From Easter Bunnies to Birthday Parties

April's been a busy month! Last weekend we celebrated Easter. It was especially fun this year because Sophie was so excited. She's been practicing all month for the annual egg hunt by hiding plastic eggs around the house and finding them. I have a feeling I'll be finding them for months!

Sophie and Rachel with the Easter Bunny:
Rachel finding eggs in the woods.
Ben anxiously awaiting his turn!
Later that day, we went to watch Steven play in a water polo match. (He's #19--it's hard to take pictures of water polo!) He played in a week-long water polo clinic during spring break. He had a lot of fun and came home exhausted every day!!!
When we came home from water polo, we colored Easter eggs. Sophie had so much fun plopping the eggs in the water.
Rachel made fancy designs with hers. The kids' favorite part was eating them!

The highlight of this last week was having Aunt Shannon and her friend, Kristen, come visit us during Shannon's spring break. We had fun going to Pike's Place Market and eating fish at Ivar's and feeding the seagulls.
Sophie had fun playing on the "tramp-a-boing" with Shannon. Shannon and Kristen also spent lots of time playing hide and seek with Sophie. She's sad to see them go.
Friday was Rachel's 8th birthday, so we made cupcakes. Sophie had fun licking the beater.
Rachel requested waffles for her special breakfast in bed. Later that day, Steve and I brought her favorite lunch, Subway sandwich, to her at school.
Rachel had requested new bedding for her birthday, claiming that she's "too old for Disney princesses." While she was at school, Shannon and I gave her room a mini makeover. We had to remove the decals from her wall. Shannon and Kristen made a wall hanging with her name on it. Here's the before picture:
And after:
She was thrilled!

That night we had a sleepover birthday party for Rachel. She was bummed that I limited the number of girls she invited this year since it was a "sleepover." (So if your child wasn't invited, I'm really sorry!!!) We made Shrinky Dinks jewelry and stained glass butterflies. The girls had fun playing games and just being really loud! Here is Rachel with her sleepover girls birthday cupcakes she requested from a cupcake book Grandma Lacey had given her for Christmas.

I don't want to post pictures of other people's children at the party, but here's Sophie joining in on the fun of watching the movie, Bolt, with the other girls. Surprisingly, the girls actually went to sleep for their sleepover! Much different from the boys parties in the past!!!
I left the party in the hands of Shannon for a little bit while I sneaked out to Ben's Cub Scout Pack Meeting where he was awarded his Webelos Advancement. Next month he should earn his Arrow of Light. We're so proud of all the hard work and are so thankful for Tara Hatch, Lily Casey, and Wanda Orton, his past Cub Scout Webelos leaders for helping him every week!!!Saturday, we took Shannon on one of our favorite hikes--Boise Creek Falls. On our hike, there were people riding horses. They let Sophie pet one of them.
Shannon took our picture. Notice how TALL Steven's getting! (Oh, wait--he's standing on his toes. . . but he is getting tall!)
We even took Leia along for some fun. She was in little dog heaven.
The kids had fun skipping rocks in a little lake up there.
I had to take a picture of Steven. He got contact lenses two weeks ago and is very excited to be able to enjoy the outdoors without the hassle of glasses. He's in track right now, so he's especially enjoying running without glasses!
Thanks for the fun visit, Aunt Shannon and Happy Spring to everyone!

San Diego---Day 4 & LA--Day5

The most beautiful day we were in California was Thursday, the day we went to San Diego. On the way to Sea World, we stopped at the temple for a family photo-op.

We were prepared for water at Sea World. The kids wanted to sit in the soak zones for all of the shows we went to. Although they sat pretty close, we didn't get too wet! (I was thankful, but the kids were bummed.) Rachel, however, got really wet and really uncomfortable on the river raft ride.

The kids had fun hibernating like polar bears:Sophie loved the Beluga Whales (maybe because we have them at "our" zoo here?) She loved all of the fish/whales! Now whenever we read stories or sea pictures with dolphins or whales, she says, "I saw that at Sea World!"
At the end of the day, as the park was closing, Sophie insisted on riding the "tea cups." We knew we'd have a melt down all the way back to Anaheim if we didn't indulge her. So, Steve, the great dad that he is, went on the tea cups with all the kids. Thanks, Steve! (You can't really see her face, but Sophie was VERY happy!)On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at Mission Beach at sundown. We found Luigi's Pizzeria and at some yummy pizza! They claim to be home of the 30" pizza. The boys insisted they were hungry, but we weren't that hungry!The next day, we got up early and checked out of our hotel. We had some time to kill before our plane left, so we drove to Hollywood. Duh! We went on the Friday before Oscars, so everything was blocked off. I wish we'd spent our time somewhere else! It was definitely not the highlight of the trip!

Next, we drove by Grandpa and Grandma Andrew's house. It was so sad to see it renovated. It just wasn't the same as I remembered it. But it was fun seeing the MarVista chapel and seeing Colonial Drive. It was fun pointing out to the kids that as a little girl, I used to run up and down the street playing with my cousins. We drove by Venice High where my mom went to school.

Then we went to Venice Beach--the actual beach. The kids had fun playing with shells and chasing birds. We told them they couldn't play in the water because we had a plane to catch! The weather was in the 70's that day which is lots warmer than a Washington Beach in the middle of the summer! This is where Steve and I came for our honeymoon, we we had some romantic reminiscing (as much as you can with 4 kids, anyway!)We finally pulled ourselves away and caught our plane. We're looking forward to going to California again--We figured we'd probably go again in the space of time after Steven gets home from his mission and before Ben leaves. We created lots of fun memories!

California Adventure--Day 3

Our 3rd day we started at Disneyland because it opened an hour before California Adventure. When the park opened, we made a mad dash to Thunder Mountain. We were able to go a few times without standing in line. (In this picture, we are in the last car where it feels a little more intense than riding in the front. I (Tammy) don't know the physics of it all, but next time, I'm definitely NOT riding in back!) Wednesday we had gorgeous weather!!! We actually felt like we were in California.

At 10:00 a.m. we went to California Adventure. I took Sophie over to Playhouse Disney while the older kids, Steve, and Natalie went on all the wild and crazy rides. Sophie loved seeing the characters from one of her favorite shows, Little Einsteins. (I didn't have the camera with me--so no pictures.)

For lunch, Natalie, Rachel, Sophie, and I went to eat at Ariel's Grotto. This is an interactive lunch where you eat yummy food while 5 of the princesses wander from table to table signing autographs and taking pictures. (If you're planning on going, you need to make reservations up to 60 days in advance.) They gave the girls crowns to decorate with stickers and wear. Doesn't my sister, Natalie, look like Miss America?!?They started out by bringing us appetizers. Sophie's favorite was the cheese sticks that had been cut into little spears. And she loved the watermelon, too!
My favorite part of the lunch was when Sophie kept asking the princesses, especially Snow White, "You want some?" as she held out her fork of macaroni to the princesses.Here's Sophie and Rachel with Sophie's favorite princess, Princess Aurora. My favorite princess was Belle because she was the nicest one. ;) She spent so much time talking to Rachel.
Cinderella was really nice, too!
Sophie's favorite part of the whole experience was the food--especially dessert! It was really yummy--we were hoping she'd let us have hers--but she ate almost every bite! After eating all of the food, we had to go on rides--ugh! Actually we had a lot of fun. I really liked the Tower of Terror. (But it was definitely NOT Ben's favorite ride.) Everyone else like California Screamin'--they'd gone on it while I'd had Sophie at Playhouse Disney. They were excited to see how I'd like it--in the copy of the picture that they automatically take, I look like maybe I'm having fun--I wasn't! :)Sophie had fun in Bug's Life Land. We went to the 4-D Bug's Life Movie which she didn't like so much, but the rest of us did. The movie was a little scary. I just covered her eyes and she was fine.

My favorite ride was Soarin' over California. It's a simulator that makes you feel like you're hang gliding over different scenic areas of California. Natalie knew where to get us seats so we were in the front row in the very center of the screen. It was so much fun!

Another favorite part of the day (no pictures, because we were tired of pictures by then!) was when we went to the tortilla-making factory and the sourdough bread factory where they give out samples. Until now, my kids have refused to eat sourdough bread because they say it's disgusting. . .after eating it at California Adventure, they (especially Ben) now love it! In fact, for dinner, we ate sour dough bread bowls with either chili or clam chowder.

After California Adventure closed, we sent Sophie back to the hotel with Natalie and went on a few last rides in Disneyland. We love Disneyland, but we were talking about all of the other fun things we want to do while our kids are young, and we figured that we probably won't go again until Sophie is Ben or Steven's age. How sad!

Disneyland--Day 2

In my last entry, I neglected to mention that my sister, Natalie, who lives in San Diego met us at our hotel Monday night. She has an annual pass to Disneyland, so she was our guide, babysitter, sanity-saver, and Fast-pass collector. She also makes the best PBJ sandwiches! Our kids loved them! (And of course, spending time with Aunt Natalie!)

Our second day of Disneyland started out at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning. We had bought a 3-day pass that allowed us early-entry on Tuesday, so we got there right as the gates opened and rode Space Mountain--again! Here's our "pose."When we came out, it was pouring, so we pulled out our rain ponchos and headed for It's a Small World. (Steve, Sophie, and Natalie had to go to the store to buy lunch and leather shoes for Rachel since hers were so wet!) As you can see from Ben's picture, we were a little drenched! But we weren't complaining because it kept the crowds away!The next stop was to the Princess Fanfare. This was Sophie's highlight of the day! For weeks, she's been telling everyone she's "going to Disneyland to meet Princess Aurora!" Luckily, Princess Aurora was one of the 3 princesses who was there to greet the little girls that day!Rachel enjoyed chatting with Snow White. . .We met up with our friends, the Carman's and the Kristensen's, who also went to Disneyland that day. We were all able to fit on the Jungle Cruise and we hung out at Toon Town together. Here are Rachel and Amber stuck in the pretend jail.Here is Ben getting shocked at the door that says, "No matter what, do not open this door!" (or something like that!)


We had to get another pose of our family with Pooh Bear. We had one taken 5 years ago . . .And here we are in 2009. . .Steven had fun posing and bouncing with Tigger. . .The boys were jealous when Rachel was the one chosen to participate in the Jedi Training Academy. . .But they made up for it by purchasing their very own custom-made light sabers that make different noises depending on what sound chips you put in them. (Sorry--no picture)

We also had to take a comparison picture of Steven pulling out the sword from the Sword and the Stone. Here is Feb. 2004. . .And here he is in 2009. . .Just one more comparison photo of Rachel from 2004. . .
And in 2009. . .
That night, we went out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Mimi's Cafe, which was less than a block from our hotel. It brought back memories of fun friends' lunches we used to have when we lived in Utah! After dinner, we sent Sophie to bed while Aunt Natalie watched her and the rest of us went to Fantasmic, a fantastic water and light show with all of the Disney characters. I had to save our seats for over an hour to get a good spot to see it. (Again, Natalie had told us where to sit to get a good seat.) Steve's favorite part was when the Peter Pan pirate ship came on the river and Captain Hook and Peter Pan are fighting up in the masts. One of my favorite parts was when most of the characters rode by on the steamboat. This picture doesn't even do it justice. I'd highly recommend the wait if you can see it!