california vacation - thursday

According to my kids, Thursday was "the best day ever!" Southern California offers so many fun places to go. Each time we go there, I try to find at least one new thing for us to do. On my list for awhile has been a place called Adventure City. It's a small amusement park up in Anaheim (near Disneyland). From the reviews, it appeared that it was geared for kids ages 2-10 so I figured we should probably do it now since Brandon is almost 9. While we love the big amusement parks as much as everyone else, my kids are not patient and do not like waiting in the long lines, I don't like the huge costs & time commitment, and many of the bigger rides are either too large and/or too scary for all my kids to enjoy.
There are about 12 rides at Adventure City. We literally never waited more than 5 minutes for anything (especially after a few large day camp groups left). Most of the time we walked right on, and several times if there was no one waiting they'd let you ride things again without even getting off.
My boys could ride everything without an adult, but most of them my mom & I could ride if we chose to. There was only one ride that Natalie (38") was too short for but it was the larger roller coaster she didn't want to ride anyway. And Brandon was right at the height limit for one of the smaller rides. But overall they were the PERFECT sizes & ages for this amusement park.
My kids BEGGED to go on the Drop Zone (photos above & below). I had no idea how they react because they've never ridden anything like it before. Natalie was barely tall enough to ride it. After the first drop (each ride is about 5 drops), she had a look of terror on her face and I was panicked. By the second drop, she was laughing and smiling. I think we ended up riding it about 6 times that day. Grandma even joined us a few times!
We spent about 4 hours there and easily could have spent more, but my mom & I were getting a bit queasy from all the rides. I guess that's the good thing about long lines at big amusement parks - your stomach has time to calm down between rides! Overall, it was a great afternoon and a place I would highly recommend. We had McDonald's lunch before and pizza on the way home. You can understand why my kids thought it was a perfect day!

california vacation - wednesday

Wednesday was beach day! We went with my good friend Bekki from childhood and her two daughters Maddie & Darya (ages 8 & 5). Bekki has a beach parking pass so we all loaded up in my van and it made for a free afternoon of fun for the kids! We try to see Bekki's family each time we are in town (Bekki is married to another childhood friend). Our kids play amazingly well together, especially considering they only see each other once or twice a year.
It was an overcast day (and also a weekday) so the beach was fairly empty. It was pretty chilly day (about 65 degrees) so my kids spent most of their time playing in the sand. Brandon braved the water up to his knees for awhile. When I had to run into the water to grab a toy that was floating away I realized why they weren't in the water more (the sign said the water was 60 degrees)!

california vacation - tuesday

After a full day of playing outside on Monday, the kids actually slept in a little bit. In the morning we hung out at my parent's house. After lunch we went off to explore Huntington Beach Central Park. Funny story: when I told the kids we were going to Central Park, Tyler thought we were going to New York again! We walked all the way around it and I soon realized Central Park is much bigger than I remembered it to be, with only one play area (that happened to have an entire day camp group there). But the kids entertained themselves running from one exercise station to the next. It was another gorgeous day and just nice to be outside. I had my camera with me, but apparently I was enjoying the weather so much I totally forgot to take any pictures!

The main Huntington Beach library is part of Central Park so we stopped in there to look at the fish tanks. Then the kids wanted to play in the children's section so we stayed awhile. I may or may not have fallen asleep on the couch in there while my mom read to the kids. On the way home we stopped for ice cream at McDonald's and the kids ran around the playland which, because it was outdoors, was a novelty for them!

My mom is the Family History Center director which is right near our house so after dinner my mom would usually take the kids over so she could collect the money and the kids got candy from the treat jar. On their way back into the house, the boys noticed some snails on the sidewalk. We do not have snails here in Arizona so this was fascinating for them. They started picking out as many as they could find from the bushes and they created a "snail convention!" It was actually quite fun to observe snail behavior - I bet you've never done that before! Then the boys got the snails to crawl up on their hands. I was almost sick to my stomach taking these pictures! I could not believe Brandon did this (he actually did it first!)....this is the same kid that is scared of dogs! They had fun for a long time with the snails. Who needs expensive fun? It's really the simple pleasures in life that entertain the most and create the best memories. A walk in the park, the library, an ice cream at McDonald's, and snails.

california vacation - monday

Monday morning I took Kevin to the airport. He had to fly to Charlotte for a business trip (which was part of the reason I chose this week to spend in California).

Later in the morning, we headed to one of our favorite local parks. It has a huge play equipment area. The kids played for over an hour while my mom & I sat and talked.

Funny story: A woman was ready to leave and her daughter did not want to go. The lady told her, "Honey, it's too hot out here, we have to go home!" I started laughing because it was barely 70 degrees out there! People in that part of Southern California should never use the word "HOT!"

Then we went over and the kids climbed on the giant rocks and chased squirrels.
Then we took a walk around the lake (the woman who thought it was "too hot" probably wondered why my kids were wearing jeans, but 70 degrees is pretty much winter for us!)
There are many ducks in this park. The kids had fun following them around. I was disappointed that we didn't bring food for them, until I saw the ducks swarm & almost attack some people who were trying to feed them!
We would have stayed much longer, except we were all hungry and I didn't bring any food since I didn't expect us to stay that long! It was a great start to a fun week!

happy father's day!

We usually spend one week of summer in California (more on our vacation in another post). This year it happened to fall over Father's Day weekend. It was great to be with my dad on Father's Day for the first time in many years.
And we certainly cannot forget that Kevin (aka the best daddy ever) was there too!

Did you notice that everyone coordinated with no planning? My Dad & I were both wearing brown and Kevin & the kids were all wearing red!

It was fun to be together with two of the most important men in my life to celebrate this special day!

swim lessons

What would summer in Arizona be without swim lessons? I am still not a big fan of city swim lessons (class sizes are too big), but with three kids doing them, you can't beat the city lesson prices.

Brandon is still going strong, working on his endurance and perfecting all of the different strokes. City lessons work well for the older kids because they need the bigger pools for distance. He basically just swims laps for an hour. He said he counted one day and they did 25 laps of the pool. He's exaggerating, but not by too much.
Natalie is still young enough that city swim lessons are just lots of fun & games. I am okay with that since I really don't expect her to be swimming well and water safe at age 4. Last year she had a rough time and cried through several days of the second session we did, but this year she LOVED it and was the best behaved child in her class. She especially enjoys diving for rings. Ironically enough, the only thing she DIDN'T like was when they allowed them to play on the structure (slides, spray features) the last day of class!
Tyler is the one that I had big swimming hopes for this summer. We kept him in swim lessons through the winter so that he would be water safe this summer. It paid off! A few months ago he "graduated" to the higher level classes. I was a bit worried when he showed up to this session and there were 8 boys (out of 8 kids) in his class. I thought it might just be goofing around and playing games the whole time. Thankfully, I was wrong! Their teacher pushed them extra hard and they swam nearly as many laps as Brandon's class (2 levels above). I was thrilled when on the second to last day of class Tyler swam not only one, but TWO lengths of the pool all by himself without having the grab the wall and rest! Up until that point he could usually only go about 1/2 way. I was so proud of him! His swimming style is not pretty (he needs to work on his side breathing), but he can get there and I can finally rest easier & enjoy taking my kids to pools knowing he is water safe!
Funny story: The whole session I thought Tyler's swim teacher looked familiar, but I couldn't figure out from where! The last day of class I went over to get Tyler's "report card" and he said to me, "I don't know if you remember me, but we were in the same ward together..." I looked at him and said, "Oh my goodness...KYLE!!!" Kyle and his family are from our previous ward. His older sisters were my usual babysitters and Kyle even babysat for my boys a few times, and his mom was my visiting teacher and good friend. His dad was the Bishop and his family usually sat right behind ours (for 8 years). I have not seen him for 3 years since we moved. He was 15 then and is 18 years old now. He definitely hit his teenage growth spurt during that time! After I got over the shock and embarassment, it didn't surprise me that Tyler had made so much progress in that session, Kyle is such a great kid and has always been a hard worker.

bass pro shop

Our kids think Bass Pro Shop is a giant playground for them and they LOVE to go there. It's a bit of a drive so we don't get there very often. The past few summers they have done a "summer camp" on afternoons & weekends with lots of free, fun activities. Crafts, shooting arcade, fishing practice, classes, and photos. Not to mention watching their awesome aquarium tank of huge fish, playing with giant stuffed animals, and climbing on all the boats and four-wheelers. This year we went with my sister & her kids. It's always nice to go places with them. Her girls love Natalie and follow her around & help her, Ryan (age 15) kindly tolerates Brandon's pestering, and even though Sean & Tyler (4 days apart in age and best friends) are extra loud & crazy around each other, it makes them easier to keep track of! I wasn't as impressed with the photos this time - they aren't using the vest or the fish hooks anymore so the photos aren't as cute (you can compare them with the ones we got 2 years ago HERE), but they were free so I guess I can't complain too much! It's really fun to see how much the kids have grown in two years!
It was a fun (and free) way to spend a few hours indoors on a hot summer day with the cousins!

If you want more info on the Bass Pro Summer Camp: click HERE

les miserables

Guess what we saw?

I saw Les Miserables when I was a sophomore in high school 20 years ago. Even though we were reading the novel in English class at the time, I didn't understand the depth of the story very well and had never heard the music. I think I even fell asleep in a few parts during the play!

After becoming more familiar with the plot over the years, watching the movie, and being touched by the music, I promised myself I would see it again if I ever had the chance. I was thrilled when I heard it was coming to Arizona! I bought good seats (totally worth the extra money) and we had a wonderful evening. I wish I could afford to go to the theatre more often - it always inspires & entertains me.

princess birthday party!

I may or may not have been planning this party in my head since the day I found out we were having a girl. I was SO EXCITED to finally plan a girl-themed birthday party after 5 years of boy-themed parties!

We asked all the girls to come dressed up in their princess attire so we gave Natalie a brand new Sleeping Beauty dress for her birthday (then I told her it would be put away after her birthday and used for her Halloween costume so it wasn't destroyed before then. After Halloween she can keep it for playing dress-up...what a mean & practical mother I am!).
What would a princess party be without a princess cake?
I had nightmares about making this cake, but it turned out to be super easy and I think it's beautiful. It made me very sad to cut into it!
We had nine little girls attend - friends from church, preschool, and our babysitting co-op. Getting this photo was the hardest part of the whole party! From L to R: Chloe, Bella, Ella J., Livia, Annie, Tatum, Ella C., Natalie, and Kassidy (and yes, if you're keeping track we had Ella, Ella, and Bella - which was slightly confusing!)

We did lots of fun activities - coloring, making jeweled crowns, decorating our favor bag with foam stickers, playing princess memory, pin the crown on the the princess (and we ran out of time before we got to play BINGO). All of the girls were extremely well behaved - they sat still and took turns so nicely. I was very impressed at their attention span and patience. An entirely different experience than boy parties!
At the end we opened gifts, sang happy birthday, and ate cake & ice cream.
It was a very simple party, but all the girls seemed to have a great time. I thought it was a huge success and I'm already dreaming up ideas for her next birthday!

happy 4th birthday natalie!

Natalie turns 4 years old today! I'm still not sure how it's possible that my "baby" is this old, but I did my little birthday interview anyway. I love doing these - it really helps me see what is in their minds and how much they have grown each year.

Favorite Color: pink

Favorite Number: 4

Favorite Drink: juice

Favorite Food: ham (this is true!)

Favorite Game: Candyland

Favorite Animal: butterfly

Favorite TV Show: Caillou

I feel sad when: mommy is mean to me

I feel mad when: when someone is rude to me

I like it when my friends: play with me

I like it when I: get to play outside

I am good at: puzzles

I wish I could: play a game

Who is your best friend? Chloe

Why? she always likes me

What makes you laugh? doing silly faces

What is your favorite movie? Tangled

What are you most afraid of? monsters

What is your favorite song? Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam

What is your favorite activity? play dress-up

What do you want to be when you grow up? a princess or Tinkerbell

Do you think it would be hard to be a mom or a dad? yes

Why? because it's hard to make food

If you could have a magical power, what would you choose? flying like Batgirl

What three things are you are good at? puzzles, games, and dancing

What is the best thing about being four? my birthday party

What makes you special? because I'm a girl

Natalie, you are a beautiful little princess and we are thankful every day that you are part of our family. You bring such joy and happiness to our lives. We love you! Happy Birthday!

our summer schedule

The picture has nothing to do with the post, but I bought this shirt for Tyler.
Those who know him well will understand how hilarious & appropriate it is!
And blog posts without photos are boring.

I like to have schedule. That might be an understatement. It is my comfort zone and my kids are very routine-oriented because of it. Summer break has always been my nemesis because it is so unstructured. I love my kids, but I hate the chaos and fighting that always ensue (from all of us) when they are left to their own devices. After the extreme structure during the school year, they get bored and lonely easily. Plus with the heat here in Arizona, we are trapped inside together for much of the summer.

So this year I vowed to have a plan. I thought about it for several months & decided what would work best for us. So for my own record and for anyone else looking for summer ideas, here is our "schedule" that I created. It allows for flexibility & fun each day, while maintaining a bit of structure & routine. Each day we will have certain allotted "times" but they will be totally different (and in different order) each day and each week, depending on what other activities we have going on.

WATER TIME - This includes swim lessons, backyard water play, swimming at other people's pools, or going to the water park or splash pad. It's important for us to be outside during the day, and water activities are the only way to do that in Arizona in the summer. And now that I only have one non-swimmer we have more water options.

SCHOOLWORK TIME - I bought workbooks for each of my kids to keep up their skills. They do a few pages each day.

READING TIME - Brandon reads on his own in his room for 15-20 minutes. Tyler reads to me, and I read to Natalie.

CLEANING / CHORE TIME - This is in addition to their regular daily & weekly chores. Each day they are helping me clean or organize something. They actually really enjoy this and I am getting so much accomplished!

QUIET / ALONE TIME - For one hour each day, they are required to play alone quietly. They need the break from each other and I need a break from them!

COMPUTER OR Wii TIME - The boys get one hour of either computer or Wii playing time. We usually do this later in the day, because it works well as a motivating factor (they lose some of their time for behavior issues or complaining).

MOVIE TIME - Each day we will only watch one movie. On the days that we have Summer Movie Tickets at the theatre, that counts for movie time. The other days we will watch a DVD at home.

FUN TIME - Each day we will have either have a fun outing, we will do a special activity at home, or we will have a playdate with a friend. For the special activities at home I made cards with ideas of things that they always ask to do that I usually say "no" to because it either takes too long or it's too messy, etc. They get to draw two out of a bag and choose which one they want to do. Ideas include: play-doh (I HATE that stuff so it only makes a rare appearance), sidewalk chalk, painting with water, going to the dollar store, taking silly photos, arts & crafts time, making paper airplanes, dress up & create skit, building a fort, bubbles, dancing time, baking a treat, play a game together.

*As a side-note, we also have "days" and it rotates (this lasts throughout the whole year). We have it marked on the calendar so there's no forgetting. The person whose day it is gets to go first or make any decisions (what we have for lunch, what movie we watch, which activity we do, what order we do things in). This idea alone (who I must give credit to my mother for since we did it as kids) has cut down on arguing and fighting in our home dramatically since the kids know they all get a turn and it's as fair as we can make it.

So far we have done this "schedule" for a week and it has been amazing. There has been no fighting, no temper tantrums, no complaints, no chaos, no whining, and no yelling (from any of us!). They love having a list of things to do and to "check off" each day (no idea where they get that from!). I fall into bed exhausted each night, but I am spending lots of quality time with my kids and they are learning that we can work hard AND have fun together. So far I can honestly say I am enjoying summer for the first time ever! I know it won't be perfect, but we're off to a great start!

cub scout day camp

Brandon got to attend Cub Scout Day Camp for the first time this year! Last year he heard about it from many of his friends (he missed it by 2 months) and he has been looking forward to it all year. They go for 3 full days, from 2:00 pm until 10:00 pm (getting home at 11:00 pm). That's a long time to be out in the hot sun in June in Arizona!

They go to an outdoor facility in Phoenix where they do all sorts of fun activities that boys love to do such as shooting, archery, crafts, swimming, games, classes, and astronomy.


Here are Wolves & Bears from our den (the Webelos were in a separate group & area) - Brandon is on the left side down near the ground. We are lucky to have such great boys and leaders in our ward.
I was signed up to chaperone, but after I heard how loud & crazy & hot & late it was, I volunteered Kevin to take my place! He had fun and enjoyed spending time with Brandon and the other boys & dads.

I am thankful we are part of the scouting program. I love the activities it allows Brandon to do, the friendships he (and I) has made, and the principles & accountability it is teaching him.

good events, bad events

A few other noteworthy events (good & bad) from May:

* Kevin's birthday. Unfortunately, he had to work. The kids and I got him a few gifts and as our family tradition, the birthday person got to pick where we went out to dinner and he chose NYPD pizza.

* Our 14th wedding anniversary. We started a new tradition last year that we would go do temple sealings for our anniversary date. We did that again this year and it's a great way to remember the promises we made & the blessings we can receive. And of course we carried on our tradition of watching our wedding video. It gets more entertaining each year!

* May also brought large amounts of stress and frustration and expensive repairs. First our garage door opener was acting strange. A repairman came out (charging us several hundred dollars) and we thought the problem was fixed. The very next day it started to have the exact same problems again. The repair company came back out and told us there was nothing more they could do and that the whole system needed to be replaced. After trying to live with the inconsistency of it for another few weeks, we finally gave up and bought a whole new system and paid for it to be installed (another couple hundred dollars).

* About two days after we got the garage door opener replaced, Kevin went out to his car one morning to leave for work and found a large crack in his tire. Which (especially in the heat) meant we needed 2 new tires immediately. And his car does not have cheap tires. And he didn't have time to research which tire place was currently offering the best deal (many more hundreds of dollars spent).

* Just when we thought we were done with major repairs, a few weeks later our air conditioner motor decided to quit (several hundred dollars)! In Arizona at the end of May, this constituted an emergency. We were grateful my friend & her husband own an A/C company and could squeeze us in the next morning, and even more thankful it was not the compressor which could have easily cost us thousands of dollars.

* In the brief period of time between when we got our tax refund in April and the time all the broken things started in May, I had ordered my new dining room set. If we wouldn't have already ordered it and paid the deposit, it would have probably had to wait another few months or years. The light-colored wood on our old table looked strange with our darker-colored decor and it was very small in the dining area space. It has bothered me for three years! Plus with all 5 of us finally sitting at the table now (no more highchairs or booster seats!), we had to get out an extra table any time there was more than 1 guest. But getting the dining set did not come without frustrations either. The company told me 2 weeks and it took 6 weeks!

BEFORE:AFTER:

Even with a truckload of unexpected expenses, we are trying hard to find the blessings through the frustrations. Mostly we are thankful we had the money and will not have to go into debt, even if it means saying goodbye to the plans we had for our tax refund!

kindergarten graduation

How could it be possible that Tyler's already done with kindergarten and going into first grade? It seems like just the other day we were going to kindergarten orientation and meet-the-teacher night and now we attended Kindergarten Graduation!

Our school does not have an indoor facility big enough for events like this (which is very bad planning, since we live in one of the hottest places on earth and we have school 10 months of the year) so it was held on the playground. As it's always held the end of May, it's usually brutally hot, but thankfully it was a lovely overcast evening. Here are all of the kindergarteners (which will be the high school class of 2023!). Tyler's class was on the front row and he is the very end person on the right wearing blue.
And a here's a close-up of my handsome boy!
I was doing great with my emotions until they sang the last song "Big, Big Dreams!" and I was reminded that Tyler (and all my kids) are growing up very quickly.


Each child was presented and the teachers told something special about them. Tyler's teacher said, "Tyler writes the most interesting and creative sentences. He already has a great voice in his writing."
Tyler with his teacher Mrs. Soyland, who was been a wonderful teacher and is a new friend of mine.
And Tyler with his best friend Kirk!
Tyler has grown so much this year. He is a very smart boy who is always thinking ahead. He tries his best and he has done amazingly well both academically and behaviorally. We are so proud of you Tyler! You're going to make one awesome first grader!