5th Grade Disneyland Trip

This is really a late post, but I couldn't forget about my trip to Disneyland with Abbie and her 5th grade graduating class. I was so thrilled when I found out that I could chaperone this cute group of kids to the happiest place on earth. We were put into smaller groups before we left, and I was lucky enough to have four cute girls in my group to keep track of for the day. 

Above is a picture of Abbie and I as we got on the bus at 4a.m. May 25th, 2012. It was a very long day considering we were back in the school parking lot at 2:30a.m. the following morning.

Their science teacher, Mr. Rose has a very black mustache that all the kids tease him about. One of the girls on our bus brought everyone these stick on mustaches to wear when we got off the bus in California to surprise him. Too funny!

Technically, we were in Disneyland for a new program titled Y.E.S. (youth education series) that lets kids come into the park to learn about drawing and animation. I think we were all dreading the 3 hours required of us to learn (because we all wanted to hit the rides), but it actually turned out to be really neat. They taught them about the animation process and how to draw some of the famous Disney characters....and then we were able to play in the park until 9:30p.m. that evening. Above is a picture of their tour group with their tour guide. I have never been asked before if I was a member of the church just randomly out of the blue, but after everyone was going on their way he asked me if I was a member, and said he could just tell. Nice!

Unfortunately Disneyland was very crowded that day, but we tried to make the best of it. Above is Abbie and her friends waiting in line at the Haunted Mansion. They were practicing their scared screams. They really were terrified. HeHe

I loved that on this trip Abbie was so wonderful to always want to sit with her mom. She did her fair share of rides with her friends, but most of the time she would just ask to go with me. That meant a lot to me. We had a really great time together.

The Mad Hatters is always a great place to buy a souvenir. Abbie"s favorite ride was the grizzly bear rapids which soaked us all (including my jeans that didn't even fully dry until we got home), and I just loved being with her and her adorable friends. We ate lots of churro's, Mickey Mouse ice creams, and I wouldn't trade that day for anything. We had a great time!

Avery's 9th Birthday

I'm trying to catch up on all my posts this week. It feels as if we have been on vacation for a whole month (well almost all of June). It feels so good to have our family home and together again. So this is a month late, but here it is. There will be lots more to come.   :)

Avery turned nine on June 9th. The day of her birthday was relaxed and wonderful. She started her day by opening presents (before we were even up and dressed). She got a lot of fun gifts including a camera, clothes, gift cards and money she used to buy her own Kindle (spoiled girl). She played all day, and then she had the fantastic idea of inviting our neighbor Lex over for her birthday dinner. He is a very nice neighbor who lives by himself, and just loves giving our girls treats. He is always looking out for us and we enjoyed his company.

Avery chose to have Emily's chicken for dinner (thats what we call it because her aunt Emily gave us the recipe) with salad and rolls. Instead of a cake she wanted a turtle pie which was delicious. We had a wonderful time with Lex over. Aliza decided to put on quite a show. She colored all sorts of beautiful pictures for him to take home, and was trying with all her might to be the center of attention all evening. As Lex was getting ready to leave she handed him a piece of something and said "here is some barf." When I questioned her she said "you know, for the beibers." It took us a minute to figure out she meant bark for the beavers.  Lex later wrote us a thank you card for dinner which mentioned that he had not laughed that hard in a long time. We were glad Avery had the idea of inviting him over.

We then had a night swim in the pool before her official birthday was over.

When we were debating what to do for Avery's friend party this year she kept coming back to the idea of Chuck E Cheese. She has been to a few parties there of friends and the thing that she wanted most was to be in that ticket blaster. So, that's where we ended up. They sang and danced with Chuck E Cheese several times which was fun.

I was so happy that I chose to do her party on a Monday right when they opened because we were the only party there, and other than a few guests we basically had the place to ourselves. It was PERFECT!

She was able to pick one person to help her in the ticket blaster, and she chose Abbie to help her. I loved the huge smiles on their faces while trying to get those tickets. Abbie did end up scoring Avery the $1000 ticket out of the ticket booth. That was pretty lucky!

 Avery has a lot of wonderful friends. We were so glad they could all come.

Such a cute group of friends.

I love this look on her face right before blowing out the candles. I hope she had a wonderful birthday, because she is wonderful. I love her to pieces and I'm so thankful to be her mom. Happy Birthday my Sweet Aves!!!