Visit with Grandma and Grandpa

Pictures with Grandma before saying goodbye!
We had a great time with Brian's family when they came in town a week ago. We all went to Movies in the park down the street and saw "Wizard of Oz" We also spent a day at the waterpark and car races in the evening. Brian, the kids and his dad spent all day Monday in Chicago. (I had to work) They did a lot of fun stuff at Navy Pier and even went out on a sailboat. Of course they forgot to take the camera with them!
We'll see you all again in October for Cassy and Chris's wedding day in Disney!!!

Is anybody out there???

I noticed when I wrote my last post that it was number 115 since I started this family blog one year ago. That's a lot of photos to view and a lot of stories to type. So it made me wonder who reads this out there. Many of you I know because you leave comments from time to time. (thanks we all love to read the comments) And them some of you... eh hem... read but never leave comments. So to celebrate the one year anniversary of our family blog... I was wondering if EVERYONE who reads our blog could leave a comment this time just to let me know you're out there.

I hope everyone enjoys checking up on us to see what's happening in the lives of the Sandoval Family.

Thanks for reading!

Let's go GNO!

It's that time of year again where Brian and Austin spend their Friday nights going to prep football games. Madison knows that when they go to football games that means it's Girls Night Out (GNO) for us. We both really look forward to spending those evenings together. We made a list of all the fun things we plan to do this year.
First on the list was to get spa pedicures. This was Madi's first time getting a pedicure. I told her not to get use to being spoiled like that because it is expensive to pay for two pedis. My friend gave me a gift certificate for mine (thanks Sue) and so that helped with the bill. We sat in a massage chair for 15 minutes while we waited for them to start and I think if Madison wasn't there talking to me the whole time I would have fallen asleep.
It was so beautiful and relaxing in the spa. Madison was done before me and she just walked around the spa singing Hannah Montana's song "Girl's Night Out" I kept telling her she needed to stay quiet because people were trying to relax, but they all seemed to be very entertained by her.
I opted for the french tips while Madison chose pink and blue mixed.
Then we went shopping at Old Navy to pick out PJ's for our slumber party together. We planned to make cookies when we got home from our pedis and shopping trip, but we were so tired we just fell asleep watching a movie instead.

Next week we're off to the roller rink!!!!

Uh... what did I do wrong?

Aren't sunflowers suppose to be at least 6 feet tall? Madison and I were so excited to plant this one in our yard this year. Unfortunately it's only about a foot tall. Very cute, but not what we were expecting.

Back to School

The kids were a little more excited about going back to school this year since they aren't new to the school anymore.
I can't believe my baby is in second grade this year.
Here's the whole crew walking to school on the first day.
Austin, Jordan, Madison and Taylor!

Happy Birthday Brian!

The kids were so excited to surprise Brian with the birthday cake they made for him.
This picture was actually taken at 8am right before Brian went to sleep from getting off the midnight shift. Nice healthy breakfast we had that morning.
Make a wish!

New York City

We had an amazing time on our vacation. There were over 400 pics on my camera so I'll try to keep my posts as brief as possible. This was the view of Manhattan from our hotel room. We did everything from Times Square, Central Park, Chinatown, Statue of Liberty, Yankees game to eating at the largest McDonalds in the world. The kids swam in the hotel pool every night and then we'd crash and wake up the next day and do it all over again.

NYC 2008

We packed up the van and left our house about 9pm Thursday evening.
The kids were sleeping by 10 pm.
At 3am we made our way to Pennsylvania and stopped for gas and bathroom break.
I woke up around 6ish to this beautiful sunrise. I was so amazed by the beauty of Pennsylvania and New Jersey Mountains. I brought a book and Sudoku puzzle book with me for the car ride but never even opened them. The scenery was breathtaking.
Brian and Austin bunked together this night and I couldn't stop laughing when I woke up that morning and found them sleeping the same way.

NYC Misc.

This is my favorite sign in Times Square
Madi sightseeing on the top deck of the bus.

Brian and the kids waiting at our bus stop to take us into the city. The bus stop was a 2 minute walk from our hotel and brought us all the way to Manhattan just two blocks from Times Square.
Madison thought it was very cool that a street had her name in the city.

Statue of Liberty

It was strange to be standing there on Liberty Island looking up at the Statue of Liberty that we've seen so many times in photos or tv etc.

We're waiting to catch our ferry. See her in the background?
Not exactly what you want to see see when you're visiting Liberty Island. 15 police officers and their bomb sniffing dogs came running in while we were eating our lunch on the Island. They actually were on our ferry on the way back to Manhattan so we found out that a man had barricaded himself in the mens restroom. Not something to take lightly.
View of the city in the background.