It's Like We Were Just Here...

The weekend after Aubrey's birthday, we decided to head out to California again because Tyler had a four-day weekend and the girls had Monday off for President's Day. We had our free tickets to Legoland to use before the end of March and our friends, the Kasallis's, had free tickets to Disneyland, so we planned our trip together. They were able to leave before us, so we didn't caravan there. Tessa had her 2nd grade program the Thursday night before that weekend, so we ended up staying for that and then driving to Yuma AZ. We got to that hotel around 2:00 in the morning, but Tessa was happy that she didn't miss her program after having practiced for it for weeks. We ended up doing Legoland on Friday while the Kasallis family went to Disneyland. It was pretty busy at Legoland, so we went to our favorite rides first like the Fairy Tale Brook. It was a short line, which didn't last long.

The Sky Cruiser, our most favorite ride, had the longest line like usual. The girls played with the Legos while Tyler and I waited in line. They met some friends and worked together to build the longest train using car Legos. This red and yellow line was the train and it went around the entire playground. The ride itself was just as fun as we remembered it being from last time.

Dad got a turn on the Beetle Bounce this time and I caught a picture while I waited in line for the Lost Kingdom Adventure ride. 

The Dune Raiders slide was one ride we went on last time and really liked, but with all 6 of us going at the same time, no one took a picture. So this time I made Tyler and the girls go again so I could get a picture and video. They decided to race, but unfortunately since Tyler had to push Taryn off, he was the last one down. Tessa was the winner, but Abby loved her pose as she slid down.

The Coastersaurus was a roller coaster that we took Tessa on last time and she refused to go on another one because she didn't like it. It was our last ride from our last trip so it was dark and I think my camera was dead by then. I stayed out with Taryn and Tessa this time while Tyler took Aubrey and Abby. I tried to get a picture of them, but my camera's delayed shot time was too slow for the fast coaster. In this picture, they are in the last cart where the sun is shining through but you can barely make out Tyler's purple shirt and Abby in the very back.

I tried to plan ahead and press the button early for this next shot, but it was too early and I only caught Aubrey on the very far left of the picture. It was the best I could get, but at least it was something. 

Most of our other rides I already had pictures from our first trip, so we just enjoyed the rides and time together as family. It was fun to not feel rushed since we had done so many of the rides previously, so we just hit our favorites one more time and then called it a day. We headed up to our hotel in Anaheim and waited for the Kasallis's to finish their day in Disneyland. We were staying in the same hotels for the rest of the weekend, and our girls were so excited to see them. Our hotel had a rooftop heated swimming pool which the girls were excited to try. The bad part was it definitely wasn't heated. It was pretty cold, but the girls enjoyed swimming anyway. The Kasallis family came back in time to swim with us and then we found a nearby IHOP for a late dinner.

The next morning we were all headed to Disneyland together. We walked from our hotel to the park, but we grabbed one picture in our lobby before heading out the door. We were all ready for this adventure. 

We had to wait at the entrance to the park for everyone to catch up. It was taking so long, that the kids decided to do a little meditation. We decided to go into California Adventure first. Our family had not gone to CA adventure when we came in December, so the girls were excited to go on some new rides.

We went straight to the Toy Story ride because it was our favorite ride when we came in 2012 and everyone loved it. Then we took turns going on the bigger roller coaster. While the dads took the older kids, Audrey and I went with the little kids on the carousel. We got our turn next on the roller coaster and the older kids got to go twice. It was Abby's first upside-down roller coaster and she loved it. I think having AJ and Logan, the older boys, pumping her up to go made it easier for her to be daring enough to try it.

We all rode the huge Mickey Mouse Ferris Wheel next. We split into two groups - the ones who wanted a tilting car and the ones who wanted a stationary one. The awesome part was after waiting in two separate lines, we still ended up in cars right next to each other, so that was fun. Tony had the honors of going with all the older kids on the tilting car. Aubrey was a little nervous in that one, but I think after a quick cry, she decided it wasn't too bad. 

 Tessa, Teagan, and Taryn were in the stationary car with Audrey, me, and Tyler. Since there were three adults in our car, I had Audrey take a picture of me and Tyler together.

I caught these pictures of Aubrey and Tyler on the Jumpin' Jellyfish ride. We had never done this ride before and even though the youngest ones were too short, the rest of the kids and dads gave it a go. I liked all the pretty colors even though the sun shining through was making it hard to take good pictures.

For the little ones, we spent some time in Bug's Land. I tried to get a picture of everyone since with all 12 of us, we took over the entire caterpillar. Taryn and I led the way in the front of the caterpillar. I thought it was funny how Sam photo bombed our selfie picture. 

We also took turns going on some of the Cars Land rides and the Tower of Terror with the older kids. Too bad we didn't get any pictures in Cars Land because the Radiator Springs Racer ride was a favorite for a lot of the kids. During those trips anyway, whoever had the little ones rode more Bug's Land rides. Audrey and I split up to take the 5 youngest kids on Flik's Flyers. Neither of us are big on the spinning rides, so we got a little nauseous on this one, but we each took pictures of our little riders that we sat across from.

Audrey and I took our turn on the Tower of Terror with the three older kids who had already gone on it once with Tyler and Tony. Audrey took a picture of the tv screen shot of our photo. We were all definitely screaming from all the up and down dropping from the ride. It was pretty crazy. Aubrey was debating on trying it since Sam liked it, but we thought it might be too scary for her and after I rode it, I think we were right. I think she definitely enjoyed the kiddie rides much better. The sad part was as we got off the ride, we passed by Sofia the First and got to give her a high five. So all the little kids missed seeing her and they were the ones who would have loved that, not the older kids. Oh well.

I knew that we had to see Elsa and Anna during this trip. We had missed seeing them by two days in December because they had just been moved from Disneyland to California Adventure. We got fast passes so that we wouldn't have to wait in line and it was awesome. We waited like five minutes at most. They were so friendly and loved talking to all the kids. They got down on their level and really made them feel special.

They gave them each hugs and the kids were just in awe, barely saying anything as Elsa and Anna talked to them. Anna was the most animated, and was just like the Anna from the movie. She even spent some time teaching the kids how to throw a proper snowball. It was pretty funny.

After all that time hanging out and visiting, we finally got some official pictures with them. The kids were so excited. I think Audrey and I were too. It really was pretty awesome to meet them in person.

We finished off our day in Disneyland and we found some people at the entrance to take our picture all together. This is one of my favorite pictures because we are all together and I don't think we've ever gotten pictures at this iconic spot before so that was awesome to me.

The next day was Sunday and we split up from the Kasallis family for the morning. Tyler and I wanted to go to church in our old ward in Diamond Bar, so we got up early and headed up there. We drove around our old neighborhood and apartment complex where we lived while Tyler went to Optometry school. It was fun to see everything again and reminisce. I realized how old we must be getting because I was excited to show everything to the girls, but they didn't seem to care all that much. I remember feeling the same way when my parents and grandparents did that when I was a kid, but at least Tyler and I enjoyed it. We had been in contact with our friend Jennifer who used to babysit Abby when she was a baby, so we met up with them at church and sat behind them. It was fun to see people who were still in the ward. There were more families that I recognized then I thought there would be. The coolest part for me was when I figured out that the youth speaker who was probably 16 or so was the same girl who used to be in one of my primary classes back like 10 years ago. It doesn't seem like it's been that long, but it really has been and the time has just flown by. Jen had me take a picture of her and Abby so she could show all of her kids and she sent me a copy. We love that family!

After church, we found a park while we waited to meet up with the Kasallis family. They had gone to a church closer to Disneyland and we ended up meeting up at Huntington Beach.
At the park, I took a couple of pictures while Tyler pushed all four girls on the tire swing. 

Both of our families switched to another hotel closer to Huntington Beach, which was the beach we used to go to all the time when we lived in California, so it was fun to be there again and remember all the fun times we had there. It was a little windy and chilly in the water, but the kids had fun searching for shells, playing in the sand, and throwing balls. Here are the pictures Audrey and I took. 

We also cooked hotdogs on the beach and then stayed up late in our hotel playing games and talking. We really had a great time together. We drove home the next day but didn't really caravan that time either because they stopped to see family in Pheonix and we stopped in Tucson to see our friends Berkley and Meredith Hall. Besides the driving to and from separately, it was our first trip with friends and we thought it was such a success that we want to do it again in the future. We love our family vacations and we love our friends. It was an awesome weekend!

Aubrey Turns 6 and Loves Kindergarten

I'm trying to catch up before the end of the school year. So much has happened over the past three months, I'd better get with it. Aubrey turned 6 on February 10th and has really enjoyed her kindergarten year of school. I'll probably do another post at the end of the school year, but I keep stressing about some of the events I've captured from her kindergarten year that happened last fall, that I don't want to be too late chronologically, so I'll include them in this post. So here's the birthday girl and a look at her kindergarten year thus far.

Because we went on another family vacation the weekend after Aubrey's birthday (see next post), we talked Aubrey out of a birthday party even though we had originally said they can have friend parties on every even birthday. Our vacation was another trip to Legoland and Disneyland, so she was okay with that deal. We did have our good friends, the Kasallis's and the Cain's, over to help celebrate on her actual birthday. Instead of birthday cake this year, Aubrey requested Dad's famous mint brownies with pink frosting instead of his usual green.

 Aubrey opened a few presents from the family, friends, and grandparents. She got some new games, Lego's, clothes, drawing pages, and other toys. She was super excited about the Frozen Lego's she got.

Back in October, the kindergartners took their field trip to a pumpkin patch. I probably should have added this post so it would be included in the 2014 blog book, but I didn't so here it is before it gets any later or forgotten all together. I think it was Aubrey's first time on a big yellow bus and their class sang a song about riding it a couple weeks prior to the big day.

 I was able to chaperon so I followed Aubrey and her friends around the pumpkin patch and all of its activities. Here's Aubrey with some of her classmates: Daisy, Shaelyn, Reagan, Aubrey, and Chloe.

Reagan was Aubrey's buddy since she didn't have a parent there, so these two girls were my charge. They had fun picking out the best pumpkin that they got to take home.

 They had a lot of fun activities that we stayed for like a trike maze and a tower of tires that the kids loved to climb. I finally got Aubrey to stand still long enough for a picture, although I couldn't get her and her friends to ever stop at the same time on the tower for a picture together.

This was my favorite picture spot. We had gone to this same pumpkin patch with Tessa's kindergarten class two years ago, but this was new this time, and pretty awesome. We love Despicable Me and its minions. The wanted poster was the same as last time so I got a picture there too just with Aubrey and Taryn this time.

In February, the 100th day of school occurred. Aubrey had to wear a shirt that had 100 items on it. She picked jewels and decided on the design herself and even helped me glue them on. She also helped me decide on the iron-on letters so that it read "100 days smarter."

Once a month their school has Wellness Walk days where parents are invited to join their kids during their PE time. In February, it was so windy that they had to have PE in the gym. I took some pictures because I realized that I didn't have many pictures of Aubrey and her friends from school. Here's Aubrey with her buddy Sammy, who belongs to the Kasallis family that we hang out with a lot, but he's not in her class at school. I also grabbed a picture of Aubrey with her classmates Chloe and Reagan, two of her closest friends from her class.

The rest of her kindergarten year will be included at the end of the school year, but she's been doing great in school so far. She loves school, her teacher Mrs. Hardwick, and her friends. She's learning quickly and is starting to read on her own now. She's doing awesome at reading. Mrs. Hardwick loves her and says she's an great student and very helpful. She is friends with everyone and says her favorite part of school is hanging out with her friends at PE.

A cute story about Aubrey at the beginning of the school year was when she had only been in school for a week or so, and she was doing homework after school. I was sitting at the table with her and helping her with her homework when she said, "Mom, I wish you were my teacher." I asked "why," thinking that she'd say something about me being a good teacher because I had just helped with her homework, but what she said was, "because I miss you." It made me cry a little because she was my little buddy for so many years, and we hadn't been apart for very long until she started school. It was pretty cute. I love that girl.

Some other fun facts about Aubrey as a six year old: She pretty much has stopped sucking her thumb. She has had one cavity. She loves to dance and record herself doing dance videos. She can drive our little motorized car better than her older sisters. She still has the longest hair and wants "Rapunzel hair." And I allow her to keep her long hair because she complains the least when I brush it, so she must have a pretty hard head. She still loves headbands and all things girly like skirts and dresses. She's a joy in our family and we love her. Happy Birthday Aubrey!

The Beginning of 2015

As we started out a new year, I ended up with a few pictures that are worth posting about before we get to birthdays and more family trips. The first couple pictures are from a photo shoot that we had one Sunday morning after using the hot rollers. We do this so infrequently that when we actually do use them, the girls look so different. Abby had her hair in braids the night before to give her hair the crimped look. These pictures turned out really cute and are the ones I've printed out to have on our mantel for the next year or so because I liked them so much.

My van broke down one week, so Taryn and I had to spend our morning at Pep Boys. Tyler met us to pay the bill and have a quick lunch, but at least Taryn was entertained while we waited by the huge display of "the Pep Boys" that were her exact height.

We went to dinner one weekend with our friends, the Cains. They have three girls. While waiting in line, we took a picture of all 7 girls together. They decided themselves to sit in order from oldest to youngest. We really like hanging out with the Cains and having all the girls play together because they all get along so well. They are great friends.

We went to the zoo as a family in January and finally, after 2 years, got to see the sea lion show. There famous sea lion died right after we moved here, so their show was cancelled while they trained the new sea lions. It was finally reopened and we made it to a show. I like this selfie family picture mainly because of Tessa's grumpy face and the fact that we got all 6 of us in the shot. The girls found this bridge near the old zoo entrance and had to have a picture. I like the picture so much that it's now my backgroundon my phone.

We had a freak snow storm in the middle of January, but it started after the sun rose, so school was not cancelled. I took this first picture as the girls were getting ready for school. They took 5 minutes to play before their carpool ride showed up to take them to school. As the day continued on however, the snow did not stop - it just got worse!  So by lunch time, the school was calling it a day early, so we had to pick up kids early which was a mad house because the roads were horrible, and the schedules were so off from a regular school day. It was nice though to come home a tad early and spend the rest of the afternoon playing in the snow. Abby and I built this snow animal (we decided it looked more like an animal than a man) in our front yard. It's kind of funny building snowmen from a yard full of rocks. They stick in the rolling snow and are a lot more noticeable than blades of grass. This was my kind of snow however. It was here for two days, long enough for us to play and enjoy it, and then it was gone. I love winters in Texas!

Tyler's always good about making treats. He's become the dessert chef in our home. His signature dish is brownies (from scratch!) with mint frosting. The girls request them often. I like catching pictures of any of the girls hanging out with their daddy. This particular time it was Taryn giving dad a helpful hand in the kitchen.