Disneyland with the boys!!!

I figure no day is complete without multiple things to do and places to be, so before we took off to Disney we went over to Eastvale Elementary to see Anika recieve her awards for the Reflections Contest. She won a second place for photography and a 3rd for visual arts in the Corona/Norco School District.
Then it was off to Disneyland where spending a wonderful day with just my boys, grandma and friends made for a perfect day!!!

This was the first trip that I had at Disneyland where Josh decided he was scared to go on just about any ride, even storybook where our guide sounded just like a disney princess. I thought boys are brave. Josh has been planning his Pirates birthday since the day after his Spiderman birthday but I could not get him to go on the ride. When we got to our turn to go on he started screaming his head off,
it was pretty embarrassing.
Samantha is 2 years older than Josh but they got along so great and held hands
the whole day, it was really cute. There was no way you could miss where Riley was with the mickey wizard hat!

Dumbo was the only ride these two wanted to go on the whole day luckily we got some others in.

We love going anywhere with Grandma!!
By 6:00 they were done!! Josh could not even lift his head up. We ended our day with a yummy meal at Rainforest cafe.

Wicked !!!!!!!!!!!!!

In celebration of our Birthdays, it was Anika's great idea to go see Wicked, and as she would put it, it was Wicked Good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was cool because we were able to get some autographs for Anika on our way out.
She was Glinda!!!

And Fiyero
The whole experience made such an impact on Anika that she very confidently informed us that she would be up there on the stage one day. We know she will accomplish anything that she has her mind set upon!

After the play we went over to Hollywood and Highland to have dinner at CPK, and walk around the shops!!! The coolest thing was, that they were getting all set up for the Oscars so we had fun walking around and for a moment dreaming of what it would be like to be a Star, haven't we all given an academy award speach in front of the mirror, common. :)

We finished our perfect night with cake and presents back at the house. Thanks to Grandma and Aunt Kathy for babysitting.

It is great to be a Brownie

Today was the International Fair for Anika's Brownie Troop, their country was Brazil and they did the Samba. The girls did an amazing job on their dance (they have incredible leaders who worked long and hard with them and it was worth it). I was a Brownie when I was her age and my Mom was the troop leader. I have so many great memories from it and it is fun to watch Anika have the same positive experience.

Almost 8

People tell you all the time to enjoy your kids while they are small because the next thing you know they are all grown up. I feel this is especially true with Anika, because she is my oldest and is just growing up so fast. She is almost 8 so it was time to get her ears pierced. It was a long wait for her, she has been asking for years. I had to wait until I was 12 which I found cruel and unusual (sorry Mom) and did not want her to have to wait that long. We had so much fun taking her down to Libby Lu with one of her best friends Nicole. She was brave and did not cry, it was over fast and her ears look beautiful. Taryn is already to get hers done now.

With love from Flordia

Nothing makes the kids more happy than getting a package in the mail from Flordia!!! This time Great Grandma sent us a yummy Valentines treat of Chocolate Crocodiles. Thank you Great Grandma for always being so original and thoughtful.

Lots of Snow

Every year we take the kids to see the snow. I can remember in past years building rock snowmen however this year there was more snow than ever before and we had so much fun. We know it is time to go when at least 3 of the 4 are crying. Suddenly it hits them that they are freezing cold and can not take one more minute. On this day all of Southern California was up in the mountains with us but luckily it only took and hour and half to get back to the freeway, thank goodness for the DVD player.

Grandpa Dunkley's 70th Birthday Cruise

Cabo Cruise!!!

Wow!! This was the best vacation ever. We had such a wonderful time with our family, 38 of us on this trip. Everyone was healthy and happy and we enjoyed every minute we had together. The food was fabulous!! Thank heavens for kids club and cabo was beautiful. I think this will be a birthday Grandpa Dunkley will never forget.

This cake was so yummy
Taryn is my talented girl
The kids all loved our towel animals at the end of each day.
The midnight buffet with Anika, we were so excited to see it but to tired to eat any of the food.
The pool was fun however.....
the water slides were even more fun and Anika finally made the height cut off

Bryce never gets enough attention
Anika and Mom came in 7th on the Amazing race, which was good enough to earn a medal but we are going for the trophey next time. We got through it with only one small arguement and learned some great teamwork skills.

Cabo !!!

We spent the afternoon on Lover's Beach, it was beautiful

My favorite part of the day, dinner in the Dining Room with everyone