Vacation Iron Man

Dave keeps a pedometer app on his phone and it told us we walked approximately 28 miles over our two days in Disney!  So, naturally, when considering what to do on our non-Disney day we figured a 12 mile bike ride would be perfect for our aching legs and backs! ;)

While Mom, Dad and the girls spent one last day in the Disney parks, we headed over to the nearby Huntington Beach and rented some beach cruiser bikes for the day.  There is an awesome path that runs right along the beach for several miles.  It was a gorgeous ride with incredible scenery the entire time, which is probably why we were surprised to find we had ridden 6 miles pretty quickly!  We were smart to take the path north and ride against the strong winds on the first leg of the trip. With the wind at our backs, the trip back was much easier.

  

We even rode under the iconic pier at one point.

For dinner we walked to the end of that pier and ate at the famous Ruby's, where every seat has an ocean view.  After all those miles walked and biked, I felt totally justified in consuming an insane amount of calories in these BBQ, bacon, onion ring, cheeseburger sliders! :)

If only we could have gotten some swimming miles in, this vacation would have been triathlon!

Disney Day Two

Our second day was spent at Disneyland, and it was a wonderful, fun, magical, tiring day as well.  The last time we went to Disney was 5 years ago.  The girls were the perfect age to get really into all the characters.  This time, with them being a little older, we were excited to ride some of the bigger and darker rides they were too small to enjoy the last time.  Again, we met Mom and Dad at the gate in the morning and packed a lot into our before-lunch hours while the crowds were tiny.

The thing I was most excited to do was experience all the new Star Wars stuff with the girls.  Tomorrow Land has pretty much been turned into Star Wars Land and there were so many fun things to do with our little Star Wars lovers.  The best thing ended up being Hyperspace Mountain-- which was the old ride, just made better with Star Wars music and the feeling that you were in the middle of scenes from the movie.  So, so, so fun!

Then we watched a little show about training to be a Jedi, which Ella was signed up to be in.  Delia did not want to do it because there was a part where the "trainees" had to fight bad guys and she was nervous about that.  The show was cute and Ella is never one to shy away from a stage! :)

Delia sat in the audience with us and helped "use the force" to shove Darth Vader back in his hideout.

Because Ella was being prepped for her part in the show (and I was with her), we did not do the Star Wars Launch Bay, where you could see movie props and meet characters.  Dave, Delia, Mom and Dad stood in a short line to meet Chewbacca.

After our hour in Star Wars Land, it was time to hop on all those classic rides we were most looking forward to!  We shot at battery-stealing Zurg in Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters.  Took a dive into the deep with Nemo and Dory on their submarine.  We made a cruise around the world in "It's a Small World".

We floated through the bayou and Tortuga in Pirates of the Caribbean and visited with some "grim, grinning ghosts" in the Haunted Mansion.  (We actually did these classics several times.)

We took a Jungle Cruise and sang along with the birds in the Enchanted Tiki Room.

We tried to un-stick the Sword in the Stone.

And we gave the Genie a big hug.

(As you can see in the pictures, we also did a little shopping.  Part of the girls' gifts from their grandparents was some gift cards to spend in the stores.  They both chose a couple new stuffed animals to bring home and remember the trip with.)

Again, in the afternoon Dave and I bid farewell to the worn out members of the family and used the rest of the day to check the bigger, scarier rides off our list.  A few new ones for us were the Indiana Jones ride (which was super fun) and Star Tours (which made me ill).

Dave and I stayed all the way until the park closed at 11:00, catching the light parade and evening fireworks show while we waited in line on the outside deck at the top of Space Mountain (cool, right?).  Around 10:00, the park started really emptying out again, so we just hopped on multiple rides without waiting much at all.

Dave and I only got the two day tickets, so our time at Disney was done after this day.  We feel we got to see everything we wanted, and the things we really loved, we even did 2 or 3 times.  Disneyland's new ad slogan features the song "Forever Young", which is perfect since this is a place to relish feeling like a kid.  How much fun did we have, realizing that even when we were without our kids, we could still capture this feeling!  Grandpa and Grandma intended this to be a gift for the girls, but it was really for all 4 of us.  And the memories we each made this week will last a lifetime!

A Disney-Sized Surprise!

This week the girls had their socks knocked off with a perfectly-executed Disney Surprise!  It all started with Mom and Dad's desire to take each of their grandkids to Disney over an approximate 10 year time period for their birthdays.  For 3 years we've been trying to figure out exactly what this would look like.  Finding a way to get the girls to Mom and Dad, and a time that we were all available (summers and holidays) when the rest of the world would not be at Disney were the challenges.  We finally decided to just do the closer-to-us Disneyland instead of DisneyWorld and nailed down this first week of summer, hoping we'd be off school but not everyone else quite yet.  We told the girls we were going to take a vacation to the beach in Southern California.  We laughed about how they never suspected, even though I had not a single beach thing packed in our car!

  

Considering we were making a 6 hour drive through the mountains and LA, our timing could not have been any more perfect.  When we stopped for dinner in Anaheim, little did the girls know that Grandma and Grandpa would be waiting to greet them!  After the shock of seeing them and hugging them, Grandma then told the girls, "We're here because we're taking you to Disneyland!!!"  There was much joy and the huge beaming smiles stayed on the girls' faces the whole time we ate dinner.

Dave and I knew we'd be escorting the girls to their grandparents and then finding our own entertainment for the week.  But, as we started looking into the options in the area, we realized that nothing we could find to do would be as fun as being at Disneyland ourselves.  Dave and I bought two day tickets for ourselves and told Mom and Dad we'd hang out with them as much as or as little as they wanted.  We were excited to spend time together and experience Disney through the eyes of our kids, but we didn't want to crash Grandma and Grandpa's party, or intrude.  And we wanted to do some of the bigger rides the kids would not want to do.  Disneyland is the "Happiest Place on Earth" and Dave and I feel we stumbled onto the way to make Disney even HAPPIER, if that is possible: Do Disney with the grandparents!!  Spend the mornings with your kids, feel the magic with them...then when they start slowing down, let them go swimming in the fancy on-property hotel they are sharing with g-ma and g-pa and then spend the rest of the day running around riding roller coasters!  See how nice that works out?  I recommend it to anyone! ;)

Mom and Dad and the girls stayed at the Disney Paradise Pier hotel.  It had a huge pool with watersides and a view of the parks (and the night time fireworks) RIGHT outside their window.  It was also just a short walk from the parks' gate.  I know the girls really loved the hotel time with Grandpa and Grandma.

Our first day, which was also Ella's 11th birthday, was spent at California Adventure.  We met up in the morning and used the first few crowd-free hours to walk onto all the best rides and secure fast passes for the day.   Since we've been to this park before, I do think Mom and Dad appreciated our guidance in getting around and being strategic about avoiding lines.

A favorite ride was the Toy Story 4-D video game ride.  It's different, yet super fun each time you ride it-- which we did 3 times!

Another favorite part of this park was visiting Cars Land for the first time.  I must confess that of all the Pixar movies, Cars is not one of my favorites.  However, the way Disney has re-created Radiator Springs blew us away!  We totally felt like we were right in the movie!  Here are a few things you may recognize if you've seen the Cars movie...

The Cozy Cone Motel

The statue of Stanley in front of the Fire Station

And Flo's V-8 Cafe, where we ate lunch!  All of it was so authentic.  We also visited Tow-Maters shop/ride and Luigi's Casa Della Tires and Sarge's Army Surplus Store and Doc Hudson's Internal Combustion Medical Practice.  We have since re-watched the Cars movie at home and even noticed tons of new details the park did not miss in adding to Cars Land.  They even lit it up at night with the neon Lightning fixed.

Delia was excited to join a dance party in the middle of the street hosted by DJ.

The Cars Land rides were crazy fun too!  Our favorite was definitely the Radiator Springs Racers, where we got to truly experience the movie-- taking the same drive Sally and Lightning take, getting chased by Frank, having Guido give us a pit stop and Ramone give us a paint job and then racing another car side by side on a roller-coaster-like race track.  Dave said, "How many rides can you take with both your parents and your kids where everyone is thrilled and having a blast?!"  We revisited this ride several times too.  

For Ella's birthday, Grandma and Grandpa arranged to have lunch at Ariel's Grotto, where the food is fancy and the princess characters roam around to visit with you.  Dave and I went our own way at this point, so these are Ella's pictures.  The girls had a great time at this special lunch.

Here is what Dave and I did while the girls fine-dined with Grandma, Grandpa, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Tiana and Elsa...we rode roller coasters!  We've never been on the boardwalk section's main attraction, California Screamin'.  It was one of the best and longest roller coasters we've ever been on.  It starts with a voice telling you to "Get Ready!  In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...SCREEEEAM!!", then it launches you into the ride, accelerating 0-55 mph in 4 seconds.  There are 2 big drops and even an upside-down loop, all set to music pumping out of a speaker in your car.  It was soooo fun!

Dave and I also celebrated a late anniversary by having our own fine-dining experience at the Wine Country Trattoria.  

After a full day of rides and lots of walking, Mom and Dad were too tired to come back, so Dave and I ran back to their hotel to pick up the girls for the World of Color light and fountain show and a few last nighttime rides in the dark.  It was a great way to close out the first day at Disney!

Interview with Ella at Age 11

A Profession of Faith, a leading role in the play, a new instrument, two superior rankings in the Fine Arts Festival, four report cards full of straight As, a few new friends, and lots of tears on the last day of school 'cuz she was SO SAD it was all over.  No denying 10 was a big year for Ella!  She explored and grew in almost every way-- her faith, her talents, her academics, and her friendships.  We couldn't be more proud of the smart, beautiful, God-serving person this girl is turning into and we can't wait to see what 11 (and middle school...yikes!!) brings!

Age: 11

Favorite colors: light teal, mint green

Favorite food: Mac & cheese, "favorite soup" (chicken tortilla) and French toast

Favorite book: I love lots of books, it's hard to decide!  A few favorites are Fish in a Tree and The False Prince.

Favorite movie: Annie (the new one)

Favorite song: Take on the World

Favorite thing to play: Rollerblading

Favorite part of school: Bible and Art

What I want to be when I grow up: A teacher

The perfect day is: "(I'm gonna answer this realistically) A good day at school with no homework, rollerblading outside in nice weather, eating something good for dinner, then a walk to get ice cream."

My best friends are: Maya, Emily, Sydney, Avery, Marina, Olivia and Chloe

The best part of this year has been: My teacher

I am most proud of: Winning a "Superior" in both of my Fine Arts entries.

I hope when I'm 11, I'll... "Run in more races, get elected as a Student Council Rep for the 6th grade class, and be chosen to go to Fine Arts again."

Braggin' on My Girl a Little Bit

Our Little Performers

Earlier this month Ella was honored to be one of the few chosen to represent our school at a big Fine Arts Festival many schools share.  There are all different types of categories you can enter and Ella was picked for the two she chose, writing and speaking.  Her writing piece was called "Integrating Technology into the Classroom" and her spoken piece was a fun monologue, a children's book actually, called "So, You Think It's Easy Being the Tooth Fairy?"  The kids head down to another school to compete for rankings of Participant, Good, Excellent, and Superior.  In both of Ella's categories she was given nearly perfect scores earning her two "Superior" rankings...which is somewhat rare for 5th graders, the youngest to participate.  Even though Dave and I could not be there due to work, we are obviously SO proud!  And so thankful that many other school families went to cheer her on, send us videos, and share stories.  One other mom was asked by the judges if Ella was her daughter and told her Ella had a real future in acting and our school's drama department is lucky to have such young talent.

A few videos (broken into 2, so my friend could text it to me) of Ella's acting piece.

Then yesterday our youngest took the stage for her big annual dance recital.  Delia chose to be a part of a jazz class this year and did love it, even though the choreography was harder.  She cracked me up with all her poses and expressions for my pictures.  ("I'm supposed to be sassy in this number, Mom!")

No photography at the performance, so these are all from the dress rehearsal.  Delia worked hard learning this dance for the past 6 months, and while she wasn't perfect, she totally did her best and had a great time on stage!

Delia's favorite part of dancing is always that high energy curtain call.  She just loves taking her bow to huge applause and then joining in the big dance party that breaks out on stage.  She was undecided about if she wanted to commit to another year of dance and all the hard work that it is.  Then she experienced the adrenaline rush of performing last night.  She's in for another year! :)

We're so proud of our brave, talented girls!!