End of Year Recap

I'm about three months behind on a few posts that I've wanted to write for a while.  Since I officially checked out from life due to "all day" sickness, from September to November, I'm going to catch up on several fun family outings.  Think of this as my year end recap.

September - We took a plane ride to OC for our last summer hoorah. During our previous flight we spent an hour on the tarmac while Jack chanted "I go home now". We took a short hiatus before flying again, and this was our maiden voyage. I figured it had to be better than 6-8 hours in the car. My plan worked. I prepared for the worst, and hoped for the best. We got an easy flight, no delays, and no chanting.  We had a terrific weekend, swimming, and soaking in the warm last days of Summer before the school juggle started.

The flight attendant stood on some seats in order to get an arial view of the family.

This is one of my favorite photos because of the light reading Nathan is doing in the background. As Nate would say, "Safety first!"

Nate and Grandma - great buddies

Are the bags coming?

What you didn't see were the hours of coaxing it took to get Jack in the water, and when he got in, he LOVED it!

  

October - All four of us came down with Giants Fever. Oddly enough it hit me the worst. I found myself splurging on end of season tickets, just to get one last glimpse of the team. Call it mother's intuition, or just crazy luck, but I think I purchased the best tickets of the year. We headed to the city to watch the Giants clinch the NL West Division. Other than wanting to puke at the smell of hotdogs and garlic fries, I will admit it was the best baseball game I've ever been to. It was an incredible day in SF, warm, clear and perfect for baseball.

Decked in Giant's gear. Even ready with a glove!

About this time is when we started to notice our two year old has quite the ham in him!

October Part 2 - Morning sickness got worse, but somehow I found a way to muster up enough energy to celebrate Halloween. (Let's not forget it's my 3rd favorite holiday.) We headed to our friend's house for a group trick-or-treating. Nate was Hans Solo, or as some commented a creepy Bank Robber, and Jack was a Fireman.

November - Pictures started to slow down, as did any adventures outside of the house. By the end of November I was feeling better, and we hosted Thanksgiving for 16 people. I lost my camera at some point during this month, and didn't have enough energy to find it until December...hence no pictures of Thanksgiving this year!

December - The biggest news to hit December was Baby Girl Willbank's ultrasound. We have now officially named her Baba ---pronounced Baybah! It's Nate's choice, and I told him he could have it for the next four months at which point we will rename her. (And it won't be his second favorite name, Sledgeborg.)

Outside of the Big Reveal, we managed to fit in Hanukkah, Christmas, a trip to G-ma and G-pas, New Year's at the Johnson's for Danny's big 10th birthday and Disneyland with 80,000 people. Needless to say it was a very BUSY month.

I feel the need to comment on our day at "The Happiest Place on Earth". We considered it Jack's first time, since the time before he spent sleeping in a car seat. (6 months old.) Although the park sold out in under two hours, and the lines were at least 60 minutes long, somehow it still maintained the Happiest Place on Earth status. Here is my theory. Having children prepares you for a sold out day at Disneyland. Because you live in chaos, and noise everyday, the lines don't seem so bad. It will take you 30 minutes to walk across the park, but honestly some days it takes us 30 minutes to load the car. So in weird way....we were prepared!

And when the going got really tough, there was nothing a churro couldn't fix. We even waited in 30 minute lines for the churros, but somehow life was still great. Maybe it was the smell of popcorn they pump in through the streets. Whatever it was, the smile on Nate's face and the sugar on Jack's made it all worth it!

Jack had to have these hands. I think he actually believed he was Mickey for a few moments.

That's all for my 2010 recap. Phew...I feel like life is back on track. Now I just need to get my thank you cards in the mail. If you are reading this Aunt Sophie, Marla and Aunt Marcie, thank you for your generous gifts, the kids loved them, and your thank you cards will be in the mail very soon. 

Happy 2011!  The year of the baby girl!