I can’t believe Thanksgiving has come and gone already. I look forward to this time of year and it always seems to fly by. We had a very nice Thanksgiving. It was very mellow this year, which was great. It was just me, my husband, two kids, my parents and two family friends. I did miss my brother, sister in law and niece, Aunts and cousin though. Next year should be back to normal, which will be what I am use to.

Yesterday I took my family to the newly renovated Academy of Science in San Francisco. It was amazing!! Wednesdays are free thanks to Wachovia Bank-they foot the bill. Normally the price is about $25 for adults and $15 for children. The only thing we had to pay for was gas and parking. We got there an hour before they opened and there was about 1000 people in line already. By the time they opened the line was so long it went down the street and wrapped back around and doubled back. They allow 4000 in at a time. So luckily we got in rather quickly. It was totally worth the wait. I highly reccomend going.

This time of year is so beautiful. I love how the holidays just flow one after the other. I really look forward to these special times more and more every year. I have always had a strong sense of family and can’t imagine not having them around. I am so lucky that my children will be surrounded with family just like I was as a child. I hope my kids will feel the same about family as I do. My husband loves his family but since we’ve been married and especially when he became a father, he has really embraced his family as well as mine. Every year around this time I so look forward to all the special holiday events and parties, especially all the ones that involve my children. Ashley, my daughter, had a harvest party at preschool and will have a Thanksgiving and Christmas Luncheon as well as a Christmas Show. I am looking forward to these events. My son is 7 months and this is all new to him! He will celebrate all his holidays for the first time! We have lot’s of fun things to look forward to this season. My husband always has plans for every weekend during the holidays, it’s busy but we sure make great memories!

I can’t believe I have two kids! What I am really in shock about is how much busier my life is! My husband and I are so busy it is so overwhelming sometimes. I think it’s because our son is only 6 months old. This age is very demanding. He isn’t crawling yet so he can’t move when he gets bored and he likes to be busy every minute. He isn’t a baby that will just sit there and look around, nope he wants to be entertained every minute! My daughter is 3 & a 1/2 and she is pretty mellow but likes to be busy too. She loves to read, play with her dollhouse, play dolls and watch Disney movies. SHe is in preschool 2 days a week and she just loves it! I wish we could afford to send her 3 days a week. Next year we will because it will be Pre-K. Don’t get me wrong I love being a mom and wouldn’t change it for the world but it is certainly a lot of work. I am in awe of women who have more than two and have them all a year apart. They are saints!!

We had a great time at Disneyland! It was a long 4 days though. We did both parks, Disneyland and California Adventure. Needless to say we were so tired at the end of each day. It was fun to spend all that time just with Ashley. SHe wanted us to hold her most of the time and she’s not little anymore. We saw the fireworks show which was really cool. WE also went on the new Toy Story ride at California. Ashley loved Soaring over California. That was one of her favorite rides. I love it too. It makes Scott sick, so he only went once. We had fun but I missed Colin, my 5 month old. We will go back when he is 2 1/2 or 3 years old. I think I’ll be ready by then!

According to the Associated Press Morgan Freeman, the Oscar winning actor has been hospitalized after being seriously injured in a car accident in Memphis, Tenn., near his home in Mississippi. The spokeswoman at Regional Medical Center said he is in serious condition. Mississippi Highway Patrol says that Freeman was driving when the car left a rural highway and flipped several times before midnight Sunday. “There’s no indication that either alcohol or drugs were involved,” Williams said. He said both Freeman and his passenger Meyer were wearing their seat belts. The woman’s condition was not immediately available. Freeman was airlifted to the hospital in Tennessee. Clay McFerrin, editor of Sun Sentinel in Charleston, arrived on scene shortly after the accident happened and said it looked like Freeman’s car was airborne when it left the highway and landed in a ditch. “They had to use the jaws of life to extract him from the vehicle,” McFerrin said. “He was lucid, conscious. He was talking, joking with some of the rescue workers at one point.” When a bystander tried to take a picture with a cell phone camera, Freeman joked, “no freebies, no freebies,” McFerrin said. Morgan Freeman is one of my favorite actors, I hope he has a smooth recovery!

I have been thinking about going back to school and doing something in the IT world. There are so many opportunities in this field these days. My husband works in this field and would be very helpful and supportive if I went in this direction. After having two children and being a stay-at-home-mom for 3 & 1/2 years, which I really enjoy, I am ready to get back into the work world and IT is the way I want to go. I have a friend who runs an internet business selling computer components and his biggest sellers are Cisco products.  He was telling me that Cisco offers many different Cisco certification programs. He thinks Cisco is a great company and encouraged me to check out their programs.  I went online and was pleasantly surprised to see that they offer a bunch of different options from general to specialized. The option that sounds interesting to me is CCNA Wireless certification. The future is in wireless and I believe that it will be a great place to start a new career. I am a little nervous about starting something new and am hoping that I have enough stamina and brain power to complete the program. Part of the program for me will require a 5 day class that I must take before I can take the test. It happens to be very expensive, but it will pay off in the long run. My goal is to make my way back into the the work world of technology and to make enough money to help support my household.  

I am terrified of earthquakes!! I am so glad we haven’t had a big one in awhile. I guess we will be next up here in the North bay. L.A. wasn’t so lucky today when a 5.4 magnitude earthquake hit  today at 11:42 a.m. More than a dozen aftershocks followed, the largest estimated at a magnitude of 3.8. The quake was felt as far away as Las Vegas. It was believed to be about 8 miles below the earth’s surface It was centered 29 miles southeast of L.A. near the San Bernadino county city, Chino Hills. Buildings in downtown Los Angeles swayed for several seconds. People poored out onto the streets for safety. Los Angeles International Airport said there were no flight delays. Luckily there were no injuries. Disneyland remains open but workers are inspecting rides for damage.

We just booked our next trip to Disneyland!! I am so excited! We went twice last year and will only be going this once this year. We are going to stay at the Disneyland Hotel. We have stayed there before and were really pleased. We love that it is only a 10 minute walk to the park. It makes it so nice when you have a tired 3 year old!! In between the hotel and the park is a mall with all kinds of fun stores and restaurants. The new Toy Story Ride will be open when we go. Unfortunetley Small World will be closed. That is one of Ashley’s favorites. That’s ok because this time she should meet the height requirements for some of the other rides. We won’t be taking Colin because he is to small to enjoy it. He will be staying with Grandma.

The Alzheimer’s Memory Walk is coming up and is a great way to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer care, support and research.

My grandmother had Alzheimer’s and it was very hard to watch her live through this disease. It was especially hard on our family. That is why this walk is so important. The Alzheimer’s Association is looking for people to put together walking teams in their area. There are many different locations, so it shouldn’t be hard to find a city close to you. There are more than 600 communities doing the Memory walk. An average walk is 2-3 miles and are held in the fall on a weekend morning. In their words:  ”By teaming up with the Alzheimer’s Association, you can walk with a purpose – and move us closer to a world without Alzheimer’s. Together, we can MOVE a nation.”