THE Vacation (Part 1) - Legoland California

We started our big vacation of 2014 (hereby known as THE vacation) on Abby's birthday and drove towards California all day once the kids were out of school. (It was a half day of school.) Poor Abby had to spend the majority of her birthday in the car, so to spice it up a bit, she got to open a little birthday present at each of our stops. She got a new Shutterfly book that has pictures from when she turned 5 up to the present, some Pokemon cards, and an MP3 player. She opened other larger gifts and grandparent gifts at home before we left. We stayed in Yuma, AZ and then woke up Saturday morning and drove the last couple hours straight to Legoland. We got there right when it opened at 10am.

One of the first stops was at this photo op with the Lego Friends characters. The girls loved it. Since it was our first time at Legoland, we really were amazed at all the Lego creations. 

Some of our favorite rides included the Safari Trek, The Fairy Tale Brook, the Sky Cruiser, and the driving school. The Safari Trek had tons of animals made from Legos, while the Fairy Tale Brook showed different Fairy Tale characters like Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella in Legos.

The Sky Cruiser was one of our favorite rides. It was so high up you could see everything around and you had to peddle to move along the track. This was the longest line we waited in, but it was well worth the wait. The Driving School was divided between 3-5 year olds and 6-12 year olds. Tyler and I split up so we could each take two girls to their respective sides. Taryn needed help pushing the peddle and going the right direction, so a worker was constantly running around the track helping the littlest drivers. However, our other girls did great on their own and loved driving. Aubrey was the master on her course, probably one of the oldest on her side. 

The funny thing about Legoland that we had to get used to was the fact that they have multiple play areas around the park for you to stop and build Legos in. Most are near the waiting lines and the whole point is to let the kids play while the parents wait in line for the ride. We did not know this at first and were getting a little frustrated as people would "cut" us in line trying to catch up to their party. When we finally saw the signs and decided to let our kids do the same thing, it wasn't so bad and it made for a lot less grumpiness since the kids didn't have to wait impatiently to get to the front of the line. This was one waiting area where everyone waited together until the pager they gave you went off. The girls had fun building tall towers. Tessa had to find all the eye and smile bricks to make her tower. She even recruited the help of other kids and they worked together. It was pretty funny.

This boat ride was probably our least favorite, or at least Abby's least favorite. There were no tracks to guide the boats like we thought, so if you got turned around you got passed up by others or just blocked the path completely. This happened to Abby multiple times. The slow response time to the wheel and peddle also didn't help and Abby got frustrated really fast. Luckily, there was a worker in waders who would walk along the path and straighten boats out. She had to help Abby a couple of times. Besides this ride, our family was perfect for riding in pairs. Abby was tall enough to be the "adult" rider on the majority of the rides so each of the three smaller girls just took turns riding with either me, Tyler, or Abby. It really did work out great unless it was something like this ride where it was a bit too hard for Abby.

We were able to get pictures with both Emmett and WildStyle outside their Lego Movie Experience building. We all thought it was awesome to have our picture taken with them. And inside the building was the actual set from the movie in the basement with all the city made from Legos. It was so cool to see.

 

We liked this fountain full of instruments made from Legos. Depending on when you were standing on the right spot, each instrument would play so having everyone stand on every spot, the entire band would play together. It was so fun to hear!

The Dragon roller coaster was our favorite ride at Legoland. Even Aubrey rode it and decided it was her favorite ride of the entire trip. Tessa was too scared to try it and after finally talking her into going on a smaller roller coaster in the park, she decided she did not like roller coasters at all. Tessa rode with me on the small coaster and was crying by the end. She says she feels like she's going to fall out especially on the turns. I couldn't blame her thinking that when she has to ride with me or Tyler we usually have to share a lap bar. Her tiny body definitely has more space between her legs and the bar so that feeling of falling would definitely be real for her. But even after trying to explain the difference of having your own tight lap bar on other rides, she had already decided she would not try it again. So she and Taryn went on other rides or found other things to do while Abby and Aubrey and either Tyler or I rode the roller coasters.

The Flight Squadron ride was one of the few rides where every kid who wasn't tall enough had to be with an adult and Abby didn't count, so a worker rode with Tessa so that we could all ride together. It was pretty funny and as we got off the ride, she told us it had been her 7th time on the ride that day.

This Lost Kingdom Adventure was another favorite although with its long line we only got to ride it once. It's a laser-shooting game while going through an Arabian-like desert theme where everything's made from Legos with little targets to shoot at. We all liked that one, although Tyler had the highest score of course. The Beetle Bounce ride just takes you up and bounces you up and down for awhile. The little girls loved this even though it gives you that free-fall feeling in your stomach that bigger rides give you. I was surprised that even Tessa, and Taryn, enjoyed this one.

The Miniland USA portion of Legoland was amazing. Famous cities and buildings all made from Legos. New York's downtown complete with the Statue of Liberty in the harbor was awesome and made from over 2 million Lego bricks. They had a ton of Las Vegas hotels too which was cool. We were super excited to show the girls the Excalibur hotel because we stayed in that very hotel two nights later. 

They also have an Aquarium beside the park that was included in our tickets, so we walked through it both days we were there. No photography was allowed inside, so we had to settle with a picture outside the building at this photo spot. The girls liked seeing all the fish, and really liked the touch pools, and doing the scavenger hunt that resulted in a free sticker and collector's card of one of their aquarium animals. 

On our second day of Legoland, we walked through their new Legoland Hotel. It was so brightly colored and had tons of little places to build with Legos and there were so many random Lego creations throughout the Lobby and around the hotel. Even outside, instead of columns or pillars, they had huge Lego characters. Aubrey wanted a picture by every single one, but I made her pick her favorite, so the Lego Pirate it was.

 They actually had random Lego creations all through the park too. One of favorites was this worker holding a toilet outside one of the restrooms - so random! Abby was helping him hold the toilet up for her picture. At the very end of our stay, after walking through the Aquarium, this Snow Princess was standing outside the elevators by a Christmas tree. So it was our final picture before leaving Legoland.

There were many more pictures taken, but I made a Shutterfly book specifically for Legoland so I didn't want to have too many repeat pictures. There were more explanations and stories here, but we had so much fun at Legoland.The cool thing was we bought a buy one day, get one free pass so we went for two days. But they were having another promotion that gives us another free day if we go back between January and March, so we may be making another trip out there in a couple more weeks. And if we do, it would have been like three days for the price of one, so we really felt like it was a great deal. It really was a lot of fun and we loved making memories and doing a real vacation with just our little family. We definitely had a great time.

One Last Quick Post Before THE Vacation

I was going to just add these last couple pictures to the last post, but decided to keep that one specifically for Abby's birthday, hence the "one last post." There were just a few pictures on my camera that I couldn't pass up having on the blog before we got into our vacation pictures. So here they are even though they're all a little bit random. Taryn still loves Mickey, so when dropping off a package to a friend and seeing this huge blowup outside her apartment, we had to take a picture.

Tyler and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary on December 15th. I knew it was coming, but the morning of, I forgot and Tyler went off to work like any other day. I finally realized once the girls were off to school and my morning slowed down, so I sent him text. We did end up getting to grab a bite to eat together as Taryn and I met him for lunch. Taryn was being so cute, so I got this picture of her with her daddy on our anniversary date. And Tyler came home from work with a little gift for me. We always say we aren't going to do gifts, but then he ends up getting something anyway, that little cheater. :) This year it was this plant and white statue combo, which I thought was so pretty. He had also looked up what the traditional anniversary gift was for the 14th year and it's Ivory. So since that's illegal and all, he bought me a huge bottle of Ivory body wash. I thought it was pretty creative. He's a definite keeper!

The last thing I wanted to post about was our ward Christmas party. I am now in our ward's Relief Society presidency and we were in charge of the party. I was specifically in charge of the decorations so I spent the majority of the early December days planning, shopping, putting together centerpieces, and decorating tables for the party. It turned out to be a great hit (like always). There were a ton of people there and we all had a great time. The Primary sang a couple songs, so I took some pictures of the girls as they were performing. (Abby got to be Mary). I should have taken a picture of the table, but didn't think about it at the time Oh well. There were so many kids, and I was sitting in the front, so I couldn't get all the kids in one picture. So Aubrey, who was on one side, is in her own picture while Abby and Tessa are in the second picture. They did a great job singing.

I Have a 10-Year-Old?!? Not Possible!

The end of the year always gets busy with trying to finish off the posts for the year. We've got Abby's birthday and Christmas break (the usual end of year posts). However, this year, we took a family vacation before our usual Christmas vacation with family, so I have a ton of pictures to share from that. We'll start with Abby who turned 10 on December 19th. That morning, before school, (it was the last day before the break) Abby came into my room so I could wish her a happy birthday. I just kept saying things like, "I have a 10-year-old? I don't think that's possible. If that were the case, then I'd have to be old, and I'm not old! No way. You can't be 10" etc. :) She convinced me it was true and we started out our day. The girls only had a half day of school and partied for most of it. Abby and Tessa both got to go dressed in pajamas, so the only picture I got on Abby's actual birthday is this first one. However, I found this cuter one from her school choir concert, so I'm sure she'll appreciate having this one posted as well.

To devote a post to Abby, I like to pretty much do her first half of the school year since she's also the only one who's had events at school already that include pictures, so here are a few things to update you about our blossoming tween.

First off, Abby still sings in the honor choir at school. Not many 4th graders stay in, but she loves it so she did. Hopefully you can find her in these pictures. She's been on the next to top row, so that's been fun for me especially because I was always on the front row for everything! They've had two concerts during this first half of the year. Her first concert was on Taryn's birthday. It made us have to rearrange our celebrations for her birthday, but it was good because Grandma and Grandpa Gibbons were able to be here for her concert. The second concert was a Christmas concert and they sang songs from around the world even learning some in different languages like Silent Night in Japanese. It was pretty cool. Abby is still our singer and loves to sing all the time wherever she is and as loudly as she can. She also loves to add the piano to her singing although she's never taken lessons. She just plays the few songs and chords she's learned over and over again. She did teach herself how to play Silent Night so she could sing and play at our family talent show over Christmas. She did a great job.

Abby also stays very active, whether that means she's playing outside with friends, hitting a volleyball around (which she's getting very good at), or dancing. At school, she was involved in a Kids Excel program where people come to teach the 4th graders some dance moves choreographed to music. Their performance was  the last week before the Christmas break. I thought that it would be just a dance performance, but they invited the other grades to come and watch and it was more of a presentation to the other students about what they learned and why. It was still fun to watch, and my kids (even Taryn) have learned the dance moves and phrases and do them all around the house all the time once Abby taught them how. Here's a picture of Abby's group and also one with her favorite instructor, Laura.

What else about Abby? She still gets straight As in school, and loves to be the teacher's pet. The teachers rave about how helpful and nice she is. She ran for class representative this year and was the runner-up. She tied originally, so they did a re-vote between her and another student and she lost that one. She still is involved as the runner-up so she enjoys that and is looking forward to run for a school position during her 5th grade year.

Abby can be very helpful around the house as well. She's a great little mother to her little sisters - sometimes a little too much when she starts bossing them around. She loves to be in charge as she plays with her sisters and friends. She refuses to let me cut her hair and loves having it long even though she pulls it into a ponytail almost every day. She is definitely a true tween as she gets closer to those dreaded teenager years. She begs to have her ears pierced still (we won't let her until she's at least 12) and she can have an attitude and an eye roll like you can't believe, but she's quickly learning the benefits of being older like staying up later and getting to do more "adult" things like playing board games with mom and dad. She's definitely maturing and turning into my little friend, instead of just my little girl. And I guess I shouldn't even say "little" because she keeps commenting how she'll be taller than me soon, which is probably true. She's growing up quickly right before our eyes.

We love this girl and even though we can't believe she is already 10, we can't imagine our family without her. Happy Birthday Abby!

Family Pictures and Thanksgiving 2014

I finally got my family to take some pictures all together. It had probably been almost two years since we had some taken. I set up my ipad in a bright and sunny room and set the timer. Here are some of our favorites. These first couple pictures were with my little helpers as I just tried to get the right angle and zoom. We got some good ideas for poses too.

Please ignore the bright yellow cone under the futon. I didn't know it was there until it was too late. I cropped it out of most of the pictures that I used elsewhere, but alas, there it is in these first two.

 This is my favorite picture. Everyone is smiling and we just look so cute!

I love how without even planning, we all pretty much color-coordinated with each other. I didn't have to pick out outfits or anything.

I wanted one last close up of the family and after having taken a couple with eyes closed or yawners, I guess we had gotten to the end of Taryn's patience. This was the last picture taken and she refused to smile. Too bad everyone else has a great smile. It's still one of my favorites.

We started off our Thanksgiving season with the creation of our 2nd annual Thankful Tree. We wrote things we were thankful for on leaves and added some each week. Here was the final tree right before we left town for the break.

We spent our Thanksgiving break in Texas this year. Half of the time in San Antonio and the other half in Wichita Falls. Tyler had a work conference in San Antonio the weekend before Thanksgiving, so after the girls were done with school, we drove down and stayed with Scott and Nevla. We loved having the whole weekend free to play games and hang out. Although Tyler was gone during the day and the kids stayed up too late most nights, so they were kind of grumpy during the day, we still had a great time. I didn't take any pictures though, so that's a bummer. I didn't even take that many once we got to Wichita Falls. We did spend one evening walking around the Fantasy of Lights at the University which we do every year, so that was fun. Here are a few pictures from that.

Abby got to spend time with her Kindergarten best friend, Ella. They always love getting together.

I tried getting a shot of everyone together when we finally sat down all together for the gift exchange. I think all that's missing is Tyler and Taryn since this was taken while we were waiting for Taryn to wake up from a nap.

And my kids just love Matt and Taylor. I wish it would have been a clearer picture, but they were really nice to let my kids hang all over them all weekend.

We love being with family. We had a great Thanksgiving meal where everyone contributed by being in charge of one or two dishes. The girls made a bunch of crafts, the kids played, the boys watched a lot of football, and we all played lots of games. We really do enjoy our time with family. We always have so much fun!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!!

For Halloween this year, the girls decided back in August that they wanted to be the Ninja Turtles. I was excited about it because there are four of them and all four girls wanted to do it. Plus, it was decided back in August so I had plenty of time to prepare. And it was something different than your usual princess or ballerina. I ended up crocheting hats and masks for their costumes, and Tyler found toy weapons. Aubrey was the instigator because the newest movie came out this past summer and she quickly became a fan and was determined to see the movie and dress up like a ninja turtle for Halloween. (We haven't even seen the movie yet and probably won't let them watch it for awhile since it's PG-13, but they liked all the hype and toys and merchandise with the Ninja Turtles on it every time we went to a store. Even Taryn would recognize them quickly and point out "the red one" because that was the one she was.

A double bonus was that Abby's Activity Day Daddy-Daughter Party was super hero theme, so Abby and Tyler went as the Ninja Turtles with one of Abby's friends. Here's Abby with Tyler for their party. Most dads and daughters were just wearing super hero t-shirts, so I was proud of Tyler who really got into it with Abby. And the school let them dress up this year as their favorite super hero, so all three girls got to dress up in their costumes for school too. Getting to wear the same costume multiple times in one Halloween season was awesome! 

Here are our four Ninja Turtles:

 

We spent one family night carving pumpkins. Here are their creations. Abby really wanted glasses on her pumpkin and Tyler's carving of it turned out so cool.

We did do a little trick-or-treating around our neighborhood on Halloween night. The girls got too much candy as usual. The coolest house was the one with a pet macaw bird. It would talk to the owner saying things like "hello" and "pretty bird." It was hard to get the kids to move along to the next house. It was pretty awesome.