Disneyland Ditch Day!

Yesterday the 3 little ones all had half days, and I had the day off.  So, I took them all, including Gav out for the day and we went to our favorite place, DISNEYLAND!!!  It's been months and we have missed it.  Cali said as we walked in and down Main Street, "it doesn't matter how many times we come, it's still so awesome!  Every Time!"

 The weather was perfect and the crowds were tiny!  It was a perfect day!  Our first ride of the day-

Peter Pan

We hung out in Fantasyland at the start of the day.  Brody wanted to go on Casey Jr. so bad.  Luke & Gav wanted to eat, so Cali took him on the ride.  She's the best sister ever!

 We had lunch at Gepetto's!  Yes, somewhere different for a change (no Pizza Port...so sick of that place!)

Luke let us eat there because they had pizza.

 After lunch, we went and used our fast passes for Star Tours...

 Cali was the Rebel Spy....AGAIN...for the 4th time.  Her brothers were not too happy...

 We all went and built our own droids (but did not buy them...I'm cheap!)

 We were excited to go to Innoventions and check out the new Iron Man exhibit. 

 We all got to "suit up"!  It was pretty cool!

 We spent about 2 hours in this place, mostly playing this-

 Treats!

 Luke wanted to be a Jedi again.  He says because he has done this so many times, he is a Master now!

 I normally don't let us eat 2 meals at the park, but we were having so much fun, and I got hungry, so I gave in and let them eat at Pizza Port (but I ran over to Tomorrowland Terrace and got a chicken sandwich).

Our Spot

 It was 6:00 PM and we needed to get home.  But this little one needed one more ride.  Big Sister to the rescue again!

It was the first ditch day of the (school) year and we can't wait for the next one!

And so it begins...

This is where you will find us, every Saturday through mid-November.  I'll be the mom running around the park to three different games all day.

Go Stealth!

 Go Warriors!

 Go Rubies!

And this is how I will look and feel at the end of the day-

This mom thing can be hard...a lot...

I just had one of those nights.  One where I just couldn't seem to do or say anything right.  Luke was having a difficult time finishing a cub scout assignment.  He needed help, but wouldn't let me.  This happened last night with his homework too.  Cali helped him, patiently, for almost 2 hours.  He didn't get upset with her help.  Tonight, he was so upset, and I couldn't get through to him or help him.  Instead of getting angry, I grabbed him and hugged him tightly.  He cried and cried.  And so did I.  I told him to not worry about the assignment, that he did all he could do for the night.  He wiped his tears and headed to bed.
Then, Gavin was having a difficult time finishing up his homework.  He asked for my help, I was able to help and then made the mistake of getting after him for not working on it sooner, since it was pass his bed time.  Oh man!  That set him off!  I walked away, because I didn't want to argue and also because I was very tired.  I then got after him for chatting with his friends while doing his homework.  Whoa!  Teenage fury was unleashed again, but he stopped.  I came into the kitchen feeling like a failure as a parent (this happens often...) and turned on a conference talk by Elder Richard G Scott about parenting.  I felt at peace as I listened to his counsel.  It made me feel better to know that I don't have to be perfect, just a loving parent.  As I sat listening to the talk, Gav walked in, having finished his work.  He thanked me for the help I gave him earlier.  I got up, hugged him and told him I loved him.  He said he knew, but wondered if I knew how much he loved me?  He said that sometimes he feels that I don't know how much he loves me.  Of course, I began to cry (and am doing so right now writing this...)  He told me he loves and appreciates all that I do for him.  I thanked him for that.  I told him that this teenager thing, and this mom thing are hard.  But that I think we are doing OK!  Not Perfect...but that's OK.  Elder Scott said so.

Labor Day Getaway

 I got invited to go on an over-nighter with some friends for Labor Day Weekend.  When I asked Jeremy if I could go, he said HE wanted to go away with me.  So, we decided to run away for the long weekend, since it will probably be the last opportunity we get because the next few months are filled with soccer games and holidays.  His parents offered to take the kids, because Nana's brother was in town with his family and they wanted the kids to help entertain.  We made dinner for the Sisters, dropped the kids and dog off in Fallbrook and then headed up to Orange County for the weekend.  We stayed in San Clemente.  The place we stayed was quite a dump.  But the price was right.  It was THE hottest night of the year (95+humidity) and our room did not have A/C.  But we were so tired, we were able to sleep and just planned on using our room for sleeping only and we would spend the days playing outside.  

Saturday-

We slept in and then had a yummy breakfast at Antoine's.  We took to Trip Advisor to find our dining destinations and we ate sooooo goooood!  I just had a bacon and eggs dish, but the hash browns had green onions in them and they were delish!  We then headed to Trestles for the day.  We stayed there for 6+ hours!  I just relaxed, napped and read, while Jer napped and surfed all day.  It was AWESOME!  I even went swimming a couple of times.  The temps were perfect!  After Trestles, we stopped at the Outlet to get me some sunglasses (cause mine broke), and we left with a bag full of clothes for me and a new surfboard for Jer (cause he NEEDED it!).

We were hungry, so we headed down El Camino Real and told Kerrin to take us to Los Patios for dinner...

 This place was the bomb!  Fresh made tortillas, right next to our table.  Yummy delicious salsa and Tony the best server ever!   Oh!  And the food...Jer loved his Carnitas plate and I had a Carnitas Tamale and shredded beef taco.  It was a hole-in-the wall kind of place, off the main street, so no crowds.  Just yummy food and happy people.  

We didn't want to head back to our yucky hotel, so we headed down to the pier and got to see this beautiful sunset-

Sunday-

Again, we wanted to get out of our hotel ASAP, especially since we found out that the heater had been on since we got there.  That was so nice for a room without A/C!  We walked over to Rose's Sugar Shack for breakfast.  I had a bacon, cheese and avocado omelette...it was huge!  Jeremy had something smothered in gravy and loved it!

 We didn't have any plans.  Our motto of the weekend was, "No Hurries, No Worries".  So, we stuck with it.  We hopped in the car and headed up the coast.  We stopped off in Laguna Beach to check out the new State Park (We got free parking all weekend because we used Jer's State Parks Parking Pass-woo hoo!) @ Crystal Cove.  The beach right at the new lot was insanely crowded.  But we walked all the way down to the cliffs and it was empty and beautiful and peaceful.  I took a nap and Jer body surfed.  I also took these lovely pics-

 After an hour or so of relaxation and fun, we went up to the bluff to check out the camp ground.  It was so nice, new and clean.   We will have to camp her some time.  And look at the view...

 We continued up the coast and stopped for some treats and shopping at Fashion Island.  Then we kept driving up the coast.  Usually, we stay on the PCH and eventually end up on the 405 just pass Huntington Beach.  But this time, we kept an eye on Kerrin's map and stayed on the road near the coast.  Did you know there was a Sunset Beach, CA???? And that it is surrounded by water and has 1200 residents?  We also headed over to Naples Island in Long Beach.  Never been there either.  We drove up Ocean Blvd through Long Beach and loved discovering the neighborhoods of Belmont Shores and Alamitos Beach.  We drove right through Downtown Long Beach (where we have been before), and headed over to San Pedro.  We went over the coolest bridges...

 And I thought it was so cool to see all the ships and the huge containers and cranes at the port.  Especially since we had just watched The A-Team the night before.

 We turned around after that and headed back to the pretty part of Long Beach that we discovered.  2nd Avenue is a party on Sunday Nights.  We stopped there and walked down until we came to Nick's on 2nd.  My phone was dead, so I have no pictures of the food.  But it was PHENOMENAL!  We had shrimp taquitos for an appetizer and I had an amazing fried chicken dinner and Jer had a yummy chicken salad.  Best food of the trip, and maybe my life.  We went back to San Clemente after that and crashed.  What a day!  We got back at 11 PM!

Monday-

The housekeeper had actually cleaned our room and given us clean towels and sheets while we were out on Sunday, and the heater was no longer on, so we enjoyed sleeping in on Monday.  We woke up to overcast skies and it was quite chilly.  A stark contrast from the hot and clear weather we had the last 2 days.  After checking out, we headed to The Grill for breakfast.  Another amazing meal!  We started with fresh doughnuts and then jer got the Surfer's Special and I had the Spud Special.  Good Stuff!

We headed down to San Clemente State Beach to check it out.  It was cold an windy and had no surf.  So, we just laid down and took another nap!  Because, "No Hurries, No Worries!"  right?  It never cleared up, so we decided to head home and see our kids.  We got to spend some time at The Ranch w/ Uncle Greg, Tina and Katelyn.  The kids had a blast hanging out with them all weekend.  So glad we all got to have such a good time!