Here are some more pictures....

Disney Land part 1

Okay everyone! Here is the report from our California adventure!

Day one: We left our house at 8:00AM and drove all day long with our friends Andrea and Jason, and their daughters Emma and Alli. (all in the same vehicle). We got to our KOA campsite in pamona at about 10:00PM that night, set up our tents and sacked out! By this time, Andrew was already sick and throwing up every solid meal. Yuck.

Day two: California Adventure park all day long! We saw lightning McQueen and Mater, explored a whole world of Bugs Life rides, Monsters inc rides, and lots of other fun stuff.

Day three: Sunday we woke up to a lake in our tent. It had rained all night, and when we woke up we realized that the rain flap was not doing it's job. we were all soaked, and freezing! It did nothing for poor andrew's illness. He spent the entire trip cuddled on my shoulder. We made an emergency trip to Target for a tarp to put on the tent, and then went to the pier to see the Aquarium of the Pacific. What a mad house! It was soooo busy. But it was really fun because we could pet sting rays and sharks, and they had all kinds of cool displays and tanks. We had lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, because you can't go to the coast without getting some great sea food! That night after we got the kids to bed, Jason stayed and played video games while Andrea, Mike, and I went back to disneyland to get on all the adult rides. We rode every adult ride in both parks within 4 hours! That was great!

Day four: Actual Disney Land! We did it all! Mouse ear hats, breakfast with the characters ( that cost a pretty penny but it was so worth it ) all the fun rides. Josh loved the toon town where you could go through Mickey and Minny's houses and then meet them. We just had so much fun! We stayed until the fireworks at 10:00, and then went back to camp.

Day five: Mike, Andrea, and I got up very early to drive down to Hollywood. Mike drove Andrea and I to the Paramount studios, where we went to a taping of Dr. Phil. It was really fun! It ended up being kind of a smutty episode, but the experience was still really fun. So if you like that sort of thing, I think the two episodes were called "caught in the act" and a little bit of "exebitionists". I guess I need to watch them to see if Andrea or I get any face time on national TV! That afternoon, Mike and Jason (who had broken camp and packed the car) picked us up and we started home. We go home at 4:00AM Wednesday morning.

So there you have it! That's the story, and I will keep uploading pictures as fast as my internet connection will allow! Love you all!

Dinosaur Museum

We just realized we totally forgot to post our dino museum pictures. We're what you call "sporadic bloggers". Last month we took Josh and Andrew down to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point, where we met with others of the Barlow kind. Joshua absolutely loved it! Especially the T-rex's. In fact, we couldn't keep up with him and Aunt Becky as they raced to the next "cool thing" in the next room, until we got to the T-rex's. At times we forgot we were part of his group. If you haven't gone we would higly recommend it!

Mexico Trip Picture (for Karen Young)

This is for you Karen. We spent over 24 hours in this position while our kids sat in front of us, on the bigger bench, watching movies and being hand fed from behind. So, going to LA is going to be a breeze!
Sorry the picture looks weird. We took this with our film camera, so I took a picture of the picture with our digital camera in order to post it (talk about ingenuity!).

Christmas Lights

These are our Christmas Lights. It took us several weeks to get them up because of work schedules etc. and then Jeri chewed up one of the power cords. We are still not sure if she got a shock or not, but she hasn't chewed them since!

Ephraim Barlows, this one's for you!

Becky and I are sitting here just enjoying the repercussions of my blog. Now Dad barlow and Daniel have started a blog of their own, and I must say they are very entertaining! Here are the latest pictures from my camera.
As for the latest news from our family, we have been verrrrrrrrrrrrrry busy. I piano students had their first recital just two nights ago, which went very well, but was stressful and a little scarry for me! I played two pieces, and each of my 11 students played two pieces, so it was a lot of preparation.
We are getting all ready for christmas as well. Our tree is beautiful, and Michael has made sure the outside of the house is pristinely lit. Our little cottage looks like a gingerbread house!
Love you all, and I promise I will do better at keepin up this blog.........after the Christmas season!
P.S. Joshua sat on Santa's lap today. This is a big achievement for him, since last year he wouldn't go within 20 yards of a santa!

Pinewood Derby

The elders quorum decided to have their own pine wood derby this year. Mike says about thirty of the elders signed up to participate, but in the end only nine cars showed up to the race. Mike and I really got into it. I found a manual with all kinds of tips and tricks on the internet, and together we built this car every night after the kids were in bed. We had a great time! And to top it all off, we won the derby! What did we win you ask? Well, we won a bag of Reesins chocolates. Not too flashy, but it was a healthy boost for both Michael's and my competitive natures. I guess it also proves that we are a little obsessive, but like the boyscouts say, "Do Your Best!"