viva las vegas

roel's sister, lori, recently annouced that she was planning on getting married in vegas on 11/14. so it was a last minute getaway for us, but of course we couldn't miss her wedding! good thing we were well enough to go. we left on friday after everyone was done with school and work and arrived at our vegas timeshare at midnight. the drive was long with traffic, but the kids did okay and fell asleep. the funny thing is that they were wide awake when we got there and wanted to play.

on saturday morning, we met up with roel's family for breakfast at the venetian grand lux cafe. then we met up again in the afternoon for lori & jojeann's wedding at the little church of the west wedding chapel. malia was the flower girl. it was a short but sweet ceremony, very emotional. they are finally married! and we are so happy for them.



we had dinner at cravings at the mirage afterwards. it was super cold and windy outside. the only one who didn't mind it was micah.

on sunday, we had to go to m&m world before we left. the kids loved it, especially picking out their own m&m's. malia chose some pastel colored m&m's and micah just chose blue.



it was a rough ride home. lots of traffic. at one point, i felt as if we were never going to get home. we took a break in barstow. and that's where i will never forget that my sweet malia joy, without question, chose to share her kids meal that we just bought with a homeless man. i told her that God was smiling down at her.

the kids were sleeping by the time we got home. they had a good time in vegas, looking at all the fountains and the lights. micah kept asking me if he could play the machines. and all malia wanted to do was eat sweets. i would love to take them there again, i just don't want to do the long drive!

the flu with a side of asthma

it took a little over a week, but we are finally getting over whatever it was that got us. micah and i started off with ear infections plus some weird sickness. then malia and daddy started with flu symptoms. and then the 3 of them started with their asthma attacks. so whatever it was, i'm glad it's on it's way out, and thankful it wasn't worse. now we can get around to decorating for christmas.

6 year old malia joy

malia finally got her wish and turned 6 yesterday. she's been wanting to turn 6 even before she turned 5. i sent a cupcake cake with daddy so she could celebrate at school. when she got home, she was thrilled to open her gift from micah, which was a new backpack. we had planned to go out to dinner, but because all of our allergies and the paranoia of the swine flu, we just stayed home. she made her own party hat out of construction paper and princess stickers. and then we ate the ice cream cake i made for her. she had asked for a heart shaped cake, so i made it into an ice cream cake because she loves ice cream so much. she ate the middle of the cake, which was the ice cream part, and then asked me for a scoop of ice cream. we really should have just opened a tub of ice cream and put a candle in the middle. malia says she wants to be 6 forever. silly girl.

all souls' day

i took malia with me to visit my mom for all souls' day. it was really crowded at the cemetery and we had to park far, but she didn't mind the hike up the hill. all souls' day is really tomorrow but my sister says filipinos go the day before. okay. anyway, on the way there malia says, "mama, did you know that when people die they are put in a special box so the germs can't get inside and hurt them?" she pauses and then adds,"and they have a blanket on their legs like they're sleeping, but really they're already dead." i asked her, "how did you know that?" her response was, "i just do."

we met my dad and jos' family there and did our prayers. ironically, there was a funeral taking place. it was close enough that we could see it, but thank God it was far enough so that they didn't hear when malia loudly said, "someone died over there." oh my goodness, she just makes me laugh!

halloween finally came

this seemed like the longest halloween ever since we did so many halloween related activities. at least the kids got lots of use out of their costumes.

on friday, we went over to the advento's to celebrate ninong joey's b-day. the kids dressed up and did candy hunting in the living room, followed by cookie decorating and pumpkin painting. again, micah just wanted to eat the m&m's and not decorate a cookie. he loves m&m's, and just chocolate in general.

on halloween day, we didn't make it out to the mall festivities as planned, so we headed over to the castillo residence to trick or treat with all the kiddies there. we were finally complete as 4 jedis. well, malia was padme amidala to be specific.

so now we have tons of candy that we shouldn't be eating. good thing there are dentists that are buying back candy to send to troops overseas.

(will update with pics later)

sea world halloween spooktacular

the kids are getting spoiled this year with all the halloween activities. we thought we would get the most out of our fun cards and take the kids trick or treating at Sea World last sunday. they actually give more candy than Disneyland, including healthy treats like bananas & natural peanut butter and cool stuff like the new crayola markers, but of course Disneyland has way more visitors.

the kids did some cookie decorating. well, at least malia did. micah just sat there and ate the m&m's while daddy decorated his cookie.

everyone loves the sesame street bay of play. micah wanted to go on the big kid's stuff with malia but he's still too short. he'll catch up soon. he's already catching up to her weight.

of course we couldn't leave until they touched the stingrays. and we got there at feeding time, so most of the stingrays were close to the edge.

lastly, who are these people? it doesn't matter, malia will take pictures with them anyway.

kalel

it's about time that micah know his middle name, kalel. i know it's my fault for nicknaming him micah jackson. so yesterday, i thought i'd call him kalel to see how he would react. malia was on the computer and he was trying to get his face as close to the monitor, trying to climb on the desk.

our conversation (micah says his name with an N)-
me: get down please kalel
micah: (gets down and points to himself) it's nicah
me: okay, but you're kalel too
micah: (points to himself again) it's nicah
me: okay micah kalel
micah: it's nicah

at least he didn't say he was micah jackson. later on, micah grabbed a superman toy and said, "it's nicah." funny boy. i just want to squeeze him all day.

our disneyland trip

after more than a year, we were able to take our long awaited trip back to disneyland! we decided to celebrate m&m's birthdays there this year. after malia got out of school on friday, we headed up to attend mickey's trick or treat party at california adventure. m&m's cousins, jonah and joelle, met us there. we were late due to traffic and micah was screaming in the car, so i was already tired when we got there. plus i was so mad at myself because i forgot one of malia's costumes. we were all supposed to be jedi's for the trick or treat party. and i had spent so much time putting it together. so we ended up going as 3 jedi's and a mermaid. malia didn't mind. it was our first time to do the trick or treat party, so we were all in awe at the decor and the fun. micah couldn't believe he saw woody, but was reluctant to take a picture because he was scared of the green army men. it was pretty warm that night, so i ended up taking off my costume and giving my tunic to malia when she got cold. micah fell asleep at 10pm, but we still collected candy for him. we didn't get to do everything, but it was still so much fun. we are only going again in the future if we are early enough to beat all the traffic.

on saturday, we headed to disneyland. malia went as ariel again, and micah as a pirate. first on our list was 'breakfast with minnie'. we love character dining because of the photo ops. we don't get to do too many character pictures throughout the park because we move so slow with the kids so character dining is perfect. and the food is good too.

micah only goes to certain characters. and of course, he won't pose with them. but he's happy to give hugs. he was smitten with minnie. so i absolutely love these pictures.

we waited a long time to visit the fairies in pixie hollow. but it was worth it. a cast member had malia convinced that she was sprinkled with pixie dust to shrink down to the same size as tink.

micah had a few meltdowns because of the heat yesterday. and he had a fit in the store until he got his new buzz lightyear toy. (gotta love the terrible 2's.) his favorite rides were small world and the parking lot tram. he fell asleep right before shopping time, great timing!

hopefully it won't be as crowded the next time we visit. malia said we should go back in 2 weeks. sure if we lived closer. the drive isn't as easy for me as it used to be, especially if someone is crying and screaming in the back seat.

field trip with micah

micah's preschool went on a field trip to sea world yesterday. micah did great, no meltdowns. i didn't really get the chance (and micah didn't give me the chance) to take very many pictures, so that was the best shot i got. he's not fond of posing like malia is. it was nice to spend the day with him looking at the seals, fish, sharks and penguins. you can't do a whole lot in a group with 30 kids. he fell asleep during the shamu show so we called it a day. it was fun, but i'm not sure if i can do the other field trips, i was exhausted.

disney princesses on ice

it really should have been called disney's cinderella with some princesses on ice because the whole 2nd half of the show was about cinderella. there's nothing wrong with that, we love cinderella. we just didn't expect the mulan segment to be only 5 minutes long in the 2 hour show. nonetheless, malia and i had a wonderful time last night. she could hardly stay still in her seat. she kept turning to me with her hand over her mouth in disbelief when the princesses were coming out. as if she had never been to disneyland and seen them in person. she knows all of the princess stories, but still grabbed on to me when the villains came out and looked at me with hope in her eyes that the princesses would be okay. malia even noticed little details like the castle moving behind the scenes and workers bringing props to the sides of the rink. we had really good seats thanks to the adventos. and i was so upset with myself because i had forgotten to put the memory card back in my camera, so i couldn't take pictures. this is the best shot i got with my not so great phone:

as much as i like the princesses, there's just something so special about mickey and minnie. and it was nice that they began and ended the show. the costumes were so creative, the skating was wonderful, the special effects were fantastic. disney really is magic. my favorite malia quote for the night was, "mama, i saw her underwear."