Ski Week 2014

Every year we not only have a spring break, but also a winter break.  AKA Ski Week.  We usually don't do much this week as we are not skiers, but we decided to use our Disney passes an make a weekend out of it.  We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel which was a first for us.  It made it nice to be able to stay and not deal with the hassle of driving home.  Especially since we stayed for fireworks!  The kids also enjoyed the pool.  Since we were there for 2 days we enjoyed a little of each park.  We saw some of the new princess shows at Disneyland and enjoyed seeing Sophia and riding the Mater ride at CA Adventure.  Disney is always fun and every time we got we try an do something new!

The Lion King

Back in January I took the girls and a couple of their friends to see The Lion King at the Pantages Theater here in L.A.  Having two girls that love the theater and not having seen this musical myself, we were in for a real treat!  It was hands down AMAZING!  The talent of the cast, the music, the sets...I could go on and on.  It is safe to say the adults were just as mesmerized at the kids!  Next musical on the list to take them to is Wicked in December.  Not quite as kid friendly, but they can't wait!

Spring Break - Palm Desert

When trying to plan spring break we decided that the #1 most important thing that the kids would like to do is swim.  Since it didn't make much sense to travel 1000's of miles just so they could splash in a pool, we decided to just go here in our own backyard - Palm Springs.  Technically Palm Desert.  To me, the whole area is Palm Springs. Indian Wells, La Quinta, Palm Desert, etc... We also decided that since we rarely get to travel with friends that we would try to make this a get together with other families, as well.  So we ended up with about 4 other families, chose the JW Marriott in Palm Desert, and called it a long weekend! 

The kids (and there were a lot of them) loved the pool time, the evening "dive in" movies, the little boats that took you around the property, and the buffet!  The adults liked that the kids were happy (and the buffet).  We also happen to be there over Easter weekend, so they had a big celebration on Easter morning with a big egg hunt and the Easter bunny jumping out of an airplane.

View from our room

In addition to our weekend in Palm Springs, we also enjoyed a few extra fun days in and around L.A.  Of course there was a Disney day and we also visited the Natural History Museum.

Fun Times in Southern California

At the end of September we had the luxury of having a 4 day weekend. I am not sure if it was because it was a Jewish holiday, or just a couple of furlough days the school had to fit in, but we had a blast with our time off. On the Thursday, a friend of mine and I decided to take the girls to Disneyland. We surprised them, of course, because it is so much more fun that way! My friend and I have 7 year-olds that are BFF's and we have younger girls that are only about a year apart, so it is nice to get together and hang out. Moms are happy and girls are happy! I am very lucky to have made such a good friend and gotten to know this woman in my area and I am even more lucky that our kids love each other!

So here are some pics from that fun day! Disney was all decked out for Fall and Halloween, so extra fun for the kiddos!






On Friday, I decided to take Sarah and Lauren to the American Girl Place at The Grove in LA. This is a fall tradition for us. We love to go have a girls day having lunch in the bistro/cafe and then doing a little shopping. In addition, it gives me a chance to find out what is good for their Santa list this Christmas! Since Lauren's birthday was a couple of weeks from when we went, I let her pick out her first real American Girl Doll to replace her Bitty Baby. She picked the Kanani doll and loves her very much! What a wonderful day with my girls! I just love them!

Disneyland for Easter

It was not your traditional Easter for us this year. Since we have moved away from family and Charlie was home this rare weekend, we felt it a good idea to head on over to Disney for the weekend. We had our fingers crossed it would be a little less crowded with the holiday, but no such luck. Actually Saturday was quite busy and Sunday a little less. We decided to surprise the girls with the weekend trip and I even recorded the surprise. The newest Disney commercial it was not, I am sad to say. I think Sarah had a sneaking suspicion all along and Lauren, although excited, thought we were going to see Dora. So I won't post the video as it is not quite what I was going for.


They were excited nonetheless! Our main focus was to see the Princesses. We had much better luck this time and got to see Cinderella. She evaded us a few years ago, but we got her this time. This time around, Belle, was the one we missed out on, but too be honest, we didn't try as hard as we could have. Lauren wasn't to upset that we didn't see her so we didn't push it. It made for less standing in lines and less stress. Here they are the princesses!

Here they are with Rapunzel. Probably the longest line we waited in. About an hour or so. Worth the wait! I think she was the girls' favorite!

We also got to see some other characters roaming around. A few extras that I missed with the camera were Pluto, Goofy, Peter Pan, and Captain Hook. They were just too quick darting around the park. By the time I got my camera out and set, they were gone.






So what were our favorite rides?

Sarah and I loved Peter Pan the best!

Lauren loved the Carousel!

I am guessing Daddy loved the Teacups.
(I know it wasn't It's a Small World that was his favorite)

Well, we all loved the teacups!

Some of our other favorites were: The Dumbo Ride, Alice in Wonderland, It's a Small World, The new Nemo submarine, and we like going into Minnie and Mickey's houses.

Saturday night, Sarah and I did some late evening rides and went to see the fireworks. It was a great show, but man were there a lot of people there. We were all a little too close for comfort. I was glad to get out of there. Big crowds like that freak me out a bit and let's just say the security at Disney seemed to be a little relaxed in my opinion.





We did stay over one night just outside the Disney gates. The hotel was probably about a 2 star venue, but it had the coolest little room with Mickey decor and bunk beds and the girls were in 7th heaven. All that matters right!

On Sunday it did rain for about 1/2 the day. I had put the girls in dresses and sandals with it being Easter and all, but their little feet were all wet and cold. We found the cutest little socks and shoes for them, though!

All in all it was a great weekend! We didn't see Dora ;) but we saw just about everyone else. The girls had a blast and we loved seeing them so happy. It was not our usual Easter weekend, but one we will remember always.



The Easter Bunny had left a few little goodies back at the house for when we returned and a little egg hunt for the girls. Nothing like a little indoor egg hunt when you have no yard at the beach!