California Adventuring

we've been planning this California beach/Disneyland trip for a long time. Megan prayed every day that we'd sell our old house so we could go to Disneyland.

We got a good tax return, so took a short trip even though the house is still on the market. The beach was wonderful. It's funny -- every time we've been to CA beaches, different kids are excited to play in the water. One time, Emily wouldn't go near the waves. Another, Matt wouldn't. This time, they all had fun. Matt, especially, loved bobbing up with the waves and stayed in until we had to call him to go back to the hotel.

There were good and bad things about the trip. On the day we planned to go to Disneyland, Emily woke in the wee hours -- throwing up. We postponed things a day, and Matt, Barry and I went back to the beach. Em stayed in the hotel room with Eric. He and Megan weren't interested in the beach, no matter how many times I said, "You won't have this chance for at least a year." That's okay, the rest of us got our fill. Barry took a long walk, I took a short one, then went back to keep an eye on Matt in the water and relax on the sand.

And we did get to go to Disneyland. I was so worried Megan would be scared on Space Mountain. Even though Matt yelled, "Kill me now, Mom" halfway through the ride, he loved it and went again. Megan wasn't so sure about her reaction when I asked her after the ride. Then, at the end of the day, what was her favorite thing? Not taking her picture with Ariel (she got a little shy, as you can see from the photo) but . . . Space Mountain.

Mom's favorite part? The beach, and also a day recuperating in Las Vegas before we had to go home.

My House

It's been over a year since we moved, but a lot of people still haven't seen my new house. My camera is really, really dying. It's taken me forever to upload these three photos, so this is all you get for now, sorry. These are a couple of my favorite views, at least the parts I've gotten decorated-- the upstairs loft with my favorite blue chaise, the living room, (don't love the puffy couch, but like the art I put on the wall) and the new bench I just got to go in the entry way (sorry it's such a bad photo). I saw this bench I loved at the gift shop at Thanksgiving point. I read the price wrong, and when I realized it was actually $800, I didn't get it. But then I found this one at Robert's craft for less than $100. I can deal with that. Now I have a place for all the neighbor kids to put their coats. I got sick of them piling them all over the floor, but we're glad to have friends over for our kids.

Recitals and more Recitals

Who knew? Eric can really dance! When the ballet studio needed some guys to round out their production of West Side Story, Eric got recruited. He ended up doing a really good job with the steps, learning ballroom dance as well as the dance-acting for his part as a greaser. The production was really well-done (can I admit I teared-up when the main character died?) and Eric was really good in it.

This spring, Matthew was the only one without recitals. He took a fun cooking class with me at Thanksgiving Point, and created some terrific homemade pizza when he got home.

Emily had her second-ever piano recital. Her teacher player a duet of her twinkle-twinkle-little-star Suzuki song. Emily is excited to finally get to move to her first 'real' song after months of learning technique with 'twinkles.'

Megan, and her friend Addie, took Ballet. They got to be Pixies, scattering Pixie Dust for their part in the Peter Pan production. If I'm not mistaken, Megan liked the dressing up part better than the Ballet. This summer she's taking gymnastics. I'm excited to not have to beg her to go every week!