California Vacation

Spring Break was really awsome this year for the Joos family! We got to go to California ( Alex now asks me everyday to go back). We did California right this time. We spent 3 freakin days at Disneyland and got to see the beach and spend some time with family and our very best friends. These are the times I really miss California. Especially because the weather was fabulous. Here are some pictures from the trip to Disneyland. Enjoy ;)




Mom and Alex went to see Winnie the pooh and his friends while dad and Vincent rode Splash mountian.

Alex really liked Tigger. He was his favorite character of the trip.

What can I say Alex is a ham, but at least he's a cute one.

Vincent not so hammy, but still cute.

The end of our 1st night at Disneyland it went by so quick oh well at least we still have 2 more days!

The next morning we decided to be extra healthy and eat donuts for breakfast :D

mmmmmm.....donuts......

Mom's not a morning person...or a picture person.

When we got back to disneyland we saw the mad hatter and Alice. Vincent didn't like them very much.

He liked Donald Duck better.

then we hopped over to California Adventure.Where Vincent enjoyed the taste of his hands

and riding the new monsters inc. ride

We also saw sticth while we were there



We rode Flicks ballon ride.



And realized that Alex was tall enough to ride some of the big rides so we took him on the flyingover california ride(that I can't remember the real name of><).


At the end of the 2nd day mom and dad were pretty pooped so we decided to take it easy on our feet and let Vincent and Alex play on the splash pad while we sat and watched. the only lame thing about dDisney splash pads are you can't take your shoes off so we wound up having to buy Vincent new shoes cause he wouldn't walk around in his soggy ones.












Our 3rd and final day at Disneyland we got to meet Mickey Mouse and see his house.

Then we met Vincent's favorite Character Pluto.

Took a pretend drive around toon town.

Got the infamous letter picture in front of California adventure. A for Alex

And finally our last ride of the trip the pirate ship...followed by the most awsome fireworks show known to man.

That concludes our fantastic trip to Disneyland. Stay tooned for the beach pictures soon to come.

DDD/DES

Update on the Music Therapy situation is a judge ruled that the State could not cut someones pay by that much without notice so the music therapists are currently getting paid the right amount (yeah!). It also means we will not have to pay for the services for the time being. The state is now appealing the ruling and their pay will probably be cut but at least not as much as the state wanted to cut. Also the kiddos who were in early intervention are under contract with the state so it was illegal to cut thier services so the kids already in the system had thier services saved for the time being. This is really good news for DDD/DES of AZ, but very unforunate for the kids who didn't get into Early Intervention prior to this March as they will not be getting any serivces till over the age of 3. But at least my kids get it so I'm very thankful for that!

DDD/ DESRally

Okay so everyone knows we're in a recession and everything's getting cuts, but they are making MAJOR cuts in AZ' s DDD. Basically they cut all funds for early intervention (a program that teaches kids 0-3 that are disabled or at risk to get a disability so they can live a more "normal" life), They cut the states health care to disabled people who aren't 50% or more below the poverty level, and they cut the rates to all therapists in AZ by 10% and to music Therapists by 55%( so that was 4 years of college to make the same about as a fast food worker, nice). Most of the programs cut are the ones that actually save the State money in the long run ( like early intervention) So I don't really understand why they're doing this. We went to protest the cuts on Thursday before they came into effect this month, but alas they still went through. So we're pretty bummed out . We will write more letters and make more phone calls in a hope the state legislature will over turn the ruling or at least put some of the stimulus money into these programs again, because they are very vital programs. There were some really seriously disabled people there and obviously could never live, and function on their own, and it just broke my heart to see so many innocent victims affected by this finical mess. Here's some pictures from the day's events:

Victims of the cuts holding a sign

Alex wondering why I'm taking a picture of him




Vincent checking out the scene

more disabled people who were at the protest

people from the rally tryed to go inside to protest. These are some of their signs

Front of the state capital

The punk rock music therapist. Who sang bob marley songs.

( That's a mowhawk under the tent.)

The kids sitting on a bell outside the capital at the rally,

and some lady try ing to take a picture of the capital roof.

Roof of the capital building

Welcome and Enjoy!

Like I say in the about me section we decided to start a family blog so that people can keep up with us since we are a very busy family that seems to only get busier and busier. Also to remind us to take more pictures and keep track of important dates cause we never seem to do that. So here we are the Joos family on blogspot welcome to our page and enjoy here are some recent pictures I was too lazy to post on myspace :)

This is Alex

This is Vincent. He definitely needs a haircut

And one more of Alex just cause he's a ham and I can get easy pictures of him