Legoland Part 2

These pictures are of a little game type ride where four teams pick a firetruck, move the truck by pumping the lever, arrive at the "fire", point the water at the fire until it goes out and then race their trucks back to the beginning. I chose to video and take pictures of the three of them. My husband was not happy afterwards because it was apparently a lot of work!! I didn't realize he would need my help so much!! I thought it was funny though and the kids loved it!!






These are just a few of the other rides. We learned to drive boats as well as cars!! I really liked the boat one!

Legoland Part 1

Here's some pics from Legoland





This one is for Sonya!!




This is Noah wearing a Lego Indiana Jones hat!











These five pics are of the driving school. Abby was too young for the big course, but she had fun anyway. She was probably the oldest in the class and her biggest obstacle was dodging the kids who didn't understand what to do. She had a stoplight to obey and did really well. She looked so cute and was so excited. Noah loved this area so much, it was what he chose to do first from the map and wanted to do it again and again. It was set up like a little town with street lights, stop signs, etc.. kind of like safety town if you've done that before. The kids were supposed to obey all the traffic laws and Noah was the only one doing them all. He even signaled his turn by sticking his thumb out and pointing it in the direction he was turning and making a clicking noise!! He is so cute!! They both got licenses for their good driving skills!!

This weeks groceries

It appears that I can post some pictures now. I'll get back to Disney trip ones later today, I just wanted to share my shopping trips for this week. I decided last week when making our new budget that our grocery allowance will be $60 per week. It used to be $125, before I started couponing. Well today I made my last two stops and my total is now right at $59. I was so happy to realize that I had done it. Now don't forget that is only a portion of the foods we will use this week in our meals, we still have lots of other things still stocked up.




This is my Kroger trip that went this way:

16 jars of peanut butter, all free, stock pile total 21 jars
5 softsoaps, 1.50 total, stock pile total 13
7 Revlon beauty tools, all free
4 one pound packages of boneless skinless chicken breasts 9.50
3 cans of Pringles 2.70
1 daisy sour cream, free, stockpile total 3
1 can of tuna, .73
2 disney gummie vitamins, 5.00 total
frosted mini wheats, .97 total, stockpile total (all cereals) 32 boxes
bob evans sausage for sandwiches 2.00
bologna 1.00
buns .70
oyster crackers 1.00

spent 22.xx, my receipt said that I saved over 100 dollars with coupons and sale prices


This is from two CVS trips one on Sunday and one today
1 Venus embrace razor
2 packages of stayfree pads
4 boxes of preparation h wipes
2 cvs acetaminophens
1 softsoap
1 tresemme hairspray

I spent 2.00 cash and 16.00 in ECB's and got back 17 ECB's, so out one dollar for all of it




This is two trips to Meijer, one on Saturday to get more of last weeks deals and one on Sunday for the new deals.

6 apple or apple mix juices 6.00, stockpile total 11
3 Sprites 2.00
4 gallons of milk, 10.00
6 cans of mighty dog, free
3 boxes of hamburger/tuna helper 2.00 total, stockpile total 16
2 boxes of betty crocker potatoes .60 total, stockpile total 17
1 jeno's pizza, free
2 chex mix, free, stockpile total 7 bags
5 pop-tarts, 1.67
2 cake frostings, .78 total, stockpile total 19
2 spring oreos, 4.00 total
2 spaghettio's 1.20 total, stockpile total 18
6 campbells character soups, 3.60 total
1 campbells soup at hand, free
1 box of dixie bathroom cups (forgot to put in picture) 1.80


My two trips to Meijer totaled around $35, so I did it! I met my budget!!

I was so excited and Friday starts the new week and I'll probably go get more pop-tarts, and vitamins then.

Beverly Hills CVS

Yay, I finally got another one to work! Here's the Beverly Hills CVS. We were just driving through and I saw it and took a quick pic!!

Here's one

I got one to work today! This is Noah and Abby with Minnie at California Adventure

Trying

Ok, I have tried three times on three different days now to post more pictures, and I just can't get it to work. So until I can get it to work, I just wanted to share something that I thought was so awesome from church yesterday. Before we take Communion someone gets up and says a little something, usually something about Jesus or something like that. Well yesterday the person got up and started and was talking about how to make Jesus and God more personal to us. About how he knows our names and knew us before we were formed in the womb, etc..but the part that really got me was when he suggested we make Bible verses more personal by putting our names in them. For instance in the verse, For God so loved the World, that he gave his only son, you replace World with your name. Just saying that out loud hit me so hard and I really felt how personal it was. So today you should say that with your name, your spouses name, your childrens name and see how much it impacts you.

For God so loved Jamie, that he gave his only son

For God so loved Sonya, that he gave his only son

For God so loved Crystal, that he gave his only son

For God so loved Carrie, that he gave his only son

For God so loved Lura, that he gave his only son

For God so loved Charity, that he gave his only son

For God so loved Amanda, that he gave his only son

Our Trip

Well here's a quick synopsis of the trip! OUr first day we arrived in LA about 10:30am and we went to Hollywood where we ate ice cream at Disney's Soda Shop on Hollywood Blvd., we then wanted to drive up to Griffith Park to get a good look at the Hollywood sign, but the park was jammed packed and we would've had to walk at least a mile up hill, so we decided to wait to do that. So we went down to Anaheim, about an hour and a half away, with traffic, checked into our hotel which was literally across the street from the gate to Disneyland. We then walked over to Downtown Disney for dinner and preview shopping (checking out what they have and what we might want to buy). The next day we got up at our usual time unfortunately that's only 6:30ish in California!! Well the parks didn't open until 9 and since it was Sunday and I brought my CVS stuff we went out and went to CVS, which was one of my best experiences in a CVS!! Sonya, they even had that scanner thingy that prints out coupons, it didn't give me any I wanted but I loved it anyway!!!! After that we had breakfast at McDonald's and then went back to the hotel. It was raining all morning, but we had brought ponchos and coats, so we were good. We were at Disneyland when it opened and the crowds were very light. We went first to Fanytasyland and rode everything that was open in under 30 minutes, plus there was someone from the Disney Dream Team handing out Dream Fastpasses there so we got those which meant for that day we had a fastpass for everyride that had the fastpass option. It was the best day ever. We ended up staying all day to wait for the fireworks (the rain ended about 1ish, but the wind was still pretty bad), but they didn't do them because of the wind. We got to do so much though including all the 3 mountains (space, splash and big thunder), plus Disneyland's fourth mountain the Matterhorn, almost all of Fantasyland, pretty much all of tomorrowland (Star Tours, Buzz ride, Autopia cars, Astro Orbiter, but not the new Nemo ride, we saved that for later,), we rode the big riverboat, pirates of the caribbean, etc...and we even hopped over to California Adventure and rode all the big rides there and went to Bugs Land. THe crowd level was so low, probably from a combination of weather and the Super Bowl, but it was awesome. I was so completely exhausted as we sat on a bench waiting to see if the fireworks were going to happen (they were only doing them twice while we were there, so we wanted to make sure they weren't going to do them that night), but I just sat there and realized that this was probably one of our best days at Disney ever, I didn't want it to end!!!

The next day we went to LegoLand which is closer down to San Diego. That park was fun but a little outdated. The crowds were very light there as well. The weather was great, it was about 60-65 and sunny, in fact the weather only got warmer as the week went on, with our last day being close to 85!! The kids loved the park, but if they were a few years older, I think they would've found it a bit boring. The rides were very kiddieish. There were a few that I enjoyed, but not worth the price of admission!! We only paid for one adult and one child, with coupons, so that was good, and I am really glad that we went because of how much Noah is into Legos, but it's not a favorite. I like Kings Island better!!! I thought the neatest part was Mini Land where they had lots of our big cities made out of Lego, that was cool.

The next four days we spent at either Disneyland or Disney's California Adventure. California Adventure is not currently as disnified as other parks, but they are beginning right now a big 3 or 4 year plan to make it much more disnified. They are putting in new stuff, changing some of the old stuff and doing lots of retheming. That was my biggest complaint of that park. It was kind of strange how little Disney was there, but hopefully with the changes it wil be much better!! With so many days at the parks, we got to do everything we wanted at least twice and some things 4 or 5 times. It was so nice. On Thursday we left the park in the middle of the day to drive out to Newport Beach. We hadn't been to that beach before, but I really, really loved it. THe water was absolutely freezing, but we rolled up our pants and jumped in it anyway!! We chased seagulls and found sea shells, that was just such a nice beach.

So on Saturday our last day, we didn't have tickts left to visit the park, so we went back up to Hollywood and got to see the sign this time, then we drove through Beverly HIlls where I saw the Beveryly Hills CVS, picture to come soon!! We had all day to waste because our plane didn't leave until 10 at night. So went back down and hung out at Downtown Disney for awhile, then went to have dinner and finally to the airport. Abby and I were on a different flight and we left at 10, STeve and Noah left at midnight. We ended up all getting to Lexington around 10:45 and we drove up to get our pup at Sonya's house, the best dog sitter ever!!! So that was pretty much the trip. It was really nice. It was a shock to the system to get on a plane in LA where it was in the 80's and stop in Detroit where it was single digits!!

I'll post more pics soon!

The Sun Wheel

This is the Sun Wheel at Disney's California Adventure, the other park at Disneyland. We rode this last time we were there and we chose the swinging gondolas which swing on a track every time the wheel moves. We were all scared to death, except Abby!! We had our eyes closed and were clinging to the sides of the car. This time we chose a stationary gondola and we did much better!! I was still a little scared, but not nearly as bad as before. I think it's such a beautiful attraction and the views from the top are just awesome. You can see the mountains out in the distance and all the different Disney attractions. It's a great ride!

How cool is that!!

This is Noah and Abby up at Griffith Park Observatory viewing the Hollywood sign. The best pictures were from the back of them, because the sun was in their face and they would only give me closed eyes or squinty eye shots, so the back ones are the best! We took Noah up there to see the sign on his first trip to California when he was two and then we skipped it on our last trip but wanted to get Abby up there to see it this time. I think it's so cool!!

Thanks Sonya

Thanks to Sonya for helping me get tonight's deals when we just got home from our trip. She clued me into the deals at Kroger that would probably expire today so I could get them tonight. I did really well thanks to her suggestions. I not only stocked up on some great deals, but got some stuff for our weekly grocery needs as well. Here's what I got, sorry no pic tonight!

1 bottle of Kroger 100% apple juice
1 2 liter of pepsi
2 boxes of fruit gushers fruit snacks
2 boxes of lego fruit snacks
2 boxes of girly fruit snacks (dora and princess)
1 6 pack of dora yoplait yogurt
1 pack of go gurt
25 boxes of pizza rolls
2 1 pound packages of tyson boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 whisker lickens cat treats (what, they were free!!)
3 tubes of grands biscuits
3 packages of pop tarts
1 manwich sauce
1 kraft chicken noodle box m eal
1 thai kitchen noodle kit
1 chef boyardee pasta
2 daisy sour creams
2 pillsbury cake mixes
3 betty crocker cake frostings
2 cans of green beans
1 can skyline chilli
6 propel waters
2 bananas
2 apples
1 barilla pasta sauce
1 barilla pasta
2 packages of hamburger buns
2 boxes of swiss miss hot chocolate
1 gallon milk
1 franks worcstechire sauce


I got $6 off from Kroger in store deals
I used a total of 50.10 in coupons and spent only $45. I was so thrilled!! Now all that added with things like frozen orange juice, canned and frozen veggies, fruit cups, cereal, oatmeal, pasta, rice, potato dishes, lean hamburger, lots of shredded cheese, tomato sauces, etc..that I have previously stocked up on and we'll have a nice week of food and then some! I just wanted to thank Sonya for her help!! Thank you!!

Tomorrow I'll post some pics from our trip!