ROCing Out

We climbed up walls, we slid down chutes, we clung to ropes over mudpits, we bounded through tires, we stumbled across the finish line, we bounced across inflateables, we jumped across trampolines, we crawled through tunnels, we took a group shower, we watched marines try to outdo each other in a test of strength, we raced across barrels, we got our picture taken with the Joker, a cowboy, superheroes, a rainbow of people, some midgets, and a man in a wedding dress.  Did I mention we ran too?  Oh yeah, and we ran 3 miles too.  Blech.  Whatever with that....the rest of it was fun though.  Always a pleasure Mrs. D.

Rainy Disney is Fun Disney

Want to know the secret to a great day at Disneyland?  Wait until it rains!  Wear a raincoat and dress warm and you will walk on every ride without lines and get to meet all of the characters that you want.  We got to experience such a day this spring.  Here's a shot of Hubby and I snuggling up on Goofy's chair:


And here's the kiddos meeting Donald:

But my very favorite was when we met Minnie Mouse.  My little ninja boy did NOT want her autograph in his autograph book and neither did he want to meet her, shake her hand, high five, or even be in the same picture with her.  This is, I think, a classic case of "girls have cooties"-itis.  But Ms. Mouse would not be deterred.  She waltzed on over to him, and to his astonishment, took him in her arms and planted a series of loud S*W*A*Ks on him all over his face.  I was beyond delighted with her gumption.  Now there's a girl who knows what she likes when she sees it.  Unfortunately for him though, we all now refer to her as his girlfriend, which he vehemently denies.  The proof, as they say, is in the pictures...

My Little Girl's Two Big Days

There are two skills that my home-schooled daughter has been developing this year.  The first has been her weekly Wednesday morning piano classes and the second has been her weekly Tuesday afternoon ballet classes.  She definetly prefers the ballet to piano but is nicely progressing in both.  She got to perform each this year on a stage, at the end of her school year.  She played "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "This Little Light of Mine" for piano and was one of the washer-girls in the ballet recital titled "Enchanted".  Here she is in all of her glory:

Girls' Weekend

Back in February, we took a weekend away from Daddy and my little ninja boy to go to Disneyland and then the Scrapbooking convention in Anaheim.  A couple girlfriends joined my princess and I and we had a great day cutting, pasting and generating all sorts of awesome ideas for crafts to do and pages to create.  Now we just need to find the time to put it all together...

Trail of Ten Falls

As a last minute decision at the end of the year in 2012, a friend and I took a quick flight North and then drove home.  On the way, we stopped in Salem, Oregon to view several breathtaking sights along an awesome hike called "The Trail of Ten Falls".  If you are ever in the area, I highly suggest making the stop to see these gorgeous landmarks.  We drug my mom along with us for the hike and she is not a hiker.  Somewhere beyond 3/4 through she was cursing at us like a sailor and suggesting we just leave her and save ourselves but in the end she made it the whole way. I was very proud of her and I think she was proud of herself.  So be forewarned.  It is not for the faint of heart, but definitely worth the walk.

A Little Crazy and a Lot of Fun

The highlight of our January this year was a week in Mexico friends.  I couldn't decide which picture to post: the one of us on ATVs, fishing off the shore, the bull my Hubby chased, our favorite eatery, or any of the many other fun shenanigans.  In the end, I think this picture says it all.  Someone is always looking the other way, a couple people are caught off guard, the daughters think it's all about them, the husbands are carrying more than their own, and there we are in the middle, enjoying the crazy and fun ride.  Good times.  This is what memories are made of.

Blessings

In mid-May, a bunch of my girlfriends and I got together in what has become an increasingly rare opportunity to celebrate.  Life has become so crazy for us mommies that it is often hard to find times where we can all find sitters, energy and quite frankly, a clean outfit to go out in at a pre-arranged time.  This happened to be a celebration of a birthday for one of us and it was so nice to take the time to appreciate and uplift each other.  God has been very generous to me on our isolated little piece of heaven up here and blessed me with a few really great groups of moms to share, laugh and cry with.  Cheers ladies, here's to many more nights where we get to clink our glasses together.