Meg Turns Eleven!

Meg had a fun birthday.  We celebrated with Lars, Dyan, Nora and Soren as a family.  Later she invited her girlfriends to a Hollywood Premiere as they all got to walk the red carpet and dress up like stars.  They decorated stars with their handprints and signatures, and decorated star boxes for their jewelry.  Meg has had an eventful year.  She starred in her school play as Charlie Cowell in the Music Man Jr., she sang a duet and solo as the lame girl in the Opera The Piper of Hamlin which started her involvement with cantabella choir.  She also played competitive soccer with Amber as her coach and with many friends on Rage.  She starred as the Ladybug in James and the Giant Peach in the fall.  She loves her teacher Ms. Ferriera and even talks like her sometimes.  She loves to read.  She loves to sing.  She is such a joy in our home we are so lucky to have her around when she has time to be home!  Happy Birthday Meg!

Disneyland.....the Happiest Place on Earth!

3rd early morning....who's tired?

Now I know why my parents never took me on this ride.....really autotopia????  It actually ended up being hysterical because Kate was such a bad driver we were hitting the center the entire ride and laughing and laughing.  Kate even kept saying, "I'm a crazy driver!"

If Sam could ride this ride over and over all of his dreams would be met....I mean he even got a driver's license!  WOW!

So this is one of the many rides that only the "big kids" could go on...mom excluded.  I'm sure there would be many more pictures like this if dad ever had the camera.  Kate spend a lot of time with the "big kids" because she is getting tall enough to go on most of the rides now!

So where do you go when the lines get too long?  Adventures on Tom Sawyers Island.  It is one of our favorite adventure and explorations spots to get out of the crowds.

Checking out the pirate booty!

This was an Alice and Mommy day. 

Winnie the Pooh....I love this ride!  It is never crowded and really cute and easy for a 2 year old to enjoy with fun music and nothing scary!  Alice and I spent a great deal of time here.

Dumbo anyone?  It's one of those rides you  get on at the first in the morning and never go back to it because the lines are too long.  Of course Alice always wanted to go on it, so I spent some time flying with Alice on Dumbo while the other kids went with Dad on the "big kid" rides.

This is another fun place to have adventures and get away from lines in California Adventures.  They had fun running around, climbing on ropes and rock climbing while Alice went down the same slides over and over again.  It was a nice rest for me I admit!

CARS

And more cars....notice Sam is alone on this one?  He can reach the petal here.

I have to admit besides Fantasyland, I love Toon Town!  I think it is because of all the characters that are there, it is in a contained area also, so the older kids can wander around in the various places to explore and I can still keep an eye on everyone!

GOOFY!

Alice and Kate both LOVE MINNIE MOUSE!  Alice was nervous to meet her so I had to get into the picture.

Loving the lines!  Notice how he refused to be in the Minnie Mouse picture?

Our favorite! Mickie Mouse!  The kids think going through the houses is so much fun too!

Another ride on Winnie the Pooh.

More Dumbo!

So this is one of the rides that Alice and Mommy went on a little too much but it made Alice happy so of course it was perfect!

Starting to get a little sleepy.

The Haunted House....one of our Favorites!

I have never been on this ride before, in fact, I had always wondered who went on this ride?  Well let me tell you, it is for someone who can't go on anything jerky or fast or someone with a little child.  It is a nice little floater with cute little fairytale creations.  Alice and I enjoyed this ride because we had the excuse to do so!  I think I saw different parts of Disneyland that I hadn't seen before.   We did miss all of the princess stuff which we usually hit.  Maybe next time Sam can have some Daddy time at autotopia while the girls and I wait to meet Tinkerbell?

Celebrating Erik's Birthday!

Happy to be home with a yummy cake to eat!

So what do you do when you are turning 41?  Apparently Erik thought it would be fun to take the entire family (pregnant wife and all) to Disneyland for 3 days and then run a marathon in a complete rain downpour/flood and drive home that same day!  These are pictures the day we got home blowing out Erik's candles.  He raised money to donate towards the Leukemia foundation in honor of my dad's history of Leukemia.  The race started at Dodger Stadium in LA and ended at Oceanside Beach which would have been fun if it wasn't pouring outside.  He said his shoes and socks were soaked within the first 20 minutes of the run.  It was his best time yet, so he must still be a skier at heart (loves that cold weather).  He has plans to run the St George Marathon in October but I'm not so sure it is going to happen since my due date is 2 weeks before.  I thought it was a great plan if he took all 4 kids with him!