Joy to the Girl

It's been a long day and I've had a pounding headache for hours, but I had to post two of my fave pics from today. We woke up and prepared to make the long drive to the L.A. area to go to the American Girl Place. Steve stayed to play golf with Paca and Grammy came with me and the kids. None of the girls have AG dolls so they saved their birthday money all year and after seeing the movie Kit Kittredge they knew they wanted to spend their money on dolls. Of course they didn't have enough money for all that they wanted - nor did they GET all they wanted - but we supplemented their funds so each could get a doll, an extra outfit, and a tote bag for their doll for Christmas. The next few weeks will be torture waiting to play with them (since they have to wait until Christmas)!! We started with lunch at the Cheesecake Factory where we were obviously a "bother" to some with our 4 kiddos ... one couple was seated by us and got up to move in less than 2 minutes! We finished the shopping trip with a stop to see Santa. I thought that Cougar would scream for sure but he climbed right up and even "talked" to him. He was a great Santa and was wonderful with my kids. It was well worth the 2 1/2 hour drive to get there just for these pics :)After our shopping and Santa experience we headed to Anaheim. It took us about an hour from where we were at. I think the headache started in the L.A. traffic. I could never live in a place that had traffic like that every day!!! We arrived at the hotel and waited for others to arrive. Steve, Paca, and my sister Kristin and my brother Bryce's family arrived not long after and we were off to Disneyland to play!! DL closed early tonight for their cast Christmas party so we got almost 3 hours over in California Adventure! I'm sure I'll have plenty of Disney pics over the next few days ....