Facebook and Disneyland ... twice.

I have been such a bad blogger since I got on Facebook. It's just so much easier to put a quick update on Facebook rather than write a whole post and add pictures to the blog. I love my blog because it a great journal of our life, but I have found that my life just doesn't have time to blog right now. I will definately try better.

So, what has the Foley family been up to? We have been to Disneyland twice. Once in January for Tristan and Hailey's birthdays and then again for the weekend at the end of February.

Here are some pictures from our January trip. It was me, Tim Grace, Kelly, Chris, Hailey, Tristan, my Mom, my Dad, my Grandma, and my brother Sean. It was so great to have us all together.

Our trip in February was just me Tim and Grace. We left after work on a Friday night and drove up to my parents house to drop off the dog. We then headed down to our hotel, which was about 2-1/2 blocks from the front gates of Disneyland. We went right to bed so we would be well rested for the next day. In the morning we headed out on the short walk up to Disneyland and stopped at McDonald's on the way for a quick breakfast. We got to the entrance plaza just as the gates opened ... perfect timing. Since we have been to Disneyland a lot lately we decided we were going to take our time and really enjoy it we thought we would and let Grace choose what she wanted to ride. First up ... Dumbo. After a few hours of rides and meeting some of our favorite characters we headed over to Califonia Adventure, we wanted to try to get on the new Toy Story ride before it really got crowded. I am so glad we got on it, it was so fun! It is a 3D ride and you shoot stuff for points ... If the line wasn't so long I would have rode it again. It was almost 12:30 by then and we had reservations for the princess lunch so we we went to check in. Lunch was great. Grace was so starstruck meeting all of the princesses, it was so cute! After lunch it was back to the hotel for naps ... all of us :) After our naps we headed back to the park for an evening of rides, rides and more rides. What a fun day!







































The next day we took a little extra time getting out of bed but we still got to the parks only a little after the gates opened. We decided to do stuff that we hadn't done at Disneyland yet such as ride the Riverboat and explore the Pirate's Lair (which is the old Tom Sawyer's Island). It was so neat. There were all kinds of trails and caves to explore with pirates treasure to search for. I am glad we took the time to do that, Grace had a lot of fun. After the island and a quick lunch we headed home. What a fun weekend!

Night At The Foley House

Here is a cute video of Grace dancing and twirling her baton last night. Enjoy!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8720170306766393996&hl=en

Welcome Missy

Two weeks ago we welcomed a new addition to our family. Please welcome Missy, out new bulldog! She is 3 years old and we adopted her from the So Cal Bulldog rescue. She is very sweet and mellow. She is awsome with Grace. Grace became attached the minute we brought her home.

Christmas

Christmas Eve was nice and quiet with Tim, Grace and I enjoying each other. We went to Christmas service at church at 4:30. Grace was great during church!!! After church the 3 of us went out for a nice dinner. After dinner we headed home to call Tim's family, they were all gathering at Tim's mom's house in San Francisco to celebrate. After talking with all of them we got in our Pj's and opened a few gifts from Tim's side of the family. We prepared a plate of cookies and cup of milk for Santa and then got Grace down to sleep.

Bright and very early Christmas morning Grace was up and ready to see if Santa had come. First she saw the empty plate of cookies and her eyes were as wide as saucers. Then she saw all of the gifts under the tree and she said, "Oh my goodness!" It was so cute. All Grace kept saying she wanted for Christmas when anybody asked her was ... candy. So she went to her stocking and she said, "I think Santa put candy in here!"

After a whirlwind of opening gifts we got ready and got on the road to my parent's house for a fun day of just hanging out. Around 3:00 my sister, husband and two kids arrived and the whirlwind of opening gifts started all over. It was so much fun!

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Our Christmas was so blessed!

Christmas Activities

I know, I have been such a bad blogger... I will try better. I can't believe Christmas has come and gone, just like that. Our month of December was filled with fun Christmas activities. Here our a few highlights of our month ...

Our adoption playgroup decided to do a Breakfast with Santa potluck. We all brought yummy breakfast food and we even had some mimosas for the adults to enjoy. After eating we had a special visit from Santa!!! All of the boys loved Santa, the girls on the other hand wern't too sure of of the big guy. Grace got close to him but would not sit on his lap. She did give him a hug before he left though.

This december we did lots of crafts and baking. Grace was so fun and helpful this year. She loves being given a job, weather it be to mix the batter or clean up all of the scraps from a project, she will take the responsibility and get the job done. One of the fun projects we did was to make a ginger bread house. We did this last year and had a great time. I thought it could be a little tradition of ours. This year's house turned out much better than last years.

Another tradition that started a few years back is to visit the live nativity at our church then hop in the car and take a drive over to a neighborhood in our town that goes all out with the Christmas lights. This year we had some friends over for dinner then we did the nativity and lights together. We walked the whole neighborhood and Grace loved seeing all of the different light displays. She loved it so much we drove it again the next night. It was really cold that night so here is a cute picture of her all bundled up in her new hat and "globes", ready to go.

Halloween

Our Halloween was very special this year. Tim's mom flew in that day from San Francisco to spend the weekend with us. Grace dressed up as a fairy this year. My mom bought the pattern for this costume a long time before she had any grandchildren. She said that one day she would have a girl grand baby to make the costume for. Well ... this was finally the year! The costume turned out soooooooo cute. It was the perfect year for Grace to be a fairy since Tinkerbell just came out on video. Every time Grace see the commercial she gets so excited. I think Santa will have to bring that movie to her this year. Enjoy the pictures!

Pumpkins!

I love fall, I love pumpkins, I love Halloween! Here are some cute pictures ...

Camping

I am a little behind on updating my blog. Here are pictures from our camping trip in September.

Our Little Princess

Grace got a lot of dress up clothes for her birthday. Her favorite right now is her Snow White costume, especially the Snow White shoes. She puts the shoes on every day when she gets home.

Ariel Party

A couple months ago, when I started thinking about Grace's birthday party, I couldn't decide on a theme. I decided to print out a page of all of the different themes that I found on one of the birthday party store websites. I showed the page to Grace and let her pick which one she wanted. She immediately picked Little Mermaid. I was really excited because I have loved Little Mermaid since it came out, it's one of my favorite movies of all time.

Since Grace picked the theme so many months ago she has been asking me almost everyday if her Ariel party is today. Finally, the day of the big party came on Sunday. We held the party at the same indoor play area that we had her party at last year, Playtown. We ended up having 34 adults and 16 kids! The party was a blast, all of the kids had a lot of fun. Cake was the only thing that got the kids to sit down for a minute.

Grace got so much great stuff. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.

Happy Birthday

Today our sweet baby girl turns 3!!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!

Good-bye Penny Girl

We had to say good-bye to our beloved Penny girl yesterday. Tim had Penny before he met me and when I fell in love with Tim, I fell in love with Penny too. Penny had a good long life. We are going to miss her more than words can express.

4th of July

I need to start by saying I LOVE FIREWORKS!!! In the past few years we haven't had the opportunity to go see any. Grace was still so little and would get really cranky if we went off of her sleep schedule. Plus, she doesn't really like loud noises, she covers her ears when the gardner comes or if a motorcycle goes by.

When I was little our tradition was to go to my Grandma's house for a BBQ then all of my aunts, uncles and cousins would pile into cars and head out to Shaler Park (Pittsburgh) to watch the fireworks. We would bring blankets, chairs, and snacks and we would settle in for the firework display. My sister would always sit in front of my mom or Grandma and they would cover her ears because she hated the loud booms.

After we moved to California we didn't really get into the swing of creating a tradition for 4th of July. A couple years in a row we would take a picnic dinner to a park that was about a mile away from the fireworks. We could see them, but we wern't right there getting the full effect of the fireworks. As we got older we kind of all went our seperate ways for the 4th.

This year, Corona (where my parents live), moved their fireworks to this huge park across from my parent's old house. We decided to make a picnic dinner and make an evening out of it. We got to the park at about 6:00 PM and the festivities were in full swing. They had a band that played the entire time, jumpy's for the kids, a rock wall, games, and food booths. Grandma brought a pinwheel for Grace and she was marching around with it like she was the leader of a band. We were sitting on a hill and Grace turned so her back was facing down the hill and she fell backwards and realized that she could do backward rolls. I picked Grass out of her hair for days from her rolling down the hill! Finally it was time for fireworks. I was worried that Grace wouldn't like the fireworks because of the loud noise, but she loved them! It was such a fun and perfect 4th of July!

San Antonio - Days 3.4. and 5

The next day we decided we wanted to take it easy. We were pretty tired from two action packed days of fun. A lazy day by the pool is just what we needed. I think the pictures say it all ...

























After after all of the pool fun and naps we headed downtown to expolore the Alamo and Riverwalk. The Alamo is smaller then what you picture, but the history there is so great. The Riverwalk is like nothing I have ever seen. It is a beautiful, tropic, meandering river with tons of restuarants, bars, hotels, and nightlife. We took the boat tour and then had dinner.


















On our last full day in San Antonio we went to the San Antonio Children's Museum. We have been to a lot of children's museums and this is one of the best. It had a lot of Texas culture in the activities. One of our favorite things at the museum was the fake cow that you could milk. After the museum we went to the Buckhorn Saloon for lunch. It was a very interesting, old saloon. All of the walls were covered with animal heads.

Later that evening we went back to the Riverwalk for dinner and then we sat outside and listened to a band play while we had some ice cream. Grace was digging the music and even showed off her dance skills a little. I will add a video of Grace and her dance soon, so please check back. It was the perfect end to our wonderful vacation!

San Antonio - Day 2

We got up and got ready and our friends met us in the parking lot of our hotel. After a quick review of our directions we got on the road to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch and Caverns. It was about a 30 minute drive and we were pulling into the Wildlife Ranch.

The Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch is dubbed "African Safari - Texas Style". As you enter the park they give you a bag of food and they tell you to drop the food outside of your car as you drive through the ranch. It was amazing, the animals were right there!!! I think the pictures speak for themselves. My favorite part was when the Zebra stuck his head in our car. I have never seen a zebra so close and I never dreamt of feeding a zebra out of my hand!!!

After the drive through we parked and went in to have lunch in the cafe. After a quick lunch we went outside to the petting zoo area to see some more animals and take some pictures.

Right next to the gate for the Wildlife Ranch is the gate for the Natural Bridge Caverns so we went there next. We took a guided tour of the caverns and saw some spectacular rock formations. The path takes you down about 200 feet into the ground and some parts were very steep and very slippery. I was worried that Grace wouldn't be able to walk it and that we would have to carry her, but it turns out that I had nothing to worry about. Our little girl was a trooper, she walked almost the entire way herself!

It was a long day and we were all exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel so we all took naps. After nap time we grabbed a quick bite to eat then headed to the pool to cool off. The perfect end to a fun day


Look for the continuation of our trip soon!

We're Back Ya'All

We went on vacation to San Antonio, Texas last week and we had a blast!

We arrived in San Antonio around 6:45 pm on Sunday 6/9. We stepped out of the airport into stifling heat. It was 98 degrees with 82% humidity, yuck! After getting our rental car we made our way out to our hotel. We checked in and got settled then went down to the resaurant in the hotel. After a quick bite to eat we decided to take a walk around and check it out before heading back upstairs. We walked out in the courtyard by the pool and found a movie playing on the wall, fire pits blazing and the smell of roasting marshmellows in the air. It was really neat! We stopped by the playground and Grace played for a little while then we headed up to our room for a good night sleep.

Bright and early the next morning I opened the door to Grace's room and she rolled over and smiled and said, "See Shamu now?" Yep, we headed out to Sea World on the shuttle and were there before they opened. Some of you are probably thinking ... "You live and San Diego and have a Sea World there ..." Well, I heard this Sea World has some different stuff and we were meeting our friends there so it was a great opportunity to compare the two parks.

We met up with our friends at the dolphin feeding. It was so great to see them! After spending a small fortune in fish for the dolphins, we stopped by the shark exhibit then went over to Shamu's Happy Harbor where there was a cute little roller coaster. Unfortunately Grace was about a half of an inch too short and they wouldn't let her ride. She was so upset. Across from the roller coaster was a water play area, so while our friends rode the roller coaster I took Grace to the bathroom to change into her swim suit. It was only 10:00 am and it was really starting to heat up so the water was a nice cool down for the kids.

Next on the agenda was to check out the water area of the park called Lost Lagoon. I didn't know what to expect, but our friends planned on spending the rest of the day there. As we approached the entrance to the Lost Lagoon we saw a huge crowd of people waiting to get in, apparently that area doesn't open till 11:00. After walking down a long path it opened up to a giant waterpark. It was like you were in a whole different park. There was a lazy river, wave pool, toddler area, tons of water slides and a giant play area with water cannons, buckets toppling over, and water shooting out of various valves. It was really neat! I think our Sea World needs something like this! We spent the rest of the afternoon there and we had a blast. At one point we got seperated from our friends and while strolling around we heard our names being called. We looked up and above us, waiting in line for a huge water slide, were our friends. They called for us to come up there and ride with them. They said that they check the height and Grace could ride too! On this slide you rode down the chutes in a raft of 4 people. I was a bit nervous about how Grace would do, but she was excited to go on. Of course she had a blast and giggled the whole way down! I am sorry to say that I didn't get any pictures while we were in the water park because we were having just oo much fun!

It was getting to be pretty late in the afternoon and I knew if I didn't get Grace down for a nap the evening would not be fun. We gathered our stuff and headed back to the hotel for some rest.

After a nap for Grace and showers for Mom and Dad we were ready to meet our friends for dinner. There was a BBQ place on the corner by our hotel and we asked the shuttle driver who took us over to Sea Worl if that BBQ place was good. He said it is probably the best around so we thought we would give it a try. Rudy's is a country store, gas station and BBQ (very interesting). The food was yummy!!!

After dinner we caught a shuttle from our hotel over to Sea World for the Shamu Rocks show. I really liked the Shamu stadium here. It was completely covered offering nice shade from the sun. It was still unbearably hot because there was no breeze, but at least the sun wasn't beating down on us. The Shamu show was good. It was to all country music, which I loved!

That pretty much sums up day 1. Day 2 of our trip report to come soon!

First Roller Coaster

Roller coasters have been a part of my life since I rode my first one before I could speak full sentances. I LOVE roller coasters! I remember going to Kennywood Park when I was little and begging to go on the roller coasters. The Little Dipper was the first one I rode. I needed and wanted more after that first ride ... The next one was the Jack Rabbit. I was so little that my mom had to wrap her arms around me to hold me in my seat on the killer double hill ... all the while I laughed like crazy! Roller coasters hold a lot of special momories for me. I got to go off with my mom, grandma, and pappy and ride the roller coasters while my dad stayed with my little brother and sister. My brother and sister never grew to like roller coasters until they were adults so it was always a special time that I got to spend with the adults.

Yesterday we took the day off and took Grace to Disneyland. Our annual passes are about to expire at the beginning of June so we wanted to get one more trip in. It's so crowded and hot in the summer so we probably won't renew our passes until the fall.

The day was beautiful. We got on the road at about 6:30 and after a stop at Starbuck's we headed north on the 5 freeway. We walked up to the front gates just after the park opened at 9:15 am. Our plan was to head straight to Nemo. The lines had been so long all of the other times we were there. We waited 45 minutes to ride it and it was ok. Next we headed to Mickey's Toontown where we went straight to the Go Coaster. I couldn't wait to take Grace on her first roller coaster. I was hoping she would love it ... I was not disappointed. She smiled and laughed during the whole ride. As soon as we got off she wanted to ride again. It made me so HAPPY!

We are in the front car, I will try to edit the picture for a close up.

Mother's Day

I hope all of the Mother's had a wonderful day!

I had a day that could not get more perfect! We had a nice brunch at the Omni Hotel, downtown. After brunch we went to the New Children's Museum.

Castle Park

When I was 13 we moved from Pennsylvania to California. My parents were just learning the area and they would always try to find fun stuff for us to do. I have no idea how they came to find Castle Park, but it became a place where we made tons of fun memories. Castle Park is a little amusement park/arcade/miniature golf course. The mini golf course is like no other that I have ever been to in my life, even now. There are 4 courses that weive in and out of each other. All of them are beautifully landscaped and they have really fun obstacles to get through. They have a lot of holes where you hit the ball into a hole and it comes out down on a different level and you don't know where it is going to come out. The arcade was always great for a competive game of air hockey and I could always be found at the Pac Man machine. We would collect endless amounts of tickets from the skee ball machines, hoping for a great prize but always ended up going home with a rubber ball or something just as lame. As I got older Castle Park became a fun place to "hang out". My frinds and I would ride the "big" rides, most of which spin you until your brain felt like scrambled eggs and later we would over dose on cotton candy. We would always scope out the place for cute boys, I think I even had a crush on a boy working at one of the carnival games.
I tell you all of this because a couple of weekends ago I went to Castle Park for the first time in almost 15 years! I wasn't sure what to expect ... was it going to be the same as I remeber it in all of my fun memories? Had the place gotten run down over the years? Had they completely changed the place? Well ... it was everything i remembered it to be and more. Being a mom I saw the park through a whole new set of eyes. I didn't realize they had so many cute kiddie rides! The park had been kept up and barely changed at all in 15 years. We had a really great time. I can't wait until Grace is big enough to play mini golf. I know that we will create so many fun new memories there.

Mother's Day Project

For my mom's first Mother's Day as a Grandma I made her a stepping stone for her garden. Grace was just 10 months and we made an imprint of her hand and decorated it with colored glass. My mom LOVED it! She asked that we make one every year on Mother's Day. My dad also loved the stones and asked that we make him one for Father's day too. When they moved into their new house, my parents planned a place for the stones with room to grow over the years. It is a special tradition that we always have fun doing. So here are a couple of pictures of us making my mom's stone this year.

Legoland

Since Tim and I work during the week we really try to make the most of the time we have as a family on the weekends, especially on Saturdays that Tim does not have to work or coach Little League. Last week we were trying to figure out what to do on Saturday. We really wanted to use our Disney annual passes again before it really starts to get crowded, but we realized that Saturday was one of our blackout dates. I've had a coupon for Legoland sitting on my dining room table for weeks now, so I mentioned it to Tim. He thought it was a good idea. We haven't been to Legoland since we met up there with some friends who were down on vacation. At the time Grace was a little over a year old and really couldn't ride anything. So Saturday we headed out to Legoland.

It was such a fun day. Grace was tall enough to ride a majority of the rides. There was one ride that she had her own seat and Daddy sat behind her and there was even one ride that she had to ride alone! She is such a daredevil. She loved everything! She was such a good girl too. She is a pro at standing in lines now, since we have been taking her to amusement parks and stuff. She even did great at telling me she had to go potty, holding it until we could find a restroom and going potty in the public restrooms. She is getting so BIG!

Wild Animal Park

We are so lucky to live in San Diego! There are so many fun things to do. A couple of weeks ago we decided to venture north to the Wild Animal Park. We go to the zoo all of the time, so we thought it would be a nice change to check out the Wild Animal Park. We had fun taking the safari ride and seeing all of the animals roaming around. Here are some great pictures, ENJOY!

Heat Wave

We had a heat wave this weekend, with temperatures in the high 90's.We took full advantage of the hot wether and did lots of fun stuff. On Saturday we packed a lunch and head for the beach. A lot of people had the same idea, the beaches were packed! We found a nice shady spot next to a playground at Mission Bay. We had lunch, played in the sand and splashed in the water. It was a blast! Grace fell asleep on the way home and ended up sleeping for 3 hours so I took that opportunity to take a nap myself, it was glorious! When she got up we filled up her little pool in the backyard and tried to stay cool by splashing around out there. After dinner we finished off our hot day by going out for ice cream. It was such a great day!


On Sunday after church we decided to go to Victoria's gardens to pick strawberries. Grace was being a little prissy, she didn't want to pick the strawberries herself, but she gladly pointed them out to Daddy and made him pick them. It was funny.

It was such a great weekend. My life is so blessed!

The Wiggles

I am a little behind on my posts, sorry.

A couple of weeks ago we went with Kelly, my mom, Tristan and Hailey to see The Wiggles. I don't particularly care for them and Grace has only seen them on TV a couple of times, but Kelly got some great seats to the show in Los Angeles so we went. The kids were mesmerized by it all and they had a great time. Here are some cute pictures.

Easter

Easter morning started off quite early, 4:30 to be exact. Yep, Grace is an early riser! We tried to get her to lay in bed with us for a little while, but that didn't last very long. So we got up and went to see what the Easter Bunny brought her. Among the stuff in her basket was a purple tutu, necklace, bracelet, and ring. Of course she had to put it all on right way.

After having breakfast and getting ready we got on the road to my parent's house. We swung by their house and picked them up and headed to church. It was a beautifully warm day and the church service was a beauitiful celebration.

After church we went back to Gramma and Papa's house for some lunch and a nap. While Grace napped and the boys watched basketball, my mom and I headed to the gym for a little workout. It was actually really nice to hang out with my mom and just talk.

A little later Kelly and Chris came over with Tristan and Hailey and Sean came over with Christina. The kids had a great time opening their Easter baskets, running around, and playing together. After dinner we headed to the backyard for an Easter egg hunt. It had been so hot earlier in the day, we were afraid the candy in the eggs would melt. It worked out great, the kids had a blast.