Mini Vay-cay Day 3 - Downtown Disney, Movies, & Hotel Fun!

On Wednesday we actually did NOT go to Disneyland! Surprising, I know. But we did go to Downtown Disney. :) Based on our passes, we are blocked out of the actual theme parks for a large portion of the summer, including this day. So we went to Downtown Disney with the intentions of catching an early showing of the new kid's animated feature, Kung Fu Panda 2. Of course, the power had gone out & the theater was closed. So we played at the Lego store for quite a while as I used my phone to search for another local AMC theater. And yes, it had to be an AMC... I had 3 free passes! Well, eventually I found one right up the street from our hotel. So we stopped for lunch and headed once again to the movies. This time we actually made it into the theater and were seated. And then over 100 early elementary school kids came in on a field trip and they were loud and obnoxious and throwing popcorn etc. And their chaperones weren't much better behaved. As we were debating whether or not to complain and leave, I looked into the next seat and TJ was asleep. *sigh* When I looked at Emma's face, I could see she would soon be joining him in slumber land. So we complained, got readmit slips, and left the movies once again. We went back to the room where I made the kids lay down "just for a few minutes" and surprise, surprise, they both took a good long nap. We finished up the afternoon with a leisurely dip in the pool and headed back for a late showing of Kung Fu Panda 2. We eventually got to see the movie. The kids enjoyed it and it was pretty cute, but since when did I get old enough that I now consider 7pm to be the "late show???"

Mini Vay-cay Day 2 - Disneyland with the Ommen Ladies!

On Tuesday, we again got up early and headed back to the happiest place on earth. This time we spent the day at Disneyland. My friend Sarah and her daughter Ava met up with us later in the morning and that was nice, since we hadn't seen them in quite a while. We had a lot of fun and Emma & TJ were both very excited to meet some more characters and get new pictures for their autograph books. Both Emma & I were feeling much better than the day before (her fever was gone and I did NOT double dose myself on allergy meds unlike the day before!) so that made the day much more enjoyable. We got to see the new Soundsational Parade and it was really cute! Lots of classic Disney music and characters. We also hit the standard faves like Dumbo and Peterpan. I took TJ on the Matterhorn while Sarah and Mom took Emma & Ava on teacups and Alice, so that worked out well. We finished up the evening with some playtime in Goofy's Garden in Toontown. It was a fun day!

Mini Vay-cay Day 1 - California Adventure with the OGC

We finally got around to getting the house tented last week which meant that, obviously, we needed to be out of the house for a few days. Tim and Jen offered us up their couch, as did some of my friends, but I figured it would just be easier to get a hotel/ motel and have our own space for Emma and I. And, since we already had plans to meet 2 different groups of friends on different days at Disney, I figured we might as well get our hotel room down in Anaheim rather than San Bernardino. So we headed out from Sunday to Thursday for a mini vacation. I offered to bring TJ with us so Karen wouldn't have to worry about him during the tenting and I asked Grandma to come along with us as well. We had a wonderful time! The kids were actually really well behaved all week long and got along pretty well with each other.

On Monday we went to California Adventure to ride the new Little Mermaid ride and we met up with Erin & Sophia and Jen, Charlene, and Hayden. The little members of the OGC love spending time together and TJ loves "his ladies!" It was kind of warm out so we took the kid to the sprinkler play area in the Bug's Life Land. Sophia and Hayden LOVE D it and got drenched. TJ warmed up to the idea after a few minutes and got pretty wet as well. Emma was, unfortunately, running a fever all day and was not quite at 100%. She ran through the sprinklers a couple of times but then was more happy to sit on my lap and eventually just took a nap in her stroller. My poor baby. She hung tough though and still played with her friends in the Brother Bear playground and made sure to ride on the ferris wheel. That's always her fave. :):)

Happy Happy Birthday Birthday!!!

With this many people in the family, it's no surprise that it is ALWAYS someone's birthday! Within the past couple of weeks we have celebrated both Lucy's 14th birthday and Matthew's 8th birthday. Both days went really well. We just got together as a family over at Tim and Jen's each time and let the kids play and swim in the backyard pool.

Scott also got a pinata for Matthew's bday which proved to be somewhat interesting as we soon learned that there is not really a place to hang a pinata at that house! Good dad that he is, Scott perched his afraid-of-heights-and-recently-concussed self up on a ladder and swung the pinata for the kiddies. That was funny. Especially when Bubs and Lucy started swinging! You could almost see the fear in his eyes.

As far as Lucy's birthday, she was happy as could be to have her favorite meal just like every year... homemade tacos! They were delicious! Everyone also thought the gift that Emma & I gave Lucy was funny. Yes, I bought my 14 year old niece a Brita water filtration pitcher! She always comes over and talks about how she does not want to drink juice or soda or anything over here because we have the "best water ever!!" So now she can have her own best water ever right in her own house! And she loves it!

End-of-the-Year Celebration!

Emma's school had its annual End-of-the-Year Celebration on Wednesday. Her class sang a couple of songs - "I've got the whole world in my hands" (way to take the "He" and any religious connotations out of that song!) and some random spanish pinata song that I couldn't even understand but the kids did a lot of yelling No!" and "Si!" during it. Ummm... okay. It was cute none the less. Then the 4 year old class got up, sang, recited a poem, and was announced in a little processional. I also got a book with a few pictures of Emma throughout the school year. It was nice. Grandma & Al, Uncle Scott, Matthew, and TJ came to see Emma too. But TJ fell asleep during the performance. But she was proud of herself and he singing!

Yesterday was her last official day of the school year. Thank goodness! I am so over that place and their mediocrity. The latest news is that they lost her clothes somehow. Yep, apparently "another parent took them home or something" even though they were in ziploc bags inside her labeled bin. Whatever. I am just glad that she will not be returning to that site. I called the main office this morning and was able to get a confirmation that her transfer has gone through. So, effective August 1st, she will be at Allred. Here's hoping things get better. I just want Emma to get a quality education from people who actually like children. Is that too much to ask?