Who says is ghetto??

I've decided that Knotts Berry Farm is the coolest roller coast park ever....We decided to take a little family day and take the kids to Knotts. I've only been once before when I was like 12. I remember it being really fun but I also remember long lines. There was NO ONE THERE this time! We literally walked RIGHT onto every ride and then stayed on a few of them for more rides in a row. Those little Dixon girls are little daredevils and love roller coasters...I think it's from having Andrew as their daddy. Cole wasn't quite tall enough for most of the adults rides although he would have been game to go on them.
All of us adults felt like kids again...
(see creepy carousel---maybe that part WAS a little ghetto...)I had a sore throat a the day before and I really did it in by screaming on all the roller coasters. The kids have been asking to go back ever since...I think we'll have to make that happen!


Oh...and how could I forget, on our way to the last ride of the day, Allison decided to stow away in the basket of Shannon's double stroller....when we arrived at the ride, Drew hopped out of the front and Andrew picked Gavin up out of the back, so as Allison climbed out of the back basket, the weight of the diaper bag hanging off the bag, started to tilt the stroller onto her, and the handle hit the back of her head, planting her face into the textured cement. I saw it all happen in slow motion and couldn't get there fast enough. She held her head just crying for a while and wouldn't let me look at it. Finally when I was able to see it, she had a round, flat protrusion coming off of her forehead and the blood was right at the surface of the skin but not bleeding. And it came right under the skin in speckles because of the texture of the cement. She also scuffed the side of her nose a little. So our time playing was over, and on the way to first aid, a nice worker gave us a rubber glove filled with crushed ice. We finally made it to the first aid station, and a nice looking gentleman got her cleaned up right quick. He cleaned it and gooped on some Neosporin and planted a fat Bandaid over her forehead. The tears dried up and the handsome first aid guy got her a free Knott's Berry Farm T-shirt (since they were out of stuffed animals.) She calls it her "up and down shirt" because on it is Snoopy and the yellow bird riding a roller coaster. (Not the cutest shirt ever....but those are always their favorites right?)After a long fun day...we headed back to Temecula and ate at Oggies....the kids Zonked on the way home. It's days like this spent with family that create lasting memories!!!

An escape

When you have a lot of chores to do and the kids are being crazy....and the bread in the house is moldy....what do you do? You head for the duck pond!! I decided to treat me and the kids to Oscars and then head over to the duck pond...escaping the laundry list of things to get done around the house. We had a good time...but I'll have to say, there is an overabundance of bird poop under every step and while the kids were throwing whole pieces of bread into the pond for the ducks to choke on, they were a little too close to the edge for comfort...and there's no diving in when there's a baby in your arms. But alas.....an escape for a day was just what we needed!

We are family

It's been years since I've seen some of my cousins. They are the daughters of my dad's older sister who passed away years ago. Their kids are my age so I think of my dad's nieces more like aunts and their kids, like my cousins. It was fun getting together. We met in long Beach by "the big tree." It's the same tree that my dad and his family would come to with his parents when he was younger.
I'm hoping we get together more often in the future. Dan was a trooper for this little trip because after the beach, we sent my parents home to our house with our kids and we took Kaitlyn with us to meet Nick and Kendra for a Padres game. This was Nick's birthday present to Dan that he planned back in June. Kaitlyn slept the whole drive! We met up to eat a little something at a little restaurant that had the USC game playing. Then we headed over to the game and mid-way, Nick's Trojan's won and he had a big smile on his face....and to add to it, the Padres actually won too! So both boys were content and us girls were relieved :) Kaitlyn was so good the whole time, she ate and slept and hardly made a peep! Gotta love that Ergo Carrier!!!

Drew's B-day

One thing I LOVE about living close to family is celebrating birthdays together. The Dorbon tradition is to have a family dinner on the Sunday near the person's birthday.
Andrew always makes his kids a cake and he never disappoints. There isn't anything they've asked him to make that he hasn't perfected. I think he was an artist/cake decorator in a past life or something. For Drew's b-day we went to Mulligans together, then he hit Disneyland on his actual birthday, and we carried on the celebration on Sunday with our family dinner. Check out his cool Darth Vader cake....I think the pictures still don't do it justice.
Drew and Alli are great buddies. They get to go to preschool together and see each other a lot. Drew is a ball of energy and I love how he gets so excited when he talks about something he loves....his voice gets louder and louder --just like his mommy :). He is most commonly referred to as "Drew Bud" or "Drew Buddy." He loves anything Star Wars and it's rubbing off on my kids...except Alli likes to call him "Dark Vader." He is pretty dark. It's been fun watching our little nieces and nephews grow up day to day. It just really feels like Drew was just born yesterday. I guess time flies when you're having fun!

Cole and Kate

I about died from the cuteness when this happened...

She's a doll

Baby Kaitlyn

Don't you love how because of digital photography, you take 10 times as many pictures of the same thing....I just don't have the heart to delete any of them....would you?