Firsts

Again we were gifted with free tickets (this time thanks to Oma) to another amusement park called Knott's Berry Farm. In a nutshell Knott's has Camp Snoopy with a few dinky rides for small children and a ton of ginormous, insanely awesome, roller coasters. Eric and I politely took turns riding these with Sara and Zac. Luke happily rode along in his stroller just happy to be with the group and then there was Claire. Let's just say that Knott's is not a place for a 5 year old who actually likes roller coasters. She wasn't tall enough for any of them! It was so sad! But she and Luke did get on a few fun rides and overall the day was great.

The best part was having Sara along with us. She is always helpful and unbelievably tolerant of the constant attention from her siblings. She turned 13 on the 11th and her maturity is way beyond that. We nicknamed her Sara Texterson for the trip. Apparently we took 3 other people along for the day. She texts when she walks, in line, in the car, and when she is eating. It's amazing though how she can still stay involved in the conversation. A true gift. This trip to Knott's marked a milestone for Sara. Her first upside down roller coaster!

It took lots of convincing but she did it. I must point out that as roller coasters go, the silver bullet is incredible!

Rookies

I'd say 99.9% of our friends are the proud holders of a Disneyland season pass. They go for the day, for lunch, after school, for dinner, or just for a parade. Not Eric and me. We went once when we were dating and approximately 3 times since. So when free tickets were handed our way, we couldn't resist. The Christmas decorations are unbelievable and seeing things through Luke's eyes for his first trip are moments to never forget. It was truly a spectacular day! I do need to note a few things we learned: Make sure your stroller has appropriate storage space for the 15 sweatshirts and water bottles, take a second stroller for the dramatic female 5-year old and for more storage space, pack a lunch and/or dinner to save yourself $200, bring blankets for warmth and to save your spot for the parade, fast passes are the only way to ride rides, charge your cell phone prior to entering the park, bring a camera if said cell phone battery dies, and finally, don't leave the car overhead light on all day because your battery will die. Thankfully Disneyland is a well oiled machine and we had our battery jumped and running in less than 20 minutes. The kids were home and in bed by 8:00. A perfect day.

Writer

At Zac's conference the other day Mrs. Felton told me that Zac has developed a "writer's voice." I think this is what she meant by that. I found this in his backpack on a piece of scratch paper. I think that means he did this during his free time. Awesome.

Proud Mom

Recently my sister-in-law wrote a blog entry I could really relate to. Sometimes, especially lately, I find it difficult to see "the bright side." If you know me well, this is very out of my character. In fact, knowing that I am acting out of character only frustrates me more.

Today I woke up with a head ache and began the inner negative talk. You know like, "Of course I have a head ache," and "Why should I have one good day this week?" and "Poor me."

I know. So drama!

After I dropped the kids off at school I went for a haircut where my hairdresser spoiled me with a head and neck massage. Seeing some light. I went to Target and decided to use the Starbucks gift card withering away in my purse for some peppermint hot chocolate to sip while I shopped. Light getting brighter. Went home to have lunch delivered by my parents and even had time to clean the house a bit. Even brighter now. Then I headed to Condit to pick up the kids and attend their parent conferences. Claire got a glowing report with a perfect report card (if you exclude the "P" for progress under "self control." It's genetic.) Now I'm smiling as I walk. We move on to Zac's conference where he gets his best report yet and I'm told how kind and helpful he is to his friends. As a reward I took the kids to the very strategically planned for sucker parents like me book fair. The kids each picked a book.

Love this!

We left to pick up Luke in time to witness him leading a group of friends around the playground in an intense game of scream and chase. Pass the sunglasses, the brightness has returned.