New York City

It was pretty much a whirlwind... we took a red eye flight on Thursday, had a layover in Chicago, and arrived in Boston at 9 am. Travis took a bus and train to get a car and came back to pick Gabby and I up at the airport. We promptly drove to Long Island and got stuck in traffic for a two hours... we finally arrived at or friend's house, Carlie and Hayes at about 6:30 pm. We were EXHAUSTED!!! As always, it was great to visit with them and their gorgeous son, Kai. We also got to see our good friend, Kamara. Two trips from Long Island to NYC (Central Park Zoo, Times Square, and FAO Schwartz) and some time with our buddies and we were on to our next adventure in Boston... Dang, we will miss these people!

L.A. and San Francisco

Pink's Hotdogs... It was okay but I'm not sure it was worth the 40 minute wait. Total tourist trap.

Gabby playing on the California coast... 

She LOVES playing in the sand.

Travis and Gabby

Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco... we stayed one night at 

Cliff and Rachael's house- had a blast!

Outside the Museum of Fine Arts. It was so windy!

Drove down Lombard Street

I always wanted to go to Haight-Ashbury... 

we ate lunch here at a place called "Cha-Cha-Cha." 

It was yummy!

Disneyland Trip!

We were fortunate enough to be given a three day and two night package to Disneyland by a very generous family from the school we work at, so we are extremely thankful to them that they made this possible... 

Words cannot explain how much fun Disneyland is with a three-year-old... the look on her face when we went on the rides and gleam in her eye when she saw the Disney characters put a tear in my eye a couple of times... just watching her be so happy, makes me so happy. We stayed at the California Grand Hotel, which is connected to the Disney California park. SUPER convenient! They even had gluten free hotdogs and pizza, so we didn't have to bring extra food! It took five minutes to get into Disneyland and we had a voucher to get into the park one hour early on one of the days. Gabby met tons of characters and got their autographs- Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Minnie Mouse, Ariel, Belle, Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty. Gabby's favorite rides included: Dumbo, Peter Pan, and the Tea Cup ride. Her least favorite was the Pinocchio ride because it was a bit scary. Travis and I did some swapping and were able to go one some adult rides- our favorite was the roller-coaster ride, called "California Screamin'". The main highlights of the trip included the "World of Color" light show, firework show (I'm not a fan of firework shows but this was awesome), and the Aladdin show. Gabby talks about this all the time about how Jafar turned into a snake and the Genie was funny. It really was an amazing show! The acting and singing was really impressive. Travis and I were laughing out-loud at the Genie's adult-themed jokes. Gabby also really liked having lunch at Ariel's Grotto, where she got to eat with all her favorite Disney princesses.

My favorite highlight was taking Gabby to the "Bibbity-Bobbity Boutique." It's a place where little girls get dressed-up as a princess of their choice by a Fairy Godmother and get some pictures taken. It's awesome! She picked out the Snow White outfit (not Cinderella, which surprised me) and the lady had the little birdies make the outfit. Gabby said, "bibbity-bobbity-boo!" and the dressing room opened and her outfit was there. She got her hair done, make-up (lipstick, blush, and sparkles), and her nails painted. They also gave her a pick sash that said, "Birthday Princess." When she was done getting ready, there was a big reveal... they turned her around and the little birdies opened up the curtains so Gabby could see herself in the mirror. Her reaction was funny... I don't think she recognized herself. Afterwards, she got to keep everything and got her picture taken in a carriage. She walked around all day gussied-up as Snow White. It was really cute... 

We were so sad when it was all over... these were such awesome memories...

Gabriella Turns 3!

My little baby is slowly turning into a little girl... Today she turned three and we had a "Dora the Explorer" themed party. She loved it, especially the Dora balloon! Unfortunately the weather was a little cloudy, so we weren't able to have a pool party but the kids ran around and entertained themselves. It was a little low key this year, since we've been busy and will be leaving for California, Oregon, and Disneyland tomorrow. The party was at Grammy and Papa's house (who are out-of-town) and all her cousins were there, plus Harper.

Gabby's School Performance

This was a Chinese song and my favorite peformance...

Singing "Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star"

Kung Fu poses- she's in the back.

Gabby's face at the end when she saw me in the audience...

she wanted her mommy.

Gabby's school put on an enf-year performance. She was so proud of herself and was waving "Hi. mommy!" She did a great job, even though she spaced-out a bit. She really is her mother's daughter... :) S

Huangshan, China Trip

Mt. Huang or "Yellow Mountain." We climbed this and it was over 5000 steps and 6.5 km long. It took me about two hours and the steps were straight up and down. I was in the middle-top of the pack, so not too shabby for a 30-something year-old.

This guy is planting rice. Crazy, huh? He is wearing no shoes and does this for almost ten hours straight. Makes you think differently about that bowl of rice and how it gets to you...

These are tea leaves... we got to pick some and then participate in a Chinese Tea Ceremony. I had no idea what was going on because it was in Chinese but I loved trying all the tea.

My attempt at being artistic...

I bet this roof is 800 years-old or something.

This was a village, called Tangmo. It was really cool. This architecture is traditional Huangshan style 

(white w/ black roofs)

I went on a school trip last week to Huangshan for three nights and four days. I picked this trip because you get to fly both ways and I didn't have to take the overnight train with hard-sleepers. I was completely exhausted the whole time because we were insanley busy, but I actually had fun (minus all the Chinese food, so glad I brought my Western snacks). I enjoyed learning about the culture and getting out of Beijing for a couple days- even though I missed my family.

Great Wall Mutanyiu

We had an amazing time up at the Great Wall this weekend. It was Velora's birthday and a bunch of us rented a house, cooked yummy food at the BBQ, enjoyed good conversation, and relaxed. On Saturday, we hiked around the Great Wall. Gabby did fantastic! We were quite impressed by how much she walked and never complained.