Boogie Boarding

Usually, when we are in L.A. we go to Manhattan Beach to play. This time Nan suggested Dockweiller just a few miles north. Mark had a good time showing the boys how to boogie board. They didn't quite get the hang of it (expected)...but I have a feeling there will be plenty more lessons in the years to come.

Porter & Mark

Cooper-man giving it a try.

Cyrus spent quite awhile playing on it. He'll be a pro in no time!

and other beachy stuff

Trips to the beach must also include burying someone...{even more fun if you can bury more than one}.

...writing in the sand...

...and, best of all, jumping waves.

Hadley is such an easy baby. She just "chills". As long as she has her 2 little fingers to suck on, she's just as content as can be. Papa Allen had just had knee surgery a few weeks before we went down there, so he had to spend a lot of time resting it. Hadley was happy to keep him company.

And she just snuggled right in with Grandma too. What a love!!

Oh my!...

Ok, so I know I am COMPLETELY 100% biased but, seriously, have you ever seen such a sweet face?? Those eyes, those cheeks, the dimpled hands and rubber band wrists...I just can't get enough

.

In the past few weeks, since these were taken, she has learned to crawl on her hands and knees, pull herself up to things and stand on her own. All of which is great -- except that she's less and less interested in just sitting and being snuggly. She wants to MOVE. The minute I sit down with her she wants out of my arms and down to the floor. I miss the days when she used to fall asleep on my chest *sigh*.

If you listen closely you can hear half of my heart breaking. The other half is saying "Go Hadley, go!"

Ninja tag

While we were in Utah, Guy and his boys introduced us to Ninja tag. We liked it so much that we took it to our cousins in Cali.

Everybody got in on the action...

I munna gicha!!

Slowly, but surely...

I'm still working on getting the blog caught up (does that ever really happen??) We've been so busy...3 kids is kicking my booty. I have SOOO much respect and admiration for all you amazing women out there that handle more children, not to mention older, more involved children than I, and make it look so good too. I want to be like you all when I grow up!
(I digress...)
I finally finished the Disneyland posts tonight. The rest will hopefully be done by the end of the week. Between Mark's mom & I we probably took about 200 pictures at Disneyland...I promise to post no more than 150 of them.
Thanks for checking in on us!

Disneyland/California Adventure

We spent 2 days at Disneyland (and California Adventure). On the second day we were lucky enough to have Grandma Vicki along. Both days were really fun. If only we lived closer!

Gotta get the traditional shot by the Mickey flowers!
And when you see Mickey hanging around for pictures - you get in on that action too!

Lagoon @ C.A.

We took a picture of Cooper on the letter C and Porter, not one to be left out, chose letter L. Funny kid!

Porter time

Porter was pretty bummed that he wasn't tall enough to go on Star Tours so I told him that just he and mom could go on whatever ride he wanted. He studied the map and decided it was "THIS one, mom [pointing to map] This is really the one"

So Tea Cups it was!

And on the way back to tomorrow land, he even got grandma to take him on the rockets!

What a fun grandma!

Mad Hatters

While waiting for grandma, I decided to keep the boys entertained by going into one of the shops and letting them try on hats. They had a ball. I took about 10 pictures...here are just a few.

These were a big hit...

When Grandma caught up with us she even got in on the action.

In the end, they went with traditional ears...you just can't go wrong!

Jedi Training camp

What could get these 2 crazy boys to sit this still and hold 100% of their interest??...

...none other than Darth Vader and his cronies coming to challenge the Jedi, that's what!

You'd think they'd be dying to get in on this action, but for reasons unknown, this is how they choose to participate.

Toy Story Mania

This was the newest ride at C.A. The line was pretty long, and there are no fast passes yet, but that didn't stop us from going 2 or 3 times. (And, by the way, I beat Mark's score on this one every time)

Sportin' their cool 3D glasses!

Waiting in line...only about 40 min. to go...

Buzz Lightyear

Because it has fast passes, and it's right next to the Star Wars area of Tomorrowland - we probably end up riding this ride more than any other. Mark prefers this one to the similar but newer on in C.A. Probably because he gets crazy high scores on this one - beats me every time!

Waiting in line again!

Maybe Mark beats me all the time because he is IN IT TO WIN IT...while I, on the other hand, will stop what I'm doing to pose for the camera.

{Hello camera, do you want to see my crazy eyes??}

Mark insisted that I add the proof of his mad laser blaster skills.{I think he might have still been feeling the sting of losing to me on the other one} There's no arguing with that score. {And also, I'm feeling a little gypped that the other game did not give you the option to e-mail your crazy good scores to yourself...that or I'm just a bigger person who doesn't need the validation...hmmm, let me think. Nope, it's the first one}

Bug's Life

This area had some fun rides that were just the speed for our little guys. And Porter met the height requirement for each and every one of them (hooray!)

They even got to be the drivers which they thought was pretty cool.

Waiting for the Bug's Life 4D adventure to begin.

Around the Parks

After a little coaxing, I convinced Cooper to go on the giant ferris wheel with me. He LOVED it.

The boys both thought meeting Mater and Lightning was about as cool as it gets. They kept asking me "Is that the REAL Mater and Lightning...and oddly, everytime I said 'Yes', I got that strange "is it wrong to lie?" feeling I get when my kids ask me if that was the "real" Santa Claus.


I LOVE the boys' attempts at saluting. Too funny!


Miss Hadley got a little visit from Alice in Wonderland...she was pretty excited.