A Night at the Firehouse.

A couple of months ago Nana and Papa Marini won a silent auction for spending the evening at Fire Station #1 downtown Lodi.  It was a win-win situation because not only did the money go to support out troops, but we also were in the company of fireman all night.  Enough said.

The auction included a tour of the station, A RIDE IN THE FIRE TRUCK, and then a gourmet dinner prepared by the fireman.  And not just any gourmet meal...a meal prepared by Kris Graves who won the Food Network's "24 Hour Restaurant Battle".  He made us his winning meal from the battle and it was fabulous!!! 

There were so many great memories from the evening.  The first part of the evening included a full tour from one of the fireman who is also a friend, John Rowlands.  He was fantastic!  There was nothing that he wouldn't let the kids do or try.  He basically said to the kids....WE CAN DO EVERYTHING!!  And they did. 

The "Lounge."

At one point of the evening I asked one of the guys how often they wash the truck...he said daily.

And now...on the to the good stuff, the ride in the truck!!!  The kids got to sit in the back and wear the headsets so we could all talk to eachother.  This was the coolest part of the evening by far!

Don't you love the looks on their faces!!

After me and the kids went, it was time for the other grown-ups!  And let's be honest, it doesn't matter if you are five or fifty-five...this was way cool!

Here they are taking off for their trip.

And arriving back.  In the video you can see one of the other fireman running toward the truck to hook up the hose to the engine so the exhaust exits through the roof and doesn't stay in the building.

When we all got back from our ride, the kids all took turns trying on all the gear.  John was telling us that when everything is on, the total weight of the gear is around 150 pounds.

How do you not love this smile...pure joy.

Mikayla trying everything on...we are lucky it didn't tip her over.

Happy girl.

Matthew all geared up.

And the little dude....

And yes, this dude tried it as well.

The kids loved trying on these masks.

One of my favorites from the night.  John showing the kids where we live and where Nana and Papa live.

This was a very hands-on tour of the rig.  The kids were able to pick up and touch pretty much everything or anything they wanted.

I put this picture in because at the end of the evening, the firemen commented on how good the kids were.  They said they were very polite and very well behaved...we told them they were all in their happy place.

The boys all said this was one of their highlights...The Jaws of Life.

Matt thought this looked like an airplane cockpit.

Up there is John's seat when they go out on a call.  He is responsible for turning the wheels in the back of the rig.

Dinner!!!  This was the part of the evening that I enjoyed the most.  Sitting around the table and being able to ask any questions we wanted and getting a first hand glimpse of what their daily life is like. 

The kids sitting down for homemade macaroni and cheese while we grubbed on pork loin with a spicy chutney, mashed potatoes, and a vegetable medley.  About fifteen minutes into the dinner, the sirens went off and about five guys had to get up and leave for a call.  We were sitting listening to the dispatch lady say all the what, where, who, and whens.  We all got a kick out of them dropping whatever they were doing and flying out of the room.  It took about 30 seconds from the time the sirens started to them pulling out of the garage and being on their way.  Luckily it wasn't a bad call and they could come back in time for dessert.  After an extensive tour, great dinner and conversation, Matthew walked up to me and said..."When does the free tour start?"  The room erupted in laughter...obviously the first two hours of the night were the "paid" tour???

After dinner we needed a few more pictures so we went out into the hall to take this.

What's a firehouse without a pole???  No, the kids did not go down it, but they got to pretend!

While we were taking these pictures, the sirens went off again...this time, EVERYONE went.  As we just stood there, the men flew by us heading out to get all their gear on and take off.  One of the guys asked us if we could put the ice cream in the freezer before we left.  Stacy and I headed up stairs to put it away and felt like we should stay and clean up...but we didn't.  It wasn't our place, and frankly...we had heard what the dispatch had said so we went to check it out where they were!  Probably not appropriate...but by this time, we considered them family.

Thank you to Richard and Sharon for a FABULOUS evening.  This was a treat for kids of all ages.

A Needed "Vaca"

This past weekend Rich and I headed to Vegas for a little "vaca"...and a little work.  I feel the Sports Inc. show that is every year at this time is the perfect recharging battery weekend I need every year at this time.  Yes, there is a business aspect of it, but it is a small price to pay for a couple of days in a place where a waitress delivers me a drink for $1 at a penny slot.  Don't worry, both mornings that I ordered drinks...one had tomato juice and the other had orange juice....totally legit!

On Sunday night we headed over to Townsquare.  It is a shopping center just off the strip that I LOVE!!  It has great restaurants and fabulous shopping.  This year they had this little house set up for everyone to get in line to see Santa...Norman Rockwell inspired!!!

And a huge tree in the middle of the square with Christmas music playing and "fake snow"!!

In the lobby of our hotel they were setting up this ALL EDIBLE display.  Every year when we are there we watch them over a couple of days put this all together.

On Monday we went to The Border Grill.  It is a restaurant in Mandalay Bay that was opened by the
"Two Hot Tamales."  I love mexican food...and this place was FABULOUS!!!

Here is the view from our table out on the balcony...nothing about this pictures says it is November and winter...other than no one is actually in the pool because it was closed.

And here's the deal...when you overlook palm trees...your drinkie has to reflect it.  Best pina colada ever!

Rich had the enchiladas...to die for!

I had the fish tacos.  They were delish...but the black beans were over the moon.

And even though I was beyond stuffed...Rich ordered dessert, so I had a bite.  Or two...

That night we went out on the strip.  We were wanting to go and check out some new places for dinner.  Psst...really, I only agreed to go because we were hitting the main part of the strip and the news kept talking about Prince Harry being out at a bunch of casinos and I took this as my chance to find him or at least become a person of interest to the monarchy due to my aggressive behavior.  I told Rich we were in stalker mode and to be prepared for anything....anything. 

We headed to Bellagio to see if they had changed over their decorations to Christmas, but they had not.  We saw some old friends like the talking tree...

And the barn and windmill...

And some new friends...LOVE THEM!!!!

And here is the pool at our hotel.  Finally...able to legally be there...and it is closed.  But, isn't it pretty???  I really just wanted to go splash my feet in the water!! 

Now we are back and ready for THANKSGIVING!!!!

Yes...Again.

Yes, we were just there.  Yes, it's obscene and a little over the top.  Yes, I am sure it lacks appreciation from our kids because we frequent this spot more often than the local public library.  And, yes, eventually we will stop.  For now, if you tune in here...you are just going to have to deal with it.

Last weekend we headed to the Mouse's House to kick off our holiday season.  Everywhere you looked there was holiday cheer.  Everywhere.  You'll have to excuse my obsession.  With my birthday being in the December, just a week away from Christmas...I view this as my time of the year.  I love this time of the year.  The trees are beyond gorgeous right now with the fall colors, jackets are no longer an option, and I honked at a house the other night because it was the first I had seen with Christmas lights.  I love it.  So, when we plan our trips to DL, we do it at certain times so that we enjoy everything about it.  Luckily Matt's birthday is in November and was a great excuse to go and kick off Christmas!

I am short on pictures, which I'm guessing is fine because really after some point they all begin to look the same, just older faces.  My phone, which if you remember took an unfortunate swim, was working fine after sitting in a tub of rice for 28 hours.  I was pretty impressed by that whole rice thing working, because replacement costs were astronomical and not an option.  My relief was short lived.  My phone wasn't updating correctly and I didn't understand why, so I hit the restart button and that was the end of my phone.  The screen went completely black.  It was weird because I could pick up incoming calls and talk, I just couldn't see anything.  My point in all of this is that the previous trip to DL, I had really just used my phone the entire time to take pictures and so I didn't bring our big camera...now, I had no big camera and no camera phone.  Not good.  And, my husband REFUSED to let me use his phone to take pictures because he said I had bad phone karma and I couldn't touch his!  Whatever.  Good news is that I have a brand new phone now thanks to a top secret classified mission that Rich and I conducted.  It was worth it for him to help me because it seems like when I don't have my phone, half of my body is gone and I'm not easy to live with.

Here is Main Street all done up for Christmas.

The boys in front of a Christmas tree in Toon Town.

Mickey's House.  I love that Mickey still uses the old school lights.

And here is my only shot of Matthew.  Who now tells me to get lost when I want to take his picture.

And Ryan's goal of the trip was to have his picture taken with as many friends as possible.

And if you are willing to part with ten bucks, these cute little apples also get you in the holiday spirit.  Notice I took a picture of them still in the case....

   

I will warn you that we are going again in January and then that will be it for a while.  Promise. 

The Great Eight!!

Ahh...it is upon us.  There is an eight year old living in our house.  When...did...this...happen??  Because in a blink of an eye, he is eight.  And we just love him.  We love him for his seriousness.  We love him for his quirkiness.  We love him for his stubborn, impatient side.  We love him for his sweet, caring side.  We love his strong independent ways. We love him for his quizzical nature about everything.  We love his argumentative side.  Because all of these things make up our Matthew, and we think he is pretty fantastic.

I had all these pictures to share from the last couple of days and his birthday celebrations, but I am sad to say that they may be lost forever because I took them with my phone and yesterday it fell into a "water basin" and hasn't worked since.  I snapped this one tonight of him for two reasons.  It captures the strong, stubborn kid who said I want my hair long because I like it that way and I don't care what anyone else says!!!   And I love that it shows that he finally lost his THIRD tooth at the old age of eight, but he still looks like a little boy. 

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS MATTHEW!!!

An-ga-ry Birds!!

I know that Angry Birds is spelled incorrectly in the title, but I had to because that is how Ryan pronounces it, no matter how many times we correct him.

So, another Halloween for the books.  Can I just say that I am so happy this only happens once a year??!!  The process of not only the making the costume, but picking the costume is exhausting.  We started this MONTHS ago.  The boys initially had said that they wanted to be angry birds, but as time went on...just like a Christmas list, it changed a thousand times.  I had went on Ebay right away to see what the angry bird costumes looked like and how much they were going for.  The only one I found was $39.99 and I remember turning to my mom and saying..."We could do this, right?  I mean, this looks doable and I bet we could do it for much less."  Because I really can't see dropping eighty bucks on something that will only be used once! 

Luckily they turned out okay, although Ryan told me that it didn't do it to look like the guy on the game at all.  Whatever!  I sat down last week, glue gun in hand, and went to work.  I spent about three hours on them and I didn't stop until they were done.  I want to say that the glue gun needs to go down as one of the greatest inventions EVER!!  I know someone must have said this about 30 years ago and I am a little behind the times as far as crafts go, but come on!!!  These two costumes were made with scissors and hot glue!  Fab-u-lous!!!

One White Angry Bird!  (Ignore the placement of the beak...I had no clue it would end up there, nor was I changing anything!)

One Black An-ga-ry Bird! (Ignore his beak placement as well)

Ready to go!  Notice the egg in Matt's hand?  He said that the white bird drops egg and he wanted me to make an egg for him to carry around...I said grab one of the plastic ones from Easter for crying out loud!

And no, I couldn't leave the Notorious TED out of this!!  Teddy has his own An-ga-ry Bird costume.

And they are off!!  This was pretty accurate for the night, Matthew 10-15 feet in the lead.

And the Crivelli's were kind enough to stay in Lodi this year so we could stop by for our traditional first stop!
Julie having some fun with the birds.

More and more people in our neighborhood are putting out decorations for Halloween.  I predict that Christmas lights will be out shortly.  That's just how crazy our neighborhood is! 

Someone loves this guy just as much as we do!

Look, it's Mario and Luigi!!  Better known as Hayden and Conner!!

Look!!  Even Nana dressed up for the big night!