LA Vacation

My fabulous sister-in-law/friend is a flight attendant for Southwest and was kind enough to invite me on an great little vacation to Los Angeles! We've made a couple other trips together in the past to San Antonio and Sandusky, OH... our mission is always to conquer the best roller coasters!

On Day 1 we hoped to catch a Jay Leno taping... but sadly we weren't able to get tickets. Instead, we took a tour of the Warner Brother's Studios. It was amazing to see where a few memorable movie and TV scenes where shot... and even more amazing to see how small everything actually is! I don't have too many pictures to share... they would only let us photograph certain areas. Here is the entrance to the hospital on ER. We didn't get to see anything, but they were taping an episode while we were there. We saw Sam Grimes, in scrubs, riding around on a bike.

Just a few places that were off limits to the camera were, Ellen Degeneres' studio, where they shot the "upside down kiss scene" in Spiderman, the enormous sound studio that they filled with water to film The Perfect Storm, the set for the new TV show Chuck and a museum with some really neat costumes and movie artifacts.

This church has been in several movies and TV shows... I don't watch Gilmore Girls, but they say most people recognize it from that show.

Gotta love The Duke's of Hazzard! I'm standing in front of the Batmobile... it was pretty cool to see... sorry I'm blocking it. Here's Rachel and Monica... Oh, I mean Kerrie and Lisa at Central Perk!
You wouldn't believe how tiny this set is! They told us to watch how it only takes Ross about 3 steps to get from the sofa to the door... I'll be watching carefully next time Friends is on.

I met a couple handsome characters outside!

After the WB Tour we went to Universal City Walk outside of Universal Studios.
We had a really yummy dinner on the patio at Wolfgang Puck's Restaurant.
Universal City Walk had lots of fun shops and restaurants... it was fun to walk around... especially at night...

On Day 2 we got up early and visited "The Happiest Place on Earth"... aka Disneyland!

It was fun to see their elaborate Halloween decorations everywhere you turn.

I was most excited to see Woody...

and Jesse!

Our day was amazing! The weather was absolutely perfect and we only stood in one long line (1 hour) the entire day... most lines were 15 to 20 minutes long!

Kerrie's brother, Trey, lives in Costa Mesa and was kind enough to meet us in Downtown Disney for dinner. He treated us to a fabulous meal at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen.

The great food and live music made for a fun evening! After dinner we walked back to the park just in time for the incredible firework show! Then we ran off to ride Space Mountain for the 3rd time!

On Day 3 we headed out to Six Flags Magic Mountain! Hey wait... are you sure this isn't Wally World?!?!

My favorite ride out there (and Kerrie's least favorite) was Tatsu. It was flying by, so it's difficult to see in the picture, but you are actually facing downward with your back to the track. This ride was incredibly smooth and I felt like I was flying... soooo fun!

On Day 4 we met up with Trey again in Laguna for lunch. He suggested a restaurant called Las Brisas... it had a beautiful view of the ocean. One of my "to do's" while in Cali was to eat great fish tacos... and while at Las Brisas I was able to check that off my list! My other "to do's" were to eat an In-N-Out burger (which I didn't do because the drive-thru line was 30 cars long) and shop at Trader Joe's (which we did 3 times in 3 different cities!)

And... of course it was another beautiful day!

After a little shopping in Laguna we took a little drive around Huntington Beach.

And while at the beach we had the opportunity to watch the sun set!

It was such a great trip... Thanks a bunch, Kerrie!

McKinney High School Fundraiser

After Emily's morning soccer game, Grandma, Grandpa and I took the girls to a fundraiser at one of the high schools. We got there in time to see some of the parade!

They enjoyed a little jumpin' around...

Emily impressed the heck out of me by hooping 2 out of 5 balls!

Then they tried their hand at dunking the principle...

Sadly neither of them were able to knock him down...

The it was time to cool off with a snow cone...

And of course face painting is always a must!

First Day to be a Butterfly!

Megan started school on Tuesday September 9th. This year her class is called The Butterflies and she will be going 3 days a week... Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Last year, I don't recall one morning she was excited to go to school... I had to pull her off of my leg every morning I dropped her off. This year, she already loves school! On Wednesday night she had a runny nose and I told her we would have to see how she feels in the morning and decide if she is well enough to attend school... she quickly perked up and said "I'm fine!" This week she will be able to be dropped off in the car pool line, like we do for Emily each morning... Megan can't wait to do this... the car pool line means she's a "big girl"... like sister!

Soccer Opening Ceremonies

To kick off the Fall Soccer Season, McKinney Soccer Association held an Opening Ceremony.

All of the soccer teams that participated, made signs and banners, threw candy and paraded around the large soccer field while the on-lookers cheered from the stands and sidelines!

Megan had a fantastic bird's eye view!

Gotta support the team!

After the parade, we stayed to watch a soccer demo, the McKinney Boyd Drill Team and a great fireworks show.

Ready to Start 2nd Grade!

Emily's first day of school was on Monday, August 25th. We had "Meet the Teacher" night about 4 days before and on that night Emily learned that her good friend, Hope, would be in her class again and their assigned seats were next to each other... so she was very excited to go back to school! So far she really enjoys school... she even sets her alarms and gets up and dressed before I even get up in the morning.

Tres Amigas Tour