Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Spring Break

We had a GREAT spring break. We stayed close to home and had a fun time! We rode the light rail twice. Once to ASU to have lunch at the Chuck Box with Grandpa and Nana (my kids ate all my fried zucchini). The second time we went downtown to the science center. We had a lot of fun but next time I think that I will take a second adult. With two 1st graders and a 3rd and 5th grader they have very different interests and it would have been more fun to spend more time with what each wanted to do. I watched my friends kids (my kids friends) two of the days. That is always fun because I don't hear, "What are we going to do today?" They entertain each other quite nicely!! Over all it was good, no stress, fun with the kids and the best thing of all NO FIGHTING and a CLEAN HOUSE!

Who could ask for anything more! (I guess I could have asked for my camera to have had a charged battery for the science center but I guess I can't have everything)

Monday, March 16, 2009

Finally Disney Pictures!!

Finally I had the time and the patience to deal with my Internet issues to post the pictures from our Disney trip!! Looking at these just makes me want to go back:)
This is the Pixar parade in California Adventures




Shawn and Crystal celebrated their anniversary while we were there so we took the kids so they could have a nice lunch with out them. We went on the steam boat and the kids had a great time looking out at the island.


We went to see the princesses.

Hunter was excited that one of the three was Belle because he wanted to get her autograph for his friend Sophie. He even had Belle personalize it just for her.

New this time around was Fairytopia where you can meet Tink and one of her friends from the new movie.

This is Tink's friend Faun.
Another first for us this time was that our kids can go on rides without an adult because Abby is now 7. I really hate this kids roller coaster and now Caroline can be in charge and take the other two on it YEA!!

Caroline rode the Maliboomer for the first time this year and LOVED it! We have not found a ride that our kids are afraid of. I love it.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Our Family Disneyland Getaway!!

One lost and found cell phone, one pooped on Hunter, two head colds, a lost and found Abby, and a sprained ankle ... Disneyland with the family for a week ... Priceless!!!



Anyone that knows me will attest to the fact that Disneyland is probably my favorite place on earth. Tracy and I just got back from our annual (and sometime biannual) trip to the big DL with the family!! We had such a good time.
The first day was just the 5 of us and just mellow. We went on some of our favorite rides and the went over to CA Adventures and waited in line for our first look at Toy Story Mania!!(insert cold number one here)
On the second day we added my cousin Sarah and her boys. Our kids love to be with their cousins and get along wonderfully. We went on the new and improved Small World and liked the changes. They were noticeable but didn't take away from the nostalgia of the ride.( insert one lost cell phone here)
On the third day we started off in CA Adventures and added another family. Friends of ours that arrived were quickly absorbed into the growing crowd of kids and out numbered adults. Toy Story Mania was a cute ride and our longest wait in a line (30 min)!! We spend most of the daylight hours being flipped, twisted and spun around at CA Adventures before packing it up and heading across the way to DL. We ended the day in good old Fantasy Land. (insert cold number two here)
Day number four started, continued and ended at DL. We added my step brother and his wife and kids. Today I think that we did almost the whole park.(insert Hunter got pooped on coming off the Pooh Bear ride by a bird here) We went from one end of the park to the other. I think that the kids liked seeing the looks on the faces of the cast members as they got to tell them that we had a party of 20!!! We ended up having our own boat on Small World and Pirates, a whole rocket on Space Mountain, an entire side of the sub on Nemo. We bribed the kids to work on their homework with the promise of swimming with cousins and friends at the resort in the heated pool and it WORKED!!
The fifth day we finished the park and let the kids decide what they wanted to do again. (insert lost and found Abby here, she was only lost for about 5-10 minutes) The one thing that was completely new for us at DL was Pixies Hollow. Poor Tink and Rosetta, her garden fairy friend, got mobbed for pictures! I think that we may have frightened the poor things. Heck there were times that I was a little scared myself. Today ended with swimming again and Tracy and I ended up at Sarah's resort until about 2am.
We got to the park on day six a little later than we had the days before. Kirt and April (our friends) were headed to the beach and then home and we decided that because Sarah was ready to go that we would go on Pirates one last time and take them to the monorail and they would head home. We spent the rest of today with Shawn and Crystal (brother and sis-in-law) and the kids. (insert Sarah's bad experience with an energy drink and us going and driving her back to our hotel here)
Our seventh and final day was short. We insisted on Sarah staying with us. We chose our favorite 4 rides, (insert my sprained ankle here) took the monorail to Downtown Disney, ate lunch, got our kids their souvenirs and hit the road! Sarah was still not feeling well and so Tracy drove her car and I drove our car and off for home we went!! The final chapter ... by the time that we got home Tracy had to cary me in the house because during the drive home my ankle swelled so much that I could not put any weight on it oh joy!! In the end we had a great time and we enjoyed the time that we were able to spend with some great friends and the family that I love!!