Dodger FanFest

Ho.Ly.Cow.

This past Saturday, Debbie and I were scheduled to have a girls day.  But it was also Dodger FanFest day and the boys reallllllly wanted to go, so we decided to go to FanFest and make it a Family day instead of just girls day.

But, Kevin ended up auditioning for a band and Bill was busy working on their laundry room re-model, so Deb and I decided to take the boys ourselves and make a day of it.

Muuuuuaaaahhhhaaaaaaa.  Little did we know what was in store for us!

All of the information we read said that the gates would open at 10:00 a.m., but the event didn't start until 11:00 a.m.  We figured that if we arrived shortly after 10:00, we'd be fine.  NOT.  We arrived to find the gates had opened earlier and by the time we parked the car and walked over to the line, we were, in fact late. How late you ask?  Well .... let's put it this way:  Here we are:  (well, more precisely, here's Deb - doesn't she look happy?! The boys have already wandered over to the merchandise area by this time ... and we've only been here a few minutes!)

...and here's the line we're waiting in:

Why yes, that line does go up one side of the hill, and those folks you see headed in the other direction back down the hill?  Well, those are allllllllllllllllllllll the folks that are in line AHEAD of us.  No.  Don't worry.  Really, it wasn't that bad.  A brief THREE hours is all it took.  

For what, you ask?  WHY were we standing in line for three hours?  Well, to get wristbands of course!  Why, you're asking yourself, did we need wristbands?  Well, to get an autograph, silly!  Whose autograph?  Well, that kind of depended.  On what?  Who was still there - and whose autograph hadn't already 'sold-out'.  

Now it all makes perfect sense, right?  

No?  

Yeah, well, after three hours in line, a lot of crazy things began to make sense.  At least, more sense than they would have made if we weren't delirious from waiting in that line while suffering both thirst and having to use the bathroom.

But I digress.  I will say that while we were in line, we did see some lovely sites...

...and met some interesting (albeit mostly whiney) people...

...and still had to stand in line once we got said wristbands...

but was it really worth it?  Well, sure.  I mean really - we have stories to tell, boys who were thrilled to be here, and an autographed baseball, so yeah, I'd say it was worth it.  (Yes, Jeff - we did stand in line to get Luis Cruz' autograph.  Please don't ask again!)

January in Southern California

Ahhhh California.

While the east coast is basking in several inches of snow, we were busy basking in the sunshine of a delightfully warm and sunny Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

To celebrate, Kevin and I headed to Huntington Library - sunglasses, sun hats and picnic basket in tow.

As always, the grounds were magnificent.  The roses weren't in bloom yet, but it's definitely camellia season.  They are just gorgeous.  

It's been a while since we've been there, so we had a great time wandering through the gardens and stopping in a few of the museums to check out the current exhibits.  Before we left, we found the perfect shade tree under which to picnic.  It was the perfect way to spend a holiday with my honey.

Put a Dodge in you Garage

Okay, not really a Dodge.  More like a 4Runner and Fit, but HEY!  They really ARE in our garage!!

One of our goals from our July move-in was to get both cars in a phenomenally messy garage.  Since moving in, the garage has sort of been our 'catch-all' place.  We didn't want it to be that way, but it took a while to get things in some semblance of order.  We made a good effort in late August, but ... well, it was pretty unsustainable.  So much so that we sort of gave up and it, in fact got worse each week instead of better.

However, we made a pact that we would have that darn garage cleaned out and parkable by the time winter break was over and we had to head back to work.

It took some doing - and the better part of two full days - but we FINALLY did it!!  Even once we had everything cleared out, it was a bit questionable as to whether we'd really be able to fit both cars in the garage, but we were determined.  And lucky!  Both fit juuuuuuuust by hair, but hey - that works for us!

(I'll spare you the before picture; trust me, it wasn't pretty!)

Happy (almost) New Year - Family Game Night!

WooHoo!

This year I was chosen to host a Hasbro Family Game Night Party!  HouseParty, the company who selected me to host, sent us four games for the party: Twister, Yahtzee, Draw Something and CatchPhrase.  We invited family, friends and neighbors to join us on Sunday, January 30th to join us for a night of food and fun.

And was it ever!  We had a total blast!  The consensus was that CatchPhrase was the favorite game of the night, but I have to say that the Yahtzee table had some pretty intense moments, while Draw Something kept everyone guessing.

Here are a few pics ... don't you wish you'd been there, too?!