Disneyland - Part II

This post is a little delayed, we actually went to Disneyland (for the second time in less than a month) on November 3rd. This trip had some fun new elements from the first. For one, Joe's mom came with us. Also, we ate at the Blue Bayou, which was my first time ever eating there. Soooo yummy! The park was also filming their Christmas Parade that day, which meant we saw fighter jets fly over the park, and there were all kinds of floats on main street for most of the day. It was transitional time from Halloween to Christmas, so we got the best of both holiday worlds.

Here's an example of Disneyland merriness:

Christmas in New Orleans Square, Disneyland.

And Halloween Decorations:

This is us soaked after Big Bear Rapids. Somehow Joe looks like he got the worst of it, but Kathleen and I were actually the ones who got soaked (so don't feel sorry for him!):

Dinner at the Blue Bayou was delicious and we had a lovely view of the pirates boats floating by. Joe and I both got the salmon with mashed potatoes and green beans. Kathleen got a roasted portabello mushroom with couscous. Dessert was a Jack Skellington chocolate cake with pumpkin ice cream.

In the bottom right corner you'll find Kathleen and Joe screaming on the aptly named Tower of Terror:

And here are a few of my favorite shots (courtesy of Joe & his iPhone):

Disneyland California Adventure

California Screamin'

California Adventure's Ferris Wheel at Night

The Castle decked out for Christmas

A fun side note: the most surprisingly terrifying rides of the day were Soaring Over California (for Kathleen) & Goofy's Flight School (for me & Joseph). And I don't think anyone in our cage enjoyed the Ferris Wheel. A surprise all-around favorite turned out to be the Tower of Terror.

Dad's Visit: A Trip to the Huntington Library

My dad's almost 3 week visit flew by, and he'll be heading home tomorrow. While he was here we ate a lot of great food, shared a lot of stories, and took a trip to the Huntington Library (which I had never been to). We were there several hours and probably didn't even cover 25% of the grounds. We did get a chance to check out the Civil War exhibit, the Japanese Garden, and the Chinese Garden (which will be finished in 2013). Here's a few pics, but you can see them all here:

The Japanese Garden

The Bonzai Collection

Rose Garden

Happy Thanksgiving! + (Almost) 17 Weeks Bump Update

With four vegetarians at this year's Thanksgiving, there was a TON of stuff I could eat. Here's baby's 1st Thanksgiving meal: Mac & Cheese, Vegan Stuffing, Roasted Veggies & Lentils, Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Potatoes, Yams, & of course, Apple Pie. Yum!

The Thanksgiving Gang on my Aunt's Front Porch

Comparing our Thanksgiving bellies:

(Almost) 17 Week Update - Baby is the Size of an Avocado! 

Total Weight Gain:Up about 8 lbs 1 day post-Thanksgiving. I definitely have a belly now (and I'm not holding back at all in the above pics).
Maternity Clothes: Nope. Leggings and baggy sweaters are my best friends though.
Symptoms: Apparently my uterus ligaments (round ligaments) are stretching, and I can feel it. Other than that, feeling good.
Best Moment of the Week: Family time! Dinner at my Aunt's, the Huntington with Dad, Ursula, and Joe, and Thanksgiving with Joe's family and mine at my aunt's house.
What We're Reading & Watching this Week: We started watching the Tudors from the beginning. LOVE that show.
Food Cravings: I'm still loving honey greek yogurt - now with blueberries and teddy grahams. Also, mac & cheese = the perfect dinner.
Exercise: Finally making regular gym visits again. This is the first time my legs have been sore in a LONG time (in a good way). I also bought an Omron pedometer which I'm loving. My goal = more than 10,000 steps per day.
What I Miss: Wine was sounding really good on Thanksgiving.
Happy or Moody? Both!
Movement: Nothing yet, hopefully I'll feel something in the next week or two.
Looking Forward to: More family time this weekend before my dad leaves next week. Time flew by so fast.

15 Weeks Bump Update

Total Weight Gain:Up about 6 lbs. I've been scared to get on the scale for the past few days though (read on to my pregnancy cravings...)
Maternity Clothes: Nope, I bought some new leggings, but I wore those pre-pregnancy too. I'm actually wearing jeans in the above picture, and that pair fits fine because the button is below my belly.
Symptoms: I'm breaking out - soooo annoying! I did the green clay mask twice, and I feel like that just brought all the gunk up to the surface.
Best Moment of the Week: A rainy evening snuggling on the couch (after skipping the gym) was nice. We also finally slept with our window closed (first time since April!) and used two blankets. And I wore boots several times last week. Yay for fall! Plus I caught up with my cousin who will soon by moving to Texas and got tons of baby/pregnancy advice as well as our first baby gear :)
What We're Reading & Watching this Week: We started watching the Tudors from the beginning, and we've been mixing it up with Wonder Years and Sons of Anarchy. I have an itch to watch Mary Poppins (after seeing her at Disneyland!) as well as some of my fall/winter movies: When Harry Met Sally & Love Actually.
Food Cravings: I'm still loving fish (especially fish sticks). I also went through a Corn Pops kick and ate the whole box last week. By myself. Whoops.
What I Miss: Sometimes wine sounds nice.
Happy or Moody? Happy :)
Movement: Nothing yet. I've been reading up on what it's supposed to feel like. I've read it could be like popcorn popping (??!), a goldfish swimming, or gas bubbles. Hopefully I'll know it when I feel it.
Looking Forward to: Catching up with my Dad - he'll be in town from Maine for a few weeks.

Halloween Fun: A Look Back at October

Happy Halloween!

For the month of October we tried to do something Halloween-themed every week (in addition to lots of scary movies). Here's a look back at the fun. Of course, there are way too many pics to post here, so click on the links if you want to see more.

1) Haunted Corn Maze & Festival at Pierce College: Up near Modesto there's a great corn maze that we went to every year. It has several mazes with really wide walkways and tall corn. So I wanted to continue the tradition and find a corn maze in So Cal. The day we went to the Pierce College corn maze was really hot, and the walkways didn't really look like walkways at all, it felt like we were just blazing our own paths through a muddy corn field. Next year I think I'll have to travel back to Modesto in October.

Just Getting Started!

Lost

2) Ghost Harbor at the Queen Mary: I had never been to the Queen Mary before, so we got there early enough to explore the ship and have dinner on board before doing the haunted mazes, which began at 7:00. The ship has a lot of cool historical displays set up and it was fun to check it all out. And the haunted mazes were SCARY! If you went through the maze in a small group, or alone, you got a much scarier effect than if you went through in big groups. My favorite was the maze on the boat that went past the swimming pool - it was eerily lit up with a creepy ghost wandering around it.

Queen Mary during the day

Ghost Harbor at Night

3) Disneyland! We went to Disneyland during the week a few days before Halloween and had an amazing time. Dland closed early that day, so we were a little worried we wouldn't get to do much, but the lines were short and we rode everything we wanted to. We also had time for a delicious cinnamon roll from the Jolly Holiday cafe - Yum! I had been fixating on cinnamon rolls for about a week. Unfortunately, all of our pictures were deleted so Joe decided we had to go back and re-take them. That means we actually went to Disneyland twice in less than two weeks, yay! I'll do another post on our second trip, but  here's a few pics:

Mary Poppins! Blue Mickey Hat & My Wookie...Aww!

Jack Skellington & A Random "N" Pumpkin

The Rides! Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain, & Toy Story

Overall, October was an amazing month and I'm already looking forward to Thanksgiving and all of the Christmas festivities: movies, music, trees, shopping, baking... Can't wait!

Happy Halloween! 14 Weeks Update

Total Weight Gain:Up a total of 4 lbs. I feel like I officially started showing on Halloween, maybe it was just all the candy/cookies though.
Maternity Clothes: Nope. I have officially retired several outfits though. I hate anything that presses against my belly - it's fine in the morning, but by afternoon it's uncomfortable.
Symptoms: Sometimes my joints feel a little achy, but overall I feel fine. Unless taking 2 naps on Sunday isn't normal...
Best Moment of the Week: Another Disneyland trip!! This time with hundreds of pictures to show for it. We happened to go on the day they were filming the Christmas parade, which was kinda cool.
What We're Reading & Watching this Week: I gave in and just watched Anna Karenina (with Vivien Leigh), so I'm not sure if I'll ever finish that book. Good movie though, I know they left a lot out, but still very good. We also watched Chinatown, another classic, which we both liked, except the ending.
Food Cravings: I just discovered greek yogurt with honey, which I eat with bananas. Soooo good. I'm also wanting a Veggie Delight from Subway, with some cheetos. Last week I definitely satisfied my cinnamon roll craving - 2 from Disneyland (we split one the first time, then each got our own the second time) PLUS cinnamon roll sugar cookies - which are deadly delicious. Don't say I didn't warn you.
What I Miss: Sushi and wine have both sounded good recently, but I don't miss them that much.
Happy or Moody? Both!
Movement: Still haven't felt anything.
Looking Forward to: My dad's visit this weekend! He'll be here for three weeks, so Thanksgiving will be a fun family affair :)

Food Diary & Cravings

I'm not sure if I've had anything really strong enough to be considered a craving yet, but I definitely have some food preferences, and unfortunately they are not very healthy. Raw veggies are out - I can force myself to eat a side salad sometimes, but a salad as a meal makes my stomach turn. Cooked veggies are still ok, but if we go out to eat, veggies are not my favorite option. Now that the weather is a little bit cooler, I've been trying to cook at home more, so these are a few of the veggie creations I've recently come up with.

1) Baked Eggplant Parmesan: I basically followed this recipe as the base, but substituted low fat Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream. Then I added Trader Joe's pizza sauce and cheese and baked some more (the key to eating veggies is cheese!). I made the flat bread using Trader Joe's pizza dough.

2) Spaghetti Squash with vegan Tofurkey sausage, sauteed mushrooms, and Trader Joe's pasta sauce. Plus, of course, more cheese. I also made sweet potato biscuits, using this recipe, but subbing 1 tablespoon butter for the two tablespoons shortening. I also add shredded cheddar and dried parsley. Soooo good! And filling, considering spaghetti squash only has 50 calories per cup.

And here's what I'd eat every day if I could:

Red Robin's Fish 'n Chips

So good, yet so bad!