2nd try........

Today we decided to try Disneyland and California Adventure again. This time, we left at 8:30 and were in California Adventure and on our first ride by 10:00 - much better!!! We sped through the kids' top ride choices and maximized our fast passes. In the first 3 hours, we rode more rides than we did the whole day on Friday. Not bad at all!

Our luck ended after lunch when we decided to go to Disneyland. You would have thought we were in the middle of the summer rush! It was so crowded that you could hardly walk. At least Erin and Bryant were still at California Adventure using fast passes for the Tower of Terror (they ended up being grateful that I got 4 fast passes, instead of just 2). Dee, Parker, and I walked around looking for rides that didn't have an hour or more wait times and finally ended up riding two of them. After the rides, we met up with Erin and Bryant, window shopped, and then went to meet Rick to caravan home with him.

It really was a fabulous day, but we will continue to try to figure out the most time effective way to enjoy our Disney adventures.

The kids sporting their Disney head attire (they fit the kids personalities perfectly!)

Parker being Parker on California Screamin'

Parker deciding where to go next

Dee and Parker rode this ride but ended up on a ladybug that didn't spin :(

Bryant was being difficult and refused to take any pictures

This is the face of a child who doesn't want his picture taken. I will hold on to this one and use it against him later!

My favorite picture of the kids today

I'm not a big fan of waiting around to take pictures with the characters, but I couldn't resist this one.

Dee and Parker in the Buzz Lightyear ride

We tried waiting for the parade, but it took too long to get down to us, so we had to leave without seeing it. Maybe next time........

Our trip to the happiest place on earth

Disneyland is billed as the "happiest place on earth" and, for the most part, it's true. The exception I take with that label is........how can the happiest place on earth have such terrible traffic and long lines???

We finally decided to get annual passes again since Parker has never had his own pass. We thought we'd be smart and head to Disneyland after the peak freeway traffic time. I think that everyone else had the same thoughts, too. It took us FOREVER just to get into the parking structure! A few hours after we left our house, we were finally in line for Space Mountain. We took things slow (which is a good thing since there really wasn't anyway to move through the park quickly) since we know we'll be going back plenty more times. We just wanted to soak up the whole atmosphere of the park.

After a couple of hours in Disneyland, we went over to Califorinia Adventure. Erin is the only one who's ever been there before. We discovered a couple of great rides, Soarin' Over California and California Screamin', and a cool playground area. We will be spending lots more time there on our next visit.

Rick with his favorite Disney character, Mater. They boys are just in the picture so that Rick will look like the grown up.

The boys raced on the tire zip line course - WAY COOL!

Bryant had to sit out while Parker was climbing the rock wall.......don't worry, some day Dad will let you resume your normal activities ;).

One of the benefits of having passes is that you take the time to do the little things like riding the train around the park. Parker couldn't remember ever having been on it before.

Rick and Dee waiting for Fantastmic to start.

Parker has a way of getting us to buy stuffed animals for him. Rick fell victim to his puppy dog eyes and just had to get him Jack the monkey from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Hangin' at Mulligans

The boys decided that they wanted to spend Tuesday at Mulligans. They have a great deal for unlimited use of the go-carts, laser tag, miniature golf, arcade games, and lots of other cool activities. Bryant rounded up some friends and they all spent the day hangin' out together. I dropped everyone off, made sure they knew the rules, and had them promise me they would be on their best behavior. The boys spent the next 7 hours having the time of their lives! Oh to be young again.......

Parker was excited to FINALLY be tall enough to drive the go-carts!

Bryant left everyone else in his dust...........he even lapped a few cars

I had a memory lapse.........I forgot that Bryant really shouldn't be doing things like rock climbing. Oops!

I love Little League season!!

Little League season has begun and we are loving every minute of it! With Bryant's season-ending broken arm, our schedule a little less hectic than usual. Parker had 3 games last week and it quickly became apparent that he is the #1 pitcher for his team! He was worried that he wouldn't be able to pitch this year since he's one of the youngest players, but obviously that didn't hold him back. In the 4 1/3 innings that he's pitched, he has struck out 9 boys and only walked 1 or 2. His coach is holding him to 40 pitches per game so that he will be eligible to pitch every game.



When Parker isn't pitching, he is playing either short stop or catcher. On Saturday, he threw out a kid who was trying to steal 2nd base. I love watching him play catcher!

Parker continues to be solid at batting. He has hit a double, but is mostly hitting singles so far. He does need to get better at focusing on his base running, though (he almost got thrown out at 3rd when he wasn't paying attention and ran too late).

*I'm sorry if this post was a bit "braggy", but I am so proud of Parker!

Fun Friday

Erin finally had a day off of school on Friday. She's been working so hard at school that we haven't had time to kick back and relax. So we decided to have some fun and headed to Orange County for the day. Our first stop was the Irvine Spectrum - a fabulous California shopping experience. We got Erin some cute clothes and accessories at stores that we don't have in Temecula. Erin has now decided that the Spectrum is "my mall". I foresee many return trips in the near future.

After what we considered to be way too little time shopping, we met Rick at Angel Stadium to purchase tickets for games throughout the season. We weren't able to get any in April, but we have tickets to go to one game a month from May through September - WE LOVE OUR ANGELS!!!!!
Our ward activities committee held a western murder mystery dinner that evening. So Rick and I got dressed up and spent a great evening at the church trying to figure out "who done it".

The belated birthday celebration at The Yogurt Factory

Most of our family and friends know that one of our favorite places to go is The Yogurt Factory. In fact, we've run into MANY people we know during our frequent visits. We've been loyal customers since the very first week that it opened. Rick used to get embarrased that we went so much and sometimes I had to drag him there. My days of dragging him there are long over and now the whole family can't get enough of their yogurt!

Since we weren't able to go there on Bryant's birthday, we made plans to stop by after Mutual on Wednesday night. When we arrived, we found a table all set up for Bryant. The owners had balloons, a card, and a free yogurt for Bryant! Oh, and did I mention that they made sure to have his very favorite flavor?! The only bummer about our trip was that I forgot to take my camera, so all I have are these pictures from Rick's camera phone.

Bryant with Melanie, one of the owners, at his special table. She wrote the nicest note to him inside the card!

Thank you Yogurt Factory for being such a great place for our family to visit and still feel at home!

It's official......we have 2 teenagers in our family!

We love celebrating birthdays in our home! So much so, that Bryant fully expected a weeks worth of celebration. We didn't quite go to that extent.........but the celebration has already lasted 4 days and will be wrapped up tonight (we didn't go by the Yogurt Factory yet.....even though they had a birthday sign and his favorite flavor all ready for him...oops!)The celebrating started on Friday afternoon with 3 of his best friends coming over for a tournament that Bryant had created. I didn't take any pictures so I'll just give a summary of the evening. The boys played games like basketball, Wii bowling, and Disney SceneIt. Bryant made a point system for each game they played and then the winner was determined by the total points received. Halfway through their games, they took a break for some pizza. Boys can sure eat fast when there are better things to do.......and they were soon back to their games. Bryant and Nathan ended up sharing first place and they shared the reward (a ridiculous amount of sugary treats).

Bryant's actual birthday was on Monday which was also a late start day for the middle school. So the same 3 friends, along with a few others, came over for breakfast and video games. They had hootenany pancakes, regular pancakes, sausage, and eggs. One tradition that we started a few years ago, is having candles in the pile of pancakes. It gives us one more chance to sing and blow out candles. After blowing out the candles, the boys showed me once again how quickly they could scarf down the food so they could play video games. The celebrating ended sooner than the boys wanted when they had to leave for school.

As soon as Rick got home from work, we loaded up the van, picked up Dee and then Parker from baseball practice and headed to B.J.'s. They have amazing pizza and pizookies (I think the reason Bryant picked this restaurant was for the pizookie!). We had great food followed by a few pizookies. Bryant finished one all by himself!

On the way home, we were all overly stuffed, but that didn't stop Bryant from trying to get us to go to the Yogurt Factory. There was no way I could eat anything else after a big dinner, so we decided to go another day. Once we got home, Bryant finally got to open his presents. As always, there was plenty of spoiling........does a 13 year old REALLY need his own phone?

Bryant, welcome to teenage life - remember that we love you and PLEASE be patient with us. We don't really know what to do with a teenage boy, so we'll have to learn along the way.