Graduation

My baby graduated preschool for the first time last night. I don't really know why she "graduated," she has another year of preschool left. I guess that after you pay every month for an education, a parent does have the right to watch a small program. I did learn that she is not my child last night. She kept posing and dancing through the whole thing. After two of the songs she stood up, kissed both her hands and blew the kisses to the audience. What, does she think everyone was there for just her? I like to think she was blowing them to me, her wonderful mother who she misses while at preschool. She obviously did not get her lack of stage fright from me. It was a sweet program, with only a few thoughts of tears from her mother. I am sure that when she graduates preschool (again) next year I will let the tears fall. My sweet baby!

While I am on the subject of Ainsley....which sport should I sign her up for.....soccer or baseball? This is a game she made up called "Batter-batter baseball." Can you tell she watches too much soccer and baseball; they all run together in her mind.

Surprise!

When Jared and I booked our vacation, we planned on going to Sea World and San Diego also. We just didn't tell our kids this part. Lizzie was quite mad at us that we could be so close to Sea World but not go. She would rather visit Sea World than Disneyland. I wanted there to be some element of surprise to our vacation. After we checked out of our hotel in Anaheim, we told the kids that we would go to the beach, but would have to drive a ways. We passed the San Diego temple and pointed it out to the kids.....they were still CLUELESS! We pulled into a hotel and said that we might as well stay in San Diego for a few days instead of going home right away. Then we told them we would go to Sea World. There was a little shrieking, but not the excitement I was expecting. Oh well.

We started off San Diego by going to the beach. The kids and Jared had a blast! They were all mad at me because I didn't want to get in the water....hmmmmm.....52 degree water and 70 degree air temp. Not my idea of fun. I enjoyed myself watching them play and taking pictures. They drug seaweed, searched for shells, buried each other, got in a mud fight, and swam. Jared loves walking out and jumping the waves. Tyler and Lizzie love to bury their feet and then let the waves come bury them more.

Sea World was so much more relaxing than Disneyland the kids all said. They enjoyed watching the shows and getting splashed. Their favorites are the tide pools and feeding the sting rays. They probably would have been content if this is all we did at Sea World. They love to stick their hands in the cold water to pick up the sea stars. I think that Ainsley held every one that was within her reach. She kept getting so concerned at the upside down sea stars. She made Emily reach in to turn several over that Ains couldn't reach. They counted several lobsters in the tide pools also.

At the rays, I thought Ainsley would be too scared to reach her hand in. She loved it though! Jared loves to feed the animals at Sea World, I think more than the kids do. At one point he spilled fish juice on himself. We couldn't figure out why the fish smell was following us. Jared had to go spot wash his shirt in the the bathroom. YUCK!!!!!!

One of the Sea World highlights was Ainsley spotting a baby bunny. The kids all sat and watched it forever. The picture of the kids looking for it under a wall cracks me up.

I promise I am done writing about our trip! It was definitely a dream come true for me!

Happy Birthday Emily!

When we planned our trip, it happened to work for us best to go over Emily's birthday. I asked Jared if this sets a precedence, and now we need to take each kid to Disneyland over their twelfth birthday. He said no. I say yes, so hopefully I will be back at Disneyland in 26 months! Anyway, if you have seen any commercials lately, you know that Disneyland celebrates birthdays. Emily got to wear a badge that said "Its my birthday!" Several people throughout the park said "Happy Birthday Emily." And yes, I cried when the first person said it to her! She also was given a $69 gift card instead of free admission on her birthday. Unfortunately, the gift card fell out of her pocket without us ever using it. It has taken us a few days, but we both can now laugh over this mishap! A highlight of her trip was seeing the boy she likes at Disneyland. He was there with his family the same week we were. Convenient, wouldn't you say?

On this trip we discovered that Ainsley is scared of heights. We were waiting to board the Sailing Ship Columbia and I told everyone to run to the second level for a picture and then I would board. Ainsley was terrified to be that high! Can you see the death grip she has in the picture? When Jared set her down, she sat on the floor, on the second level still, but was quite content. We thought she would panic at Tarzan's Treehouse too, but climbed up just fine. When it was time to go back down however, she slid all the way down on her bum, step by step. At least she wasn't crying!

Ainsley is also scared of some characters. She had promised to hug Jack Sparrow (maybe because she would get to call Aunt Nichole if we saw him), but I guess Aladdin is scarier that him. When she and I saw Aladdin she offered to take my picture because she didn't want to talk to him. In fact, about half of our character pictures don't include Ainsley.

On the Grizzly Bear River Run, Tyler didn't get just wet, he got drenched!

Our family found a new favorite ride. We LOVE Toy Story Midway Mania! You ride in a car and play games with 3-D glasses. If you "pop" a water balloon, water mists you. We were all fiercely competitive, but Jared won us every time. One of the times we rode it, Emily wanted to ride with Jared just so she could verify he really was winning us!

I love Disneyland because of all the extras they think about. I love the cast members that look and act their part as you board their ride. I love the themed areas. I love the costumes, plays and parades. The kids all complained every time I made them wait for a performance. But, every time they watched one, they loved it! I loved this costume, (from a parade that no one wanted to watch, but after they were all laughing and dancing.) This walking stick from Bugs Life was so tall!

There is also a 3-D Bugs Life show. We all watched it. Stink bugs "stink" you, complete with smell, and spiders crawl down from the ceiling. At the end, the announcer asks you to please stay seated so all maggots and caterpillars can leave the building. Then you feel a movement on your seat that feels like a bug crawling under your bum. When we asked Ainsley if she liked the show she kept ignoring us. Finally, five minutes later she turned to Jared and I and said, "The show no, the bugs under my bum yes." She must have really needed to process that one!

On our final day at Disneyland we all rode our favorite rides again. Then we did some serious character hunting and shopping (Thanks Dad for the souvenir money!). We waited 40 minutes to enter Pixie Hollow to see Tinkerbell and her fairies. We got to meet Tinkerbell and Silvermist. (I have no idea who the other fairies are, but my girls tried to educate me during our wait) Tinkerbell gave us some serious attitude and teasing. I think this is why she is Emily's favorite character/princess.

The Disney princesses all visit the Princess Faire, and you have to wait in line to see them. The trick is that they only have three princesses there at a time, and you don't know who is there until you enter the building. After waiting for an hour, we finally got to enter. Lizzie has been in love with Belle from Beauty and the Beast forever. Three years ago our biggest regret is not getting to see Belle. We kept our fingers crossed we would see her this time. The first princess was Jasmine. While we visited with her Aurora came in to tell her that Raja was growling at the guards, so could she please go feed him. So then we got to visit with Aurora. Cinderella was next. Ainsley was just as excited the second time to meet her as she was the first. The last princess was Snow White. By this time Lizzie and I were trying really hard to hide our disappointment. Snow White used an annoying shrill voice, and commented to Tyler about his bright yellow shirt. She really liked it, and would he please take a picture with her. She promised not to kiss him, because her prince would not like this. Tyler was mortified beyond belief that we would want him to pose with a princess. He adamantly said no and walked off in tears! The poor kid is so surrounded by girlie stuff that I guess he occasionally has to make a stand!

Of course, as we were hanging out at the princess store at the exit of Princess Faire, Belle walked in to take her turn at Princess Faire. At that, Lizzie and I both cried. I promised her we would try to come back later to see her.

While driving to our hotel, we noticed that the California Angels stadium was near Disneyland. Jared had never been to a professional baseball game, so he bought tickets for him and Tyler. They left Disneyland early on our last day so that they could get to their game. Both loved it, even though the Angels lost.

When the boys left, the girls and I headed back over to Princess Faire to try our luck again. This time we only waited 30 minutes! And we were successful! To me, this was an event that made every penny we spent worth it. I still cry every time I talk, or write about it! When Lizzie walked up to Belle she was beaming. She later told me that she was so nervous to meet her that she could barely talk. This was definitely the highlight of Lizzie's trip! Sometimes I wonder if she realizes that these are just normal people dressed up. I think that in her eyes Belle was a real princess!

Our favorite rides:

Jared: Soaring Over California and California Screaming

Misty: Soaring Over California and Small World

Emily: Indiana Jones and California Screaming

Lizzie: Tower of Terror and Indiana Jones

Tyler: Space Mountain and Autopia

Ainsley: Dumbo and Small World

I actually didn't cry when we left Disneyland. Four and a half days was good, and I felt done when the girls and I went to dinner that night.

Thanks Walt Disney and Mickey for helping to make our vacation such a wonderful experience!!!!!

Disneyland Part 1

Doesn't the word vacation just sound lovely? I love that word, especially when it is followed by Disneyland! I really do hate to make you all read a play by play, but if I don't write about our trip that way, I will forget the special moments. Sorry, skip all this if you want!

We started our trip early Friday morning. Jared had to do some work in St. George, so we hung out in the van and started homework while he worked. Then it was off to Vegas! Me and the kids have never spent time there. We made the kids all promise to not look at the ground, and then we took them to the strip. We started off at the Flamingo, walked through Caesar's Palace and then wandered the Bellagio. The garden room inside there is spectacular!!!! We went outside to watch the fountains. What a sight! We had to stay through two songs.

During this Tyler tried to fight off the Joker for Batman.

Also during this whole time, Ainsley was sick! She had a horrible cold and couldn't stop coughing. I am sure we had several people wonder about us and swine flu. The next morning we were off to Anaheim. Disneyland's special right now is 5 days for the price of 3. I didn't feel like we were wasting any precious time by arriving there at 4:00 pm after everyone had a nap instead of 9 am. Just for the record, I didn't cry at the ticket window. I cried when we got into the gate and found out the electric parade isn't running until summer. That's what I get for planning a trip during the off season! Our first anticipated ride was to be Pirates, but unfortunately it was temporarily closed. It was being renovated three years ago when we went, so we all crossed our fingers it would open back up soon. Instead we went to Haunted Mansion. Ainsley was nervous about ghosts, so she became Wendy Wu the kung-fu champion to fight the ghosts for us. (Throughout the ride she kept whispering "It's all pretend right mommy?)

Our next ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I wasn't sure how Ainsley would do on this one. She is a daredevil, but has never been on anything like this before. She is too short for the fun rides at Lagoon. After we got off she asked if we could ride it again!

We spent the rest of the night riding and having fun. I think we rode Autopia three times that night. Jared and I decided that none of our kids are ever getting driver's licenses.

Pirates did open that night, and I must truly love my family because I sacrificed part of the fireworks to ride it with them.

The next morning we started in California Adventures. It was so crowded here that we barely rode any rides. We waited over an hour to ride a ride similar to Wild Mouse (but much calmer). We were all disappointed in it. When we were over in the Hollywood Backlot we watched an Aladdin play that was awesome. A big auditorium with air conditioning! One of my favorite trip moments happened this day. We were standing around near the Animation Station when Cinderella walked in. Ainsley and Jared noticed her right away and walked up to her. Cinderella (Ainsley's favorite princess) grabbed onto Ainsley's hand and walked with her to where she was going to stand. Meanwhile, I am trying to find my camera and crying. Ainsley was grinning from ear to ear. I finally found my camera, but by that time I had to wait in line to see Cinderella again. I don't care-----Ainsley got her wish!

Just as a side note....my brother Kelly offered to bet my girls that I would cry while we were at Disneyland. Neither of the girls would bet against him because they knew I would cry. Last time I burst into tears at the ticket window because I was so excited to be there!

While in California Adventures we rode Tower of Terror.

Tyler and Jared were the only ones who had been on it before. Emily was too frightened so she stayed off while the rest of us rode it, including Ainsley. When Tyler rode it before he said he felt like he lost his stomach. This time he felt the same way, and he did look a little green after. Ainsley didn't like it, "her legs flew up." However, when we rode it a few days later she rode it again. Lizzie held one of her legs down, I had too much of a death grip on the hand rests! Thank goodness for my brave daughters!

We watched the High School Musical 3 show...don't waste your time on this one. Pretty lame. Emily did get picked to go dance, with a little push from mom.

We headed over to Disneyland where the crowds were much smaller, but more entertaining. Can anyone explain what "Bat Day" is? There were some interesting people there that day. It was like they were part goth and part punk. I have never seen so many platform shoes, fishnet stockings, short skirts, and fluorescent hair. Many of the boys were carrying parasols. WEIRD!!!!!

This picture is to prove to Jared, again!

We were a little late to get a great seat for fireworks due to the long line on Space Mountain. And wouldn't you know it, Ainsley fell asleep 5 minutes before they were supposed to start. What a mean mom, I woke her up! She had to see Tinkerbell fly through the sky!!! (No, I didn't cry at this) We stumbled on a short line for Nemo and loved it. I wouldn't ever wait an hour to ride it, but five minutes made the ride wonderful. We had to squish into a submarine and look out port holes to see fish and the cast of Finding Nemo!

What a wonderful first few days!

Rain

Sometimes the rain is OK. Such as on Tuesdays, when sports practices get cancelled.

Unfortunately, the rain forced me to make dinner this Tuesday.

And yes, Ainsley's homemade chocolate chips were delicious!

Tuesdays!

I hate Tuesdays!

3:30 The kids get home.
4:00-4:30 Emily's piano lesson
4:45-5:15 Lizzie's piano lesson
5:00-6:30 Emily's soccer practice
6:30-7:30 Tyler's baseball practice
7:00-9:00 Young Women's for me (and soon to be Emily)
7:00-8:00 Activity Days for Lizzie and Emily
Don't forget homework, school reading, and YW reminder calls during all this too!


UGH! At least I don't have to fix dinner on Tuesdays....everyone eats cereal on the go!

For Nichole

Just to make it official:

I AM TIRED OF DRIVING IN SNOW!!!!!!!

I am also tired of the cold.

I am ready for warm sunny days and flowers.

I just wanted to let you all know that.