Beach and Pool Fun

We decided to make today the beach day.  The weather was wonderful!  It wasn't hot, but nice and warm with a little breeze.  The ocean water was really cold, but the boys didn't seem to mind.  I asked if they wanted to change into their swim suits, totally thinking they would say no way it's way too cold, but both boys wanted to change after only being on the beach for like five minutes.

Megan then wanted to get changed too so she could be like her brothers, but then pretty much stayed on the beach.  Tony did get her to play in the water after a while but she didn't totally get in like Tyler and Josh.  The boys went in the water waist deep and jumped in the waves.  It was so fun to see them out there just enjoying the ocean and beach life.
Allie wasn't crazy about the beach.  She cried when Tony put her little feet in the ocean.  She seemed to like it for a while when she was held, but they got fussy after a while and wanted to be done.  The other kids, like usual, could have played at the beach all day.  They totally love it.  I like the beach, but I could use a beach chair and an umbrella to make my stay even more enjoyable. 

After the beach we got some lunch and then headed back to the hotel where we went swimming.  The hotel pool was heated, but it was all shady and a little on the cool side.  They had a kiddy pool and that wasn't bad to play in.
It was really windy which made it feel extra cold, so we all ended up in the hot tub.  Luckily it wasn't too hot so Allie could go in it and enjoy the hot tub.  She cried in the other two pools, just too cold for her.  She loved the hot tube, happy as a clam.  The other kids went back and forth from all the pools and so did Tony.  They all had tons of fun playing in the water.  We love swimming pools.
After swimming we all took baths and got on our jammies.  The hotel was having hot pretzels and cheese sauce so we just had that for dinner.  It was nice just hanging out in our rooms and letting the kids and us relax.

Disneyland Day #1

We were not sure if we would go to Disneyland today because of Josh being sick.  I asked him how he was feeling and he said he was feeling better and wanted to go to Disneyland.  I figured we would go and see how he does.  If he felt bad we could always come back to the hotel and rest.  But he did really good the whole day.  Didn't complain at all.  I think we gave him some Motrin in the morning and that kept him going all day.  He's a tough kid.

The first day at Disneyland is always so much fun.  Everyone is so excited, your feet don't hurt yet, no one is fussy...it's just so great.
We got a good parking spot and got into the park without much problems.  We were all smiles waiting for the tram to take us to the park.

We went on lots of ride and had lots of fun.  Allie did really well on all the rides.  She had high spirits all day and did really good in the front pack with Tony.  She didn't cry on any rides and really liked seeing Mickey. 

Megan liked all the rides she went on.  She was not happy that she couldn't go on all the rides that her brothers but she was good about it.  She would say she wanted to go on the ride and we would tell her she was too small and she would just say "oh okay."  She did like the little roller coaster in Toon Town and ended up going on it twice.

We took Josh on  Big Thunder for the first time.  He said he didn't like it.  I thought maybe he would like it more since it's mostly outside, but the dark parts scared him.  I am hoping that when he is more familiar with the rides then they wont scare him so much.  He liked the little roller coaster and other faster rides, but not the dark rides with drops...and rides with water.  He's always asking if there are drops when we go on other rides.

Tyler liked all the rides.  He was disappointed that Splash Mountain and the Matterhorn were closed, but he enjoyed all the other rides.  He didn't want to get his picture taken with any characters but I told him too bad.  He did get into the idea of getting autographs from the characters, so that made it easier.
We went almost to close and it was a great day.  What fun!

Las Vegas & California

We left our house Saturday morning and went to Margie's house.  We all packed up her car and headed towards St. George.  We had to stop a couple of times to check the load we had on the top of the car and because Josh wasn't feeling very good (he even threw up a couple of times).
We made it to St. George and had some lunch at Nana's house.  The kids loved having a break from the car and they always love to spend time at Nana's.

After Nana's house we drove to Las Vegas.  We checked into our hotel and got our things all situated before heading out to dinner.  We decided a place with a play ground would be best for the kids.  They were driving us nuts in the hotel room.  After dinner we got some yummy donuts and then went back to the hotel for bed.

This morning we all got up, ate breakfast, and then started our drive to Victorsville where we were going to church.  Yesterday Josh had a pretty high fever and said his mouth hurt so we were going to take him to an urgent care while we were in Vegas, but then he brightened right up and started acting a lot better and his fever wasn't so high.  So we didn't take him.  Then, this morning he woke up saying his mouth hurt and was very unhappy.  So we said we were for sure going to take him in and have him tested for strep.  Tony took Josh to the urgent care while we went to church.  Turns out the poor kid does have strep.  So now he has taken his medicine twice and we hope he starts feeling better soon.
We checking into our hotel near Disneyland and then went to Costco for gas and treats and then picked up some dinner before heading back to our hotel for the night.  It has been nice unpacking, organizing, eating, and chilling at the hotel.  Hopefully everyone will get a good nights sleep and tomorrow everyone will feel great.

Allie's Eating Baby Food

My sister, Julie, gave me her old highchair and we just picked it up, cleaned it, and got it all set up for Allie to use.  I started out with the tray on and it seemed way too big, so with the tray off Allie had some yummy rice cereal and apple sauce for breakfast.
Allie is a funny eater.  She didn't get it at all at first but is slowly figuring it out.  She gets the food into her mouth and then to help swallow it down she sucks on her thumb.  It is super funny but very effective.  Sometimes we have to take out her thumb to give her the food or even try to get the spoon in her mouth before she puts her thumb back in.  Learning to eat is obviously much harder then drinking out of a bottle, but she is slowly getting it...thumb and all.

Happy Valentine's Day/Birthday

Tony got me these beautiful flowers and yummy chocolates for Valentine's Day.  He is currently out of town helping is brother and his family drive here from Washington with is mom.
They left yesterday morning and the kids were pretty sad that they couldn't go on the airplane with Daddy and Grandma.  They got over it and we have been having a grand time hanging out.  We played at my parents house yesterday and today we have been hanging out at home.  The Kunzler's brought us over some yummy cinnamon bread for this special day.  It made some really good toast for breakfast.  My friend Marissa brought over some lunch for my birthday and our kids played together while we chatted.  It was really nice.
Later the kids and I played outside on the neighbors driveway and then after dinner I bathed the kids and now they are all in bed, yeah!  I have received many texts, phone calls, and messages on Facebook for my birthday.  It is nice to see that people have remembered me on this day.  My other friend, Gwen, brought me over a cupcake this evening and it was so nice.  It's always nice to feel loved.

Bath Time

For the first time we had all four kids in the bathtub at the same time.  They thought it was so fun to have Allie in with them.  They all wanted a turn to hold her, but since babies are so slippery when wet we just let Tyler hold her for the picture.  We sure do love our cuties!

Best Winter Weather Ever!

The weather has been so incredibly nice the last week or so.  Today the sun was shining and the the temperatures were perfect.  After church and lunch we all headed outside to enjoy the sun.  Tyler got on his skates and Josh got his scooter and we all headed to the Kunzler's to play on their driveway. 




Tyler loves his roller blades  He has been practicing a lot and has gotten pretty good on his skates.  He is always asking Tony to teach him tricks like skating backwards.  Tony is currently looking for a nice pair of skates for himself so they can skate together.  It is amazing how expensive good skates are. 

Tony and Allie hung out soaking in sun while the kids played and I took pictures.  Tony did start to show Tyler a little bit of what it takes to learn how to skate backwards.  After that lesson we decided to go on a family walk.

Megan loves to get her pictures taken.  This is a shot I got of her running around the driveway.  She kept saying, "Take my picture mommy."  I got out our little red stroller and put Allie in it to see how she'd do on our walk.  I had a picture of us, but I accidentally deleted it, super bummed.  Allie did really good on the stroller ride.  She didn't fuss at all and was such a big girl.

When we went on our walk Josh wanted to ride his bike instead of his scooter.  It is definitely time to take off the training wheels and possibly to time to get him on a bigger bike too.  His knees were pretty high into the handle bars.  I might see if Tyler's bike will work for Josh and then get Tyler a new bike.  Guess we'll see.

Megan wanted to ride her bike on our walk.  Tony pushed Megan and had Koda on his leash  It worked pretty good except when Megan would steer her bike off track.  She too, is almost ready for the next size up in bikes.
After our walk we hung out in our front yard playing soccer and eating otter pops.  What an enjoyable Sunday.  Oh and after all that we went to my parents for my birthday dinner.  It was really yummy and the kids had so much fun playing with their cousins.