The dishwasher. It's been a love hate relationship since we moved in. The hate side finally got the better of me and it was replaced. Now it is just a love/love relationship. It is so quiet and efficient. We are all happier and our dishes are cleaner
Winter fun seems silly when you live near the beach in Southern California, but that's the joy of living here. You can drive 2 hours North from our house, see the ocean while driving, have a beautiful warm 73*F day, and still end up in a winter wonderland. That's exactly what the Afualo Family decided to do this weekend.
We've been having lots of rain and the mountains have been getting a lot of snow so we thought that it might be fun to go visit it. That was until I started gathering snow clothes for everyone in March. That wasn't easy, but thanks to a few friends who lent out their stuff and some overly expensive stores (Sports Chalet), who don't let the national trend dictate what and when they sell things in their store, everyone was properly outfitted. 
We had a test run Friday night to make sure everyone knew where their stuff was. Saturday morning we woke up a little earlier than normal and headed North. We went to the place called Forrest Falls, which is at the base of the San Bernadino Mountains, just below Big Bear. We were a little worried at first because their was no snow around, but as we kept going up (in elevation) it popped out of nowhere.
Lily couldn't wait to get on it, in it and touch it. The kids took to snow like they did to water. We had finally gotten them all suited up when the first snowballs started flying. We went sledding as well and I would like to say that I went the farthest. We had so much fun that we have decided we need to not be bottom dwellers (elevation wise) all the time, but will plan on visiting the snow more often. It was definitely a nice break. We think we will try skiing and snowboarding next.
We stopped by Mortensen Manor on the way home and got to play with family and eat dinner there too. It was a great day!
The Blue and Gold Cub Scout dinner was tonight and we are so glad it is now over. It has ruled our house for the past month. It was a stressful event, but I think we managed to pull it off. Damon did a great job with the activity. He had the boys pretend they were stranded on a tropical island and they had to be resourceful with the items that they found and tell everyone what they would do. The theme for the month was resourcefulness.
The boys had to pop balloons to get their awards out. Noah earned is aquanaut, artist and athlete badge. He is almost done earning for his Webelo and Arrow of Light. Yea! The boys also had to make a cake for Pack Meeting since we are celebrating cub scouts birthday. They did the cake all by themselves.
We went to the library because they were hosting the Wild Animal Park. We were able to meet a cuckabura bird, an American Alligator and an ant eater. It was fun.
Back in January I booked a room at the Disneyland Hotel for a little family get away. With me being out of commission for a little bit I thought it would be a fun treat when I got back to "normal". I even asked Damon to take 2 days off of work for it. The kids didn't have school on Friday so it worked even better. Damon and I decided not to tell the kids and it was a hard secret to keep from them.
So Thursday morning I sent the kids off to school and had told them that they had a dentist appointment and that I would be picking them up a little bit early. Yes, I told a lie, but I didn't want them to assume what we were doing when I picked them up. Damon was in the car when the kids got there and that surprised them. Then we passed the dentist office and then they started asking questions. By the time we past Oceanside they were really confused. Damon and I were laughing as we told them that we were driving to Oregon. Noah looked in the back and noticed there was luggage. He doesn't like surprised at all so he totally started freaking out. He demanded that we tell them where we were going and after a few minutes of kidding around we told them. They weren't excited until we told them where we were staying. Most kids get excited about going to Disneyland. Not mine. 
Well, the real surprise came for all of us when we checked into the Disneyland Hotel and ended up being the Family of the Day! I had reserved one of their basic rooms, without a view and that hadn't been updated, at a discount price. We were upgraded to a two bedroom suite with a view of the Parks on the top floor. This suite was bigger than our house, almost, and the views were so amazing. It had 2 bathrooms. We almost just felt like hanging out in the hotel the whole time. My kids are never going to want to stay anywhere else.
It was a flashback trip for Damon and I as we took the kids to see Captain EO. We laughed our heads off. The kids like it, but my favorite thing was Adam asking after it was over, "Was that a guy or a girl? I couldn't tell." He was referring to Michael Jackson. We also went to Electronica where they started it out by playing 80's songs and talking about the super computer. We laughed again as we sang along to the music.We had a fun 2 days at the park with turn down service and room service at the hotel and no waiting in lines on Thursday. Friday was a bit more crowded, but we still managed to have fun and see World of Color. We loved spending time together as a whole family which makes me feel truly blessed. My favorite thing is to here the words, "Thanks Mom. This is the best day ever!" I got a lot of those.
Me and Michael's should not get together very often. Every time I walk in my imagination runs wild about all the activities I can be doing. I really have to control myself during each holiday.
We love Valentine's Day!
