WonderCon 2013

 This year, we were unable to get Comic-Con tickets (still so sad....and a little bit in denial...).  So, I got us tickets to WonderCon this year to see if that would make up for it!  It kinda did!  Gav's Spring Break began early on Friday the 29th.  So, we headed up to Anaheim to spend the day doing what we love....GEEKING OUT!  It is a much smaller convention, but it is still run by SDCC.  I took Gav last year and we had a so-so experience.  This year, it was so much better!  More exhibitors and panels and more room!  We got there right when it opened (noon), parked and walked right in.  No Lines!  We hit the Exhibit Hall first.  Our first stop was the small press area.  We met these great artists who have published some new comics for kids.  We checked them out and really liked them.  So we picked up the whole set and even got them signed.  We had Cordy's Flat Stanley, so we had to take lots of pics!  We stopped by the 501st booth for a shot with an imperial pilot and R2 and I couldn't pass up the chance to get a pic with the Witch King of Angmar!

We love watching My Little Pony mashups on YouTube.  One of our favorites is "Dr. Whooves".   Here's Gav modeling his new shirt with our favorite pony, "The Rainbow Dash". 

 Cali loves seeing all the cosplay.  This was one of her favorites-  Fiona & Cake:

 And she loved "Rap-anakin Skywalker" and "Poca-Han Solo":

 We stopped at the Wii booth and played some games on the Wii U and the 3DS XL.  We won bags for playing the games.

 We finished with the Exhibit Hall by 3.  We got all the comics, t-shirts and prizes we wanted, then we took a little break while waiting for the "Regular Show" panel.

 Brody & Luke got MineCraft swords-

 Gav loves his shirt (and so did half the con!  He got so many compliments!)-

 Cali got herself a Marceline shirt-

 It was a close one, we almost did not make it in for the panel. The longest line I saw all day....but we got in! These guys put on a great panel!  They are so funny and crowd friendly.  They just celebrated the 100th episode and passed out cake to everyone in the room!  Cali got to ask a question during the Q & A portion. She asked if "we would ever meet Muscle Man's Mom?".  Which "Muscle Man" replied in his famous voice "My mom is the best.  I don't think you' re ready for her...".  

 Free Cake!

 And we got free comics and posters too! "OOOOOOOOOOH"!

 After the Regular Show panel, the 3 little ones and I headed over to the food court for some dinner while Gav attended the "Dr. Who" screening.  

We left the Convention Center at 8:30!  It was a full and fun day!

HTMNC Exhibition 2013

Survival Island

This year, Gav's teachers decided to have the kids work on survival themed projects.  Their groups had to learn how to survive on an island after a plane crash.  They had to come up with character bios, jobs, constitutions, rules, etc.  They documented it all on a blog and created a QR code to scan and be able to see all that they had done for the project.  They even created the environment and dressed up-

 This is Hunter.  She was injured in the plane crash and developed an infection (ZOMBIE!).  That is why she is being kept in the cage.  She is a danger to herself and others.

 They had to demonstrate a way to store food-

 Here's their constitution and other reports, including their QR code-

 They made a solar oven to cook their food-

 This is "Pyro" (Gavin)'s Bio-

 Here's the survivors-

It was so cool!  All the classes did amazing projects and we had so much fun seeing all of them.

Spring Break - Week 1

The three little ones had Spring Break the week before Easter.  This is the first time in 5 years, that we did not go away on a road trip.  I was kind of bummed.  Gav still had school and we would have taken him out, but he had his school exhibition scheduled during the week.  So we just stayed home.  And pretty much did nothing!  Which was way weird!  The kids stayed busy though.  Luke got to hang out with his best buddy, Ben.  I spent most of the week laying down with a bad cold and headaches.  Brody spent most of the week playing the computer and playing video games.  Cali spent most of the week playing with her friends and at volleyball camp.

She had never played and LOVED IT!  AND...she was really good!  She won a shirt on the last day for her "crazy socks"!

Decades Day

The last day of school before Spring Break, It was Decades Day at school.  The boys did not want to do anything, but we managed to get Cali all ready in 80's attire!!!  She looked " So Totally Rad"..."Totally to the Max!"

New Beginnings

 Tuesday night was my first New Beginnings...and also Cali's!  Luckily, I have the greatest Personal Progrss leader, Sister Riddle.  She put together such a wonderful program and I am so excited for this year and that Cali gets to be a part of it all.

My contribution to the night...Chalkboard!

 We started out the program with 4 of the Laurels "spotlighting" each of the incoming Beehives.  Kaylee Riddle had Cali...

 Then, the Mia Maids and current Beehives each took a value and explained what the value was and how we apply them to our lives.  It was really cute.  Sister Riddle had each girl hold up a pair of shoes and it tied in the value and our theme this year of "Stand in Holy Places".  She also had a bouquet of flowers, representing each value color.  Whenever a value was presented, flowers were placed in 4 vases, one for each new Beehive to have.

 

Sister Riddle spoke more about Personal Progress and then the Bishop closed the night.  It was so special.  Here's our cute group photo:

 The "newbies":

 And since the whole Bishopric was there, we took a group pic with them because we love them:

 My little girl....will be 12 this year (sniff, sniff....)

Happy St Patricks Day!

 'Tis a find day indeed!

We didn't do much this year.  But we did manage to have green muffins and Lucky Charms for our breakfast before church.  We all wore green to church and then came home and hung out.  We spent most of the day listening to Cali and Daddy learn to play the ukulele.  Then I made a green themed dinner (no pic).  But I have to say, hanging out all day with my family makes me the luckiest person in the world!

Jeremy's Birthday Present

I really wanted to get something extra special for Jer's 40th, but with the amount of money I spent on the party, something big was out of the question.  So, I searched the internet for some ideas.  I stumbled upon "San Diego Adventure, Inc."  They do surf charters.  For $30/person, Joe will take you down off of Point Loma to surf some spots that are only accessible by boat.  I purchased a day for 5 guys and last Saturday was the big day.  Jeremy invited Jimmy, Adam, Jon and Trevor to join him. 

 They started the day by meeting Joe at the Shelter Island boat launch...

 Then it was off to Point Loma for 3+ hours of surfing!

 They surfed a spot called "dolphin tanks".  Jeremy loved it and loved that they were the only ones out there!

The surf was not amazing that day, but they all had such a great time surfing and hanging out!  And they made a new friend, Joe!  Joe?  Joe!  Who's Joe?  (inside joke...)

Happy Birthday Honey!