Family Trip to California & Disneyland 2017

 First night of vacation at Vegas Best Western Plus pool. It was surprisingly cold out, just 60 degrees, but these kids didn't care!! Brrrr!!

 Kids thought the Vegas strip was pretty cool!

 Arriving at Alpine Inn in Anaheim. This was not only the kids first time to California, but mine as well (with exception to a couple of layovers when we went to China).This was a surprise trip, they thought we were just going to Vegas. Rowan was super happy, Liam was kinda happy, but missed his friends. Although, when we left Disneyland, he missed there too!!

Corona Del Mar beach, it was so clean and beautiful!

Shortly after we arrived Rowan lost her balance in a wave and got knocked under the water. She had sand everywhere even in her ears!! She cried and said 'curse you ocean', but thankfully they had a nice shower station with warm water. Once she was rinsed off, she wanted to go back and play. One tough cookie!

They love the beach! First time at a CA beach.

See how close we are to the back of the Cars ride?!

Surprise Disney theme PJ's . First night in Anaheim.

Grandpa 'J's' childhood home.

We got very lucky on our magic morning when we got to take a picture with Mickey with a VERY short line.

Cool fact I read. There is actually a small basket ball court for the employees inside the Matterhorn ride. This was the least favorite ride of Rowan's. She didn't like the scary monster!

Only family pic on our trip! A nice guy offered to take this for us.

Splash Mt. Love all our faces, LOL.

Halfway through our ride, nearing 11 pm. The conductor asked if we wanted to ride in the rear of the monorail since the view is really cool. We got to see the light parade from above.

Last night at Disneyland.

Super reasonable rates here, plus only a 12 min walk to Disney. So no parking fees for us, yay!

Kids Dance Pics

Fall Family Pictures 2016

Update on Life!

Ever since I discovered Instagram a couple yrs ago, I have not been blogging as you can see....

Liam is now 8, almost 9.  And Rowan is 6 almost 7.  Liam has almost finished his 3rd season of soccer, and is LOVING it.  He is quite good too.  We often wonder how he'd be if he had a couple yrs of experience under his belt?!  He will be taking an intense class through his most recent league after his season wraps up.  It's a new location for them, and just so happens to be very close to our home.  He is also enjoying his first year of Hip Hop.  He is continuing piano, which he does enjoy, but trying to remember to practice has been a challenge.  He is doing quite well at school too!!  His teacher says he tests above where he should be in all the subjects.  It's the 3rd yr in a row that his teacher's have said "I'm not sure what I'll be able to teach him?!"

Rowan did a season of soccer too in the Spring, but we did not pursue it in the fall because the municipal league had it during August, which we felt she would hate!  She did enjoy the game, and had a couple of soccer camps during the summer.  She will most likely sign up again in the spring!  She is also enjoying her 4th year of dance class.   She has moved on from her beloved teacher Miss Ali's creative dance, and has started Ballet/Jazz with Miss Brittni.  She misses her last teacher, but does love her new one too (which happens to be the same teacher that Liam has)!  She is also continuing piano, and she actually does remember to practice, which is great!  She is loving first grade so far, and her teacher also says she tests above where she needs to be.

We had a pretty great summer...Kids had lots of summer camps, and we took our first ever trip to the Oregon coast. (will post pics in another post).



(First grade, Fall)(age 6)


(3rd grade, Fall) (age 8)