Soccer Time

It's soccer time again. Usually we play soccer with the Southern Utah Soccer Association in the Fall, but this year Courtney's friend was playing and convinced her that they needed to play together. So we are now playing in the Ivins City League. Last night was their first practice/game. They are going to have practices 15 minutes before the game begins, which is GREAT because we don't have to add something else to the schedule.

This year Courtney is one of the oldest on the team instead of the youngest and she is doing great. Bryan isn't her coach this season so she is doing much better. She still only runs in a straight line, but she can really kick well. ;)

Ethan spent most of the game reading a book and Courtney stopped one time to let him know that it isn't okay to read while she is playing, but it didn't phase him.

Leprechaun Courtney

When Courtney came home from preschool yesterday she looked so cute that I had to take a picture!

A Nap?

Could it really be called a "nap" if Courtney yells "I'm napping now...serious, but not Sirius Black" every 5 or 10 minutes for an hour and a half?

I didn't think so either. ;)

Fishing with Grandpa

Ethan has wanted to go fishing with Grandpa Oman for a while and yesterday they got their chance. I drove the kids over to Washington and then we drove out to Quail Lake. Grandpa put bait on a little fishing pole he had brought for Ethan and they tried that for a while without any success. I took Courtney and we left to run errands and let the fishermen have their fun.

After running a few errands I got a phone call from my mom saying that Ethan had caught 4 fish!! I was amazed. They got tired of fishing at Quail Lake so they went to a little stocked fishing pond in Washington. Ethan caught fish on his first 2 casts and then only took a few more casts to catch the other two. He was so excited and didn't want them to be cleaned until I could see them. So Courtney and I raced back to our house to meet the fishermen. They were pretty big fish and Ethan so so excited to be "feeding our family" with his catch. He was fascinated by the cleaning of the fish and Grandpa told him that he is going to have to learn to clean his own fish soon. He wasn't too thrilled about that one. They were good to eat though!

Last Day

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Our last day at Disneyland and California Adventure was spent hitting all the rides we wanted to go on one last time. We treated the kids to breakfast at IHOP next to the hotel and Courtney had macaroni and cheese (yes, she is my daughter!).





Then we loaded up the stroller, arranged with the hotel to keep our van there after checkout and went to Disneyland first. We had fun running to the rides the kids wanted to go on and the ones that Bryan and I wanted to try again. Ethan and Courtney loved Thunder Mountain and really wanted to go on it over and over, but the line was getting long so we only went on it once. Bryan got to go solo on Indiana Jones while I took the kids on Pirates of the Caribbean a couple times again, Courtney went with me to the Haunted House while Ethan and Bryan went on Splash Mountain. We even hopped over to California Adventure to go on Toy Story again.

When it was finally time to go, we went back to the hotel to load up the van and organize all our stuff. We had a great time at Disneyland and the kids both want to go back another time.






We drove to Las Vegas, ate dinner at Macaroni Grill, then drove the rest of the way home. We arrived home around 10:45 p.m., unloaded what we needed and then all went to bed.

What a fun family trip!!!

Disneyland!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

We had a Magic Morning pass for Tuesday morning and it was so nice!! They open the park 1 hour earlier than normal for those with a Magic Morning pass and then you can ride on anything in Tomorrow Land or Fantasy Land. So we ran right to Star Tours. Courtney and Bryan then went to the castle in Fantasy Land and to the Tea Cups (Bryan must really love Courtney because he hates that ride) while Ethan and I went to the Buzz Lightyear ride and rode on the rockets.





We then met up again and got in line for the submarine ride, which has really been updated since we were there last...10 years ago. (If anyone wants to see the submarine ride, we have photos of every stage of the ride, thanks to Ethan.) While the kids and I waited in line for the submarine, Bryan ran over to Autopia to get a fast pass. So when we finished the sub ride, we went and drove cars...which really wasn't very impressive.

Then we went to over to get a fast pass for Indiana Jones and ride on Pirates of the Caribbean (which has changed since the last time too). The kids really liked that ride. Then we went to the Haunted House, which took a lot of persuading after their Tower of Terror experience. Courtney really liked it but Ethan wasn't very excited.

We then split up and Bryan took Courtney on Splash Mountain (with rain gear on) while Ethan and I rode Indiana Jones. Courtney got SOAKED! And she doesn't like being wet unless she is swimming, so Bryan took her back to the hotel for a change of clothes and nap while Ethan and I played around.

We had so much fun going from one ride to the next. Ethan was again the official photographer so we have a lot of photos. We went on the Casey Jr. train ride, Dumbo ride, Storybook boat ride (which we have all the photos from, so if you want to see the ride, we have it all documented), the Tea Cups, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and some others. We even went into Toon Town to ride their rides, but Ethan wasn't too impressed.







At 4 p.m. we met up with Bryan and Courtney and rode some rides together. We also got to meet the Princesses and Tinker Bell. Courtney was in heaven!! Ethan was just tired by this point and sat in the stroller for a long time trying to recover.







It was a great day. Then the kids decided that, instead of riding rides while everyone else watched the parade, they wanted to watch the parade again. So we found a good spot on the side of the parade route and waited. They loved it! While we waited, Ethan bought Courtney a souvenir, it was cute.

During the parade they grab kids out of the audience to dance with them and Courtney loved it. She wasn't afraid to get right out there and dance. She was part of the conga line and some other dances. It was cute!





Then we went back to our hotel, ate dinner and watched a movie until the kids wound down enough to go to sleep.

Good Day!

California Adventure

Monday, March 8, 2010

The kids woke up early again and were so excited to get going. We got ready, ate breakfast and took off for Disneyland's California Adventure. We had reserved a hotel right across from the entrance of Disneyland but we weren't checking in until later in the day. Not wanting to pay for parking, we stopped at the hotel to see if they would let us check in early...and they did. So we were able to unload the van, park it in covered parking and get everything ready to go. It was so nice.

We made our lunches, packed our cooler, got the stroller set and walked across the street. The gates to California Adventure were open but they stop you right inside the gate so you can't get to the rides. So we had a bit of time to figure out what we wanted to do. I had it all mapped out beforehand but wasn't sure if it would work, so we kind of just went on the fly. The kids like California Soaring, Toy Story, the Grizzly ride which gets you wet, but few other rides. We spent the day running around riding things and having fun. Courtney spent most of the time on Bryan's shoulders.




It was a great week to go because there weren't many lines and we were able to enjoy a lot of the rides. I wanted to go on the Tower of Terror and so Bryan bought the kids some cotton candy to keep they busy while I went on the ride. There wasn't a line so it wasn't too long before I was back. I liked the ride. It was a bit scary but not too bad. While I was gone the kids decided they wanted to ride on it. Courtney was tall enough and I didn't think it was too bad, so we loaded on the ride. They were okay until the elevator dropped...then they both freaked out. Yeah, slight lapse on the good parental sense on my part. But they lived through it.

We ended the day at Bug's Life and the kids really liked that. We saw a 3D show and then drove bumper cars. I thought it was a really fun day...in spite of the Tower of Terror bit.







At 5:15 p.m. there was a parade so we got there early to get a good spot on the sidewalk. It was a great parade with all kinds of characters. Courtney spent most of her time waving at the characters and dancing to the music.

When that parade was over and California Adventure closed, we walked over to Disneyland and went in. We took the train ride around to show the kids what the park looked like and then we found a spot on the side of Main Street Square to watch their parade. The logic behind this being that we could ride all the long-line rides the next night when everyone else would be at the parade. But it didn't quite work out that way with our kids.






Courtney and Ethan loved the parade. Right before it began, Bryan took Ethan with him to buy ear hats for both the kids. It was so cute to see Ethan give Courtney her hat. She was so excited. She also danced along with the parade and they both had a great time.





Here's a movie of what happened when Courtney played with her ear hat elastic. Watch her flinch..but she was too involved in the parade to cry about it.


When the parade was finished so were we. We walked, with the masses, back across the street, got the kids ready for bed, and slept...after a while. They were pretty wound up and had to take a bit of time to relax. We ate some dinner we had brought and then went to sleep.