More Florida.....the beach

Florida has it's choice of beaches to go to.....we found a gem. We went to New Smyrna Beach just south of Daytona and it was great for the kids. The best part was that you could drive right onto the beach and park your car. This was great since carrying all the stuff is the worst part. The weather was perfect and the kids were in heaven with all the sand and a multitude of sea shells to be found.

our spot for the day

Again.....Dani had no fear of the water and went running in.

Dani was so excited to go in the water with Daddy

Dani and Chris had a blast building a sand castle with Nana

Taking a break from the hard work while Nana got water

The finished project......so proud!

Disney World....birthday style!

The big adventure on our Florida vacation was taking the kids to Disney World......this was their first Disney visit. Although we had just flown in the night before we knew that first day we just had to go. Manly because it was Dani's birthday and we wanted to make sure she felt like a princess. So off we went with Papa and Nana to expierence Disney through the little ones.

As we were driving onto the Disney property the look on the kids face was priceless. She was so excited about getting to see the princess castle she did not know what to do with herself. We went tot he ticket window and got their tickets and Dani's special birthday pin. We talked them into giving us one for Chris to since his birthday is in a little over a week.

From the parking lot we decided to take the ferryboat across the lake to Magic Kingdom. We we walked into view of the princess castle from across the lake I thought Dani was going to keel over. She was in heaven. The ferry boat trip across the lake set the ton for a great day!

The entrance to the Ferryboat that would take us right to the gate to the Magic Kingdom.

AS you can see Dani was more concerned with making sure we all knew where the castle was then taking a picture.

Dani got her special Birthday Button and loved all the attention she got.

Dani and I on the boat with Magic Kingdom in the background

Chris was a little unsure of the heat and humidity.

Nana and Dani waiting to go in the park.

The first view of the castle as we walked down Main Street

Dani waiting for the princesses performance in front of the castle

She was awestruck at the sight of Cinderella

Dani and I hoola hooping before lunch.

She actually did quite well.

Bryan and Chris on Small World.....the AC made the insane making song worth it.

Chris and Dani with no other then Donald himself.

Dani and I on the Magic carpet ride.

Dani was loving the time she got with Arial....as you can see we bought her the Ariel shirt for her birthday.

Ariel giving Dani a high five for turning THREE

Dani and her hero!

Dani enjoying some ice cream.

Bryana and I waiting for the fireworks to start outside the Castle.

Dani thought it was great how the castle changed colors.

Here is the gang (minus Papa behind the camera) waiting for the show.

We had such a great day here and Dani was treated like royalty....Chris too! They got free candy int he candy shops, free ice cream from the ride attendants and everyone saying Happy Birthday to them. Disney was a hit.....plus know all our Disney loving friends won't turn us into CPS for not taking them to Disney sooner then now.

My baby is 3

Sweet little Dani girl turned THREE on the 13th. It is hard for me to imagine that my youngest child is already three, this was the little bean that was just born yesterday!


This is the sweet baby girl that she will always be in my mind. This sweet little bundle of joy that came to me just three short years ago.

Dani was celebrated Princess style this year. We woke up on her birthday in Florida at Papa & Nana's house. We had a big Princess balloon for the Princess and a sweet little birthday cupcake.
The birthday princess celebrating in style with a cupcake for breakfast.

What a better way to celebrate your birthday then a trip to the Ultimate Princess castle......Disney World! I think we set ourselves up on this one, how are we going to top this next year.

May Race....to make up for April

Before we headed to Florida Bryan and I kicked off National Police week with the CPOA (California Peace Officer's Association) Memorial Run in Pleasanton. This was the 1st year that they have done this run and it was great. I think people so the opportunity to help this great cause and really came together, especially in light of everything that has happened this year. Our friend Cheri, who works with Bryan, and her kids came also. Some ran with her and the others graciously watched our kiddos while we ran.

It was nice because a lot of the local departments had all their toys and vehicles there for the kids to see. After the race Outback steakhouse catered a nice lunch and Coldstone was even there. This is enough to guarantee that we will run this race again.

Bryan and I both ran the 5K, the heat and the hills were a killer but we had fun.

Here is Bryan and I looking all fresh and clean before the race....no post race pictures here :)

Dani was able to score some great balloon swords and animals from the clown they had come for the BBQ. Plus you can see she had quite the sticker collection on her pants.
East Bay Regional Parks landed the helicopter after the race. We were right there when in landed, so close that Bryan had to hang onto Dani so she would not fall over. The kids were in heaven. Dani has quite the obsession with helicopters.


I promise Chris was more excited to sit in here.....he just does not like pictures
Dani was loving this. She walked up to the pilot when we got there and asked him if he could do that again! Too cute.

For those keeping track this was my April Run since I was traveling in April and could not make any races.....I have one more when we get back in town for May.

The First Visit from the Tooth Fairy

I knew the day would come but I guess I never expected it. Last Sunday Chris and I were out running errands and all of a sudden Chris exclaims that his tooth is loose, and it was really loose. Instantly I thought, "Crap, I am so not ready for this."

Over the next few days Chris kept wiggling the tooth and checking on it. I was a little worried at his baseball game Tuesday night when it was practically hanging out. Well Wednesday when I picked him up from the after school program he smiled and was without a tooth. He was so excited and I could not have been more happy for him. The only problem was that he did not remember where he lost it or when. His teacher felt really bad and they had looked all over for it with no luck. I told Chris that we would write a note to the Tooth Fairy and make sure she understood.

So before bed that night we wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy and left it under his pillow. he was so excited! In the morning he came in my room and was a little perplexed that his treat was left on the nightstand and not under the pillow. Oops! my bad.

Here

Our happy little toothless wonder!!!