Disney California Adventure

Prior to our trip to California and Disneyland, Nana and I did lots of reading in the Unofficial Guide to Disneyland. A great resource in my opinion, but my family might say I took their advice to the extreme. It may have fit in nicely with my OCD tendencies. Oops!

So, point is, we decided that based on anticipated crowd levels (I know. Cringe.), we would visit California Adventure on our first day at the parks. We were worried that Taylee would be bummed that she didn't get to meet the princesses straight away, but we were willing to risk it. So glad we did, cuz it turned out to be our favorite park!

We started the trip off with a bang by being named Disney's Guests of the Day upon our arrival. I am pretty certain we achieved this simply by appearing like clueless boneheads when we pulled into the parking garage (think Griswald's summer vacation....). The lady in the parking booth said wow, those people could use some help! And tada! Guests of the Day. This prestigious title scored us a front row spot, and some fastpasses to the World of Color show (which, of course, we had no plans to attend. : / ).

We headed straight to grab Fastpasses for Radiator Racers, then zipped over to Soarin'. Which, by the way, turned out to be a HUGE hit with eveyone in the family, especially miss Taylee, who truly thought we were flying. So fun!  We ran, ran, ran ourselves ragged, but were able to see most of the things we wanted to see. Some highlights were Soarin' (of course), Radiator Racers, Toy Story Mania, and the Disney Jr Live show for Taylee. Oh, and let's not forget, Taylee was super enamored by Ariel's Undersea Adventure! 



Rockin Guest of the Day in our rental Minivan!



CityScape

A kinder, gentler Mad TeaCups

Toy Story Mania! Taylee rocked the 3D glasses the whole time

The Ferris Wheel we did NOT ride, in the backdrop

Hollywood Tower of Terror! Notice who is not in the picture? Me! I hate free fall rides! I was more than happy to sit this one out with Taylee.

Taylee and Daddy. <3>

During Ariel's Undersea Adventure, Taylee went from tickled pink....



To rather concerned!



Skyler and Taylee on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. Cars Land was just so fun!

Fountains! One of Taylee's Favorite things.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

Day One- We were photo op happy.

Summer Vacay!

We decided this summer was the perfect time for Taylee's first trip to Disneyland. Or rather, I decided I couldn't wait any longer to take her. It was also a great opportunity to celebrate Skyler's High School graduation with a family vacation!

We flew into LAX early Saturday June 7th. We had some time to kill before we were able to check in to our rental home, so we headed over to Downtown Disney to pick up our tickets. Taylee was instantly enamored, and we suckered right up to Build-a-Bear, where Taylee built herself a $75 My Little Pony complete with a wedding veil, a leash, shoes, and roller skates. Oh Boy! We were off to a fast start in the $$$$ department. Thanks go to Nana for gifting Taylee with her "Pinky Skates!"

We checked in and had a wonderful relaxing day in our own private pool. We knew we better relax while we had the chance and get ready for the madness that was to come!

Our cute little "great room"

Pool time!

The kitchen in our house, bedrooms and bathrooms are off to the left. It was a perfect home away from home for our vacation!

We Heart Youngster University

Skyler was not the only student to graduate in May... Taylee Bug graduated from Preschool on May 19th. She had a great year with Mrs Stacy at Youngster University, and is super excited to start Kindergarten in the fall. To anyone who is counting, as Skyler just graduated high school this spring and Taylee starts kindergarten in the fall, Kent will officially be parenting a child in school for 26 years straight! Boy Oh Boy! Lucky Dog! ;0)

Taylee has learned a lot, and with some practice on letter sounds over the summer, she is ready for Kindergarten! We are grateful to Stacy for all her hard work with Taylee. The kids learned a lot and had tons of fun this year. Thanks Stacy!

 

Taylee and Mrs Stacy

 

Cute Taylee before her graduate walk... Note the Photo Bomb in the back. Scary!

 

PS... Sorry these pictures are all terrible, but it is awfully difficult to get a good picture up on the stage, or of a moving 4 year old who doesn't want to stop and pose!

Sayonara Syracuse High!

Can you believe it?! We are the proud parents of a high school graduate!! Skyler graduated from Syracuse High School on May 30th.  He had the grades and Citizenship to graduate with High Honors, but because he took 2 periods of home release his last semester, he was "demoted" to Graduate with Honors. Oh bummer, our son is an honor student!  We are so proud of him. He has worked so hard and been such a great student. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to raise him and experience his success alongside him.  Way to go Skyler! We Love You!!

 

Spring Recital

 Taylee's Spring Recital was so fun! She seems to finally be getting the hang of this whole recital business. We saw significant improvement in her dancing from her winter recital. She is darling, beautiful, and adorable, but unfortunately, as uncoordinated as her mommy. Bummer. Maybe she will improve with lots of practice.... We can sure hope!

Her group danced to "Circle of Life" from Lion King, and also to "Rockin Robin." The theme of the recital was "Wild about Danzing!" It was adorable.

We sure love Miss DeDe and her Dance school!

 

You may notice I can never get her to look at me in any of these photos. I think she was overwhelmed by all 5 different people trying to take her picture at the same time... But she was happy to prance around and pose for the many cameras!

4th Annual Moab in May!

For the fourth year straight now, we were able to get an early taste of spring with a May trip to Moab. We were joined as ever by Mark & Amber, Daniel & Denise, Darren, and Cortney & her new man Andy. It was a crowded house, but definitely an entertaining one. We headed down on Friday, but this year Kent and I were ditched in favor of beer and lunch. Bummer. But we actually had a great hike to Corona Arch, where we got to watch a couple repelling straight off the arch.  It was pretty spectacular. 

 

 

 

Andy was busy doing doctor stuff and couldn't make it down until late Friday evening, so we had to defer our annual Pasta Jay's trip to Saturday night.  We headed instead to Zax. It was pretty good, in my opinion. 

Saturday dawned bright and sunny. We picked up the Razrs, and did the usual Moab shuffle. You guys go there and grab breakfast, you guys get the Razrs, you guys get the lunch fixins, somebody get the ice for the coolers, somebody load everything up...... It seems to take so long to get out the door and onto the trail, but we made it by about 10. We went back to our old favorite Poison Spider, and as usual it did not disappoint. I am so proud of myself. I did not get out of the razr to avoid an obstacle even one time this year! Yay me!

Even after a loooong day on the trail, we were excited for Pasta Jay's. And, it was, of course, delicious! So glad that we can get Pasta Jay's in Moab and Denver now!

I LOVE MOAB!

The Girls

The Boys

Selfie of me and my sweetie

"Jeep Arch"

Preschool Carnival

During that cool spell in May, Taylee's school had their annual Preschool Carnival! I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a pretty darn good time! The kids played all sorts of fun carnival games, like potato sack races, parachutes, mini bowling, a cake walk, "fishing," and tons of others. I was in charge of the face painting station. I was a little worried when I got my assignment, as I am certainly no artist!! Fortunately, I was only asked to paint a stamp, then stamp the children's faces. Phew! They didn't go home looking ridiculous. We enjoyed a picnic after the carnival games were through, and Taylee and I enjoyed the company of Abby, Hannah, and Rebecca & little Josh. The girls stayed for over an hour after the carnival playing on the playground. Springtime fun for everyone!!

Some kind of crazy game, where all the kids threw balls in the air and tried to catch them when they came back down. Taylee was a bit confused....

Playtime!

My stellar artistry!

This has nothing to do with the preschool carnival, but I love this picture of Taylee, husking the first corn on the cob of the season!

Fabulous 40!!

Kent is officially old. ;0) Well, I guess that depends on who you ask. It's all about perspective, right?! Sitting here at 33, I can definitely call him old. Luckily for him, he is still a young stud, and doesn't look a day over 25! But alas, he is officially 40 now. Holy cow!

We celebrated in style with dinner at Gabor Bros for his big day. Yummy!! Thanks for picking a family favorite for your dinner Kent!

Daddy and his princess!

A tropical cake. Perfect!

This was not a gift that he asked for....But I generously created a spin workout playlist for him, and offered up the use of my spin bike. Isn't he sooo lucky?! HaHa! I thought he might like a break from running...

And, the lucky guy got a fabulous new spoon for his kitchen duties! Wow.

Finally a gift he could really enjoy. New shorts!

We certainly had to continue the celebration with a second birthday dinner with friends, so that weekend we met up with Mark & Amber, Cortney, and Daniel for dinner at Roosters.  Cortney, kind and loving soul that she is, gave Kent a cane, a 12 pack of beer, and a box of Depends adult diapers. Just to make sure he is prepared in this new era! After dinner, we enjoyed a few cocktails, and tried those Depends out. We all put them on under our clothes, and decided to test how well they would hold up. Let me just tell you, it sure is hard to make yourself pee your pants while sitting at the kitchen table! Several good laughs were shared, and Kent reports that he was so impressed with his Depends that he is now looking forward to old age and incontinence! Good thing, as he is headed right that way! Haha! We love Kent, old or young!

Rockin' our Depends!