one day, two parks

remember last month, when we headed to knott's berry farm for two of the bean's friends but one of them got sick?  well, we did the re-do last weekend...on the one day that rain was in the forecast.  it didn't dampen their spirits whatsoever, though:

the bean was ready to go in and conquer some big girl rides.

but first, the old lady steered us towards the jailhouse, where the girls had a blast talking to sad eye joe.  they got a big kick out of bantering with him, and were surprised when he called them all by name.

i took this for the hub, who was originally supposed to go with us but ended up somewhere else...more on that another day.  when i sent it to him, he told me that back in the day they actually used to sell real guns and cigars here.

the bean reenacted a pose she did during another trip to knott's awhile ago.

when the rain kicked in, we headed into the nearest store to pick up ponchos and an umbrella.

they had their christmas tree up already:

and i just barely managed to restrain myself from buying some snoopy ears.

we headed into johnny rocket's for lunch again, just like last time.  the old lady and i decided to share these bacon cheese fries, and they were super delicious.

the bean got sucked into coughing up $6 for the soccer challenge, where she managed to kick two balls into the goal and won a prize.  she ended up giving it to one of the other girls, who really wanted to win but didn't quite make it into the goal.  "besides, what would i do with this thing anyway, mom?"  indeed.

i was excited to see the snoopy on ice show, and everyone else seemed relieved to head inside and relax in the theater seats for awhile.

plus, it gave us a chance to goof around and take a few pictures.

the show itself was actually really damn good.  it's always fun to watch ice skaters do their thing.

and then we tried to ride some more rides, with no luck at all.  the rain wouldn't let up, and every time we got to the front of a line, they'd shut it down because it was too wet.  after checking how much it would be to upgrade our tickets to season passes (we ended up passing) and then enjoying some chicken together, we parted ways.  but wait...did you get a chance to see the shirt i was wearing that day?

i'd thought ahead that morning and suggested the possibility of hitting up disneyland to the old lady, who was (of course) all for the idea.  and with the land only about 10 minutes away from knott's, well...

we stopped and took some fun pictures with their holiday scenery.  it's not often that we're there at night, so i figured we had to get it while we could.

we managed to get onto space mountain in less than half the posted wait time - about half an hour.

and then we did star tours, which we don't do often.  after that, we decided it was time to call it a night.  the bean was visibly pooped, and we were ready to get home and throw on some sweatpants and crawl into bed.  not a bad day though, right?  that was some serious quality time spent together.

happy thanksgiving!

forever thankful for my crazy family - the hub is behind the camera (and didn't really want a matching top).

hope you and yours have a wonderful day!
 

back to my running roots

i can't believe it's been five years since i ran my first 5K.  i was so gung-ho back then, getting out to run at least 3 times a week and even managing to get that run done in under 30 minutes.  pssshyeah.  nowadays, i'm lucky to get an 11:30 mile.

but because i've been running the bryan clay-sponsored fit4fall 5K every year since it started, i didn't see any reason to stop now.  i even managed to rope the hub and the bean into registering (the old lady had to work, so she had an out).  like last year, the bean was excited to do her 3.11 miles on her scooter.  unfortunately, the hub woke up with a terrible head cold and ended up having to opt out.  this actually worked out well though because i knew the bean would pull away from me during the last half of the course, when it heads towards the finish on a downhill.

the hub dropped us off right at the start line and headed off to park the car, and the two of us scampered over just in time to hear the national anthem and find a spot at the start.

and just a couple of minutes later, we took off.

there was lots and lots of complaining and moaning and groaning...because that downhill finish has to be earned with an incline, right?  it seemed like forever before we reached the first mile marker.

then we turned up another street, where the hill could not only be felt, but seen.  cue even more whining, albeit pretty quietly.

she was so grumbly and even got off of the scooter to walk up the hill.  sheesh.

but then, we came upon a water break and the beginning of that blessed decline.  it was "bye, mom, see you at the finish" from here:

and then she disappeared.

i didn't see her again until i crossed the finish line, with a lousy ass chip time of 41:47.  although she'd only gotten there a minute or so ahead of me at 39:44.  and she was already in the concessions line as i found the hub with her scooter.

yay for getting through my 6th fit4fall 5K!

we even found her teacher as we headed towards the car.

with the star wars half coming up in mid-january, i guess i better get back to it with a vengeance.  hell, i haven't even figured out a costume yet!  but that's okay...i'll get it going and pull something together, probably last minute like i always do.  heh.

starting thanksgiving early

okay, so i didn't blog yesterday.  i know, i know.  i totally heard about it from a couple of folks, which kind of makes me happy because that means people are still reading this crap after all these years, ha!  but the bean is on break, which means that i didn't have to get up at any particular time.  and i sure didn't.  i don't think i even got out of bed till after 9.  that's quite a rarity, you guys!  but i did feel like a slug, and now i remember why i don't do that very often.

last week, a couple of days after the awards ceremony, we celebrated thanksgiving with the bean's class.  although we're finding that as they get older, there are less and less class parties.  we used to have these big, elaborate gatherings with fancy clothes and full-on thanksgiving spreads.  and now that she's in the third grade, it's limited to the last 45 minutes of the school day and involves just a craft and a snack.  i guess that's not terrible - it gives the teachers more instructional time and blah blah blah, but it's kind of a bummer.  anyway, my fellow room mom and i threw together an idea for a craft at the last minute and the old lady helped me do some assembly the night before.

when we got to school the kids were at recess, which gave us some time to get things set up.  the desks were pushed together and covered with a thanksgiving-themed table cover that had fun games printed on it.  and then we had a little time to look around the room and check out the kids' artwork that was up on the bulletin boards.  i cracked up when i came across this (they're in that part of the year where they're studying native american history):

because i was the one who had assembled and put together a sample of our craft, i ended up being the one to stand up in front of the class to explain how to do it.  i haaaaaaate talking in front of people...yes, even a bunch of 9 year olds.  i'm so awkward and i get all hot and sweaty, and i'm definitely not meant to be a teacher.  but i tried to pretend like it was just my little group of girl scouts and got through it as fast as i could.  and while they all worked on their little activity, we went out into the hall to get portraits of the kids one by one.  and then if their parent(s) were present, we took photos of them, too.  you know, something like this:

and of course, we room moms had to get a shot together too.

this was the bean's finished craft, and i smirked as i saw the order of her priorities.  sushi before mom.  cool.

a few hours later, it was time to celebrate thanksgiving with our brownie troop.  we'd asked everyone to come dressed in their best, and each girl brought something to share with the group.

poppin' bottles.

after everyone had been served, we made plates for ourselves and dug in.

and of course, a group picture before we cleaned up and left.

ah, thanksgiving.  such a fun time to celebrate with all of our circles of friends.  the girls and i went out and did all of our grocery shopping yesterday and managed to pick up everything on our list.  we're hosting friendsgiving at our house this year, and it'll be fun to cook a big holiday meal again.  i can't wait!