Thanksgiving 2023

 I love Thanksgiving.  It is my favorite holiday.

My parents came down to watch Lauren while Wesley and I went to Disney, to see Wesley in his first primary program, and then stayed through the holiday.  On Tuesday, Wesley had his short Thanksgiving program at preschool.  I told him in the morning he'd be dressing up as a pilgrim and he said, "No, thank you.  I just want to be Wesley."  His teacher said it took some coaxing but he obliged and he looked quite cute.

Wednesday, Wesley decided he was cold and got all wrapped up and snuggled into the air mattresses we had in the living room for my parents.

Wednesday night, my brother and his family arrived.  We spent Thursday cooking, visiting, playing at the park, and eating.  Gil's turkey was his best yet.  It was a bit tight with all of us in our little house but we made it work.  We put the kids in the kitchen.

Friday, my parents headed home while we went with Adam and his family to our favorite train park up in Scottsdale.  It was decorated for Christmas.  We rode the train, explored the model trains, played on the playground, and took pictures in most of the photo-op places.

Lauren rode her first carousel and loved it.  She was intrigued by the mechanism that made the horse go up and down and eventually she felt comfortable enough to start waving at everyone as the carousel went around.  She did not want the ride to end and protested quite loudly when I took her off the horse.

Family, food, and traditions - what more could you ask for?

Radiator Springs!

The Wee Lad loves the movie Cars, or as he calls it, Race Cars.  He loves pretending to be a racer and running through the house as fast as he can.  Lauren has been lovingly dubbed the pace car since she has to do everything her brother does but is not quite as fast.

I really wanted to take Wesley to Radiator Springs inside California Adventure in Anaheim.  I wanted to go when he was tall enough to ride most everything, old enough to make it through the whole day, but young enough for it to be magical for him.  I started saving in February and this last Thursday, we found ourselves in Disney.

Wesley loved Radiator Springs!  It was wonderful.  Our first stop was Mater's Junkyard where we road the tractors.  A great first ride.

We stopped by Luigi's but the ride was closed.  We snapped a quick picture with Guido, 

and Stanley.

Radiator Springs Racers was closed too so we explored some more.  We did the Flying Zepher, the Swings, and Soarin' which was really fun for Wesley until he thought we were going to get hit by exploding fireworks.  

We headed back to Radiator Springs and got a picture with Mater.  Wesley was in heaven.  We then got a snack from the Cozy Cone to supplement what I'd brought from home.

Then we headed over to the Pixar Pier and rode the carousel.  Wesley was quite timid about most of the rides but this was okay.

I wasn't sure what the Midway ride was but decided to wait in line for it.  It was awesome.  You basically play midway type games through the whole ride.  The ride broke-down while we were on it and we got to keep playing (though not for points) and Wesley loved this ride too!

Since he did okay with this, I decided to try Spiderman Web Slingers.  He was a bit terrified in the intro but did okay.

Then back to Radiator Springs where Luigi's ride was open.  He later told me this was his favorite ride.  The Racers was open again but the wait in line was longer than I wanted so we decided to do something else.

We thought about getting off our feet for a bit and decided to see if we could find a performance.  We stopped on main street on a bench to eat a snack and were fortunate to have great seats for to watch a short parade!  How fun.  

I said, "Look, Wesley!  It's Mikey and Woody!"  He said, "No, Mom, it's just someone dressed up."  I was surprised.  I asked if Lightning, Mater, and Radiator Springs were real and he said it wasn't, just pretend.  So much for going young enough for it to be magical...

We rode Monster's Inc (which he hasn't seen) and was a bit scary and then the Little Mermaid (which he hasn't seen) that was really fun.

Then back to Radiator Springs.  Lightning was out for pictures and we stood in line for that one!  The line for Racers was up to two hours!!  I thought the later it got we might have more luck.  I was expecting crowds but no what I encountered.  Goodness, it was packed!

For dinner, it had to be Flo's V8 Café.

We finally decided it was getting late and the only ride left was Racers.  We waited in line an hour and a half and made friends with the Canadian's in line behind us.  I carried Wesley most of the time in line and he rested on my shoulder.  The ride was so worth it! 

We got one last picture with Doc Hudson's Piston Cups on our way out.  

It was a long and wonderful day!  I look forward to more Mom and Wesley adventures.

Halloween 2023

Wesley has been looking forward to Halloween for a while.  For our ward's trunk-or-treat, he dressed as an astronaut and looked great.  Lauren wore glow-in-the-dark skeleton pajamas.

Two cuties. 
(I wonder how old the kids will be when we will finally get pictures of them looking at the camera?)

Wesley refused to stand next to the pumpkin for a picture.  Gil was a mad scientist and I was Scarlett O'Hara.

FYI: Same costume, I was Scarlett O'Hara for Halloween in 1995.  Same costume - minus the hoop skirt underneath.

Wesley's preschool celebrates a Bible Alive day where the kids come as a person, animal, or idea in the Bible.  In our family scripture study, we had just been talking about how the second coming of our Savior will be as a thief in the night.  Wesley was quite taken with this analogy and decided to be a thief in the night for his preschool parade.  

I got a blank white t-shirt and fabric paint and together, the two of us painted his shirt Monday afternoon while Lauren was napping.  I think it turned out great and Wesley was thrilled!

I asked him if he wanted to change into his astronaut costume for trick-or-treating that night and he said no.  I'll admit, he made a pretty cute thief.  Gil took the kids to a few neighbors then lit a fire in one of the old coolant canisters he's turned into a fire pit.  We didn't have too many kids come to the house which was disappointing to Wesley; I think he enjoys handing out candy more than getting it.

Happy Halloween!