Morgan invited her basketball team and some friends from school to a sleep-over birthday party. The plan was to have a scavenger hunt the next day, so they started off by splitting up into teams, and each person made a t-shirt with their team’s color as part of the main design. Iris made a big pot of spaghetti for dinner.
Coincidentally, Santa Claus came through the neighborhood, escorted by a couple of police cruisers. He stopped at a nearby corner, Morgan got to tell him what she wanted for Christmas, and the girls all got a group shot with him.
We all then went to El Segundo’s Candy Cane Lane Luckily, Michelle Olson volunteered to drive so we wouldn’t have to try and shuttle all of the kids in two cars. Candy Cane Lane was spectacular, as always. Afterwards, we drove over to Yogurberry, where everyone got to make their own frozen yogurt dessert.
The next day, the group broke up into their teams. Iris had come up with some really good goals for the scavenger hunt, including picking up an item at Airport Cleaners in El Segundo, getting their picture taken with a Rite Aid employee, finding out the price of a chicken taco at Fantastic Cafe, and getting a hand stamp from the El Segundo Library. It was a fairly long scavenger hunt, and both teams came back pooped.
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We went down to the Low’s house in Seal Beach to celebrate various birthdays with Ron’s sisters’ families.
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The Buchers invited us over to their home to celebrate Ernie’s birthday.
Emiko quietly celebrated her fourth birthday.
Stephanie decided she wanted to surprise her friends on her birthday by doing a “reverse” snatch. We started off at 6:15 AM and went to 10 different houses, “kidnapping” her unknowing friends. The rules were simple: no makeup and no changing, other than to put on shoes and a robe or sweatshirt. With three carloads of kids, we ended up at the Stick & Stein restaurant in El Segundo, where we treated all to a hearty breakfast.
Later that night, we met Barbara, Lena, and Barbara’s boyfriend, Ron, for a finger-lickin’ rib dinner at Johnny Rebs in Orange. And in keeping with the Johnny Reb tradition, Stephanie kissed the pig’s butt to bring another year of good luck.
Morgan’s birthday was actually Dec. 18, but we decided to celebrate it during her school’s winter break. Instead of a party, Morgan invited a couple of friends for an overnight trip to Disneyland. We booked a suite at the Disneyland hotel, which fit all six of us comfortably. The four kids took the bedroom while Iris and Ron got the pull-out bed in the living room.
Our first day was spent at Disneyland, and we managed to get in a lot of rides because the park wasn’t very busy. The Christmas decorations were still up, and the Haunted Mansion was still decorated with the Nightmare Before Christmas theme. We had dinner back at the hotel, at one of our favorite spots, Goofy’s Kitchen. After dinner, Ron took the four kids back to Disneyland to catch a few more rides before turning in. The only bummer was that we got stuck in the Pirates of the Carribean ride for almost ann hour because of a malfunction; we did get a good-for-anytime FastPass to make up for it, but we only had time for one more ride before the park closed that evening.
The next morning, the kids wanted room service, so we ordered up a bunch of pancakes, French toast, fruit, juice, and toast. We spent most of that day at California Adventure, and again, we caught almost all of the rides that we wanted, some of them multiple times. All-in-all, a very nice trip, and the cost was comparable to throwing a large party (especially since our family and one of Morgan’s friends already had annual passes to Disneyland).
Coincidentally, Santa Claus came through the neighborhood, escorted by a couple of police cruisers. He stopped at a nearby corner, Morgan got to tell him what she wanted for Christmas, and the girls all got a group shot with him.
We all then went to El Segundo’s Candy Cane Lane Luckily, Michelle Olson volunteered to drive so we wouldn’t have to try and shuttle all of the kids in two cars. Candy Cane Lane was spectacular, as always. Afterwards, we drove over to Yogurberry, where everyone got to make their own frozen yogurt dessert.
The next day, the group broke up into their teams. Iris had come up with some really good goals for the scavenger hunt, including picking up an item at Airport Cleaners in El Segundo, getting their picture taken with a Rite Aid employee, finding out the price of a chicken taco at Fantastic Cafe, and getting a hand stamp from the El Segundo Library. It was a fairly long scavenger hunt, and both teams came back pooped.
