Disneyland

Lots of fun. Lots of pics.

More of the same.

Savannah

Why is it that after a day of taking a million pictures of your kids you wind up with so many more of one particular child? Well I guess this was Savannah's lucky day. So here's a post dedicated to you Vanna (my little peanut.) Thanks for always sharing your beautiful smile and warm spirit with me. I love you, Vannie.

Huntington Beach, CA.

We had a great afternoon at the beach today. The temp was 73* but the water was COLD! However, that didn't keep the kids from jumping in. We collected lots of seashells and even found some large pieces of sea glass. I will write more later, but I am too tired after our little hotel issue that left us temporarily homeless until 5:00 this morning. (I will fill you in later.)

Picture 1: The drugs wore off so now its time for a movie.

Picture 2: Yep, you guessed it. Another roadside wee-wee stop. This pic might border on perverted (if you think so, then shame on you for looking at an innocent Little dude doing as nature intended) but man he must have had to go really bad. He nearly wee-wee'd on his on head!

Picture 3: I did it! I managed to drive our 747 down the famous Lombard St. It was a tight fit and the girls screamed the entire way down. It's during these times when I wished I had a cute little sports car.

Picture 4: More Lombard St. I think I'm somewhere in there driving down the road?

Picture 5: We stayed at the Raddison at Fisherman's Wharf in San Fran and our truck was too tall to pull into their parking area. We had to unload the overhead luggage carrier and take it down and then drag it up to our room. However, on the day that we left, Robert figured out that we could fit when exiting the parking garage. It was a tight fit and Robert had to lead me out. I have way expected him to pull out some cone shaped orange flashlights while he was guiding me out. What a sight we were.

The ROCK

Picture 1: Heading to "The Rock."

Picture 2: The machine shop and electrical shop.

Picture 3: Trying to get everyone to smile. (I will photo-shop my low hanging shirt later)

Picture 4: Taylor and Hudson on the steps in the rec yard. This is where that famous scene in the movie "Escape from Alcatraz" is filmed. The part when Clint Eastwood climbs the stairs to sit by the black dude.

Picture 5: The same steps in the rec yard.

Sadly the weather turned bad today. Yesterday it was 65* outside. Well hopefully the weather will get warmer as we travel further south.

***It's not that we're all trying to look hip in the pictures with headphones on, but rather they are devices that they hand out for the audio tour. They were great and made it sound like we were at the prison during its operational times. They had former inmates & guards tell their personal memories of their time on the rock. The bad part of the listening devices was that the kids could claim that they really didn't hear me yell, "Get over here NOW!" and when I did yell I forgot that I had them on and I yelled really loud and everyone stood there staring at me. They play like a audio book and you can stop and play or rewind and fast forward the story. As you listen it tells you to walk to the left and look at this, then walk to the red door and go in and do this or that. Walk into this or that cell and close your eyes, walk over to the benches and sit down and stare out the window. So basically everyone becomes a robot that's controlled by the devices in their ears. The kids were walking zombies and whenever I told them to stay together they would say, "The voice says I have to go over to that room or the voice says I have to sit here." AHHHHHHHG! I wish those things had an emergency parental override command button. "Everyone get over here NOW or else!" Anyhow it was great and very educational.

The Rock

Starting from the top

Picture 1: The ventilator shaft corridor behind the cell wall where Clarence Angelo cut through the back of his cell wall and climbed up to the roof and then to the water to escape.

Picture 2: A close-up of the back of Clarence's cell with the cut out ventilation grate. The grate was originally cement, but Clarence and the others built a fake one with paper mach'e.

Picture 3: One of the dummy heads that the escaped men created to place in their beds during the nightly bed checks.

Picture 4: A larger view of his cell.

Picture 5: This is the cell of the famous bird man of Alcatraz island. His name was Robert Strous(sp?).

Our visit to "The Rock"

Our visit to Alcatraz has definitely been the biggest highlight of the trip so far. Everyone loved it! I'll post more pics in another post.

Made it to San Francisco... 15 roadside wee-wee's!

We finally made it to San Francisco. Hudson asked to use the bathroom about every 20 minutes or after each cup of flavored water that Robert gave to him. Overall it was a pretty good drive. The DVD player in the truck saved us. I don't know how my parents ever managed to go on road trips with my sister and I when we were younger. We've learned that the two most important things to take on a road trip with children is Benadryl (to drug them) and a DVD player with lots of movies (to distract them for when the drugs wear off).

Mt Shasta

We made it to Redding, CA. The temp is 65* at sunset! We love global warming! Tomorrow we will head for San Francisco. We will be there for 3 days. Everyone is excited to go see Alcatraz.

Nole, The Christmas Mouse

***FYI: If you order through Barnes and Noble I get 5% more royalties!

"Nole, The Christmas Mouse" is here.

Get your copy at one of the links below.

Click here: Barnes & Noble.com - All Product Search: nole the christmas mouse

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When the Weather Outside is Frightful...

When the weather outside is frightful and the fire is so delightful,

Since we have no place to go,

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it STOP. Wait we do have a place to go. We are trying to get to Disneyland this Christmas, but if the snow doesn't let up, we may be Stuck Here.

Time to Bundle Up

Hudson: Hey mom is the snow here yet?

Mom: Why don't you go look out the window and check.

Hudson: WOW! The snows not here, but the poppy-snickles are. (AKA: Icicles)