Disneyland

(we're a little out of order)

After our party, G and Papa (my parents) took all of their kids and grandkids to Disneyland. It was great. The big kids had just as much fun as the little kids.
Jason is an excellent Disneyland tour guide. He knows where everything is and is an expert on certain rides, like Soaring over California. He could recognize the California geography and let me know exactly where our hang glider was headed. His true specialty, though, is the Jungle Cruise. He knows all of the jokes before the tour guide gets to them, and even has a few (better) ones to add. I think I spoiled him by letting him ride it twice in one day.
I learned a valuable lesson about Splash Mountain: don't sit in the front if you don't want to get absolutely, completely soaked. It seems like maybe you'll just get a little splash and it isn't even the big drop that gets you. Especially if there are a couple of football players in the back to weigh your log down, you're going to get drenched. But, it'll be a lot of fun.
There are a few more pictures on the picasa site.

Disneyland preview

These are the pictures I took of the monitors where they display your ride photos at Disneyland.

Air & Space Museum

Since we got back to California I've been doing some work at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. I work in the archives, but I thought it would be a good idea to take Chelsey and explore the whole museum one weekend. It's a pretty interesting museum and it has quite a bit of stuff. (The archives is the third-largest aviation collection in the country, I learned). They have replicas of planes stuffed in all over the place. When I go to work I actually walk in through the basement area where guys work on some of the replicas, which is kind of neat. I think the most interesting one in the museum is the replica of Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, which was actually built in San Diego.
-Jason

chalk art

Sometime (I honestly can't even remember when - the last two months are kind of a blur) I took Jason up to Carlsbad for a Sunday afternoon chalk art street fair. Some of the pieces were really, really impressive. It was hard to believe they were created with chalk and that they were so ephemeral. It seemed like so much work was invested in them that it was a shame they couldn't be saved.
There was also a cake decorating competition. I enjoyed looking at the pros' work and it inspired me to re-start my cake decorating classes as soon as I can.
It was a beautiful day and we had a nice time walking around the fair. Then we explored downtown Carlsbad and took a stroll along the beach. It was the kind of day that reminded us why we moved to San Diego.
There are a few more pictures on the picasa site.

available to babysit

The best thing about coming home was seeing our families and meeting our two new nieces. They are both adorable.
L greeted me by saying my name for the first time. She's very outgoing and full of energy. T greeted me with an intense stare-down. She's warming up to me, which is good because I'm her coolest aunt (ok, so I'm her only aunt).
We look forward to seeing a lot more of both of them -- and their parents!!-- and this picture notwithstanding, we are excellent babysitters.

We're back

We've safely returned from Japan and are back in the U.S. The last two months have been a bit hectic, as you can probably guess since it's taken us that long to get this posted. But I hope to get back on track now and to get our readers caught up.