Having fun...Again.

Life gets away from us some times.  We get so wrapped up in school, work, church and extra-curriculars (all good things by the way) that we forget to relax and have a little fun together.  Damon and I have talked about this a couple of times this week.  So when we found ourselves with an open weekend we decided to have fun.  The only problem was we couldn't think of anything "fun" to do.

Over the past month I've driven by a sign in Poway advertising their rodeo.  I always thought that would be a great family activity, but hadn't done anything about it.  Then yesterday a friend posted on Facebook if anyone wanted to go to the Poway Rodeo.  That was the final push for me.  I ran it by Damon and he hesitantly said that we should do it.

So the kids dug out there bandannas and we moseyed over to the Poway Rodeo.  The kids wanted to buy some cowboys hats.  So they brought some money to do a little shopping.  They found their hats and we found some seats.  We ran into lots of friends there.

 

 

 

We had a blast at the rodeo.  The kids really got into it.  We can't decide what competition we liked best.  The kids like the Jr. Barrel Racing.  Damon and I like the bull riding. Lily and I didn't like the calf tying competition.  Steer wrestling was kind of cool.

All in all, a successful night of family fun. 

1st Fall Swim Meet

 We had our first fall swim meet Saturday.  It was nice and hot. We were at the pool nice and early.  Lily was not happy about that.  She is not an early riser.  We managed to get to the pool on time though with some herculean efforts.

The kids both did really great.  Lily was a bit nervous since this was her first swim meet, but she swam hard and can now set some time goals. 

 Noah managed to take off 13 seconds from his 50m butterfly.  We were very happy about that.  He continues to try to reach the goals he set.

We are so proud of our swimmers!!

A Surprise Field Trip

Our friends, the Melanson's, were in town this past week for a work conference.  They were in Anaheim.  We had planned to spend a day or two with them.  However, life kept getting in the way.  Damon and I couldn't seem to get our schedules together to see them and the kids are super busy right now so that wasn't working either.  We didn't think we would be able to get together at all.

We figured out a plan and even though it didn't include Damon, who was busy with a luau,  the kids and I ended up driving up to Anaheim early Saturday morning.   The fun thing was that the kids didn't know what was planned so Saturday morning while they were sitting around at 6:45am watching cartoons I handed them all a sheet of paper.  It happened to be their Disneyland ticket.  It didn't dawn on them at first, but it only took 5 seconds to realize what was happening.  I wish they moved that fast on a school day.  They were ready to leave at 7:30am.

We spent a nice, but hot (hottest day on record for us) day at Disneyland with Pete and Julie.  The park wasn't even that crowded.  I was a bit surprised by that.  We haven't been to the park on a Saturday.  The kids loved being back at Disneyland (it's been a year... shocking I know) and really loved spending the day with Pete and Julie.

Pete and Julie eventually had to leave to catch their flight back to Oregon, but we stayed and played for a few more hours.  On our way out we rain into our old babysitter Kaitlyn.  She used to go with us to Disneyland a lot too.  That was fun to see her too.

All in all a good day.  Even the drive home wasn't bad.  We were exhausted when we got home, but are glad we made the effort to see our friends!

A new School Year

We can't believe summer is over.  We finished it off well though with a trip to the beach and a BBQ at our house with most of our family.  We also got to celebrate Uncle Aaron's birthday.  It was a great end to a fun summer. 

Tuesday morning came VERY early for all of us.  Everyone had a bit of excitement as well as a bit of apprehension.  We all missed Damon that morning because he was in San Jose for work. Mom made the morning better by having a yummy breakfast made for the kids.

 Noah was the first to leave at 7am and I didn't take any pictures.    He wouldn't have wanted any anyway.  He thinks it's great not being at the bottom of the food chain at middle school.  (I'm just happy I don't have to do carpool until Friday)

The other two took their time getting ready since we didn't leave until 8:40am.

 Adam thinks that he is top dog since he is the big 5th grader on campus.  Going to school is old news for him.  He already knows his teacher because Noah had her in 4th and 5th grade.  Most of his friends are in the class as well. 

Lily was a bit more nervous to start 2nd grade.  She has a teacher none of the kids have had and I don't know either except I have heard wonderful things about her.  She was sad about not getting the teacher she wanted, but after talking to her 1st grade teacher she was more relaxed about it.

After the kids got home and dumped all their paperwork on me (it took 3 hours to fill out) we headed out for a first day of school treat.  Everything is better with ice cream right?  The fact that we ran into so many other people that we know there confirmed our belief.

 We also got a call from Damon saying that he was taking an earlier flight so we got to pick him up from the airport earlier.  YEA.

All in all the first day of school went really well for everyone.  

The Last week of Summer!

 We tried to pack a lot of fun into the last week of summer.  We went out to lunch, did some last minute shopping, visited Dad at work, went to Boomer's, had a scout party, and to top it off we went to Knott's Berry Farmwith the Woodard's.  We also had a night at Mortensen Manor.  The last week of school flew by and now there are some very long faces that school is starting.

A trip to Rubio's and Sprinkles for dessert.  Yum!

I just wanted to give my opinion about Southern California theme parks.  I am a bit of a Disney snob, but I found, after this trip, I am completely justified.  There is a reason why Disney can charge top dollar at their parks.  It's absurd yes, but compared to Legoland, Knott's and even Sea World the experience is so much better.  Knott's was alright, but we weren't impressed with their rides, workers or entertainment.  They did have a Johnny Rockets, which was a plus.  Overall, I'll take Disney even with the enormous price tag.

Adam loved every single ride at the park.  No surprise there.  Lily loved Camp Snoopy.  Noah found it hard to go on most rides because of his weak stomach, but still managed to have fun.  I once again confirmed my belief that I am to old to go on rides I don't know.  It was fun going with friends.  It made the time more enjoyable.

 We had a great time at Mortensen Manor.  The cousins love getting together and hanging out in the basement and pool.  Aunt Jennifer also spoils them rotten so I'm sure that is why they also love going there so much.  It was great to spend time with the family and join Riley in her choice to get baptized.