Father's and Son's Campout

Isaac and Keith went with the ward on their first Father's Son's campout on May 9th. From what I hear, they had a great time and Isaac actually helped get the tent set up. Isaac was so excited to spend the weekend with his daddy, and especially to sleep in a sleeping bag and tent.

Isaac got his very own Spiderman Fishing pole for the trip. I heard they almost caught something, although Isaac did think fishing was a little slow.

I am afraid of geese--apparently Isaac isn't.


Isaac loved this swing and kept coming and getting on it.

Saturday morning, ready to head home. They had a great time!
I must admit, at first I was a little jealous that they were going camping without us. But when we were here eating Panda Express, doing nails, sleeping in a comfy bed, etc., I changed my mind. :)

The gig's up

First of all, Sareny wanted me to write a disclaimer here that there are spoilers regarding the characters at Disneyland, so if you don't already know and don't want to be disappointed, don't read on. :)

Sareny has asked me before if the princesses at Disneyland are real, and I have always tried to be a little vague and say I wasn't sure. Today she asked me if they die, and I told her no. This is where it got tricky--she asked me if Jesus made the princesses. Now really, when she brings Jesus into it, how can I tell her a lie? So I told her that no, a man named Walt Disney made them. Now she wanted to know how he made people, and I said he created the idea and then hired people.

"What! You mean they just wear costumes? They're not even real princesses?"

She was shocked. It is the end of innocence for her. She was very upset and said she never wants to see any of the characters at Disneyland again. Then she asked, "What about Mickey Mouse? Is he real? Or Goofy, I suppose he's just a person in a costume too?"

I asked her if we could just pretend they were real, but she said no, and she never wants to go to Ariel's Grotto again. She also said if I make her get a picture with them, she will tell them, "You're not even real! You're just wearing a costume!" I'm sure they will be as shocked by this revelation as she was.

I actually feel pretty terrible about this...honestly I never knew it would be such a huge blow. I am sad that a little bit of the magic is gone for her forever.

A long overdue post about Disneyland

We went to Disneyland for three days with my mom, dad, and Lexi.

Grandma Nancy, Marla, Noel, Jewell, Katlyn, and Tyler were also there, but we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with them.

We stayed at the Castle Inn, which wasn't too bad of a walk. And I thought the price was awesome, three nights for $200. The kids were really well behaved and had a great time. This was our first morning waiting for the gates to open.

We ascribe to the theory of arriving early, and twice we were there early enough to be the very first people in our line.

We were surprised that Sareny was not as brave as she was the last time we went when she was nearly 4--that trip she wore tall shoes and rode everything, even Tower of Terror. This time, she avoided both Tower of Terror and Space Mountain. We pretty much forced her on Splash Mountain, but regretted it when she proceeded to cry and scream through the whole ride. She was even sitting in the back, with a poncho on, so it's not like she was going to get wet.

This trip, Sareny said her favorite ride was Haunted Mansion. Coming in close behind was Small World, Star Tours, and Tiki Room. She also enjoyed the Grizzly River Run and Soarin' Over California. Isaac's favorite rides were Buzz Lightyear, Small World, and Tiki room.

Finley liked the rides with lots of things to look at. She seemed to enjoy Buzz Lightyear and Winnie the Pooh.

As usual, I felt like it was pretty crowded. I've decided there's no such thing as an off season, since we went after spring break, before summer, and on a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.

We watched a High School Musical show that was really fun. Lexi and Sareny enjoyed singing along.

We were surprised that Finley got really into the music and was singing along and waving her arms around. I'm not joking, she really was singing!

Sareny remembered that something poked you in the Bug's Life show and made someone hold her, but otherwise, they all did okay in this show. Last time, Sareny was scared of the spiders and cried.

Grammy Jo bought Sareny and Isaac adorable hats. Isaac wore his the whole weekend. Sareny's ended up in the stroller...And if Finley is wondering why she didn't get one--we tried on some really cute minnie mouse ears, but she pulled on the elastic that held it on her head and it made a huge welt on her face! I felt terrible, and no hat for Finney Lynn.

We spent one morning in Fantasyland.

Lexi and Isaac had decided before we got there that they would ride Peter Pan together.

After getting home, I realized we never did ride Snow White or Pinnochio, but really, does anybody care about those rides?

This trip we splurged and had lunch at Ariel's Grotto.

I was surprised that the food was actually pretty good.

The princesses come around to your table to take pictures with your princes and princesses, which was pretty fun. No waiting in line!

Also exciting was meeting the Incredibles in California Adventures. Isaac also got to meet Woody, but I don't have a picture of that. Apparently, he was so excited and kept giggling!

On our last day there, we spent some time in Toontown with the Fallstrom clan while the Keel's did some big rides. In typical fashion, Sareny did not want to ride Gadget's GoCoaster and we pretty much had to force her to ride it. Afterwards, I asked her if she liked it, and she answered "Yes," with a pout on her face.

We had such a great time and wish we were still there!

Like Mother like Daughter??

I was shy as a child. Painfully shy. In fifth grade, my friend Amy and I walked to the local gas station with a couple dollars of spending money to blow on the candy aisle. I remember the panicky feeling in my chest as I realized that--gasp--I was going to have to talk to the cashier and pay for my items myself. I begged Amy to take my money and pay for mine. It took a couple minutes to convince her (shockingly, she thought it would be good for me to do it myself!) At restaurants, I would always tell my parents what I wanted before the waitress came over so that they could order for me.
So is it any wonder that I sometimes wonder where my daughter came from? At the deli counter when I order sliced turkey, she always says loudly, "And can I have a sample of that please?" I have occasionally been a little embarrassed by her extremely outgoing behavior.
The boys are currently out of town on the Father's and Son's campout, so last night we had a special girl's night. We went out to dinner at Panda Express, which is Sareny's favorite place. I ordered my meal first, and as the girl was putting it together, Sareny said "I would like the Mandarin Chicken. A lot please." At the checkout, she kept telling them we wanted cookies, or the bottles of drinks (which, we didn't.) It was getting a little obnoxious. Later, after she finished eating, she wanted fortune cookies, which I had forgotten to grab. I was still eating, so I told her I would get them in just a minute. She said, "I'll go get them." Since she can't reach the dish of cookies, this meant asking for help from the workers. She promptly walked up to the counter and said, "Excuse me." (It took them a minute to spot her.) "I need eight fortune cookies." I'm dying over at my table, and told them she didn't really need eight. But the nice lady got a bag and counted out nine cookies for her. This whole encounter just makes me shake my head and think how different we are. And mostly, I'm glad.
Before we went to Panda, I painted Sareny's nails. Her fingernails had a white background with blue butterflies. Her toenails were white with hot pink and light pink polka dots. Very cute! Even Finley got her toenails painted pink, although she smeared them within a couple of minutes.
After putting Finley to bed, we did a couple science experiments from a kit I bought that is designed for ages four and up called Funky Science Experiments. Sareny told me this was her favorite part of our evening together. We had fun mixing acids and bases and turning some water colored with purple cabbage juice pink and blue.
To finish the evening off, we had popcorn and watched the old movie Yours, Mine, and Ours with Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. Maybe I'm crazy, but that movie always makes me feel like having a bunch of kids. They make it look so fun and easy!
I sent the camera with Keith on the camping trip, so we don't have any pictures, but hopefully he will!

A Day at the Beach

Our vacation started Saturday morning extremely early. We left our house at 5:30 in the morning and got to Anaheim around 11:00. After a brief rest, we loaded up in our car and headed for the beach. The kids had never been to the ocean before and had a blast.

Keith helped the kids build a pretty cool sandcastle, and Sareny searched all over the beach for shells to embellish it.

It was pretty cold--the air temp was 68, so who knows how cold the water was. But Lexi and I braved the chill and went out until we could barely touch the bottom. Every time a huge wave would come our way, we would scream and squeal and occasionally get tossed around. Since I seem to be the only one who takes pictures with our camera, there is no evidence to post here.

Keith spent a lot of time taking care of Finley, holding her in the shade and walking along the beach with her.

Isaac loved running out in the waves and then feeling the water pull the sand out from under his feet.

I bought Sareny and Finley matching swimming suits on clearance last summer. They looked so cute!

My dad usually gets in the water, so I was a little surprised that he didn't brave the cold temperatures. He and Grammy Jo took the kids on a walk out along the pier and when we found a crab, Bampa let it crawl all over his hand and arm. I kept thinking it would pinch him, but it didn't.

Finley just enjoyed hanging out with everybody and was a very good girl all weekend.

I hadn't been to a beach in years and thought it was really fun! I don't know why we haven't gone more frequently. (Probably because Keith hates the beach and burns really easily.) But for me, this was one of the more relaxing and fun parts of the whole trip, so I hope we go back soon!