Happy New Year Everyone !

We hope 2009 brings you health, happiness and peace :)

Love

JP, Andrea, Bugsy and Alycat

Merry Christmas everyone ....
We trust that the big fella found you all and that you are enjoying time at home with family/friends and lots of Christmas treats .....
We had, yet again, another terrific holiday ( and it's not over yet).
Alyana was thrilled with all of her Dora toys and Ben, well, he can't wait to try out his new wheels .....
Here are a few pics that we took over the holidays ....
Peace to all ....
Andrea

We're ready ......ready for it to begin ...

The kids are wound up on sugar, thrilled with all of this snow and waiting for the man with the big white beard to make his debut ......

Can't wait .....

Merry Christmas from our home to yours ........

Andrea, JP and the kids

We head north today. Back to cool temps and snow!
We are sure looking forward to getting back home ....
Time to trim the tree and finish wrapping the presents .......
Time to crank up the Christmas music and write Santa a letter .....
Time to be reflect on the goodness of this year and make wishes for the year to come .....
In my opinion, it's much easier to do this surrounded by snow, jack frost and fir trees :)
( although it was nice to have summer just one more time this year).
Happy Holidays Everyone.
Here are a few more pics of our vacation 2008!



My three favorite people .....




Yes, back to Barney again .... ( although Alyana went back to see Baby Bop only)



Ssssshhhhhhhhh .....Alyana is hiding under the coffee table playing Ben's DS .......
( he'd have a stroke if he knew that )



A scene you will not find at home ....poinsettias and shrubs .....

We spent another SUPERB day at Universal Studios.

This time we wandered through Whoville, met the Grinch, fought our way through Jurassic Park, frolicked in Splash town ( well, not really frolicked, more like, dropped 100 feet in a barrell into a river of white water) and then topped it off with the The Grinch That Stole Christmas production and took in the Macy's Parade.

Awesome, just awesome .......



I had to add Alyana's reaction when she first spotted Doe Doe ( in one of the floats).
She spotted her long before JP, Ben and I .....
Little Hawk eye ....

Today we planned to visit Universal again but Mother Nature had different plans for us that involved indoor activities.
It rained most of the AM so we hit the outlets and then onto Ripley's Museum.
It was actually quite a relaxing day and now we are home, settled, bbq'ing and about to dip in pool :)
Hard to believe that in a week we'll be home and trimming the Christmas tree ...
Ahhhh ...a gal could get used to this life ....haha


Ben shrunk .....Oh No .....


Alyana standing in front of a pc of the Berlin Wall

Our family portrait ( it would bring a tear to a glass eye, huh ?)

It's my 40th birthday today and I have to tell you that it was the best birthdays ever.
We started the day with cheesecake in bed and it went uphill from that.....
Thanks JP, Bugsy and Miss Alycat- you are the best :)

Today we hopped into the car and instead of visiting another mammoth Theme Park, we headed east to Daytona Beach to dip out tootsies in the ocean.

I was able to take a lot of pics of Bugsy (my little surf loving young man).
He skipped in and out of the waves and searched for lost treasures on the beach.
As for Miss Aly, she did a "face plant" in the first 30 seconds on the beach. After that she decided that that was just about enough of her beach combing and headed back to the car with Daddy to change.
For the rest of the visit, she gave the ocean a very very wide birth .....haha

Tom Tom took us on another great adventure today. This time to Universal Studios.

We skipped from one ride to the other in no time ( I think the max wait time was around 15 minutes). We visited Terminator, ET, Men in Black, Twister, Disaster ( Ben was chosen from the crowd in this one to be a child stunt actor and starred in his own movie with THE ROCK).

I see an Oscar in his future .....

We then ventured onto ........drum roll please .....

the Barney show ......

to heck with you Micky Mouse .......

Alyana has a new favorite now. One that shows himself when SHE enters the park ......haha

Great day .......

I hope all is well at home with everyone :)

Miss you all :)

Before I post .....

I'd like to introduce you to our new best friend ( Tom Tom). We would have never found our way around without this little fella.

Tom delivered us safely to Disney today and we enjoyed the best day !



Ok ....now onto bigger and better things.



Yes, we have just spent 9 hrs at Disney ......

We saw everything except Micky Mouse!)
Can you believe it ?? haha

It was awesome to see this magical place through the eyes of our two kids.

Miss Alyana's favorite was the chocolate covered Micky Mouse ice cream and Ben was smitten with Space Mountain.

As for me, I loved all the Christmas decorations ( and of course the chocolate covered Micky Mouse ice cream too ).

Another terrific day :)