Moto Riding in LaPine

What a group! (There's a few of us missing in the picture) We had a great weekend hanging out, playing in the water, sunbathing and moto riding.

All the kids are becoming great riders!

Lilly is above and below are all the little tough gals in our fun group!

If Griff could hold on by himself and run the bike...he'd be gone! He loves the motorcycles.

He loves Henry and Elyse's spaghetti too!

Thanks Izer's and Whitlock's for coming out and spending the weekend with us!
Had a blast (:

Signs of Summer

We haven't seen much sun this spring or early summer...but when we get the chance, we seize it! We spend every waking hour outside knowing that it probably won't last long! I had to snap a picture of the mountain the other day because it was just beautiful.

Playing in the backyard seems to be Griff's favorite activity at the moment. He does NOT want to come in the house whatsoever...he would sleep out there if I let him! He climbs everything and is really hard on his knees, so I decided to put the knee guards on him. He wasn't a big fan of them at first, but once he realized he could play a little "rougher", he was all for them.

This is our new toy for the summer. It attracts the whole neighborhood. We love it!!

MMM...GOOD!

Griff - 18 months

Griff had his 18 month baby-well visit yesterday. He now weighs 27 lbs and is 33 inches tall. He is a busy, busy little man. He keeps us all running after him constantly. His favorite word is "NO" at the moment. He also likes to yell "ticka-ticka-ticka" a lot. (means tickle, tickle, tickle)

He appears to have forgiven me for leaving him while we went on our Disneyland trip without him...I swear he was mad at me for a few days! He also likes helping you out when given the chance. It's very sweet and cute- he helps me make beds every morning, load the dishwasher and even helps Mac with feeding Henry and Snickers. He claps for himself after he completes each job and squeals "YEAHHHHH".
He eats very well and is very good at throwing his food for a touchdown at every meal. I find food all the way into the living room! We currently have all dining room chairs, kitchen chairs, etc. stored out in the garage because he uses them to climb up onto everything! I only have two chairs in the kitchen for the kids to pull down when it's dinnertime...Pat and I stand up to eat dinner now days! He's a BOOGER and we love him to pieces!

End of the year sports and school...could it be summer?

Go Lilly! This was her last soccer game for the season. She scored a goal too! She will definitely play again in the fall. She loves soccer.

With soccer done and track done, we now have a full 2 months off from sports. Well, the kids have a few sports camps over the summer, but we don't have to sit and watch those! School is now out, so it's time for summer camps, play-dates, sleepovers, camping trips, swimming, lots of moto riding, VBS, BBQ's, vacations, parties, trail hiking, berry picking and well, if we're lucky...some down time too! All we need is for MOTHER NATURE to start cooperating. It's still cool and rainy way too much for summer break! I hope the sunshine starts showing up much more frequently and very soon!!

Disneyland!

Disneyland was a dream come true for our kids! We had a blast and my favorite part was seeing the excitement, anticipation and amazement on my kiddo's faces when we got there. It was awesome...

The Princess' were a huge deal for Lilly. She was beyond excited to see them. Her and I bought tickets for Ariel's Grotto. It' s the coolest restaurant where you get to sit down and eat and the princesses come out one by one to greet each visiting guest. They talk to you and take plenty of time for pictures.

Lilly was speechless...for the first time ever! She was literally shaking with anticipation. When the first princess came out, she took a huge, deep breath and looked at me with big fat tears in her eyes. I got teary-eyed just watching her! It was a great moment. I know that she will remember it forever.

I know this is funny picture below, but Lilly was even amazed at our dessert dish that was brought out. Everything was edible, even the sea shell and the Ariel decor on brownie. Lilly said it was her "bestest day ever!" She was so sweet and saved most of the desserts for Mac and Pat.

If you go to Disneyland and have a little princess that wants to meet all of the Disney Princesses, I highly recommend this place. You get most of the princesses done all at one time and you don't have to stand in line for HOURS to meet them out in the park!!! The picture below is of Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder from Tangled. She wasn't at the restaurant, so we had to grit our teeth and wait in line for over almost 2 hours to see them. It was crazy, but Lilly did not complain one time. She stood in that line like a pro!

We completely lucked out with seeing Princess Jasmine. She always had a very long line and we had passed it up a few times. We suddenly saw her walking through the park and she stopped to take a quick photo with Lilly!!! I was so relieved!

The next set of pictures are from Fairy Land where Tinkerbell and the other fairies live. We waited almost an hour to see her, but it was worth it.

Mickey's Toon Town was a big hit with the kids as well. They loved seeing Mickey and Minnie's houses and we ran into Pluto, Minnie, Goofy and Dale. We didn't have any wait time with them. We just happened to be there at the right time!

Lilly wants a house just like Minnie's when she grows up...

Mickey's house was really cool!

OH MY GOODNESS...Lilly spotted SANTA there too. He was taking a much needed vacation! We saw him at the "It's a Small World Castle" of all places-

I told Pat that I would like to have a moose just like this one in our yard...

Mac was a great sport about riding some of the "kiddie" rides with Lilly. He was very patient. He got to ride all of the big rides plenty, but we had told him he would have to do some rides with Lilly. He did great. They came out the Mr. Toad ride and Lilly was flipped out. It was a dark and kind of spooky ride, but I was still a little bit surprised that it scared her so badly. I was also surprised at how many of the kids rides in Fantasy-land were actually dark and spooky. They are suppose to be for young kids, but they are just a tad scary. We just let her ride what she wanted and left it at that. She did all the roller coasters and other big rides without blinking an eye...I guess because most of them were not in the dark.

We got a front row seat to their new Mickey's Sound-Sational Parade. It was awesome! The floats were beautiful and all the characters were there!

Lilly was hilarious...every time a new float or character came by she was screaming like we were at a rock concert or something! Her scream is very loud...but it worked in her favor- the characters would look directly at her and smile, wave and even blow her kisses!

We even spotted Mary Poppins!

We took a few days off from Disneyland (thank goodness) and fully enjoyed the California Beaches. Pat and I both had "Disneyland Hangovers" after three full days of it. AHHHH, the beach was just what we needed. It was warm and just down right relaxing! It was really a good idea to take a break from the parks for a day or two.

Pat and Mac worked hard at learning how to body surf on boogie boards...

...Lilly and I enjoyed making castles, walking a long the beach front and even some shopping!

We spotted this little crab...the kids wanted to keep him, but he was having no part of it!

The whole trip was just incredible. Our drive down there and back home went as smooth as it could have possibly gone. I had a few rough days missing Griff, but I did OK and he was very well taken care of.