Easter & Conference Weekend 2010

We had a fun time at an old pioneer home over the Easter Weekend.

New Penguins at the Aquarium

We saw the new penguins at the Auarium’s grand opening.  We got there early, and we’re glad we did because the line to see the new exhibit got very, very long.  The penguins were jumping in and out of the water.

Autumn brought her dolphin from school that she records what things she did when the dolphin came to visit.  Autumn said that the dolphin felt at home there, and she held him up to see the penguins.

Cheesefest 2010

Well, we had a fun Cheesefest 2010. We headed over to the neighborhood grocery where they had a very large cheese counter with workers that give out samples of the cheese. At this location (compared to where we went last year for our purchases), the store had 3 employees working the cheese counter, and we finally got to test the Mimolette Cheese which the whole thing would be about $380 and it’s about $10 a slice. It was really good cheese, but we decided not to include it in this year’s cheese fest.

Mimolette Cheese - The cannon ball

We enjoyed the evening with friends and neighbors and had a good selection of cheeses. Some of the cheeses were repeats from last year, and some were a first try.

Baguettes and specialty bread was also an addition which enriched the sampling.

We had the following cheeses that we or other guests brought:

• Jarlsberg from Norway
• Butterkase from Germany
• Brie from France
• Vermont Sharp White Cheddar
• Smoked Gouda
• An Ireland Cheese (can’t remember the name)
• Cheese cake
• Mild Cheddar
• Cheese Dip
• Cheese Ball

Brie was one of our favorites that we discovered in Paris, France.  We found that if you put a small slice in the microwave for a few seconds, it helps to soften it up, and put on a baguette, tastes excellent.

Disneyland 2010

We had a great time going to Disneyland this year.  We participated in the Disney Give a Day Get a Disney Day volunteer program.  Angie and I gave a day of service, and Disney gave us two free tickets to the park, so we went down with the kids and enjoyed two days at Disneyland.  Grandma and Grandpa came for one of the days too!

The Peter Pan ride was really the longest line for a ride that we had to wait in

Disney gave us Honorary VoluntEAR badges to wear and park cast members thanked us all day long

With Grandma and Grandpa

The girls liked every ride.

Any Rabbits at home?

W. Rabbit's Home (Megan wanted to check out the name plate I guess)

The girls loved seeing Tinkerbell

Autumn went right up and hugged the Fairy Godmother.

The Girls had watched Mary Poppins over and over leading up to the trip, so it was especially great to see Mary Poppins and Bert

With Bert and Mary Poppins

What's Disneyland without seeing Mickey?

Goofy and I are a lot a like

Our longest line by far was waiting for the princesses

Notice how they're all holding their hands the same way

With Snow White

With Jasmine

Mini's House

Autumn liked going right up to the characters

Megan eating lunch in Toon Town

Toon Town

The girls were excited to see Max because they had seen him in the Disney's Twice Upon a Christmas Special

The girls were excited to find Max

Give a Day Get a Disney Day

On News Year Day, we signed up for the Give a Day Get a Disney Day program, and it’s been fun.

Below is a video explaining a little bit about it.

Basically, for a day of service (with a qualifying organization), Disney will give you one free ticket into Disneyland or Disneyworld.  I think there’s around 1.2 million spots, so the sooner you sign up and do your service, the better.  Once your service is complete, you get a voucher that you can redeem at the park.

For more info or to sign up, visit www.GiveADayGetADisneyDay.com