An Adventure...

There's nothing like vacation... especially when your kids are getting along.

We spent our second day of vacation at California Adventure. We tried to continue our "tour of firsts" but couldn't miss our favorites... like Toy Story Mania. This time though, the boys rode in the own car alone.

Our next first was riding the California Screamer... Jordan was FINALLY tall enough!

Not really suprising... the boy LOVED it! He is such a daredevil with rides (and a wuss the other 98% of the time).

We ran into the Phineas & Ferb street show that had just started. My boys love all things P&F and were excited to join in on the fun!

We also become Senior Wilderness Explorers! I love the movie UP!

After riding the rest of our favorite rides and eating at our favorite restaurants we settled in to watch World of Color. It is amazing!

Diz-knee-land...

My little midgets have the best darn Daddy in the whole wide world. He took us back to Disneyland to celebrate our last weekend before school starts. We spent two wonderful days in Disneyland (our 2nd home) bliss.

This trip was all about doing the unusual. We have gotten in a habit of doing the same routine on each of our Disney trips. First ride is Jungle Cruise, skip the treehouse etc. We made a point of trying new things.

Jordan says first stop is...

The new Star Tours! No Rebel Spies were in our family this time around. But we did have a few...

Jedi Knights!

One fought Darth Vader:

And the other Darth Maul:

In our bazillion trips over the last 2 years we had never taken the raft ride over to Tom Sawyer's Island. It was a big hit with the boys. They loves the treehouse, the caves and especially the pirate treasure!

We actually let the boys venture into Toontown (too hot and boring for me...) and stood in the long line to visit the big guy himself...

In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki... Tiki room we shared a Dole Whip and a Dole Whip Float (Tiki Juice, as the boys say) and woke up that silly bird Jose!

My fabulous fellows are usually on best behaviour at Disneyland but this trip was all about being different. This little man got mad about something un-memorable and put himself into the corner while in the Splash Mountain ride. (like Mother like Son)

My boys spun their poor Mommy around and around (or maybe it was the other way around) on our favorite yellow teacup.

The Tiki Juice kicked in during the Jungle Cruise and my little guy got a little loopy:

Around 6:00 p.m. it finally dawned on me that we had never stayed at the one park all day long. It was kind of nice. We finished our night off with dinner, a show and fireworks. But before we camped out at our perfect watching spot we rode the happiest boat ride on earth:

Oh yeah, and Dillon decided to take Daddy up on his offer from Splash Mountain earlier that day and do this for a churro:

Too bad it was on the shuttle bus on our way back to the hotel. :)

We're alive... I swear!

I feel like a total slacker in regards to my blog lately. Lately as in the last year! Sheesh!

I am going to try to start blogging again on a more regular basis. It seems to have gone out of style but I really love having a record of our lives to look back on!

A very brief recap of things I have missed:

1. We moved to a new house in March. We are still in Buckeye but in a better neighborhood and much larger home. (with a much smaller payment)

This picture has nothing to do with it, but it was taken here and it is funny.

2. We finished up the Muckdogs season. It was fun to have the boys play together. Jordan suprised us by being a much better athlete than we gave him credit for.

 Dillon was babysat by a very patient coach every game.

Both boys enjoyed it so we are going to try again next year!

3. Jordan lost his first tooth. Not to be confused with the 5 pulled back when he was just a little thing.

4. Blair and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary. We took the family on an epic SoCal vacation and even spent a few days on Catalina Island where we honeymooned.

5. Our EPIC Socal vacation included:

• Touring The Midway

• The San Diego Zoo

• Catalina Island

• Disneyland of which I have no pictures because we are lame and I was tired of carrying a camera around.

6. The boys and I spent a week at Grandma Hun't with Betsy and the cousins. Our week ended with a family 4th of July celebration. Gramps put on a fireworks show and Blair started the yard on fire with a sparkler bomb. (No pics of the bomb.)

7. We celebrating my niece Zoey's 1st birthday at our house. She is a Dora fanatic and loved her Dora cake.

8. School starts in 2 1/2 weeks and I return on Monday to prepare. Hopefully I will stay motivated and updated :)

Their Mother...

Mother's Day has passed and we celebrated in the most spectacular way. The hubs planned a secret, last minute trip for me and my boys to go to our favorite home away from home... Disneyland. I quickly packed and shipped the dog off to Grandma's (thanks Grandma) and put my babies to bed in their clothes. 3:00 am on Saturday sure came quickly and we were off on our Mother's Day weekend adventure!

The Midgets and I enjoying the Pixar Play Parade

I know it seems a little ridiculous to go to as many times as we have (we figured out we went every 2 months exactly since we got our passes) but we never get tired of going. Each time is like the first. We feel the magic in the churro scented air and we are in our happy place.

The boys must have realized that this was really, really the last trip for quite awhile. They were on their best behavior and the weekend was so much fun. I love the boys everyday, but on a good day I feel like I could burst with love for them.

Dumbo Time!

Being their Mother has been the greatest gift. Every day we spend together is not perfect. We often times have no good, horrible, rotten days. But we spend them together and we end them with a kiss and a hug and with a promise of a better day tomorrow (which may or not happen). But I wouldn't trade them for anything.

I love being their Mom.

My Boys

Jordan turns 5...

We've just returned from celebrating Jordan's 5th birthday at Disneyland. My poor kids are in for a surprise next year when the find out that you don't always get to celebrate there!

We had a magnificent time. The weather was great. The lines were short. The company was fun. And the birthday boy was as handsome as ever.

We were mean parents and told him he would have to wait until we arrived home for presents & cake but Jordan took it in stride. Especially after Mom told him that he could be in charge for the day. He got to pick our meals, snacks, which rides to rise etc... and was happy as a clam.

Up first was french toast sticks. And we ate them picnic style next to a wishing fountain.

Jordan wished that we could stay for 4 days. We stayed 3. Guess that will teach him to tell his wishes!

Our first ride of the day was Peter Pan. Jordan got to ride with his Daddy. They are best riding partners.

We rode all the fun Fantasyland rides. Nothing like imagination in the morning!

We had pizza for lunch (birthday boy's choice) and even had a little birthday surprise.

The birthday boy kindly shared with his brother:

He sure is a sweetheart like that. "Jordan in Charge" chose to spend the rest of the day in California Park. He "tricked" his Grandpa into riding Grizzly Rapids telling him that he wouldn't get wet. Blair told me afterwards that he laughed hysterically and shouted "I Lied to You!" after the first splashes. Silly JoJo!

Next we braved the rope bridges of Brother Bear. I recently bought the movie for the boys and this was the first time they have been interested in doing it. Jordan took a swing and fell right on his bottom. He sat up and laughed. That's our boy!

Jordan joined in on a little impromptu jamboree. He got a funky hat and everything. Yee Haw!

Toy Story Mania called my little buddy's name and off we went for our 45 minute wait. The ride is so fun that we don't mind the long line. It really doesn't get much shorter anyway, and allows for precious moments like these.

We ended our fun day on a great note... Sorcecer Mickey (as the birthday boy calls him!)

Then it was off for Happy Birthday Happy Meals and a nice long snooze at the hotel. Jordan has deemed this "The Best Birthday Ever". Just like he has the last 4.

He is such an incredible little boy. Blair and I love him so much and he blesses our lives everyday. You could not ask for a better son or brother. We love you Jordan!