Disneyland (ZZ's first time!)

Over Seth's break we took the kids to Disneyland! We've taken Rocco before, but this time was different, he actually knew all the characters from the movies, so he was excited the entire day! Plus he LOVED the rides!

So first things first, we went to the California Adventure Land Park. We took Rocco to Radiator Springs where they have the life size Mater and Lightning McQueen! He was so excited he could hardly stand it! (Let me just tell you now, we are so excited for CARS2 to come out this summer!)

After Radiator Springs we took the kiddos over to the Bug World. ZeeZee's first ride was on the watermelon caterpillar that smells yummy and squirts "watermelon juice" on you... She was all smiles!

Following the caterpillar we let Rocco ride in the circus bumper cars. He was just barely tall enough to be the driver! He LOVED it! I think he would've been happy if we just let him drive in those all day... Seth and I each took a turn driving with him, then the lines were too long, so we convinced him to try out the flying Chinese cartons. Zeegan LOVED the Chinese cartons. At first we were worried they would go to fast, but once inside you can't even tell how fast they are going... ZeeZee was so smiley!

After the Bug's world we went over to Disneyland. ZeeZee fell asleep on the walk over. I suppose that's a good thing though because then we were able to go on the more "scary" rides (like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride), and she slept right through them. Once Zee woke up we hit Toon Town, which was surprisingly fun! Rocco and I waited in line for what felt like FOREVER so that he could ride a 36 second roller coaster (which he was actually too short for, but they didn't notice on we rode it anyway)... but that forever long wait was completely worth it! You should have seen the look on his face! I got it on video so I'll try and post it later... he LOVED it! As soon as it was over he was yelling "Let's do it again!"

To finish the day off we went on the Buzz LIghtyear ride where you get to shoot space guns at the evil emperor Zurg. Rocco LOVED that ride too! He rode it multiple times with Daddy and was Happy camper at the end of our fun filled day!

And ZeeZee? Well she enjoyed herself ALL day long, but I believe her favorite part of the day was when I took her to the baby center and fed her nice warm squash while the old ladies in there made funny faces and cooed at her...

It was such a great day for our whole family! We'll have to do it again next year...

And thank you so much to Uncle Christian and Aunt Bronwyn, who made Disneyland possible for our family!!!

LA Zoo

Well what do ya know?! It's the end of January and here I am, posting about the end of December... Oh well! One of these years I'll get on top of things.

So as I said before. Seth had a couple days off and we took advantage of the time we had to spend together. So on one of the days we went to the LA zoo. It was lots of fun! Grammy and Grampa Purcell came, along with Rocco's Auntie's and Uncles. In fact, the whole Freddy Purcell family was there. Rocco loved having his cousins with him. And even though it was FREEZING (to me), Zeegan LOVED being outside! She didn't even object to the freezing air when she got her diaper changed! It was an awesome day!

I think the highlight of the day for Rocco was when he saw a Baby Jaguar! I wish I had a picture of that... He's a little obsessed these days with jaguars, because in his current favorite TV show (Go Diego Go), the main character has a baby jaguar as his pet... Rocco just about went nuts over the jaguar at the zoo... My favorite part of the day was when Rocco and Seth stuck their heads in the ground hog domes and a little ground hog sat there staring right into their faces. Rocco was sooo excited! It was funny. I was glad I got a picture (look closely and you can actually see the ground hog!).

Last Beach trip of 2010 (for real this time!)

So I know I already said we had our last Beach day of 2010, But after Christmas Seth had a couple days off and we took full advantage of the time we had to spend together! We did lots of fun activities during his time off, including, going to the beach one last time during 2010! Now even though it's been super warm lately, it still hasn't been warm enough to actually go swimming. So we only went for a walk on the beach, down the boardwalk and on the pier. But it was lots of fun! It was Beautiful! and our kids were happy!

(this could be one of my very favorite pictures of all time!)

On our way home we just had to stop and get Rocco one of the character monkeys from Whole Foods... Man I love that store!

CHristmas 2010 (ZZ 1st!!!!)

Well I'm about a month late, but I suppose better late than never can apply here: it's about time I posted about Christmas... Zeegan's very first Christmas, Rocco's 4th CHristmas, My (...we wont go there....) CHristmas, and Seth's (...not there either!...) Christmas!

So we'll start with Christmas Eve day... We went to G-Grammy Petersen's house and decorated cookies. Rocco was so precise when it came to frosting spreading and sprinkle distribution---future surgeon on our hands!

It was lots of fun! The cousins were all there, and once we were through with decorating we had Pizza and played games and talked. Then, CHristmas eve afternoon we went back to G-Grandparent Petersen's house and had a delicious dinner and played games with all the family and read and reinacted the Christmas Story. It was fun and even Rocco was willing to participate (which is kind of a big deal- he's a bit of a stand in the corner and ignore everyone kind of guy- rarely participates!).

After Christmas Eve dinner at G-Grandparents Petersen's home, we went to Grammy and Grampa Purcell's house and celebrated Christmas with them! (Seth's dad had to work Christmas day, so we opened presents and did the celebrating on Christmas Eve so Grampa Freddy could be a part of everything!). I couldn't believe how many presents there were (altho I suppose when there are presents for 14+ people, there should be alot...)! Rocco was SOOOOOO excited! He could barely wait between turns! Zeegan was excited too, but i don't actually think she had any idea what was going on, she was just picking up on everybody else's excitement... She did love her toy horse from Grammy and Grampa tho!

After Grammy and Grampa Purcell's house, we went home and re-read the Christmas story and then read a winter's tale pop-up book, put out cookies and milk, and finally put the kiddos to bed... Then Santa came!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day dawned bright and early! Rocco and Zeegan LOVED the gifts that Santa left for them! They really didn't care one way or another about the clothes Mommy and Daddy got them, but they were SOOOOO EXCITED about their Santa presents... And Seth liked the Home Molecular Gastronomy cooking kit I got him, and I LOVE the cookbook set (Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc and French Laundry) Seth got for me! But mostly, we just loved being together... I love Holidays with my family!

After opening presents and having breakfast at Grammy's house we tested out all the new toys! The favorite testing was with Rocco's new remote control Lightening McQueen and Tokyo Mater... Rocco and Daddy LOVED racing the cars and ZeeZee and Mommy loved our walk! Christmas time is so fun... especially when it's warm enough outside for a walk!!!

Then Christmas Day afternoon we all went to LA to the Fire Station! Rocco loves going there cuz he gets to climb around in the fire trucks and then they take us on rides in it around the city with the lights flashing and the siren blaring... Zeegan even got excited about the fire engines! She was seriously bouncing up and down... adorable! and Grampa Freddy loved having his whole family there.

MERRY BELATED CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!!