My First Lynnderella Nail Polish | LavenDear

YAY!!! I received my first Lynnderella nail polish today in the mail. I was lucky enough to get on Llarowe's wish list for Lynnderella. I chose (3) polishes and I received LavenDear but Love Potion No. 99 and Thank Blue are on backorder. I love LavenDear and I can't wait for the others to arrive :)

Shop Llarowe for a-england, Girly Bits, Glitter Gal, HITS, Ludurana and Ozotic!

Disneyland Afternoon (cont.)

One of the main reasons my son wanted to go to Disneyland yesterday was to eat a corn dog from the bright red corn dog truck on Main street. So the first thing we did was stand in line to get corn dogs for my husband and son. They really are the best corn dogs. Unfortunately, I can't eat corn dogs without feeling really sick after. Grease and meat don't agree with me.

After lunch we walked through the sea of people for about an hour waiting for my Dad (Grandpa & Grandma) to arrive.  We met them around 3pm at the Walt and Mickey statue.

Disneyland was insanely packed, so we walked across to California Adventure. It was almost as crowded as Disneyland and it is under major construction. California Adventure will be awesome when it's done but it is not worth going until it's finished. By 4pm it was too crowded to go on any rides so we went home (one good thing about having passes is we can leave if it's too crowed).

Before we left California Adventure we walked through the Walt Disney Imagineering Blue Sky Cellar located by the Wine Country Trattoria at the Golden Vine Winery. Blue Sky Cellar reveals the creative process used to develop Cars Land. My son really enjoyed seeing the sketches, concept art and models. Cars Land is coming to California Adventure on June 15, 2012.

Disneyland Afternoon

We are annual Disneyland pass-holders and we haven't been in months and months. On Monday, out of the blue my son asked me if we could go to Disneyland on Thursday (he really hasn't been interested in going for some time now). I told him if he finished all his work by lunch time we could go for a few hours later in the afternoon.

He finished his work by 11am. We will be heading to Disneyland around 1:30pm today. Grandpa and Grandma are meeting us there around 2pm. They have annual passes as well and go almost weekly.

I will post pictures later tonight :)

Khan Academy | Watch. Practice. Learn almost anything for free.

Today is starting off a little slow for the whole family. I just finished my son's check-list at 9am for today's lessons. I try to incorporate conceptual videos from Khan Academy a couple times a week in Math and Cosmology and Astronomy.

This week I decided to add videos from Art History: - 400 C.E. Ancient Cultures. At the top of the Art History page is a link to a free, multi-media web-book about art and art history: Smarthistory.org. Part of the Khan Academy, they use multimedia to deliver unscripted conversations between art historians about the history of art. It is designed as a dynamic enhancement (or even substitute) for the traditional art history textbook.

My son loves to use the computer and with a library of over 3,000 videos from Khan Academy he is provided a free world-class education from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history.

Skateboard vs. Minecraft

My son had been asking my husband and I for over a year to buy him a skateboard. So for Christmas we bought him an inexpensive skateboard to see if he was really interested. Around the same time his Grandpa got him Minecraft for the PC. Needless to say, Minecraft won over the skateboard. He never used the skateboard until today for his first private skateboard lesson at enties Skate Park.

He did awesome and he wants to continue. We will be buying him a better quality one this week. So my hopes are high for a new hobby that involves the outdoors instead of playing Minecraft all the time.

Humboldt Vacation

We returned home on Thursday night from our trip to Humboldt Redwoods National Park. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Redwood Forest! This was the first vacation EVER that was not over crowded with people. We joked that it was like being in a Twilight movie. The best vacations are the ones were you are not surrounded by a ton of other tourists :)

Our vacation began when we arrived in Santa Barbara late Sunday night. We stayed one night at the Best Western Beachside Inn. I don't recommend this hotel, it was dirty and outdated. My husband chose this hotel solely on the fact that he stayed here when he was around the same age as our son now.

Before leaving Santa Barbara the next day, we drove by the Old Mission Santa Barbara on our way to have breakfast in Solvang.

Old Mission Santa Barbara

Breakfast in Solvang

After breakfast we drove about hour before we stopped in San Luis Obispo for a bathroom break at the Madonna Inn. As a child, my parents would stop here on our way to San Francisco. I am so happy that we could add this to our trip. My son and I have decided that we need to stay a night in one of their one hundred ten unique rooms.

Madonna Inn

Madonna Inn Garden

Women's Restroom

Grape Chandelier

We continued our journey to Garberville, Humboldt, California. We stayed two nights at the Best Western PLUS Humboldt House Inn. I highly recommend this hotel if you are visiting Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The staff was friendly, the room was clean and the bathroom had granite counters. The hotel is located conveniently near the entrance of the Avenue of the Giants.

I truly enjoyed the beauty and serenity of the forest. I wish we had a few more days to explore more of the trails. I'm already planning our next trip.

Before heading home we drove to Monterey, California and stayed at the Best Western PLUS Beach Resort. The hotel is located directly on Del Monte Beach. It is a great location but it is very outdated. We were going to stay for two nights but after checking into the room we decided to only stay one night.

It was a long five days in the car for all of us, including Lily. But we survived even with limited to no Internet access or phone service the entire trip. It was a fantastic trip, considering we made no reservations ahead a time. It was very spontaneous...not like any other vacation we have ever planned or not planned before. I'm ready to do it all over again.

Road Trip: Humboldt Redwoods State Park

A few days ago we rented a Toyota Prius to see if we would want to buy one.  We are down to owning only one vehicle right now but it is a giant gas guzzler. We decided to take a road trip up the coast to see how the Prius preforms and if I can pack everything we need to bring with us for a few days (the trunk is pretty small considering how much stuff we usually bring with us when we travel).

We are leaving today to Humboldt Redwoods State Park. As silly as it sounds, I am so excited to drive through a Redwood tree :) Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to see the world's most majestic ancient redwood groves.

Star Wars Exhibit Photos by My Son

I have been wanting to post these pictures for a few weeks but we had misplaced the adapter to my son's camera and we just found it today. In February my mom took my son to the Discovery Science Center to see the Star Wars exhibit.  He brought his camera with him and took some pictures of his favorite costumes and props from the exhibit.  He had a really great time!

Extraordinary Desserts for My Mom's 66th Birthday!

Today was a beautiful sunny day in the low 70's.  It was a perfect day to celebrate my mom's 66th birthday.  We ate lunch at Claire's on Cedros in Solana Beach.  I had the Grilled Veggie Sandwich with Chipotle Aioli on homemade foccacia and my side was the homemade Sweet Potato Fries. All of our food was fresh and super delicious.  We will definitely be returning soon.

After lunch we drove further south to Extraordinary Desserts in San Diego.

My mom had the Coffee Cake with strawberries and raspberries...So Good!

My dessert was the Apple Tart with caramel sauce...LOVE LOVE LOVE!

My husband had the White Chocolate Mousse Cake with berries...Best Ever!

My son chose the Bun Croissant filled with Chocolate...He loved it!

Before heading back home we drove to Seaport Village in San Diego to walk off the birthday celebration food frenzy afternoon. It truly was a prefect day!

Happy Birthday Mom - We love you!