We joined the Galants over Labor Day weekend to cheer on Grandpa Daniel in the Disney half-marathon and visit with Grandma PJ. Arden, Gilly and Penn set out on Friday morning for a biodiesel-powered road trip to Anaheim. Things were fine until we came down the grapevine and hit 3 hours of L.A. traffic! Arden was an angel and handled the miserable stop-and-go traffic much better than the adults in the car!

We stayed at the Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, which was beautiful and had convenient direct access to Disney’s California Adventure park. Arden loved playing in the lobby with Auntie Kayla and spending lots of quality time sleeping in the stroller with Grandma PJ while we snuck onto a few grown-up rides.

We didn’t run into The Mouse but we did get some one-on-one with Mary Poppins and Grandma got to buy Arden her first pair of ears.

Arden really enjoyed the hotel pools and was finally motivated to start taking some official steps on her own. HALLELUJAH! We’ll try to post some video of her walking if we can catch her in the act. It was extra special that Grandma, Grandpa and Kayla were there to see it.

The road trip home was filled with lots of Elizabeth Mitchell music and a few rest stops, but fun was definitely had by all.

Thanks to the Galants for making the trip possible!

**Check out some Disney photos under the Arden by Month – September 2008 section in the gallery.

She was the youngest this year, and enjoyed spending time at “the 104″ (a guest house, complete with crib) and exploring the pastures in her Ergo carrier. The Easter Bunny was quite kind and she enjoyed all of the unique Texas fare served up, including pinto beans, ham, mac ‘n cheese, and deep-fried turkey.

To catch a glimpse of her adventure click the pic below:

First, she visited the Brandson clan in Amador City to celebrate Ama Betty’s birthday.

Just a few short days later, she left for Monterey on a girls’ road trip with Mama, Aunt Chelsea, and Nana.

Then, she went to help Papa B celebrate his birthday in Pollock Pines.

After that, she stopped off in Sebastopol for a Bayless family reunion where she met many family members for the first time including her Grandpa John, Uncle Rick, and Great Grandma Anne.

A week later, it was off to Fort Bragg to stay in Uncle Tom and Aunt Wendy’s gorgeous beach house.

And that was just her weekends! Here are some other photos of her many activities in between weekend excursions.

January marked the baby’s first trip to Las Vegas. OK, so it was in utero, but I think it still counts. We saw the Cirque du Soleil LOVE show, which is the one with the Beatles music (many thanks to PJ and Daniel for the tickets). It was AWESOME! After the show, we met some fun people hanging out at the Revolution Lounge, a Sgt. Pepper/Austin Powers-themed nightclub based on the LOVE show (don’t worry, Gilly’s just holding that drink for me, not drinking it).

We managed to upgrade our room at the Mirage to a tower deluxe suite thanks to my successful implementation of the “$20 tip trick.” Gilly was very proud of me for having the courage to try it.