. The gentleman told the kids when we boarded the ship, "if you can climb on it, flip switches, crawl into it, DO IT!"



The hanger deck had a compartment open and it has a glass floor over it. Ben decided to "fly." It was a little nerve wracking... Instincts tell you no and the brain says it's OK...

Thanksgiving in Poway

This year we headed to Poway for the Thanksgiving feast at Bob's house. We spent the day eating, drinking, and having fun. We even "skyped" the family in San Francisco at Kevin's house!


Erika and Amanda are getting a little punchy while making dinner.



Lisa and Emily getting ready to eat.



Matt and Sarah finishing off dinner.



After dinner the kids enjoyed a game of Wii.

The Bolt Wrap Party

Last night, Matt and I went to the Disney Animation Studios wrap party for BOLT. We went downtown to Hollywood and Highland and watched the screening of the film in the Kodak theatre (where they do the Oscars)... after many speeches, the film began.



After the film, we headed to the Grand Ballroom and the party began! We got to see some old friends and I met many of the people that Matt works with. The food was catered by Wolfgang Puck and it was good, the music was loud and fun.







Here is our picture with the star of the show! BOLT.




Here is a picture of just outside the party... there was a quiet protest against the passing of Prop 8.

Dart Wars

Uncle Mark and Grandma came down for weekend and we had a Dart War. Through out the day and into the evening, Uncle Mark and Ben sparred with Matt and Sarah in a war with Nerf darts. Uncle Mark moved around the living room sofas and created two forts for each team to hide. Emma was a dart fetcher. They had a great time! Enjoy the pictures!

This is Halloween....

Here is a pic of our house Halloween decor. We had Darth Vader in the window (he's actually the Red Power Ranger dressed up). We had black lights, scary spider webs, ghosts, scary haunted mansion music, and a fog machine.

This Halloween, we were all pirates...

Here are the three kids getting ready for school.

They had a party and parade. I went to school and these are some of Sarah's friends all dressed up for the parade.

Here is Sarah and her friend Monique.


Then the kids went trick-or-treating. Brandon got the idea, but soon tired out and decided he had enough candy. Here is his loot.


Here is Matt and his pirate girls... we had a really good time...

as seen here by Emma, fast asleep by 9pm.

Pumpkin Time!!!

It's that time of year... the lovely, smelly, nasty feeling pumpkin gak removal and carving!

I helped Emma and Brandon with their pumpkins and Sarah and Ben were on their own! Whew! I only had to clean out four this year!

A perfect day for kites

Today was a perfect day to fly a kite or two... The wind was very sporadic, but we did get them up in the air. I got a couple stuck on our neighbor's roof, but they came down in the wind. Here are some pictures of the day! Enjoy!

Fun Time in the Creek

After going to the pumpkin patch and having pizza for lunch, we headed down to the creek. It's a very magical place. I played in Grammy's creek when I was a kid and now my kids are playing in it. We probably spent three hours down there. The weather was beautiful and it was a nice warm day. The kids enjoyed playing in the water, trying to catch fish, building rafts, and Ben built a dam.

Pumpkin Patch

While we were in SLO town, we visited the local pumplin patch. We also got huge cookies!
Here's Brandon sharing his with Grammy! Yummy!!

Ben's Movie Making

Check out Ben's movie. He made it all by himself. It's located at the left under "Movies made by the kids"...ENJOY!

Land of Lego Creations

Here is Ben's Lego creation he submitted for the contest at the Harvest Festival at school... There were about 25-30 entries and different categories.
He won first place!














And here is Sarah's entry. Ben helped her build her animals. She won second place!

















This is Emily's rendering of "Edwardo & Coco" from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends... if you know the show, it'll make sense :)

Mud and the Fridge Monkey

We've been pretty busy with school, soccer, scouts, etc... Here on some pictures of my mud monkeys and a little clip about the Fridge Monkey! Enjoy!!