July the Fourth be With You

For most families, a trip to the happiest place on Earth the first week of summer may tend to make the rest of the summer a bit... well... anticlimactic.

Thankfully, that isn't the case for my family because my kids love a party of any kind and the 4th of July is a great opportunity for a party.

What is it about the 4th of July that makes me feel like I have to eat my own weight in grilled meats and potato salad? I'm not exactly sure, but it somewhere, deep in my heart, it just feels right to celebrate the founding of our country that way.

We celebrated with our framily (That's a new word I just coined just right now. It means friends that feel like family. It should not be confused with frenemies). 

The kids were simultaneously frightened and fascinated by the sparklers. There was more than one Harry Potter vs. lightsaber mock battle. Personally, I think Harry Potter would win over Luke Skywalker any day. He's got magic, for crying out loud. The force ain't got nothin' on Dumbledore. However, we did have to outlaw avada kedavra at one point. We run a clean establishment. (*disclaimer* none of the children here have actually seen a Harry Potter movie.)

After the kids were sparkled out, we went to the city firework display. 

I am ashamed to say that my two small children ate the vast majority of this enormous bowl of popcorn.

 Hooray for the 4th of July, our freedom, our friends and potato salad in large quantities!

Disneyland: Love is Lovlier the Second Time Around

Two years ago when we visited Disneyland, I was thinking of how great it would be when Jane was actually old enough to enjoy it. So... I'm sure you're all wondering, was it great? It was.... AWESOME!

Not that the trip didn't have its glitches. The night before we left, the camera broke, occasioning a late night trip to Wal Mart so that we could spend money we hadn't budgeted for on something we didn't know we would need. But I must say it was definitely worth it to be able to preserve our memories. The other major glitch was our cell service. We discovered what it was like for our parents to take us to Disneyland in the '80's when splitting up the kids and playing it by ear wasn't really an option. Next time, we have an elaborate plan involving long range walkie talkies.

We had a couple moments of terror...

(My Daredevil at Tower of Terror)

(Disney Jr. Live on Stage - My personal moment of terror)

(Chris' moment of terror was not caught on film, but it involves the line to Peter Pan, Jane, and bodily fluids. I'm sure you can connect the dots.)

and our occasional meltdowns

But mostly, the trip was just a huge amount of fun with the people I love most.

We discovered that Emily is more of a daredevil than ever, trying rides she hasn't before such as...

Grizzly River run... 

And Splash Mountain... 

And Indiana Jones...

(Thank you Dr. Scholls for making this moment possible by giving Emily a hand with that last half inch. It was spectacular.)

But her favorite was still Big Thunder. 

The trip almost ended in tears when we discovered BTRR was out of commission on the last day. Thankfully, it was fixed just in time and we rode it one last time literally just before leaving the park.

Jane, on the other hand, would tolerate a few roller coasters

But she still enjoyed the more mild experiences such as Small World

And the Pooh ride. 

And more Pooh ride

I must say that one of the best experiences of the trip was being able to take the whole family on Soarin', which Jane actually liked and Emily still loved. 

On one thing, the kids agreed upon: seeing characters was good fun. That's why we had a character breakfast at Storytellers:

(the only day our breakfast did not consist of cereal eaten on the hotel balcony, which worked out amazingly well)

And a character dinner at Goofy's Kitchen:

And we stood in line for 45 minutes to meet Rapunzel. 

                                  

Was it worth it? It was for Emily, so I have to say it was for me as well. 

 But of course, we had to meet her after the girls' makeover

Which was yet another thing Jane was thrilled to be old enough for this time. 

It was so much fun to see them playing at Disneyland all day dressed as princesses. My favorite? Rapunzel at Autopia. 

We were sad to leave but we are already planning our next trip in a couple years (Emily would like it nailed down to an exact date). 

Two things became apparent during this trip: This family loves Disneyland. 

And we love each other. When you put the two together, you can't help but make great memories. 

The Reveal

We finally told our kids were were going to Disneyland.

We wanted to do something special so we made a slideshow of our last trip to Disneyland and at the end, we tacked on our own little clip telling them that we were going.

 I don't think we'll make the Disney commercials, but it was pretty darn cute. Make sure you watch all the way to the end because it took awhile for Jane to get the gist.

Recitals, Rehearsals and Remembrances

So... here is how our week went after Emily's birthday.

Yesterday was Emily's dance recital, so this week included two dress rehearsals (perhaps a bit of an overkill for a class that is called PREdance), which made for quite a busy week during which I went through more hair gel and bobby pins than in the last several years combined.

The time between the last rehearsal and the recital was spent in Rock Springs for Chris' grandma's funeral. We will miss her.


It was nice to see Chris' side of the family, though and it also afforded Emily the opportunity to have Birthday part II.


(I somehow missed getting pictures at my parent's house, but there was more birthday cake and you can rest assured that the American girl can now boast a healthy-sized wardrobe - part of which she wore to the funeral - yes, the funeral. Some battles are worth fighting. This wasn't one of them.)

After the funeral, we made it back home just in time for more hair gel and bobby pins so that Emily could look the part of the beautiful ballerina.

Emily has been able to take dance class with her bestie, Kaylee this past year, which has been a great opportunity for them to stay in touch after the school district did its best to split them up into two different elementary schools.

The recital went well. I was very proud of Emily. My parents and my sister and her husband and kids were able to make it here for the performance. Even cousin Simon enjoyed the dancing.

Jane and cousin Lucy made it most of the way through.

And afterwards, Emily was generously rewarded for a fantastic performance.

She even shared the loot with her sister.

 And then back to Grandma and Grandpa's for ice cream and... MORE birthday.

 Phew... what a week.

Now We are Six

This past week, Emily turned 6. Although this seems hard to believe, it is indeed true. We had a pretty laid back birthday celebration this year for a couple reasons.

1) We are going to Disneyland soon which she does not ( I repeat does NOT) know about yet because we thought it may raise unrealistic expectations for future birthdays. We're planning on telling her soon.

2) This was one of the craziest weeks our family has ever had (more stories to follow) and we decided that there was a good chance I would lose it completely if I had to pull off a big party in addition to everything else we had going on.

That being said, Emily still had a great birthday. She got to be the birthday girl at school

and share cupcakes with her friends,

which I wish I could say I made, but that would be a blatant lie. They were, nonetheless lovely and although I have never had a churro flavored cupcake before, it is an experience I hope to repeat in the future.

Where was I?

Oh, yes. I was able to pick Emily up after school (with the help of a generous boss who allowed me to work flex time this week and also with the help of Chris who had to take a bit of vacation time so Emily could still make it to school) and she then she helped me decorate her cake.

You'll notice it says "Happy Birthday, Emily P." After reading the Ramona books, she is rather taken with us using her last initial in all written references to her. You'll also notice there may have been some frosting sampling happening. But if you can't sample frosting on your birthday, when can you?

Following a dinner at Red Lobster (Yes, Emily is allergic to fish, but she insisted. She says she loves their chicken strips and that she wanted to see the lobsters in the tank. Weird.), we got to the real celebration which involved presents.

She saved the big box for last, but she already knew what it was. Still, she was delighted to have her theory confirmed.

I was afraid she wouldn't appreciate the doll, but so far, she has treated it as her most precious possession. She combs its hair and dresses it for special occasions. It's very cute and only mildly disturbing. I have to admit, it was kind of good to give her one big birthday present instead of a whole bunch of junk she'll just treat with indifference and eventually break or lose. 

She loved the doll so much she could hardly tear herself away for cake. But she did. 

Happy, Birthday, Emily P.! We love you!