GV

Look at the good looking group that headed to Gardner's Village this year!!  We have almost tripled in numbers since the beginning of this little tradition.

One of my favorite finds were these potted mandrakes (from Harry Potter!!)  They were asking way to much money, so I didn't' buy one.  I showed a picture of them to Griffen and he said, "Are those REAL?!"

 Across the parking lot from the shops there is a petting zoo.  This year we ventured through there.  It was just ok.  The goats and alpacas were pretty stinking adorable.  The kids dug it.

 It felt fast paced this year for some reason.  Probably because I'm keeping track of the little ladies and trying to visit at the same time.  I love being able to spend some quality time during my favorite month with my favorite witches.

4 Year olds!

And just like that, these cuties turned 4!

 This little lady is the BOSS.  She let's everyone around her know it too. She has the daintiest high pitched, whiny voice and is very petite.  She knows how to argue and knows how to throw mini tantrums.  She also knows how to give the BIGGEST and BEST hugs on the planet.  She is always looking out for Luke and wants to run with the big girls at all times.

 Ahhhh....my little shadow!  He loves to help me with WHATEVER it is I am doing.  Laundry, cooking, cleaning, even watching TV.  He never lets me to far out of his sight.  He is starting to speak A LOT more.  I think he had a twin sister that liked to speak for him, but it's cute to watch him find his own little voice.  Every night when he gets tucked into bed, it's seconds after we shut that door that his little fingers and poking out from underneath.  He always falls asleep on the floor and I move him into his bed.  Before morning comes though, you can always find him wedged in between Casey & I.

 I love them both so much.  It's been a hard few years, but I honestly feel complete with them in our family.

 This picture cracks me up.  Lexi & MaKayla are best buddies and Luke was trying to torment them a little and I scolded him right before I took this picture.  His face is priceless.

September

Houston - we have a problem.  And I don't even care!  I guess snails are supposed to ruin your plants...but Luke would get so excited to go find the snails every day.  They are gross and we went through a lot of hand sanitizer, but it was worth it!

Caleb discovered the fabulousness which is reading in bed.  I'm not even mad about it.

Killing time while the oil was getting changed in the van.  We always walk over to Shopko and look at books while we wait.

This tiny dancer was over the moon that she got to finally start going to dance class! She was showing me all sorts of tricks and twirls the morning of and then got to class and froze.

Cutest.  Thing.  Ever.  My favorite parts are the fact that I don't even have a garden and my perky chest.

Reading time!!  What a good big brother!

Fort building has never been my strong suit.  But you can't say I don't try.

I got Luke & Lexi some magnificent bubble wands for their Disneyland souvenir.  They are pretty amazing!

Luke got  a stylin' new haircut on this particular day.  Lexi always gets so jealous that it's his turn and not hers.

Anderson Fall Picnic

We gathered the Anderson's up for the annual fall picnic.  It was bizarre - it was raining all morning, the clouds opened and the sun appeared for about 2 hours and then the storm came back.  It was just a perfect amount of time to enjoy the fall weather!

I love that my grandparents are still  up for little adventures.  Jackson was so funny with his cheetos...he had a few on his BIG plate and was holding it with both hands and couldn't figure out how to get one in his mouth.  He's the cutest little boy!!

The little kids loved climbing up the hill and playing around the trees.  I was just worried that one of them was going to biff it.  #momlife

Ashley captured this picture of our Grandpa.  It speaks volumes to me.  It's amazing what gorgeous pictures our phones can capture!

My kids are sure growing up!  I felt like I was in the 'baby' stage forever...but look at them now!

We missed Jordon....but here is the group shot for the 2017 picnic!

On our way home, we pulled over right by Mantua to get a good picture of this FULL double rainbow.  Such a beautiful sight.

Last day of Vacay

I don't know why - but I wanted to go to muscle beach.  Which is located on Venice beach.  I wanted to see some muscles!  I was quite disappointed.  Trust me - if there would've been muscles, I'd be posting pictures.  No one was working out!  BUT - I'm still glad that we went.  Venice beach was interesting.  Walking around Caleb was looking at all the boardwalk merchandise and said, "Mom, I think that this is a very inappropriate place."  He was right on the money.  I found a Zoltar machine - SCORE!  I loved watching BIG with Tom Hanks when I was younger.

It was a pretty warm day!  Mona got the kids an ice cream cone while we were cruising the Venice Beach boulevard.  There wasn't many other children walking around.  I made sure they had one of our hands pretty much the entire time.  I loved the man selling fresh fruit in his little cart.   He was probably making some good money!  We actually found a pretty decent restaurant and sat and ate and people watched.  There was a homeless man right outside of the restaurant playing a grand piano.  He was really good!  Caleb also witnessed someone digging through the trash and eating what they could find.  It sure makes one think about the things we can easily take for granted.

I love the palm trees!  And we even saw beach bums....and I'm not talking about the homeless people this time.

We got our feel for crazy town and needed to spend some time in the ocean before we left.  We wanted to head back to Huntington beach because it was perfection - but traffic was HORRIBLE!  We ended up pulling off the freeway and checking out Seal Beach.

 The kids couldn't get in the water much here.  The waves were WAY over their head and the undertow was pretty strong.  They still had a fabulous time searching for seashells.  Rylee was holding onto the shells and putting them into a sandwich bag, which was getting quite full.  At one point a big wave came and smacked it right out of her hand.  All of the kids LOST their minds for a bit.  By some stroke of luck Casey managed to find the bag of shells!  I couldn't freaking believe it.  The kids were so happy!

 It was a beautiful evening and watching the sunset was bitter sweet.

 The next morning we packed up the van and cleaned up our town home.  I had each of the kids take a picture by their favorite piece of artwork with their souvenirs.  Caleb, of course, picked Donald Duck and Taylor loved the one with the castle.  I was surprised when Rylee picked Donald and she said to me, "Do you want to know why I picked Donald Duck?"  I Said, "Yes, please tell me."  She said, "Because I don't want Caleb to ever forget him."  Ahhhhhhhh......right?!?!?

 I loved this vacation.  I love that we were blessed with safety.  I love the memories that I made watching through my kids the magic of Disneyland and the wonders of the ocean.  I love that they got to experience such fun things with us and with Grandma Mona.  Just a few more years until we return and bring Luke and Lexi with!  Hopefully Grammy can come for that trip too.

Speaking of Luke & Lex....they got to spend a whole week with Grammy and Papa Don.  I think that have found their 'spot' at their house.  I am grateful that they were in such good hands and that my parents were willing to watch them for us.

Disneyland Day 2

At the end of day 1 I had Casey take a picture of the entrance to California Adventure - because that is where our advetnure for Day 2 would begin!!  (and it looked AWESOME)

We booked our little tails to the World of Color kiosk to get tickets for the show that night.  Then the kids & Mona high tailed it to Cars Land while I back tracked to soarin' to get our fast passes.  It was A LOT of hustling!  Cars....was....amazing!  It was such a fun ride.  You think you are on this nice little leisurely ride in a car and the BAM!  You are racing and twisting and turning.  Mona happened to video tape the whole ride.  It was a blast!

After that we went to Soarin'.  It's pretty awesome - but Taylor hated it. She cried and cried.  Rylee loved it though.  I think I only had to shut my eyes twice.  Later we ran into Flick at Bug's World and the kids got to visit with Spiderman.

We needed to get our butts back over to Disneyland because we didn't have time to explore all of the Star Wars attractions.  My two boys were in heaven I think. 

Rylee was so nervous to meet Darth Vader.  He looked right at her and said, "I've been waiting for you."  She couldn't believe it.  She was in so much shock that he knew that she was coming.  It was so cute.  Casey wanted a picture of Darth performing a choke hold on him, but Mr. Vader sternly told him, "NO".

Caleb got to meet Boba Fett.  He was SO EXCITED!  Casey & Caleb both had him on their t-shirts.  Boba looked it them and said, "Good choice."  After this we rode Star Tours.  Everyone loved that ride!

We managed to get right into a boat for It's a Small World.  Taylor & Rylee were both singing the song by the time we got off of the ride.

The Little Mermaid ride was the cutest ride I have ever been on!  Taylor was adorable.  She was sitting with Mona and waving at everything.  Magic.  Pure magic.  We saw the headless horseman...visited ToonTown and Mona didn't have to wait in line at all to got on the T&R ride.

World of Color is a must.  It was amazing.  I may or may not have teared up a time or two.  I loved this trip.  I loved watching my kids see new things.  I love my little tourist, Caleb.  He cracked me up for some reason.

My souvenir!!