Disneyland--April

The kids had Spring Break the first week of April. We went to Disneyland Wednesday the 6th with my mom and dad. We all stayed at Brian's mom's. It was a house full! But, we had a good time.


I made sure to get a picture of the kids w/ Grandpa and Grandma with the castle. They were all in a hurry to go on rides and nicely cooperated to get it done with! It was pretty busy with Spring Break crowds this day, but also not horrible. 2nd picture Caroline is eating a fist full of trail mix while waiting in line.


Inside the Snow White ride.


The Cheshire Cat in the Alice in Wonderland ride.


They were all in the car ahead of us, and waved as the rest of us got to the end of the ride. We ended up going on 20 rides altogether! Plus we saw the western show at the Golden Horseshoe restaurant when we got ice cream sundaes for snacks in the afternoon. Brian and I were surprised we got to do so much with how busy the park was. It was weird though, we walked right on Haunted Mansion, but a little later we walked past and the line was out the gate.

These guys spun and spun their teacup like crazy! Grandpa said he had enough of that for one day! He knew they were going to spin before riding with this bunch, though. ;) Said he wasn't dizzy, but it bothered his knee.


I rode with the milder group in the pink teacup.

Julia and Caroline wanted to meet Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother, and get a picture. Lauren would have nothing to do with it! The line wasn't too long to wait. Julia said Cinderella asked Caroline how old she was, and Caroline answered, "Five." Hee hee. Cinderella replied, "Oh, you're five?" then hugged Caroline. This is typical--usually Caroline answers "5 1/2" when asked how old she is! Funny! Sometimes she says "4," but rarely "2".

We rode the train around the entire park--a nice break from standing and walking. :)

It's hard to see in this picture, but Caroline had spilled chocolate milk all over the front of her shirt. She's still very picky, and being at Disneyland is no different!! We gave her chocolate milk for lunch--at least it's kind of healthy, right?! She guzzled it! She also ate snacks, and a more normal dinner. She loves that chocolate milk in the little bottles, though.

Here we all are ready to go on the Winnie-the-Pooh ride.

Austin really likes driving the Autopia cars. I think he's still convinced he's doing most of the driving. He was ready to get on his way in this picture. Forget pictures, Mom!

We were soooo exhausted after our full day. Austin was the one plodding along at the end of the night, as is usually the case. The girls were tired but would have gone on more rides. ;) Austin gets to the point where he can barely go on anymore. Funny! One time (I think in January) we let him sit in the stroller while Brian carried Caroline on his shoulders, and even Lauren walked! Caroline's wearing her headband with a balloon flower she got the night before when we ate dinner at Coco's on our drive down to Brian's mom's house.

We had a good day and were glad we got to do so much, especially since my mom and dad have never been to Disneyland before.

Nojoqui Falls

My mom and dad arrived late on March 31. The kids were so excited for them to come, and glad they could see Grandpa and Grandma just before they went to bed.

Saturday, April 2, Brian took my mom and dad with him to a greenhouse tour while the kids and I waited at home. When they got back we went out for lunch at Little Jocko's, then drove south about 45 minutes to Nojoqui Falls.We hiked the short path through the woods to the waterfall. The last time we were there (also with my mom and dad) was May 2002 when I was pregnant w/ Austin! I have pictures of Julia, younger than Caroline is now, playing on the same playground.

This time there was quite a bit more water coming down. It was earlier in the season, plus we've had a ton of rain this year! My dad and the 3 older kids walked across rocks in the creek to this little cave.

Brian took Caroline close to the falls, and she was happily waving back at me. So cute.

Family picture

On the walk back, Austin and Lauren were climbing through this tree. They'd climb in the bigger hole (2nd pic), then out through the smaller hole (1st pic). Fun!

We stopped at the playground before driving back home. Austin's having a good time bouncing...

Such a good time, that Grandpa thought he should try the bouncy toy too! LOL Austin said the toy in the 2nd picture was like a high chair.

Now this bouncy contraption might not look like much, but it was fun! All of the kids and the adults liked it! I think it was everyone's favorite.

Happy kids. :)

We drove through Solvang on the way back and stopped to get coffee at little shop.

Super Duper Helper

Wow, almost 3 weeks since the last post! We have been really, really busy! Plus, our computer was running really, really slow which was frustrating, going through pictures. We don't know what the problem was, but now it is running normally. My mom and dad came to visit us the 1st week of April, during the kids' spring break (more about that coming). Then just a bunch of other things have been happening.

I did laundry last Monday and it still needs to be folded (yet here I sit LOL). Plus Caroline threw up twice in her bed, once Thurs. afternoon, and then in the middle of the night Friday, so did more laundry and most of that has to be folded and put away. I washed all her bedding: sheet, pad, quilt, comforter, favorite blanky, and the huge bumper pad two days in a row. Well, it's clean now, that's for sure. ;) And she is well and eating again.

Back at the end of March Lauren told me she was going to be the helper in Kindergarten. They went through the kids' first names in alphabetical order , in the Fall. Then they did the last names in order, and now they're going through the alphabet in backwards order. :) Lauren kept track of everyone's names and order and knew she'd be the helper March 29. I planned to watch her in their helper routine, and it was so cute.

She wrote her name on the board, led the class in the pledge, counted the cafeteria lunches and the home lunches. The helper gets to bring something to share, and Lauren wanted to bring 2 pictures. They were from our box of extra photos, one of her opening gifts on her 2nd birthday, and the other was of her playing w/ toys at 2 years. Her classmates asked questions about the pictures, like: "What was in the big present?" "How old were you there?"

They also made lots of comments and that was pretty funny, b/c they were supposed to ask questions, but some didn't quite get the difference. ;) Some comments: "I have those same Legos (Duplo) at my house!" "You look so cute in that picture." To which Lauren replied, "Yes, I know." Another comment, "You look cute, just like your sister." Lauren: "Yes..." Also no modesty at this age. ;)

Then, Lauren's teacher asked if she'd like to share her sister. So Lauren took Caroline by the hand to the front, and the kids asked questions about her, like how old is she and when is her birthday. Lauren told her to talk, but Caroline would not, on command and on display like that! The kids sang a song, Billy Boy, and Caroline got to sit in Lauren's square on the rug while they sang.

Lauren got to use the pointer to point at each picture while the class sang. In the second picture she is working on her letters. This was right before Caroline and I left. Lauren was a cute little helper, and I'm glad she kept track of which day was hers so I could watch! :)

March 31 was Lauren's Kindergarten performance. The kids sang lots of classic? traditional? songs, including: Billy Boy, She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain, Old Dan Tucker, Mr. Rabbit (I don't know this one), This Land is Your Land, and then all the kids kind of hummed while one girl sang a solo of the Star Spangled Banner.

Here they're doing motions to She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain. Yeehaw! ;)

Sweet sisters that afternoon.

Sometime in March, Lauren asked me as she was eating her snack after school, "What's Jesus doing today?" Julia and Austin stopped eating and kind of looked funny, like they had to think about the answer too! We discussed all kinds of things Jesus was doing: watching over us, listening to people pray, making it be sunny, etc. Lauren says after awhile, "Jesus has magical powers like Tinkerbell!" Oh boy. We talked about how they are different, then Lauren says, "Tinkerbell is an angel. She has wings and she flies!"

More pictures from March 31. Don't they both look older here? Funny how they change little by little and then I see a picture that makes me think they've suddenly really grown!