The Phamily Blog: nguyen

Disneyland 2010!

This past Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we made the trip to the Happiest Place on Earth! It was the first time we drove and we also brought along G-ma (my mom) and my friend, Dani, who I grew up next door to and babysat as a young girl. We left around 7pm on Tuesday evening and arrived at the Magic Kingdom around 1:30am. Most everyone (except for my mom and I) slept the entire way there. It was a smooth drive and I know now that the drive there isn't so bad and I could definitely do it again!

Warning: Picture OVERLOAD ahead!

Our first morning at Disneyland we decided to have breakfast at Storyteller's Cafe. We met some pretty cute little creatures there like "Dale."

I wasn't sure how this was going to play out for Gabby. She would either LOVE the characters or she was going to rip their heads off. Luckily, she thought they were pretty awesome and showed them lots of love.

Monkey Love!

After breakfast we made our way to the park. With as many times as we have been to Disneyland, I think this was the first trip where we actually took our picture in front of the castle. I think it was because we had extra adults this time and we didn't actually have to stop other people to click our picture. So thanks Dani, for finally allowing us to get the "token" Disneyland photo!

We hopped on the first ride we saw which was Snow White's Scary Adventure. I should have known better. We started off all giggles and smiles:

But poor Cameron was traumatized from that point on. It really is a frightening ride...not in the way of adrenaline or thrill...but actually SCARY. That wicked stepmother is no joke!

We decided to keep it light for the next ride and opted for the teacups! Cameron enjoyed it, I think.

After the teacups, we decided to take a spin on the Matterhorn Bobsleds. I actually got to ride too. It's been so long since I have been able to actually ride a ride! It was so fun!

Waiting in line...

Cameron and I took a spin on the rockets in Tomorrowland!

And then we took a Jungle Cruise!
Cameron was still a little worried about what was going to pop out and scare him at any given moment so he spent the entire cruise in a state of panic and ridden with anxiety.

Gabby was so amazing on all of the rides. Not really scared at all.

About midway through the day, my girl was pooped.

A konked-out Gabalicious.

This is what Cameron looked like on the Pirates of the Carribean ride. He was not liking it at. all.
Poor dude.

Gabby woke up and thought it was AWESOME!

After all of those rides, we decided to head back to our hotel for some freshening up. But first...

ICE CREAM!

Someone does NOT want to be left out!

At a snails pace, we eventually reached our room where we lounged around like bums.

What would we do without our iPhones?

Already exhausted on day ONE!

After our little rest we headed back to the park to tackle some more rides.
Tiny Girl didn't last long.

But guess who went on Splash Mountain?
I was SOOOO nervous to let Cameron ride but he met the height requirement so I made sure Dani sat in the back and hugged on to him for dear life when we hit that drop.

My boy LOVED it and begged to go on it over and over again.

My little adrenaline junky!

As we headed out of the park, we spotted the tail end of the parade so we stopped to enjoy it.

We had dinner at an italian place in Downtown Disney shortly after we left the park.
Tired much, Gabs?

Cameron couldn't even make it through his meal. Dude was EXHAUSTED.

Thank goodness our hotel was right there in Downtown Disney. Nguyen didn't have to walk far with "Dead-weight Cam."

We finally made it back to our room and Cameron was out for the night. I was nervous about how the sleeping situation was going to pan out but it ended up working out okay. Cameron and I had our own bed. G-ma had her own bed. Dani slept on the couch and Nguyen and Gabby made their beds on the floor. I can't say I really slept all that much...I was so concerned Nguyen was going to smother Gabby in the middle of the night so I was constantly getting up and making sure the blankets and pillows (and Nguyen) were away from her.

I thought for sure the kids would sleep in but OF COURSE, I was wrong. They were up and ready to roll by 7:30am. Our mission for the day was to tackle Disney's California Adventure theme park. Stay tuned for more fun pics tomorrow!!

08/31/09

3:43 PM Posted In birthday , cameron , dentist , gabby , nguyen 6 Comments »

(the following was an attempt of a cute brother/sister kissy picture)

Just some updates from the Phamily...

The hubs said goodbye to his twenties and HELLO to his thirties on Friday. I kept giving him a hard time but he remained optimistic throughout the day. He did, however, keep reminding me that I only have a little over three years until I myself become a real grown-up. I don't even want to think about any of that!

The kids are doing fantastic. Cameron has officially started his last year of preschool and is so proud to finally be in the "big kid" class. I thought he might have a hard time at first, adjusting to new teachers and a bigger class, but it hasn't phased him in the least.

Last Wednesday we went in to get those pesky cavities filled. To say I was dreading this appointment would be an understatement. We attempted this a few weeks back and it was a miserable mess of a day. Cameron's crying was enough to scare the technicians into having us reschedule for an earlier appointment. I wasn't convinced that would change his attitude about things, but alas, they know what they're doing over there at the pediatric dental office and my boy was nothing but calm, cool, and collected in the waiting room.

He got one of the three cavities filled but the dentist was so impressed with Cam's good behavior that he said we'd be able to finish up those last two fillings in one visit. So next week we'll go back and say goodbye to the last of those nasty sugar bugs!

Gabby is doing amazing. She is crawling EVERYWHERE.

That whole "losing milestones" business was just not true for her. She is excelling in everything and I cannot wait to see what she does when she is fully healed and we can begin working with her more on standing/walking. She is so eager.

Her bandages fell off sometime last week and her scar looks wonderful. She does have a bulge in her chest now where the breast bone was broken (there is a fancy term for this...forgive me for not remembering what that term is.) Her doctor says this "bump" is completely normal and in a couple of years we can "discuss" options for plastic surgery. Eh...I'm thinking not. I could care less about a little bumpity bump.

We have started back up with physical therapy even though we can't do certain things with Gab's that we were previously able to do (like picking her up under her arms) but we'll be able to start doing all of that again in just a couple of weeks. She is *thisclose* to being able to pull up to a stand all on her own so that's what we're working on. That and cruising along the couch and table. She loves it and I am sure this will be something she will master quite quickly.

The sleeping issues have pretty much resolved, thank goodness! She now wakes up about once per night and it's usually before I am in dreamland so it's not so bad. She's easy to get back down, so I'm not complaining. Just two weeks ago I didn't think I would ever get my good sleeper back. I'm so glad that wasn't the case.

I think that's about all of the updates I have for now. I think we'll be receiving that very special T21 Traveling Afghan tomorrow so be on the lookout for a post about that in the very near future!

Fight Night!

2:43 PM Posted In fight night , nguyen , party 4 Comments »

This past Saturday we hosted UFC Fight Night...something Nguyen has been looking forward to for weeks. We always have a blast on fight nights but this year was extra fun because...

The men did all of the cooking!!