Last Day at Disneyland!

Time went by too quickly. I can't believe it's over already. We spent our last day here running to try and see everything "one more time". We got to spend some time with Amy this morning, too, so that was nice. Today is Mom's official birthday--we've been celebrating all week. I am so blessed to have such an amazing Mom. I couldn't ask for better. Even in the midst of trial and uncertainty she is so full of faith and courage. She is such a strength to me. I love you, Mom! Happy birthday! Thanks for letting us share this week with you.

More Monday & Jedi Training

Despite the crowds we had a fantastic day. The highlight of the day was doing the Jedi Training. For those who have never seen this--it is a must! They choose kids from the audience to come be trained as Jedi. As they complete their training, Darth Vader and Darth Maul come out with some clone troopers. It is intense. They go 'all out' in making it very realistic! Each of the kids gets to fight one on one with either Darth Maul or Darth Vader. Of course, the good side always wins! We made the mistake of talking it up for Sam and then he didn't get chosen--major bummer!!! He cried and sobbed during the whole presentation! Poor kid.

Monday-Day 5

Today started off a little rainy, but we managed to stay fairly dry. Needless to say, we weren't running to Grizzly Rapids today. Too chilly! Here is everyone under the bridge trying to stay dry as we went into California Adventure. It was so fun to see everything all decked out for Halloween. And it was fun stuff, not the typical scary, yucky stuff you usually see associated with Halloween.

Jeremy, Zac, Uncle John, and Steve on Maliboomer--one of the favorites. Not for the weak-stomached!

On the sun wheel--a carousel with a twist--or should I say swing. Very fun, but it was very cold up there in the air! Grandma and Auntie Dar watched from below.

Waiting in line for the new Toy Story 3D ride. It was great fun, but today we had to wait in line forever! For some reason both parks were really packed today. We thought being a Monday that it would be less crowded. . . not the case. Today was the most crowded it's been!

We are a happy family!

Sunday

Playing "Go Pooh" before church.

(They were handing out free Go Fish games to promote a new Winnie the Pooh movie coming out. My boys quickly named it "Go Pooh" instead.)

Today we went to church and then went down to Seal beach for a walk with Scott's family (Amy's brother, Rod, and his family were there, too). We told the kids we weren't going to get wet, but with that many kids, really, who are we kidding?! They had great fun finding all kinds of sea life. We also walked along the pier and saw all the fishermen and watched the seals playing in the water.

After we cleaned up from the beach we went to dinner at Mimi's cafe. There were quite a few of us there. Poor waitress didn't know what to do with herself!

Disneyland - Day 3

Another amazing day at Disneyland & California adventure!! I swear they pump "happy gas" into the air here. It is such a fun, happy place! We got to spend more time with family tonight. One of our favorite things to do is to go to the Mission Tortilla factory for free hot, fresh tortillas. And the best part is--when it's your birthday you get a whole package of tortillas, not just one! And we had both Amy and Gma with the magic birthday buttons! Mmmmm. . . .

Gma has felt wonderful and has been pain-free every day we've been here! What a blessing. We teased that we are going to get her a room in Cinderella's castle and bring the chemo to her. We promised to visit her often! :)

The "Famous Five", also known as Charity, Emily, Derrek, Alec, and Calvin went off on their own almost the whole time. They loved the independence and had a blast running here, there, and everywhere together! I love that my kids have cousins to play/hang with! It was so fun to have our family there with us!

We watched the fireworks tonight, but Steve had the camera with him. He and Zac decided to ride the rides instead of watching silly fireworks! They actually stayed a little later than the rest of us tonight. They were troopers to the end!

Disneyland-Day 2

Today was our first day all together. What a blast! It was also Amy's birthday (my sis-in-law). What better way to spend your birthday? We actually celebrated both Mom and Amy's birthdays today by having lunch at Blue Bayou, our favorite!! Mom's co-workers made reservations for us and helped pay for our birthday lunch. They are awesome!!

Table 1

Table 2

Steve, Zac and Jeremy loved riding California Screamin'.
It is a very fast roller coaster. They LOVED it and kept going back for more!

Jeremy & Zac
Best buds!

Disneyland-Day 1

We had the wonderful chance to go to Disneyland this week. Steve, the kids and I drove out to California today and spent about 7-8 hours at Disneyland and California Adventure. Mom and Aunt Dar flew out and Scott/Amy & John/Rebecca and families drove out this afternoon. We didn't take very many pictures--we were having too much fun. We are very happy that Sam is tall enough to ride almost every ride this year! He was so anxious to ride Tower of Terror. He had no idea what it was, but everyone else was so excited about it, he jumped right in. It was the first ride we went on. Needless to say, he loved it and never wants to go on it again!

Sam

Matthew

Climb, Sam, climb!

Cinnamon Rolls

Since Mom isn't going back to work, we have been making the most of our time. We have been hanging out, shopping, watching movies, having lunch, and today we made cinnamon rolls. Rebecca (my sister-in-law) had been asking how to make them so we decided to get together today and make them. Once we got all the ingredients pulled together we had a great time visiting and making these DELICIOUS things! We pulled out the video camera and recorded Mom's directions for posterity's sake. This is one of those recipes that has been passed from Mom to daughter for several generations and there really isn't a written recipe. So, we now have it on video along with some other fun stories about our family. It was a fun day and boy are those cinnamon rolls good. Rebecca has the perfect kitchen for it--lots of counter space! Thanks, Rebecca!

Making the dough

Jennie telling a very animated story!

The finished product!

Sam turns 4!

Today was Samuel's 4th birthday! My how time flies! I can't believe he's such a big boy already. He has been waiting for so long to turn 4. At the beginning of summer we told him that his birthday would be after school started, so sure enough, the day after school started he thought it should be his birthday. How do you explain that to an impatient little boy!?! We had the gmas and gpas come over tonight and Gma Wilson brought Karyn's kids with her. It was so good to be able to share his birthday with all of them. Sam got some great presents and had a fantastic birthday. (Today is also Gma Stander's and Gma Wilson's birthday!)

Happy Early Birthday, Sam!

Since we were getting together for dinner(fast Sunday omelet) with all the Bowlers, we celebrated Sam's birthday a day early. Nothing big. Emily made cupcakes and he got to open one present. He has been asking for a piggy bank for a while now and was SO excited to get one. We were so glad to have cousins, aunts, uncles, gma & gpa there to help celebrate.

Camping with Daddy

Steve took Emily, Zac, and Jeremy on an overnighter up at White Spar campground just outside of Prescott. It was just a quick trip up but they had a lot of fun. There was a car fire on I-17 on the way up so they didn't get there until after dark, but that didn't slow them down any. Cinder went along, too and slept with the kids in the tent. Steve made them some yummy eggs for breakfast and then they went exploring. There was a creek close-by and they found the cutest little frog. Emily made a mini terarium in a propel bottle to transport him home in. They were so excited to go and had lots of fun with their daddy. (Side note--Charity stayed home with me and the little boys. We took Gma and Gpa Bowler to the zoo with us Saturday morning for a few hours before it was too hot. We forgot to bring the camera, though, so we didn't get any pictures. :( )

Setting up camp in the dark

Making breakfast

Emily and the frog

We love camping!!