Aiden goes Fishing

On Tuesday, Cam took Aiden to MacKerricher State Park and Aiden fished in the lake there for the very first time. Here are some pictures that Cam captured of this very special time. Unfortunately I didn't get to share in the wonders of this day because I was working. Soon though, we will all go as a family. Such an exciting time in a little boy's life when he gets to go fishing with Daddy!

Baby gets Messy

Christian had his very first hands on experience with Refried Beans the other night. He was adorable as he got them all over the place. Here are some pictures from his frejole fun.

Valentines Day Flowers

I love the flowers and sentiments that come with Valentines day!

A Family Vacation to Bend, Oregon

In January, my parents traded their time share in Puerto Vallarta for a condo in Bend Oregon at Eagle Crest Resort. Aiden drove up with them on a friday and we met them that sunday. We took Aiden sledding and playing in the snow. One of the days we were there, my parents took Aiden to Mt. Bachelor and he had his very first ski lesson. Afterwards we played on a snow slide shaped like a mountain. Aiden had a blast and so did we. Christian even sledded a little bit. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Baby's First Christmas

Christian celebrated his first christmas in 2008. He wasn't real sure about all the present opening, but he loved the ornaments and paper. It was fun to watch the kids light up in the morning! Here are some pictures of the boys.

Christmas Trees in Covelo

Christmas 2008 was a pretty special one for our family. It was our first Christmas as a married couple, and Baby's First Christmas. We went up to Covelo to cut down our own Christmas tree. It hadn't been snowing at all the whole week prior to us going. On our way up, it dumped! Aiden had so much fun playing in the snow and looking for a tree with daddy. Here are a few pictures of our adventure:

Fish Tales and Mouse Ears

Aiden's fourth birthday also brought a long awaited wish of his to life. He got to go to Disneyland with my parents and our family and meet Mickey Mouse. He left a day before us so he got to spend a whole day alone in the park with his nana and papa. He had been talking about going to Mickey's House and meeting Mickey for months. My parents stood in line with him for an hour waiting to have his picture taken with the infamous mouse and when they got there, Aiden decided to be shy. They finally did convince him to have his picture taken with Mickey, but Nana had to have hers taken too.

The next day we went as a family and it was magical. Mickey and the Main Street Band stopped right in front of us on Main Street and played music and danced. Mickey interacted with Aiden because he was holding a Wall-E book while watching the performance. I've been to Disneyland 12 times in my lifetime and never once have I seen Mickey and the Main Street Band perform right in front of me. It was pretty awesome. After watching the fun, We headed into the park. Aiden wanted to ride the train so we rode it to adventure land where Aiden decided that he wanted to ride the Finding Nemo Submarines. The line was 2 hours long so we convinced him that he might like Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters. We got there and Aiden was instantly Amazed. We had been watching a lot of the pixar films with him for weeks before leaving. Toy Story is one of his favorites. When we got off the ride, Aiden was ready to go back on it instantly. So, we rode it again. We rode Buzz Lightyear's astroblasters at least 6 times while we were there. He loved it. We even bought him a gun like the one on the ride so that he could pretend he was shooting aliens when we got home. Buzz Lightyear and Finding Nemo were all he talked about the whole time we were there. I thought since he liked Toy Story that he would really enjoy Woody's Halloween Round Up, So I made it my mission that day to get him over to Thunder Mountain Park to let him see Woody and his Gang. To my surprise it was actually pretty fun. There were rooms filled with places to take pictures with what I called pumpkin heads. Coloring pages to color with Woody and Friends, a bat craft, and music and dancing on stage.

The next day we decided to take him to California Adventure Park. The first thing we did was have our picture taken with Goofy. He's my favorite Disney Character and Aiden likes him too. He was right in Sun Plaza as we walked into the park. It was the perfect opportunity for a picture. Aiden was shy at first so we took the picture with Goofy together (which was fine with me because I love him). After we took a few shots Aiden decided that he would like his picture alone with him. After that, having his picture taken with characters was not an issue. Thanks Goofy for helping us overcome our fear!

After having his picture taken with Goofy, it was off to the Monsters Inc ride. Aiden was so excited to see Boo's Door! The ride was extremely cute. a Taxi Cab picked us up and took us for an adventure in the Monsters Inc warehouse. Very awesome. Aiden was most excited about seeing Sulli. Christian even got to go on the ride. He was in awe of all the colors.

After our tour of Monsters Inc. we headed over to A Bug's Life Flik's Fun Fair where Aiden rode in Flik's invention, Played on the Tuck and Roll Bumper Bugs, and even got to ride through a Caterpillars garden. Aiden even got to get wet and wild at a water works park just outside of bugs land. It was pretty magical, and Aiden loved every minute of it. I especially liked the many details in Bugs Land. Christian got to ride on the Caterpillar ride. I got some cute shots of him and his daddy.

After playing at Flik's Fun Fair, we headed over to the Brother Bear Adventure Trail. Aiden got to climb on rope courses and had all sorts of fun. He even got to slide down a rock slide. It was good to let him just run around and not have to worry about losing him. I just admit though, climbing on a rope course with a baby in a front pack in flip flops was extremely difficult. Not to mention I'm afraid of heights, so that didn't help one bit. We also raced rubber duckies down the stream. It was a load of fun.

Then we decided to head over to Woody's 3D Round Up. It was a ride somewhat like Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, but it used a canon instead of a space gun. It was pretty fun except with stood in line for over an hour. On the way there though we found a very cool place with fun rides for the kiddies. The Jumping Jelly Fish was one of Aiden's favorite rides in California Adventure. I'm afraid of heights, but somehow he convinced me that I needed to go on this ride with him instead of daddy. It was fun, even though I felt like I was going to vomit the entire time. Aiden enjoyed it and that's all that mattered. Then it was on the the Sun Wheel overlooking the bay. Aiden liked this one as well. He thought it was pretty funny that I was afraid. Couldn't get any good pictures up there because I was afraid if I turned my back on Aiden he would try something.

After our fun playing on the Jelly Fish and the Sun Wheel we decided to take a much needed break on a bench and wait for the Pixar Block Party Bash to begin. We sat waiting for quite a while. As the boys grew restless we heard a loud voice tell us to get ready. And then it started. Lightning McQueen from Cars lead the way. Aiden was so excited when he saw this car. I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head. The fun continued on and on. We saw characters from Monster's Inc, Cars, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and A Bug's Life. Christian enjoyed it as much as Aiden did. It was a great end to a very magical day in the Disney parks. Here are some more pictures that I took of he parade. If you haven't been, you really must go to Anaheim and check out these parks. Loads of fun for the whole family!

When the parade was over we told Aiden we could go on a few more rides over in Disneyland because it was our last day. He wanted to ride Finding Nemo's Submarines again and Astro Blasters. So we headed over to Disneyland. We waited in line for nearly an hour to get on the subs. Both boys were on excellent behavior. Neither one complained or fussed. After our ride on the submarines and a few more rides on Astro Blasters we decided to call it a night. We took the boys back to the hotel and got them changed. Then it was off to dinner where both boys fell fast asleep before their meals even arrived. We carried two very happy but sleepy boys back to the room and watched the fireworks from our window. We had a blast that day, and the looks on our sleeping babies faces told the story for us! That's all for now, I will write more about our Character Breakfast and Build-A-Bear experience in my next post.