marching along

We babysat Zoe for a week while the Tyler's went to Disneyland.  It was fun to have a dog for a short time.  It was spring break and so we were forced to go to the park every morning and night, which meant we were out of the house!  Also it was fun to have someone always happy to see you, even if you just left the room for 5 minutes.

 Mindy was visiting one day and Lily had her friend Megan over.  With no help from me except for turning on the oven, they made the signs, lemonade, cookies, and set up  this stand, then proceeded to bring in about $20.  Pretty awesome.  We immediately started in on the business lessons and took Lily to Walmart to use her earnings to buy more lemonade for future stands.

 I had to hide inside to get these shots.  Lily and friend Emma were pretending to be sassy girls flipping their hair all over the place.  It was so hilarious.  At one point Lily got so dizzy that she had to lay down.

 After using some money to but a lemonade from Lily, Jack excitedly did his own, and he and Isaac did the majority of the cookies and lemonade but had a bit of help from me.  They got Jackson over and made quite a bit of money as well.  We'll see how often this happens in the summer.  It will be so deathly hot who knows when they will want to set it up.

 Isaac started soccer!  He is such a cutie.  He didn't like sitting out he was so excited.  If he ever kicked the ball he would yell out in excitement, and if the opposing team ran away and scored he yelled out "NO!!"  It was awesome.  He has the best personality.  Yesterday Adam and I were in the kitchen, both within a few feet of him eating some watermelon.  He was totally absorbed in this quiet little battle between him and the white seeds, him attacking and them protesting until he took a bite.  So hilarious.  This kid has no issues with low self esteem, he is awesome and knows it and will let you know if you will listen.  Whenever he eats a full meal he will ask if I want to see his muscles, whereupon he will flex with all of his might (the veins on his neck get pretty big), scrunching up his face and making a super big sound of effort.  He is pretty big for his little body.

Happy Easter!  It was a crazy but good weekend.  Britt was here for the week previous so we got some time with her, girls lunch with Vickie and viewing of her pottery exhibit, funeral for Adam's grandpa so lots of family all day Friday, ending with a date to see Batman vs. Superman with Britt and Kurt, I was really tired by this point, baptism Saturday morning (did program and was pianist), dyed Easter eggs with cousins (Adam's project, he did most of it), cleaned and went to the store (three of them) to prepare for Easter dinner the next day, went to the General Women's broadcast with Lily and Liz, found out about Easter breakfast and egg hunt with Mom and Dad the next morning, went back to the store, prepared for Easter, baked two cakes and started two loaves of bread, next day celebrated Easter morning (thanks to Liz and Jared for providing all eggs for the hunt - even though I was using words Adam still put all of the eggs in the kids baskets; also thanks to Mom and Dad for making a super delicious breakfast!  I didn't do anything...), prepared Sharing Time, prepared all we could for Easter dinner afterwards, went to church, came home and had ~25 people here for Easter dinner.  It was wonderful! I was very grateful that Adam allowed me to slowly accumulate party items throughout the years so that events like this are not a big deal.  I look forward to many more family and friend get togethers in the future!  Which will hopefully give me more expertise in estimating how much food is necessary.
I was able to share my testimony of Easter in Sharing Time to the Primary kids, and was very grateful that the Spirit was present as I told of how Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection made possible the gift to right all wrongs and restore all that is lost, especially our loved ones.  It was a happy day.

the happiest place on earth

...was not the happiest place on earth for the first little bit.  After pulling our kids out of bed at 5 am to surprise them and avoid morning traffic in Vegas, we pulled over with a flat tire just outside of the big city, causing us to lose two hours in the wait for the tow truck.  Lily talked about how it was the worst possible thing that could have happened, which I told her she shouldn't say because there were a lot worse things that could happen.  By the time Adam and all four kids squished in the back cab due to the nice allowance of the driver to take our apparently oversized family, Lily was in tears and carsick.  We got to 24 hour tire where we didn't need to get out of the car for them to jack it up and change the tire lickety split, for $40 cash only, leading us to speculate how this place *really* operates (we regretted not getting another tire for the other side since we ended up at Costco in CA and spending $160 for a new one).

Lily threw up within the hour and three or so more times before we ended up at the beach (I couldn't help but point out how I was right that a flat tire wasn't the worst thing - she thought it was a good joke too).  I was contemplating if it was really possible for us to have had *that* bad of luck for it to be the flu and to travel through the family throughout our 4 night stay, but by the time Britt showed up with her kids Lily was good to go and as energetic as ever.

The beach was magical and the kids were so happy in the water, especially Jackson who got to try out boogie boarding for the first time and absolutely loved it.  Lily might need a few more times to get the hang of it.  I love that Lily and Eleanor and Jack and Gregory start up as friends even with months and months in between seeing each other.

Ada is obsessed with sand and loved building with her Dad.  I was enjoying catching up with Britt.

The next day it was off to Disneyland.  We got there early and stood in 4 lines before they let us in, requesting that 'for your safety, please walk to your destination'.  For the next probably two hours these were the most oft repeated phrases going through my head:  "What the heck were people talking about, this is the worst place ever."  "This is a nightmare."  "Why did I get a three day pass, there is no way we are going to last that long."  Three hours and three rides later we were eating our super overpriced lunch and Jackson needed to go to the bathroom, which I couldn't find and almost started to cry.

But we finally got into the swing of things and although we did spend basically every single line-wait discussing the logistics of how Disneyland could make more money and let in less people, or why are there so many adults without kids, or newborns or pregnant women, or why would anyone go back more than once, people are crazy, etc etc, we did start to enjoy it.

The kids did awesome, Isaac was such a little trooper even though he couldn't go on some of the bigger rides because he was two inches too short....such a bummer.  Adam tried to make it up with churros.  We thought Jack and Lily were handling it well until Jack said he wanted to go to the beach and we answered that we weren't going to the beach, we were at Disneyland.  Cue major breakdown (first out of three - the second one occurred ten minutes into the second day as he fought for a ride in the stroller, the little stinker).  I've realized that I have to talk and talk and talk to him to remind him that he does have fun if he gets out of his bad moods.

On Splash Mountain we realized that Jackson likes a thrill but oh boy Lily doesn't.  We kind of forced her to go two times after this and she has the same look of terror every time.

Adam was a trooper and took the kids on the obligatory spinning rides, saving me from probably a full day of nausea.  I seem to have become even more sensitive with age.  :P

Ada LOVES Minnie and Mickey Mouse.  She always points them out on her diaper and asks me to sing the song.  So we did wait in line to meet her, although Ada of course wouldn't go by herself.  She loves to point out "Minnie Mouse!" when she sees this picture though.  So cute.

By the third day we had found a good rhythm and would only go on rides with short lines to get more in.  I felt by the end we knew what we were doing.  But I am going to research a lot better when I plan our next trip.

My parents say when I was little I just wanted to go on It's A Small World repeatedly.  It still amazed me, I love the colors and cultures and the culmination of peace at the end.

Buzz Lightyear was a favorite for all.  Ada would point her laser at Adam and gleefully say "Shoot Daddy!"  It was really cute.  I love this picture.  These two can get along so well sometimes.

Also by the end I had recognized why it is such a wonderful place, at least for our family.  It was really neat to be able to focus 100% on the kids having a good time and as parents keeping them safe (Ada dodged under more ropes and around more corners than I would have thought possible).  It was definitely a happy place and I think even Adam would be willing to go again in a few years, even though on the first day he said he was going home and making reservations for an isolated cabin on a lake in Montana.  Our introvert selves really came out that first day.
The last day we were there Adam determined that our other front tire would probably blow out on the way home so we went to Costco, where they gave us a 2.5 hour wait but luckily Britt was willing to drop everything to come pick me and the kids up, then take her kids out of school so we could go play at the beach again.  It was so fun; I'm really hoping Adam will be up for at least another beach trip soon...