One Good - One Bad

It happens to all of us right? We do some really good things and we mess up!! Here's my accountability rating so far!!

I have set some goals for our family this summer. On MY agenda: learn to french braid. Check. See Below::




My other goals? Catch up on scrapbooking. FAIL!
Lose 10 pounds. WE'LL SEE!
Cook more. THREE TIMES THIS WEEK!
Spend more time with the girls. SO FAR SO GOOD! In fact let's examine today. Faith, Olivia and I spent four hours at the pool. We had an awesome time. Ate lunch, played games, ate ice cream - great quality time. Except for one thing.


YIKES!! They're both just fine. They're not even in any pain!! Yes, I applied sunscreen - several times. But it was a new kind and I don't think it was quality stuff! And it was a really hot day. I feel terrible but sun burns happen - right?
Anyway, what are the other goals I've set for us all?
Faith: ride her bike without training wheels. Go all night (every night) without tee-teeing in her overnight pull up. Read every day and learn to like it. (I'm praying for a bookworm like her daddy). Make her bed everyday (doing great so far).

Olivia: 100% potty trained. Sleep all night without crying out or getting out of her bed. Learn her colors and all the letters of the alphabet.

Brad: come on really? You know I can't set any goals for Brad.

We Love You, Brad!

Today we celebrate dads. Ours is the best. He's kind and understanding (even with a bunch of "girl" issues in our house). He's strong yet gentle. He's honest, fun and HANDSOME!! But most of all he has an unquestionable integrity which influences each of us - every day. We are so blessed with the presence of a good man in our house. We love you Brad.

That's How We Roll

I wanted to share a glimpse of HOW we arrived in California and WHAT we bought. I really thought the trip was much better than we anticipated. You can see, Brad did all the driving (every minute of the 26 hour trip.) I sat in the very back row to attend to the children. (Brad called me the flight attendant. The girls were securely strapped into car seats. Faith did great but she had a little latitude to move around. Olivia, on the other hand, has a much tighter fit with her car seat. So every few hours she required a pit stop. It was good for all of us. Gas was about $2.50 a gallon give or take. (I mostly posted that so in 20 years when we look back and we're driving electric cars, we can laugh!!). Livi also took naps, the rest of us didn't. We watched movies, played travel games (road bingo, travel "hangman") and we read some. I worked on editing and organizing pictures on my new laptop. And of course read scrapbooking magazines! You can also see we got several mementos from our trip. I really thought the girls would want EVERYTHING they saw at Disney - but they didn't. We surprised them with the princess bracelets, and encouraged each one to choose a Disney "ears" hat (Faith chose disco, Olivia princess) and then they both got to select a toy. Faith chose a Webkins dog (which she could have purchased at any Target in America - go figure) and Olivia chose a collection of princess dolls. Oh and Ariel sunglasses. We all have sensitive eyes. They also chose toys at Sea World (beluga whale and Shamoo). Hope you enjoy our travel style.  

Newport Beach

We decided to skip a theme park on our last day in California and simply enjoy the beach. We chose Newport because my cousin and her boyfriend had vacationed there and said it was a great place with shopping and fun stuff for the kids. The girls loved playing in the surf (although it took Olivia a while to warm up). But Faith was a fish in the water. She made sand castles with her cousins and tried to withstand the power of the waves as they crashed against her body. I have some funny pictures of her "digging" in the crotch of her swimsuit where she collected about a pound of sand. So funny! She and Brad tried to "swim" in the ocean ans she got a few mouths full of sea water. But she was a trooper.
 
 
 
 

Her Royal Highnesses

This is the day we've been waiting for. Finally a personal meeting with the princesses. We planned lunch at Ariel's Grotto and paid way too much for this experience but it was worth it. I wish you could have seen the look on the girls' faces when the princesses arrive one at a time and then walked around to each table to talk with all the kids. We were even chosen as the "special" family of the day - and got to go up front to read a proclamation introducing Snow White. Faith was enamored. Olivia just kept saying, "I need to tell her one more thing." It was precious. Take a look.





The rest of the day we enjoyed California Adventure where it was far less crowded. It was a great day with some neat rides. Olivia conked out again in her stroller. We ended the day swimming in Peter Pan's pool with Josh and Marcy, Steven and the boys. It was fun and relaxing until Olivia pooped in the pool. (Too much information?) Off to the beach tomorrow then to the Grand Canyon for the final stretch.

It Really Is a Magical Place

Disneyland!!We spend a magical 10 hours at this park - and it was so what we expected. Our day began with a "character breakfast" at Goofy's Kitchen. So fun. Several of the characters are there to greet you and talk with the children and sign autographs. And the food was yummy. Peanut butter and jelly pizza...cupcakes, gummy worms and pudding. Oh yeah, and real food that kids will eat. We met Goofy, Pluto, Wendy Darling, Chip and Belew. The girls danced and laughed. Magical!



Next it was off to the park and through Cinderella's famous castle.

Yes, we had a few meltdowns...

But all in all a beautiful day.
We waiting in line forever to meet Mickey (after all he is the star of the show). But we lost one in the mix. Mickey signed Faith's book, "Thanks for being awake!!".

Faith and Brad rode Splash Mountain while Olivia and I stuck to the traditional kiddie rides.



And we ended our day with smiles. We didn't see the other group much today, They rode big boy rides. And I didn't get to include any of the Parade pictures, which was my favorite part of the day. (Faith danced in the street with one of the performers!!). Love you all!

Vacation Day 3 (The Beach and Sea World)

We started our day at Mission Beach in San Diego. Faith and Olivia have never seen the ocean so it was a blast!! Olivia ran back and forth into the surf. We hadn't exactly intended to get "in" the water, but that was what teh girl has in mind. So we just stripped Olivia down to a diaper (Faith had on shorts so she was good) and went for it! Giggles, exploring for sea shells, chasing birds. It was a GREAT memory for our family!!!




Next, Sea World. It was amazing. We spent about 8 hours and were exhausted by the time the day was over. Food - expensive. Souveniers - expensive. Adventure - priceless!! All the big kids rode big rides and Faith wasn't even scared. Olivia finally crashed in the stroller and slept for about an hour. It was awesome. Can't wait to show all the pictures. Oh, Faith says her favorite is the Beluga Whale. Olivia liked petting the slimy Bat Ray!! Disney tomorrow!!!!!

Day Two - Animal Kingdom

We just made it in time to enjoy about two hours at the Wild Animal Kingdom. It was fun and we started with a safari to see all the African animals.


But what did our kids LOVE the most? COTTON CANDY!! That's all we heard about for an hour. Ugggghh!!!

A few more details....here are some of the animals


Bunk Beds were a big hit!!

Marcy and Steven and gang got a flat tire in the middle of no where - had to drive on a "donut" for 200 miles and got a new rental van in the middle of the trip!