04/08/2010
We just got back from our second trip to Southern California in just a little over a month and I realized I haven't even blogged about the first trip yet. I'm going to just cover February and March in this letter and then hopefully have another one up for our most recent trip and Easter in a week or so.
DISNEYLAND IN FEBRUARY
I convinced (whinned, pleaded and guilted) James into buying annual passes for Disneyland again this year and we decided to make our first trip at the end of February. We left on Wednesday night, stayed again at the fabulous Whiskey Pete's hotel outside of Vegas. I think the kids believe that a stay at Whiskey Pete's is a mandatory stop in any trip to Disneyland. It's a crappy hotel, but for 25.00 a night you can't complain too much.
We rolled into Disney about 12:00 in the afternoon and walked to the park. The weather on the first day was GORGEOUS. It was about 70-72 degrees and sunny, I think it was the best weather day I've had at the park for a while. We planned on spending most of the day in California Adventure, but we had to get Jacob's picture taken for his annual pass in Disneyland. Since we were there we rode Buzz Lightyear and Star Tours and then headed over to California Adventure. We rode Toy Story Mania, and a couple of other rides but the kids were unusually tired so we left the park fairly early and went to get some food. Later that night I picked my mom up from the airport so she could join us for the rest of the trip.
I wanted to make this trip a little more memorable for the kids so I concocted a Disneyland Detectives hunt. I worked on it for hours and hours and bought props and made a cute bag and everything. I was a little obsessive about it for at least 2 weeks leading up to us leaving. It was AWESOME!
We did the hunt with a family from our ward, who have kids the same ages as ours and who happened to plan a trip to Disneyland at the same time as we did (the red-headed boys in the pictures are theirs). We all did the hunt together. I had made up rhyming clues and placed them in envelopes. Each clue led to a ride or place of interest in the park. Along with the clues, the kids got props to help them get into the spirit of things. (Swords, bandanas, eye patches, etc.)
We spent 4 hours riding some of Disneyland's greatest rides, having treats and snacks, and when the hunt was over, the big prize was that the boys got to go to the LEGO store in Downtown Disney to pick out a Lego. They were so excited that they practically ran all the way to the Lego Store. The hunt was a big success and I am thinking about trying to market it somehow, but I'm not sure where to start with that. If any one with kids ages 3-10 (or older if they are good sports) wants to try it out, send me an email. It was totally fun and definitely a unique Disney experience.
Friday evening and into Saturday we got rained on several times. The rain came in short bursts about once an hour, so it wasn't awful, but not the most fun either. We were still able to enjoy the parks and they were much less crowded due to the rain. It was fun to share this trip with my mom and our friends.
MARCH
March was a quiet month for us. We spent our time doing normal things, school, work, joyschool, playing, cleaning, cooking, church callings, etc...
LIA
Lia finally decided to walk a little bit and has steadily improved over the last month. She still crawls a lot of the time because it is faster for her, but she's making good progress. She has also started talking quite a bit and the words are almost decipherable. I was actually a little bit worried about her speech, because she seemed to be quite a bit behind where the boys were at her age. I finally told James about my concerns and of course the very next day she started making more and more comprehensible words. I'm not concerned any more, if her speech keeps improving at this rapid rate she'll be talking in full sentences by the end of the summer. Lia has amazing hair. It is so long and thick. When it is wet it reaches halfway down her back. She hates letting me style it though, so she has bed-head almost all the time. Luckily, it doesn't get too tangled so when she does let me style it, it's not a painful ordeal. Lia also discovered books over the last few months and will pick one up, crawl over to which ever adult is closest, snuggle into their lap, and proceed to tell the story to us in baby talk. Her favorites right now are The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear.
SETH
Seth and Jacob have been enjoying being brothers lately. They play so well together and are such good friends. When I tell people that Seth is homeschooled, the question I get most often is about socialization. I don't really worry about it because he has Jacob to play with. I don't think Seth would have any trouble fitting in with other kids his age and I think that he is better at talking to adults then some kids are. We still love our school at home. I am glad that we worked really hard at the beginning of the year so that we can take school a little more easy now. Seth learned about his body and ocean life in the last two science units. History is one of his favorite subjects and we are starting a unit on Ancient India, which will be interesting for me too since I know practically nothing about India (ancient or modern). We re-registered with the Virtual Academy to do second grade with them next year. I am looking forward to it. I almost wish that we could just keep doing lessons during the summer. I plan on doing some sort of summer bridge type of thing, but it would be easier just to keep on going and not have to have such a big break between grades.
JACOB
Jacob continues to be a delight. He has a wonderful imagination. I told him about St. Patrick's Day and wearing green, and he went to his room and picked out his outfit for the occasion. He wore it to his St. Patrick's Day preschool party too. It was so hilarious. (By the way, Jacob calls those electric green jammies his "Booger Suit". Isn't that great?) Jakes wants to play outside a lot and is happy that the weather is turning warmer. I think a swing set is high on our list of things to purchase this year, both boys would love it. I love Jacob because he is content in whatever situation he happens to be in. He plays well with Seth, but also plays equally well all by himself. He can find things to do whether he's indoors or out. He has a caring and tender heart. I hate to chastise him when he does something wrong, because he takes it so seriously and acts so hurt when I do it. Luckily, I don't have to do it that often.
LEGO PARTY
I almost forgot to include a little blurb about the Lego party we had in March. Seth is a little obsessed with Legos right now, and of course Jacob is too since Seth is. They invited their friends over to build Legos, watch the new Clutch Powers Lego movie and just have fun. We decorated with Legos and tried to find Lego fruit snacks and candies, but couldn't find either anywhere and so settled for Easter candy instead. We had pizza during the movie and a Lego building race. Each of the boys got a new small Lego set as their favor/prize. It was a lot of fun and Seth is already looking forward to his Lego birthday party that is coming up in the oh-so distant future! ("When is my birthday again Mom?")
That's it for this letter, I'll be writing another soon to chronicle our beach camping trip over spring break.
DISNEYLAND IN FEBRUARY
I convinced (whinned, pleaded and guilted) James into buying annual passes for Disneyland again this year and we decided to make our first trip at the end of February. We left on Wednesday night, stayed again at the fabulous Whiskey Pete's hotel outside of Vegas. I think the kids believe that a stay at Whiskey Pete's is a mandatory stop in any trip to Disneyland. It's a crappy hotel, but for 25.00 a night you can't complain too much.
We rolled into Disney about 12:00 in the afternoon and walked to the park. The weather on the first day was GORGEOUS. It was about 70-72 degrees and sunny, I think it was the best weather day I've had at the park for a while. We planned on spending most of the day in California Adventure, but we had to get Jacob's picture taken for his annual pass in Disneyland. Since we were there we rode Buzz Lightyear and Star Tours and then headed over to California Adventure. We rode Toy Story Mania, and a couple of other rides but the kids were unusually tired so we left the park fairly early and went to get some food. Later that night I picked my mom up from the airport so she could join us for the rest of the trip.
I wanted to make this trip a little more memorable for the kids so I concocted a Disneyland Detectives hunt. I worked on it for hours and hours and bought props and made a cute bag and everything. I was a little obsessive about it for at least 2 weeks leading up to us leaving. It was AWESOME!
We did the hunt with a family from our ward, who have kids the same ages as ours and who happened to plan a trip to Disneyland at the same time as we did (the red-headed boys in the pictures are theirs). We all did the hunt together. I had made up rhyming clues and placed them in envelopes. Each clue led to a ride or place of interest in the park. Along with the clues, the kids got props to help them get into the spirit of things. (Swords, bandanas, eye patches, etc.)
We spent 4 hours riding some of Disneyland's greatest rides, having treats and snacks, and when the hunt was over, the big prize was that the boys got to go to the LEGO store in Downtown Disney to pick out a Lego. They were so excited that they practically ran all the way to the Lego Store. The hunt was a big success and I am thinking about trying to market it somehow, but I'm not sure where to start with that. If any one with kids ages 3-10 (or older if they are good sports) wants to try it out, send me an email. It was totally fun and definitely a unique Disney experience.
Friday evening and into Saturday we got rained on several times. The rain came in short bursts about once an hour, so it wasn't awful, but not the most fun either. We were still able to enjoy the parks and they were much less crowded due to the rain. It was fun to share this trip with my mom and our friends.
MARCH
March was a quiet month for us. We spent our time doing normal things, school, work, joyschool, playing, cleaning, cooking, church callings, etc...
LIA
Lia finally decided to walk a little bit and has steadily improved over the last month. She still crawls a lot of the time because it is faster for her, but she's making good progress. She has also started talking quite a bit and the words are almost decipherable. I was actually a little bit worried about her speech, because she seemed to be quite a bit behind where the boys were at her age. I finally told James about my concerns and of course the very next day she started making more and more comprehensible words. I'm not concerned any more, if her speech keeps improving at this rapid rate she'll be talking in full sentences by the end of the summer. Lia has amazing hair. It is so long and thick. When it is wet it reaches halfway down her back. She hates letting me style it though, so she has bed-head almost all the time. Luckily, it doesn't get too tangled so when she does let me style it, it's not a painful ordeal. Lia also discovered books over the last few months and will pick one up, crawl over to which ever adult is closest, snuggle into their lap, and proceed to tell the story to us in baby talk. Her favorites right now are The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear.
SETH
Seth and Jacob have been enjoying being brothers lately. They play so well together and are such good friends. When I tell people that Seth is homeschooled, the question I get most often is about socialization. I don't really worry about it because he has Jacob to play with. I don't think Seth would have any trouble fitting in with other kids his age and I think that he is better at talking to adults then some kids are. We still love our school at home. I am glad that we worked really hard at the beginning of the year so that we can take school a little more easy now. Seth learned about his body and ocean life in the last two science units. History is one of his favorite subjects and we are starting a unit on Ancient India, which will be interesting for me too since I know practically nothing about India (ancient or modern). We re-registered with the Virtual Academy to do second grade with them next year. I am looking forward to it. I almost wish that we could just keep doing lessons during the summer. I plan on doing some sort of summer bridge type of thing, but it would be easier just to keep on going and not have to have such a big break between grades.
JACOB
Jacob continues to be a delight. He has a wonderful imagination. I told him about St. Patrick's Day and wearing green, and he went to his room and picked out his outfit for the occasion. He wore it to his St. Patrick's Day preschool party too. It was so hilarious. (By the way, Jacob calls those electric green jammies his "Booger Suit". Isn't that great?) Jakes wants to play outside a lot and is happy that the weather is turning warmer. I think a swing set is high on our list of things to purchase this year, both boys would love it. I love Jacob because he is content in whatever situation he happens to be in. He plays well with Seth, but also plays equally well all by himself. He can find things to do whether he's indoors or out. He has a caring and tender heart. I hate to chastise him when he does something wrong, because he takes it so seriously and acts so hurt when I do it. Luckily, I don't have to do it that often.
LEGO PARTY
I almost forgot to include a little blurb about the Lego party we had in March. Seth is a little obsessed with Legos right now, and of course Jacob is too since Seth is. They invited their friends over to build Legos, watch the new Clutch Powers Lego movie and just have fun. We decorated with Legos and tried to find Lego fruit snacks and candies, but couldn't find either anywhere and so settled for Easter candy instead. We had pizza during the movie and a Lego building race. Each of the boys got a new small Lego set as their favor/prize. It was a lot of fun and Seth is already looking forward to his Lego birthday party that is coming up in the oh-so distant future! ("When is my birthday again Mom?")
That's it for this letter, I'll be writing another soon to chronicle our beach camping trip over spring break.
