Making the Grade

Just wanted to report that Lilly earned straight A's this quarter   I'm so proud of her and how hard she has been working to make her reading goal. Max also got a decent report card  He earned a 4 for his sight word recognition.
We went to Krispy Kreme to redeem their A's for donuts.  So awesome right?

Thanks Kripsy Kreme! My kids are Happy!

Spring Break 4 and 5

I don't have pictures from the rest of the days we spent in California.  Sometimes I just want to be in the moment with family as we are visiting and not always trying to document it.  Thursday was one of my favorite days.  Kevin took the kids to play with cousins and his family and I got to hang out all day with my dad.  My dad and I surprised my mom at work and took her out to lunch. While we were over there I wanted to stop by a market that sells amazing pita bread. Then we headed over to Ikea for some containers and sheets.  I treated my dad to an Ikea ice cream cone and we just enjoyed the time we spent together.
Then I headed over to Kevin's parents house to hang out with them for a bit.  We talked and talked about a family vacation that we are all going to take. The ideas ranging from a cruse, to house boat on Powell, to Yellowstone to Yosemite. Who knows if we will ever decide.
We then headed back to my parents house. We went and picked up Porto's Bakery for dinner because Lilly liked it so much last time. How could I say no.
I can't remember now when we decided to stay yet another day but we did.  Thursday we went to see a movie and the kids played basketball or dribble ball for hours in the backyard.  We got to have another dinner with family and then packed up and left Friday morning. We got home in time to fill our empty cupboards and do a few chores before Monday came around again.

Spring break Day 3

I think I summed up this day back on the 12th post. But here are a few more pictures and details.  We Left the Hotel about 9:30 and drove up to LA.  Nothing exciting to report a fairly event-less drive.  Only that on our last trip one of our screens broke on our car dvd player.  I have no idea what our parents did without a movie in the car because just having one screen someone was complaining that they couldn't see or someone was not holding it right. Oh poor deprived children.  We then turned it off and played a few rounds of Hide the Penny.  

Walking onto City Walk brought back a flood of memories of my younger days.  I was trying get a family shot but Max was being a goofball, followed me and kept stepping in front of the camera. Nice shoulder Max.

On city walk they have a fancy version of a food court. So everyone was happy the boys ate Tommy's famous chili burgers, Lilly had Subway and I had FroYO.  

 On our way into the park we played in the fountain.

 We ended up at Universal because the tickets came with the package that Kevin bought. Otherwise I don't think we would have gone but still a fun day. We saw a show or two, went on the tour, and went on a few rides.  We walked onto everything so that made the day go smooth.  Here is a little tidbit that made me laugh. Universal now sells some kind a special ticket that will get you to the front of every line.  The best part you have to ware it around your neck so everyone can see that you spent more money then the rest of us.  It just mad me laugh because us commoners walked on to every ride too.
 Since Luke was too little for most of it. I took Lilly and Max on the Transformer ride.  Max is funny because he refuses to wear any 3D glasses because it makes things too scary. He said he liked the ride but I can only imagine that it gave him a headache looking at all the blurry images.
Our favorite part of the day was going into this huge ball yard.  There were nurff balls everywhere you looked with cannons and buckets and vacuums to shoot and have a major battle.
As we left we stopped to get some mini donuts.  Like we needed more garbage to eat.  I figured out that the whole park was really centered around food.  They have more places to eat then things to do.  I still wish that I would have gotten a Dodder Dog but I'm sure it wouldn't be the same.  I will just wait for this summer.

 On our way to to my parents house we stopped to visit with Kevin's parents.  It was then we decided to extend our California trip a day and hang out with family on Wednesday.

A Day at Sea World

We got to the park early and just waited for the exhibits to open.  When we got in it was just awesome.  The oodles of swimming things too see, wonderful.  I am always amazed at the brilliant colors of nature, especially the fish.

The giant sea turtles were breathtaking and very huge!  

Luke's favorite, the sharks.  No one was in this exhibit so we went back and forth under the shark tank several times.  It was a wonderful day to go. There weren't many people there so it was easy to see things and if we rode any rides the lines were short.

Max wasn't tall enough to ride the roller coaster. Which by the way was really fun.  While we waited for Lilly and Kevin we hung out with the dolphins and the sea rays.  Max was so happy be able to touch one.

One of the best surprises of the trip is that  one of the Shamus had a baby on Feb 14.  We got to see mom and baby not even a month old.

There was another part of the day that Kevin took Max and Lilly on a ride that Luke couldn't go on. We hung out with the starfish.

As we were leaving we snapped a picture with the very cool Shamu car.  I would totally drive one of these around.

It really was a fun day.  We only had one melt down, and we saw everything that we wanted to.  Lilly was a little disappointed because she wanted to ride on ride that broke down .  The boys picked out sharks for their souvenir and Lilly picked a turtle bracelet.  I loved that the park closed at 6 so it wasn't a super late night. We picked up pizza for dinner and called it a day.

Spring Break Day 1

A few weeks ago I thought it might be nice to have a little spring break in San Diego.  But then I changed my mind and thought it would be nice to just stay at home and do some fun things locally and beg Kevin to take a day or 2 off.  Kevin surprised us all 2 weeks ago when he told us that he booked us a mini vacation to San Diego and we were going to go to Sea World and Universal Studios.  Since we would be in town we would make a stop to see grandparents too.

Day 1 

We got to our hotel that was right on the bay. Typical shots of the hotel, the boys wrestling and Lilly relaxing. She did pose for the picture.  My kids love a hotel. Sometimes I think that is the highlight of the trip. How could it not be when we got to go swimming and we get free lotion, and shampoo, oh and an arcade.

The hotel offered a sunset cruise across the marina on an old river boat. I love the water. I love to be by it or on it.  It makes me happy. We all had a good time looking out on the top deck and then back into the boat when it would get too cold.

 At the end of the boat ride we made our way to the hotel's restaurant and sat and enjoyed their fireplace for a bit.  Getting back to our room we all got ready for bed and watched 2 episodes of Duck Dynasty.  We all got a good laugh out of that one.

March 12

March 12 landed us in the middle of our spring break. Lucky us we are leaving San Deigo and heading up to the Valley to Universal Studios for the day.

1.  Saying goodbye to the sea lions that were at the hotel we stayed in.
2.  On the road again.  Love this guy he is always our driver.
3.  Lilly board out of her gourd on the drive. Come on guys it's only 2 1/2  hours.
4.  As soon as we hit Los Angles county we ran into traffic.
5.  I loved the little parking card that you could take to remember where you parked.
6.  On City Walk. Kevin and I reminiscing about when we would go on dates there.
7.  Kevin and Max were so happy to find Tommy's on city walk for lunch.  I got froyo and Lilly go Subway. Everyone was very happy with lunch.
8.  Playing in the fountain
9.  Bathroom shot
10. Walking on the red carpet.
11. Lilly and Max getting eaten by Jaws
12. Oh the joy of cotton candy.

Highlights

Here are the highlights of this week.
Lilly's chorus concert was this week with some good ole country tunes. They sang my favorite song Grandma's Feather Bed.  Mom, you will have to get out our guitar on our next visit and play it for us.

We celebrated Dr Susses Birthday this week in preschool.  I always look forward to Wacky Wednesday.  We had shirts on backwards mismatch socks, funny hair, grandpa glasses, a wolf hat, clothes inside-out and short over pants. Very wacky indeed.

Lilly and I took Becca out for a manicure for her birthday.  Funny girls, when they were getting their nails done they did not say a word. As soon as we walked out the door they were chattering and all giggles. 

Now it is Spring break and we have fun plans. HOOORAY!!

A Little Competition

Back in January Kevin joined a cross fit gym to help us with our new year goals to get in better shape.  This weekend their was a cross fit competition that he participated in.  First off I want to start off by saying that it was fun to see Kevin compete and it was fun to be there with the kids cheering him on. Second these people are crazy for the life of me I really don't know why they do these things just to see if they can.  I guess it means you are fit and strong if you can hang.

Here is the run down of the competition.

first staion

carry a fire hose 20 yards  

then hop on a rowing machine and row and row.  repeat 3 times. Um I'm already tired.

Station 2
100 wall balls. If you din't know what wall balls are you have lived a very happy life without knowing such torture.  This is how is goes. Swat with 20 pound ball. Then shoot the ball up to hit a target at 10 feet.  Oh and then you have to catch and repeat.

part 2  1 burpee side jump to the left and right and repeat many as you can in allotted time.

part 3 sit ups as many as you can in allotted time.

Station 3

Cary a 75 lb keg over a wall go back and forth go over second wall and repeat for allotted time.

 It was as hard as it looks and sounds but Kevin finished and didn't throw up.  So yeah for Kevin for doing something hard. I like him!

A little Music

Last week the first grade showcased a night of patriotic music.  Max has been singing the songs for months it was a joy to see all of them up there singing their hearts out. I think my favorite song was "You're a Grand Old Flag"  I have always love that song.

Grandma and Grandpa happened to be in town so they were able to see Max show off. Well I guess see most of him. It is hard to see any of the kids when you sit towards the back row.  You have to strategically move your head around until you can find a window. The window only lasts so long, until the people in front of you move around looking for a better window themselves.

All is well because we met up with his buddy Cody at Sonic for a celebration treat. 

My 3 March 3

So I cheated again this week.  I took this on Sunday night.  The 3 of them watching Pixar sort films on youtube.  I swear we don't just watch tv all the time but that seems to be what I have captured the last two weeks.

February round up

How did I do this month?

I have been really down on myself the past week. No motivation to get things done and when I don't get anything done then I feel even worse.  So I just have to snap out of it.  The ironic thing of all this is I'm reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin about how to be happy. I really like the book but instead of motivating me to find more happiness in my already happy, good life, I find that I just get overwhelmed with all that I could be doing and feel like I'm falling short.  The best thing I can do is be happy and excited for what I did get done because that is progress.

No sugar until Valentines day. I did it. Now I'm back to sugar and love it. Still at good weight. And I'm still exercising.

February project 12 on 12 check

Read a book The 5 Love Languages (When the goal was to read a novel I meant a book)

Family service project. We sent letters and a small package to missionaries for Valentine's day. 

I realized that if I don't start really planing out the rest of my goals they will not happen. So I have to come up with a game plan this month when I will accomplish them.