Happy 2011!!! We hope that this will be a wonderful year for all of us. If it is anything like our past two weeks, it should be fantastic! Too fast paced maybe, but tons of fun!

As I mentioned in our last post, we started our break celebrating several birthdays. All were fun, but I have to boast that mine was the best! Just look at us... the rain kept away the crowds and we had a blast at both Disneyland and California Adventures. The longest we waited was about 20 minutes, and that was on the "E Ticket" rides like Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and Soaring Over California. Truthfully, the longest line we waited in was for the Finding Nemo ride (new submarine ride). It wasn't worth the 30 minute wait, but I hadn't been on it yet, so we just had to - right?!! It was awesome that Jenn, my niece (who has a yearly pass!), came and spent part of the first day with us, as well.

Our get together on Christmas Eve was spectacular! We lost count at 44 friends and family members that stopped by to share some joy with us. After being gone for the last few Christmases, it was a real treat to get to spend time with so many. There were some of you we missed, so we'll make sure to call for a "date" soon!

Denise and HollyAnne spent a few days on the boat with us, and us girls even went out for a little day after Christmas shopping. I hate to admit, however, that I think I have lost my shopping stamina! I didn't recognize the name of half the stores at the mall, and the crowds were at least quadruple of what we dealt with at Disneyland. If anyone had told me even five years ago that I wouldn't enjoy a few hours of crawling the mall, I would have called them crazy, but ugh - it wasn't the best spent couple of hours of the break! I did enjoy the time with Denise and Holly, however! :)

Gary and Donna came in from a Mexican/Panama Canal Cruise on Christmas Eve and it was great to get to spend time with them. Their son, Danny, is now living in the area and we loved meeting his new girlfriend, Jill, and hanging out at her beautiful home. Their visit went way too fast, and we're already looking forward to the next one! (Although they think it is our turn to head to Costa Rica! Hmmm, how long until summer break?!!!)

The "ball drop" found us at Dennis and Cathy's house making lots of new friends and eating way too much yummy food (sort of the theme of the whole break!). Thinking back, we can't really remember the last time we were both actually awake for the stroke of midnight - kind of nice to share that first hug and kiss of the new year!

Some of you have mentioned that we were missing our silly "Night Before Christmas" poem this year. Somehow, I just couldn't get inspired - I mean what rhymes with work, or 5:30 in the morning, or combo class?!! Actually, I think the problem is we are still trying to live on "island time" in a very "land locked" world! We're so jealous every time we hear from our cruising friends who are still out there - most in either Australia or Indonesia right now. It's not as much fun living the dream from the other side of the blogs! Oh well!

Again, we wish you all a prosperous year full of fun and lots of love. Big hugs to you all! :)