Broncos bear

Madelines favorite new thing, a denver broncos bear that her dad won for at circus circus. He's doing flips and jumping in the back seat.

We almost home. A couple more hours. Abby really wants too see maisie. She mentions it every ten minutes.

Happy Birthday Abby

Celebrating at red robin in roseburg oregon, headed on to eugene and then home in the morning.

See ya later Reno

abbys 4!!!! Played more games at the casino this more morning and are headed out now.

Abbys winnings

Reno

We got to reno in excellent time considering the little girls and the snow. The drive was beautiful. By far the best drive on the trip.

We checked in to the silver legacy around seven and hit the games at the circus circus. Madeline and abby both played the fishing game and won mini dolphins then we tried to play a game where you throw a quarter on to the table and it had to hit one of the red dots that are about the same size as a quarter. Jon tried and failed. Madeline got it in her first try and won her sister a puppy. :)

Once the noise became too much madeline and I came up to the room for room service. Jon and abby are still going strong.

Here are a couple pics from the trip.

7000 ft

18 degrees, snowing, putting on chains.

Chains required

Just leaving bishop, ca and see a sign saying chains are required ahead. We have never had to chain up the truck. Apparently in ca there are people by the side of the road that you can pay to do it. Yuppies. :)

Headed to reno

Rain, snow, and sun so far today. Looks like we are headed toward more of each.

Space mountain makes me sick.

I should have known better. I hated that ride 7 years ago, why would I like it now. Went on the ride 5 hrs ago and I'm still nauseous. Ugh.

We just got to the desert. We are getting settled in to the condo and starting some laundry. Jon is looking forward to golfing tomorrow with the shanley men. Im headed to the living desert zoo with all the girls. Abby is very excited to show noelle her face paint that I doubt will last until morning. Better take a pic.

Weiner dog

A very successful day at disneyland. We started at the surfs up breakfast for abbys birthday. We ate with grwat friends including mickey minnie pluto and goofy. It was great since we got a lot more personal time with the characters than we would have at the park. I have some great pics to share later but here is one of abby with her weiner dog that her dad won her throwing baseballs on the boardwalk at california adventure.

Off we go

Headed to the parks for fireworks and some nighttime rides.

Newport beach

Hot tubbing

Way too cold in the pool

WE ARE HERE!!

We made it. Madeline gets a solid A for the trip today. Excellent job. Abby says "mommy" approx 700 times a day, 600 of them today where between Santa Clarita and LA, approx 40 min. She didn't cry though, so she gets a B.

When we got in to Anaheim I decided to get directions to the hotel from my handy My Touch phone. I googled "anaheim crowne plaza" and clicked the map. After driving way more than a mile from Disneyland (which is what the hotel promised) I started to get very annoyed at my surroundings. It definitely didn't look like a resort area, or anywhere I'd like to stay. When we finally got to our destination I realized my handy phone took us to the Anaheim Crowne Plaza Retirement HOME!! AHHHH! Basically took us on a half hour tour of the Anaheim area.

We finally found our hotel and realized it is a GREAT place to stay. Beautiful hotel. Our room overlooks the pool. Which is good and bad. Madeline has been eyeing it since we walked in. She keeps saying "and then to go to the pool" after everything she says.

Apparently we are headed to the pool now. Yikes, it's only 60 degrees out. Hopefully the pool is really heated!!!

Tired

We are in a hotel in fresno, the only hotel with an indoor pool cause its freezing. Not freezing but definitely not warm. The pool here is great. It even had a waterfall in it. The girls loved it. Madeline was nervous to go under it at first but warmed up really nicely. Then of course it was impossible to get her out.

We drove for 9 hours again today. Lots of stops but the girls have been great. We did learn that when madeline says she had to go potty she means it! Lesson learned. :)

The picture is of the movie we are watching and the picture on the wall. Abby really wanted me to take a picture of it.

Aborkyuioo
Oddjegdhsfhrwqazh (from abby)
$$44

Sunshine state?

Here we are in california. Its been snowing since we left medford a little over an hour ago. The girls are a little more impatient this morning. Jon just gave madeline a B and abby a C- for the first hour.

Medford, or

We made it to our first stop here in beautiful medford oregon. Actually, I can't tell if its beautiful or not, its dark. The girls did really well today. We have to work on synchronizing bathroom breaks but otherwise it was great. Madeline even held hands with abby a couple times because she couldn't hold mine. :)

Talked the front desk into letting us swim after hours because that is what madeline had been asking for all day. She loves the water.

Sleeping time, gotta get up and hit the road in the morning.

On the road

Its a beautiful day for a drive.

Testing phone

California here we come

Packing the entire family for a 10 day roadtrip to Disneyland is quite the task. For some reason I'm fiddling around on the computer instead of actually doing it.

We are headed to visit mickey mouse for Abby's fourth birthday. She couldnt be more excited. Madeline is getting the idea. I've shown her pictures and her wonderful kindergarten teacher made her a book about the trip. She has agreed to Mickey Mouse, roller coasters, and swimming. We'll have to make sure those are at the top of our list. We're also taking them to the beach, probably newport, and to Palm Desert for a few days. It's going to be quite the excursion. I'm ready!

Here is a video of Abby singing a Valentines Day song she learned at school.

Hopefully I'll be able to take pics and upload them here during the trip. It will just depend on if I've lost my technical edge or not!