OMG… Disney Videos Are The Best!!

I'm still sorting through the hundreds of pictures that I took while we were at Disneyland… it will probably be a few days before I get any posted here on the blog.  In the meantime, how about some videos!  Those are way more fun than pictures anyhow.  

Our group selfie before our ride on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad began.  I got to sit with the two little girls… they were hilarious!!  I am so glad that I took video of them riding the ride.  Let me warn you, there is a lot of high pitched squealing… so maybe lower your volume.

The Radiator Racers ride in CARS Land was by far Ryder's favorite ride.  He almost did not get to ride it… technically he was not quite tall enough, but the worker did not really check well (lucky us).  Ryder had the biggest smile on his face the whole time he was on the ride.  Then when we got off the ride he kept telling us how awesome that ride was.

End Of Summer Fun!

 Summer is sadly almost over.  This has been one of the best summer ever.  Savannah is finally old enough to swim on her own and be my little sidekick in the water.  It is also the summer that she seemed to grow up so much... reading on her own, a lot more tude to deal with, and very few baby features left.  I had the most fun on adventures with her this summer.  Oh and then there is Ryder... at the beginning of summer he was still seemed so little... now he seems so big and tough and fearless.  He wants to swim so badly, will jump off anything, and LOVES water slides.  This little boy is such a thrill seeker.  These two babies of mine made summer pretty dang great.  I am already soooo looking forward to next year.  Summertime is for sure the best time.  As a special end of summer treat, we had one last hoorah at the water park this past week.  Savannah finally went on a water slide... several several times actually.  Took a lot of convincing, but once she did it, she LOVES it.  Ryder took no convincing.  In fact, he was pretty upset that he could not go on more of them.  Crazy crazy kid.

Spazzy Spazzy Dancing Savannah

Savannah is a mad woman on the kinect.  She gets better and better each time she plays... her dancing is still crazy as ever, but her scores just keep improving.  Ryder gets so excited when Savannah turns one of her games on.  You would think he would be in the way, but he manages to dance right there next to her.  Those two are pretty dang funny.

Christmas Day

Christmas was pretty fantastic this year.  For starters, we were in San Diego with my family, then there is the fact that it was super low key, and that the kids are older so things (gifts, Santa, etc) is a lot more fun.  Everyone had so much fun opening gifts and playing with everything that the kids got.  Santa brought Savannah a kinect sensor for our xbox... so needless to say, most of our day was playing that.  Santa brought Ryder a little 4 wheeler that he was very excited to try out.  He hasn't quite figured out the whole steering thing so he just goes forward and runs into everything in front of him.  It will be fun to watch him test it out in our backyard when we get home.  Christmas this year was so so wonderful... getting to come home this year was the best gift I got.  

Ryder came out of the bedroom and immediately went straight for the 4 wheeler.  Savannah was so excited to see her brother get so excited.  It was pretty funny.

Each thing she pulled out of her stocking was better than the next... Santa really knew what he was doing this year.

Santa should have buried Goofy deeper in the stocking.  Once Ryder pulled Goofy out, he was done.  Nothing else in there was nearly as exciting.

Santa also brought her the princess Jasmine dress up she has been begging me for.  

He caught on to the whole present opening thing pretty quickly.  Infact, he was so good (and fast) at it that he started walking around the room just tearing open any gift he could find.  

Uncle Ry Ry hooked her up with the Hulk hands she has been eyeing since the Avengers movie came out.  I know I've said it before, but seriously... she is the absolute best mix of tomboy and girly.  Princess dress up and super hero gloves.  Perfect combo.

Everything his sister opened he had to try out.  Everything.

My favorite picture from the day.  Ryder using the toy phone he got to talk to my grandma on her remote control pretend phone.  So funny.

This is how our entire day was spent.  The kinect is AWESOME!

Boy is crazy on the 4 wheeler... clearly not intended for indoor use.

Video Love!

The kids have been making me laugh a lot lately.  My phone is clogged with lots and lots of videos of them that crack me up.  Thought I would share a couple.  The first is of Ryder chasing the flashlight around the living room like a cat.  Savannah loves sitting there and moving the light all over the room.  The second video is of Savannah telling me all about what she learned in school on Friday.  Each student had a passport and then traveled to countries learning about how Christmas is celebrated there.  She was so so so excited to tell me everything she learned.  She is so precise and serious about her facts (the way she remembers them at least).  Love it!

Big Game Under The Lights

Instead of a Saturday t-ball game this weekend, Savannah's team got to play a night game under the lights.  Every season they try to schedule one night game for the kids.  I'm not sure why, but these kids get pretty excited about the lights being on.  It's like they're in the big leagues.  

State Fair of Texas 2012

As always, we had a fantastic time at the fair this year.  Savannah rode all the rides she wanted to, Ryder love seeing all the animals and the ride on tractors, and Eric and I ate more than enough fried food than we probably needed to.  I seriously look forward to the fair all year long.  One of my most favorite Texas traditions.  

Ryder loved these face hole cut out things.  He knew just what to do when he walked up to them.  Eric had to pick him up and take him away so other people could have a turn.  Pretty sure he would have stayed there all day sticking his head in each and every hole.

Lucky lucky girl... the giraffe in the petting zoo came and ate from her cup.  She was so so so excited.  Side note, giraffes are not as soft as you might think... kind of rough.

Ryder and his GF Bella inside the kissing booth.  Pretty much the cutest pictures ever.  He loved on her nonstop.  She was clearly not as interested as he was.

Obstacle course that Southwest Airlines had set up.  Savannah begged us to let her do it.  I thought that she would be too little, but she was just tall enough.  I'm not going to lie, I'm that mom that was secretly hoping that my kid would get knocked down...  a good laugh would have made up for the long line and ridiculous waiver we had to sign just so she could do this obstacle course.  No fall though, she made it through without and slip up.

Not sure if she will be doing this ride by herself again.  She had to lug that heavy sack thing all the way up to the top and then she flew down that thing so fast.  The video cracks me up, serious face all the way down.

Ryder Goes To Disneyland (Day Two)

Not as many pictures from day two... not so easy to take pictures of every little moment while trying to manage two kids in a crazy crowded amusement park.  Thankfully they were both on their best behavior that day and we were all able to enjoy ourselves at a very leisurely pace.  One of the best parts of being to Disneyland so many times is that you know the place like the back of your hand and you don't have to rush around trying to do it all.  We focused mainly on seeing shows and finding characters to get autographs from.  Then we did a little shopping and headed back to the hotel at a decent hour so we could get a good night's rest.  It was one of the most peaceful days I have ever spent at Disneyland.  

The only character he cried at.  No clue what scared him...???  Probably didn't help that the Mad Hatter, in true Mad Hatter fashion, decided to mock him.  

Star Wars Jedi training... by far the COOLEST thing I've done at Disneyland in a long time.  I didn't realize how interactive it was going to be.  At the beginning of the show the master Jedi randomly chose about 15-20 kids (out of probably 50... there were a lot of sad not chosen kids) to come up front and train to be a Jedi.  Savannah was one of the chosen few.  Lucky girl.  The kids chosen were given robes and light sabers and were then taught a fight sequence by the master Jedi.  What happened next blew me away... I had NO IDEA that this was going to happened.  The stage rose up out of the ground and Darth Vader came out... then from behind the crowd out jumped Darth Maul.  Insanity.  The kids all ran over and hid by the master Jedi.  Some ran crying to their parents.  Darth Vader did his thing... tried to lure the kids to the dark side... then the kids were lined up and sent one by one to fight one of the two villains.  I thought for sure that Savannah was going to chicken out... our brave little Jedi came did it though.  She walked right up to Darth Maul and busted out the fight sequence just like she was taught.  So dang cool!  Needless to say, after the Jedi training was complete, we immediately went to the gift shop and purchased a light saber.  Savannah is convinced that she is a real Jedi now.

The little Jedi trainees being congratulated on their victories.

Ryder's favorite part of the day... the parades.  He loved watching all the characters go by.  He got especially excited when he recognized one of them.  Lots of pointing and lots of dancing.