Disneyland Part Dos

We started off day two with some Buzz Lightyear Astro Blastin'!

Then off for some Astro Orbiting fun!

Then some undersea adventures with Nemo.

Some of us had fun riding Dumbo.

Others did not.

Colby threw his hat into the water below Dumbo, lucky for him I was able to fish it out after the ride was over.

Then over to California Adventure for some Grizzly River rafting fun. This was another of Rex' favorite rides. It's so fun when they are finally tall enough to ride some of the really fun stuff.

King Triton's Carousel provided many fun rides for the little boys while everyone else got to enjoy Screamin'.

Rex took this pic of me and Colby.

Colby and I finished off the night at the Mad Hatter while we were waiting for the gang to get done riding some big kid ride. He picked out everything he tried on of his own accord. I just took the pictures.

He was really in his element in this store. He loved it.

Gracie as the Mad Hatter himself.

Disneyland Part One

During spring break we took the kids to California to celebrate Matthew's 12th birthday. Kris had been promising this to Matthew for a few years (Kris really just wanted to go back to Disneyland and he thought he needed a good reason).

Line 'em up. I think it's funny how Gracie looks like the oldest now since she is the tallest. Hopefully, Matthew will pass her soon.

Colby wanted to do anything involving the water so when he saw the canoes he made a beeline for them. The line was short and we had never done it before, everyone had a lot of fun. Everyone wanted to make a sugar straw (I have no idea what they are called) and they all had a lot of fun filling (and eating) them. While the big kids were riding Indiana Jones, the little boys and I had some fun at Tarzan's Treehouse. Rex wanted to go up twice and I was pretty worn out after all those steps. Rex and Colby just "monkeyin' around" at Tarzan's I think this is my favorite picture of the whole trip. Who doesn't love some Mickey pretzels? We always love Small World, after all. While all the big kids rode Big Thunder Mountain (Rex' favorite, by far) Colby and I hung out at Big Thunder Ranch. He would not go any closer to this huge cow and he kept looking at her and then at me with this look like "I ain't going any closer Mom."

Colby was also too terrified of Woody to get in this picture so Matthew and Gracie posed.

Colby did, however, enjoy the merry-go-round, of course.

A favorite moment of the trip for me- letting these two watch the fireworks show from our hotel window after their bath. They loved it (and we didn't have to fight the crowds).

Sun Kissed

A new crop of cute little freckles sprouted on Rex' nose today.

Summer is coming!

Beach Fun

The first day of our little California spring break trip was spent with a long drive and then a short little trip to the freezing cold/windy beach with Tara and her kids. Somehow that didn't deter the kids from having a little fun.

I guess they figured it's not everyday they get to go to the beach so they had better make the most of it.
Did I mention it was freezing? F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G
I was cold and I was sitting on a blanket with a sweatshirt on.
Matthew said it was fine after awhile because his body just went numb and he couldn't feel the cold.

It's so much more fun playing in beach sand than park sand.

See, I told you it was windy.

Then we had dinner at In-N-Out. Yum. Although not quite the novelty that it once was before it came to Arizona.

A Little Bit of the Devil In Him

He's growing horns.

Or maybe he's turning into Elvis (or his Uncle Wesley) with chops like those.

Anybody who knows this kid knows he really does have a little bit of the devil in him, which made this picture even funnier!

Rio Verde

On Saturday we went to the Rio Verde to have a little cookout with Aunt Hayley and Uncle EJ.

Lots of fun was had.

We-

climbed trees

threw footballs (and chewed on them)

collected shells

waded in the river

skipped rocks (Matthew claims one skipped 5 times!)

chucked rocks (which is what I would have been doing since I can't skip a rock to save my life)

stripped off wet pants

and fell asleep on the way home

(with a water bottle in the mouth that he did not want removed!)