January started out a little wet, which put a "damper" on our camping trip, but we had fun anyway. The rest of the month was so beautiful, high temps and sunny cloudless days!! The winter in California always seems to be a little warmer than summer... funny. We'll miss that very much next year.
This was our trip to the Santa Barbara Zoo. We could see the ocean from here. It was Sam's first trip to the zoo. He had a blast, pointing and laughing at the animals. He got the most excited when he saw the tall giraffes. It was a gorgeous day, as always, in Santa Barbara. We finished the trip with some icecream and a drive down State Street.
This is Sam singing and dancing. He puts his fingers in his cheeks and sways back and forth and claps his little hands... "la la la!!"
This is Sam with his green blankie... a must for bedtime!
Ben's tiny fingers playing Mozart. He was so excited to play a composer he knew... he skipped ahead in his lessons and played this piece, "A Little Night Music", from Sydney's book. His piano teacher made a note "Nice try Ben, this is not your song."
Sipping tea... we had a mint, strawberry and a mango.
Sydney read every card and thanked every guest. She was so sweet. I told her later that she made me so proud to be her mommy that day!
Sydney had her 12th birthday party at Penelope's, a tea house in Lompoc. It was her idea to have tea and scones. She invited a few friends from her class and a few others from homeschooling. We went shopping the night before for her tiara. She's so sweet and innocent, even though she's getting so big.
We went to Disneyland for 3 days last week. It was a blast! We rode our favorite rides and even ate at our favorite restaurant, the Rainforest Cafe.
Sam found a puddle of water left over by all the rain and had a lot of fun with it. He got pretty wet so it was a good thing I had a change of clothes ready.
Sam's favorite ride was "Small World". He "ooo-ed" and "awww-ed" at the characters and swayed to the music. It was so adorable when he would put his hand over his mouth and gasp, so happy!
Ben had a great time at Disney's California Adventure with all the rope climbing! So Ben!
This was the view from our room at the Paradise Pier Hotel. Sydney put Sam's frog in the window so we could maybe see our room from her favorite roller coaster, California Screamin'. It was beautiful at night - we could see the park lit up with thousands of lights!
Sydney in the lobby with Goofy. So cute in her Minnie ears!
Liam got selected from an audience of kids to fight Darth Vader. I was so surprised at how brave he was. He just smiled and did everything the Jedi teacher instructed. Afterward he was given a certificate, making him an official "padawan". He was so proud and kept referring to himself as a padawan - not a kid - the rest of the day.
