Christmas Eve 2011

We went to visit Abuelita - 104 years old - and Tia Ani & Tia Isabel tonight for Christmas Eve. Sofia was shy at first but opened up quickly and had a lot of fun with some cool Happy Meal toys that Isabel had been saving up for her. Gabby was her usual chill self. We enjoyed catching up with them, and Sofia liked giving them their presents.
When we got home Sofia helped put out cookies and milk and a note for Santa. This is the first year she is getting the whole idea of Santa bringing presents, so I'm really excited to see how she reacts in the morning.

2011 Christmas Card

Gabby now has 2 Teeth!!

Gabby's second tooth came in today - right next to the first tooth (now she has the two bottom center teeth but they only stick out a little bit) This explains why she was so fussy last night! And of course being away from home without her teething tablets doesn't help. But we did get a pic. You can really see the first and barely see the second. click the photo to enlarge.
And of course - there is a baby comparison pic!

Disneyland Holiday Weekend

Disneyland is so awesome at the holidays!! We spent the weekend there - drove out at naptime Saturday and drove back and naptime Sunday, and stayed at the Grand Californian which is the closest of the 3 hotels on site there to the actual parks (in fact it has an entrance to California Adventure through the hotel). We had fun but MAN was it packed on Saturday. By the time we checked in and got in, it was about 3:45. Sofia wanted It's a Small World and Gabby and I camped out for the parade. Had I known how long it would take to start, I may have re-thought it. But Sofia loved seeing the characters. Gabby seemed to the like the music. It was chilly out but she would not keep her socks on. Pulled them off every 5 minutes. She is a little sock monster! Then we headed back to Downtown Disney for dinner, and got take out to eat in our room. Gabby was super tired, so Sofia and I took off to go ride the Ariel Ride in C.A. The show was going on so we rode it 3 times in a row with no lines! But by then it had started to rain and we headed back to the hotel. Gabby was super fussy, and I forgot the teething medicine. So both she and Sofia ended up falling asleep in my bed. We were able to transfer Gabby to the portacrib. Sofia stayed in my bed though there was a gap between the bed and the wall so I put a bunch of pillows there. Wouldn't you know, middle of the night she rolled off onto the pillows, didn't even wake up, slept there til morning!
This morning Nelson and Sofia went to "Magic Mornings" - the park opens an hour early or hotel guests. They were able to get on all of the rides that always have the longest lines including Peter Pan and Dumbo, and of course a few more times on Dumbo. Gabby and I met up with them around 8 and rode Small World again (gabby loved it) and then went to Toontown for pics with the characters. It was still pretty light on attendance at this point so very short lines. We managed to hit up a few more rides before lunch, and we could see that more and more people were showing up. So we headed back to C.A. for 2 more quick Ariel rides then grabbed lunch at the hotel and left. It was at lunch I realized that Gabby was so fussy because her second tooth broke through! No wonder! Both girls crashed by the time we got on the freeway and slept the whole way home. Gabby even slept for another hour one we got home.
I have to say though that half days at D-land are the way to go. I don't know how people do a full day. It's exhausting. It's so nice to have a room to walk back to to rest, nap, shower, etc.
In terms of travel tips, the rooms at Grand Californian weren't as nice as I thought and I wasn't super impressed with their guest services. Maybe next time we'll try Disneyland hotel so we can ride the monorail!

Entering the park on Saturday

Sofia and her "friends":

Family pic on Main Street

Inside the Ariel Ride (above and below)

Waiting for the parade (above and below)

Crashed on the way home!

Random Bath Pics

The first pic I took of the girls taking a bath, the second I took as I was getting Sofia ready for bed last night. Kind of bizarre that photo inspiration strikes often the in bathroom :)

Gabby Finally has a Tooth!

Sadly no I don't have a picture of it! But we noticed she started sticking her tongue out and then a day later the first tooth (bottom center) started to peek out. I wonder if she was trying to feel it with her tongue. I will try to get a pic asap!

Christmas Card shoot

These are some of the "outtakes" from our Christmas card shoot...a lot of great pics, we just didn't have room for them all plus a few funny ones.

Sofia's First Movie Experience

Today we took Sofia to see THE MUPPET MOVIE. It was a 10am movie and it was dead, only 2 other people besides us. She was a little anxious during the trailers ("Mama where's the muppet movie?") but one it get started she loved it. She brought her Kermit doll and kept holding it up to the screen during his scenes yelling "Kermit - it's you!!" And of course she loved the popcorn too. She can't wait to go again - she wants to see the chipmunk movie. Ugh. :)