Disneyland - Part 1

While a trip to Disneyland with Uncle Lance and Aunt Kelly has been in the works for months, we didn't tell the girls about it until a few days before.  We had them guess what our surprise trip was based on a clue - they each got a fanny pack with a Minnie Mouse shirt rolled inside.  The idea sort of back-fired.  Eve opened hers and quickly guessed where we were going and was excited.  Halle was more into the idea of clues than her actual clue.  She set the shirt aside and started filling her fanny pack with "clues" for us to guess things.  Abigail and Cora didn't really know what was going on.  

Once we'd explained exactly what Disneyland was (and that we'd be going with their cousins), we got the reaction we were hoping for!

We left for our trip on Saturday morning, May 20th.  Since we weren't going to be home for 3 1/2 weeks, the car was pretty full!  It took us two days to get to California, with a stop for the night in Arizona.  The girls did well in the car and the drive was mostly uneventful.

We got to our hotel, the Candy Cane Inn on Sunday evening, followed shortly by the Brunsons!  Everyone was excited to see each other (and be out of the car).

We had adjoining rooms, so there was lots of running back and forth:

The next morning, we enjoyed a yummy breakfast at the hotel before heading out for our day at the beach!

The weather was mostly cool, and the water was VERY cool, so there was lots of sand play :)

All but Cora had a great time.

Twinner cousins!

Actual proof that Andrew got into the ocean!

Cora had her moments of.....at least not crying.....

It didn't last long.....

We tried to get a picture of the girls together, but a big wave came way up on the sand in the middle of the attempt and the cold water was a bit shocking to Cora :)

Eve loves the beach!  Especially when she heard she wouldn't have to be on the lookout for jelly fish!

Cora was mildly interested in the sand - at least she didn't try to eat it!

Building sand castles with Uncle Lance.  

Running from the waves:

Seven girlies!  And this happened to be the only day on our trip when we had 1 girl per year: Eve (6), Reagan (5), Halle (4), Daryn (3), Abigail (2), Madelyn (1), and Cora (0).  Quite an accomplishment!  Both Daryn and Abigail had birthdays at Disneyland, so it didn't last long. 

Look at Halle levitating! 

Came with 7, left with 7 - but only barely.  Reagan got lost as we were packing up to leave and we had a tense 15 minutes while we, the life guards, police, and kind strangers looked for it.  She was found safely, about a 1/2 mile up the beach by Lance.  She'd become disorientated when we took down our beach umbrella and had kept walking, trying to find her parents.  So glad she was safe!

What can I say, Halle loves the beach!

That evening, after baths to get out all the sand!, we walked around Downtown Disney and had dinner.

The Lego store was a big hit!

We watched these ladies making Mickey Mouse shaped caramel apples:

Then enjoyed some ice cream!

Which Abigail dropped on the ground right after this picture....

Our last stop was the World of Disney store - talk about bulls in a tea shop!  The girls went crazy in here, but we managed to get out with everything in one piece.  

We tried for a semi-early night since our Disney adventures would begin bright and early the next morning!

May Madness

We crammed a lot of fun into the first three weeks of May!  Let's see if I can remember what this pictures are from.....

The weather was nice at the beginning of the month, so the younger girls and I went on lots of walks - often past this farm near our house where we could see ponies and horses.  

Cora continued being adorable - it's harder than it looks!

And the girls and I went to Dino Day!  After one of Eve's soccer games in the morning.

Pin the tail on the Dinosaur!

A "real" dinosaur!  And we saw the Seegmillers and other friends from church there too!

Making dinosaur tooth necklaces:

Curious George made an appearance!

Dino close up!  

He was giving away little plastic dino eggs with mini-dinosaurs in them and Abigail wanted one, but this is as close as she would get.  

After completing the dino-specific activities, we quickly toured the rest of the museum.  Just before the end, Eve lost her bag of goodies collected throughout the dino activities.  So we redid the whole thing.  It turned out to be a good thing, cause there were a couple of things we had missed.  But still....it took a long time.  

Dino pics was one thing we missed!  Too bad Eve was wearing a green shirt and the green screen washed her out :)

One Sunday we did hot rollers in the girls' hair for church.  I should have taken a picture from the back.  

Silly girls!

Halle was invited to her friend Max's birthday party at the Science Spectrum so I got to go with her.  And the kids got to see the temporary dinosaur exhibit!  

And play a dinosaur video game - they had to find food, water, stay away from dangerous dinos, etc.  I think I had more fun with it than Halle did....

We also went to the National Ranching Heritage Center with our friends the Seegmillers.  We've been there a couple of times, but only for events, never just to tour the actual facility.  Eve and Naomi were at school, but the rest of us had fun!

Abigail and Emi love cows!

And trains!

The most unusual part of May was my participation in a Chick fil A First 100 Giveaway.  A new restaurant opened near our house and I learned that they would be doing a "Road trip" for 100 lucky customers, who would then get free Chick fil A for a year!  It just so happened that it was a day after Andrew was done with finals, so he watched the girls and I went to Chick fil A!  I arrived shortly before 6am.  It turned out that only 96 people showed up, so we all were selected!  After breakfast we boarded a bus for the road trip to begin!  There were 4 of us ladies from my ward, and another lady from our stake - including my friend and visiting teaching companion, Sharla!  

Our first stop was a gym for a zumba class - it was a blast!  

After that, we went to a community center and bagged meals for the food bank.  We did over 10,000 meals!

Next was a park for lunch, then we had some extra time so went to Prairie Dog Town.  I never knew this was an actual place in Lubbock!  It was fun to watch the baby prairie dogs run around.  

Next we drove to Barnes and Noble where we each picked out a children's book that Chick fil A bought and donated to a local elementary school.  Finally, we went to the food bank to deliver the meals we'd packaged.  

We ended the day back at the restaurant with dinner and some games.  Then we were each given a card good for 52 free Chick fil A meals!  Andrew and I will be enjoying those for the next year!  And another Chick fil A is opening near our house in August.....so maybe we'll do it again and win more???

Our last day in Lubbock was Friday, May 19th (Eve's last day at school).  While she was at school, the rest of us girls went to Legacy Play Village with the Seegmillers!  Cora loves, loves, loves to swing!  

The next morning, we headed out for a 3 1/2 week family trip!  So that evening was filled with baths, lots of packing, cleaning the house, and it was our turn for babysitting group, so we did all that while watching 13 kids!  Time for a vacation!

Eve's Last Day of Kindergarten!

I think I was more emotional about Eve's last day of Kindergarten than I was about her first!  And I was extra emotional about it because she finished early and missed the little end of year party and graduation ceremony.  :(  More on that to come - family vacation took her out of school 3 1/2 days early.

Look at this cutie!  The last day of school for Eve was Friday, May 19th - and it was also Buddy Day at North Ridge.

Eve took flowers, a frozen yogurt shop gift card, and a hand written letter to her teacher, Mrs Brown.  Mrs Brown was a great teacher for Eve and Eve loved her!

I got to stop by the school that morning to watch the Buddy Day activities for a bit.  Eve was paired the Leyton from her class and they had a great time doing all the activities together!  Each pair had a 5th grader assigned to help them with the games.  There were bouncy houses, various relay type games, bubbles, water guns, etc.

And all these two wanted to do was play on the playground :)  Eve showed me that she learned how to do monkey bars!  First time I've seen her complete them!

After school, I got a picture with Eve and her friend Naomi - these two loved being in the same class!  Fingers crossed for 1st grade?!

Thanks again to Mrs Brown for a great year!

Now what am I going to do with Eve all summer?  I have a feeling she's going to be bored....