2009 Thanksgiving Vacation to California

After driving the first thing the kids did was jump on the beds, to break them in :)
Ian never smiles like neither does Daniel
Had Dinner at Medieval Times

Go Red Knight... WooHoo

Alana caught the flower the Red Knight threw to her

The kids with the King & Princess

Ian just wants his sword

5 boys 1 girl

how excited I look while everyone else is in the background just chatting and I'm trying to control my kids, this will be fun.

Grandma Collins with the little ones while the adults are on a ride

We never found Mickey but we found this bear guy by splash Mountain

Tarzan's Tree House

Ian & Grandpa

on the Jungle Cruise

Honey I shrunk the audience glasses

Knots Berry Farm

the kids 1st meeting with Snoopy

their 1st ride was woodstock airmail

Alana's 1st Roller Coaster was the sierra sidewinder, which Ian was very upset about he missed it by half an inch and was crying because he was too small, it was cute yet funny :)

This picture is funny because Daniel is holding on for dear life and Alana is not.

Calico Mine Ride (kind of boring) its slow and you slide into the next person next to you but in each cart is 6 people so if your the last person you will be squeezed.

the kids driving the Bumper Cars

Ian & I sitting out while Alana & Daniel go on a water ride that Ian once again was too small.

Daniel got soaked on Bigfoot Rapids

Ian & Daniel on the Ferris Wheel, while Alana & I go on Bigfoot again.

Daniel went looking for a charlie brown shirt for Ian and we later found a Lucy shirt too.

The Peanuts gang show

mmm,mmm good (churros & Funnel Cake)

Had a great day at knotts berry, but it was time to go to sleep so that we could get up and leave. Here is our family picture of us on the log ride which the kids loved.

Daniel's 32nd Birthday

We got the house all in order for our little family surprise party :)
We got the trick candles for the old man

Ian picked out the SpongeBob card of course
opening presents
What happened on this day November 13 in History

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1775- US troops capture Montreal, during the American Revolution

1927-The Holland Tunnel, linking New York City with Jersey City, New Jersey opens to traffic after 7 years of construction.

1940-Walt Disney animated masterpiece Fantasia premiers in New York City

1942-The US government lowers the minimum military draft age from 21 to 18

1945-Ethiopia & Panama join the United Nations

1946-Artificial snow was first used by skiers

1956-Racial Segregation on public buses is ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court

1968-The animated feature Yellow Submarine staring the voices & music of Beatles premiers

1974-Karen Silkwood a worker who complained of unsafe working conditions at Cimarron Plutonium Plant in Oklahoma dies in a mysterious car accident

**1977-The Al Capp comic strip Lil Abner appears in the newspaper for the last time

1982-The Vietnam Veterans memorial is dedicated in Washington DC

1985-A huge mudslide buries the city of Armero Colombia, killing 23,000 people

1995-A bomb kills 7 people, including 5 Americans at a military facility in Riyadh Saudi Arabia

1999-Lennox Lewis wins a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield to become the world heavy weight champion

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You share a birthday with:

1949- Whoopi Goldberg-actress
1954- Chris Noth actor from tv roles law & order, sex & the city
1967-Steve Zahn-actor from movies like that thing you do

There were others but I did not recognize them at all.

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Cost of living in 1977:

inflation rate 6.5%
Year end close Dow Jones industrial Av. 831
Interest rates year end Federal Reserve 7.75%
Cost for a new home $50,000.
Average income per year $15,000.
Monthly Rent $240.
Cost of Gas .65 cents

Playing at the park with Cousins Rachel & Rhythm

Ready, set.....

GO!
Man, being a kid is hard......not

no fear

Ian loves his cousin Rhythm but he can be a little aggressive towards him, as you can see :)

Halloween Night Party 09

In the backyard of our house we had some family members come over to eat yummy spooky food.
Jayden's Turn

Harley's Turn

Ethan's Turn

Ian's Turn

Alana turn

And there off.... to get candy

Halloween & Trunk or Treat 2009

Tinker Alana & what he calls Rock Man Ian :)

Yum Yum

Meet Mystery the Desert Tortoise

Mystery is going to be adopted by us on 9/26/09 she is a Female Desert Tortoise that someone had illegally because she was not registered or chipped by game and fish. We found her in our front yard a couple of days ago we contacted game and fish to see what to do with her, they talked to us about her and told us that she was someones pet and either got lost or left to fend for herself, they see it all the time, they told us how to take care of her which is really easy, she will be examined next week to make sure she is fat enough to hibernate this winter and then they will chip her and give her to us. YEAH! we are so excited.

We don't know exactly how old she is, they say she could be 20 to 80 years old, but they live for at least 100 years. Mystery name was chosen by the kids because she is a mystery of were she came from and how, and also sponge bob had a pet sea horse named mystery :)

Alana and Ian love to pick her up and she does not mind it too much.

Ian's New Look

Well here is Ian's new look. We just picked his new glasses up today June 5, just one day after his exam. We new that he might have had problems with his eyes but no doctor that we could find would take him so little and finally we found one that Daniel went to and he said he would try but it depends on how Ian (3yrs) acts, so on June 4, 2009 he had an eye exam and he did well but his eyes were worse then Daniels but the doctor only gave him a prescription for half because he wiggled to much on some of the test and of course does not now the alphabet so he went off what he saw from test and what the machines said, and because of that he only prescribed half the prescription lenses so not to over prescribe. He is far sighted and has stigmatism. He would walk into everything that was right in front of him but he see's past that, glasses will help him now so that's good.