Adventures in California, Part 2: The Beach

The day after Disneyland we took the girls to the beach. Adelynne loved the water. Amy loved the sand. Neither one loved getting washed off, even though that water was WAY warmer than the ocean.
Amy, Dustin, and Adelynne inspecting the waves.

Run away! The waves are wet! (and cold too)

Adelynne loved the beach almost as much as she loved the roller coasters.

The adults were just trying to stay warm. Here's my dad and my sister, and my cousin Charity in the middle. She ditched school that day to hang with us. It was fun to have her with us.

Here Charity is trying to show the girls how to build a sand castle. I don't think they really got it.

Adelynne and her bucket.

Adelynne playing in the water.

Amy got near enough to the water to fill up her bucket.

She's so cute!

Both girls liked filling their buckets up half with sand and half with water. It didn't make much sense to me, but hey, they're from Indiana.

Charity and Amy playing with the sand.

Dustin, contemplating the mathematical equation and it's impact on the waves, or the world, or something.

Amy hard at work.This really is all she did the whole time we were there.

Adelynne getting buried by Dustin and Grandpa. She still has on some of her facepaint from Disneyland. I think pink eyebrows will soon be in style.

She didn't just get buried in the sand, Grandpa and Dustin made her into a sand mermaid. (Sounds slightly oxymoron to me, but hey, she loved it.)

Then Amy wanted to join. Here's Grandpa and Dustin hard at work.

Finished product. 2 beautiful mermaids!

Watching them get out was pretty fun too.

The beach wouldn't be complete without chasing the birds.

Amy wondered off a bit to find a new stretch of sand.

Getting all that sand off her took several days.

My sister forgot her camera, so I was the designated photographer. Here's a sweet one of my sister Tracy and my awesome brother-in-law Dustin.

After we left the beach, we went back to my aunt's house and swam in her pool. Adelynne really was like a little fish.

Amy was freezing, but had fun for the most part.

The boogie board became their "boat."

Amy wanted this, but then was scared because it wobbled. I find pictures of her in tears slightly amusing. I guess I'm a mean aunt.

When we finally got the hot tub warmed up we got all of us in: Grandpa, Grandma, Dustin, Tracy, me, Charity, and Adelynne and Amy.

It was fun to revisit the beach, where we spent so much time during the summer as kids.

Adventures in California, Part 1: Disneyland

I got to spend almost 3 weeks in California with my family, thanks to my brother David who paid for my trip. My arrival was supposed to be a surprise for my dad, but mom's plans were suddenly cancelled, so she had no other way to cover up to my dad any excuse to go to the airport at 10 o'clock at night. Oh well. It was still fun. We drove down to LA and met up with my sister and her family, who were coming from Vegas, for an exciting day atWe had a little trouble finding the parking, so we saw this sign several times. The next 2 pictures are the girls' reactions to going to the most magical place on earth:

Adelynne almost looks terrified, but I promise you it was one of the best days of her lives. For the rest of her vacation in CA she kept asking when they were going back. The first ride of the day: the Tram from the parking lot.

In all honesty, Peter Pan was the first ride. It's one of my favorites. But on our way to Peter Pan, Grandma stopped for a special picture with the girls in front of Cinderella's castle.

A little more up close to catch their excitement.

The Dumbo ride. Adelynne and Amy got to ride it twice - once with Aunt Amy and Grandpa, and once with mommy and daddy. My lack of good photography skills left me with this one as the only good picture.

Casey Jr. was another favorite. Here's Grandma, Mommy (my sister Tracy) and Adelynne in the Monkey cage. Amy was with me, Grandpa, and Daddy in the Wild Animal cage. Tho, if you ask Amy and Adelynne, they will say that Adelynne went in the Wild Animal cage and Amy went in the Monkey cage. Too bad that bar is in the middle of Adelynne's face to cover up that pure excitement.

This one is a little better.

I went on the carisol with my nieces. Excuse my poor photography skills once again.

I think this is one of the only pictures that actually has my face in it. Proof that I was there, and not just my camera made the trip.

I know a lot of people do not like the It's a Small World ride, but I love it. I always have. And it always seemed to be closed whenever I went to Disneyland. Seriously. It was closed before my brother David went on his mission. It was closed when I came on band tour my senior year. It was closed when we brought my niece Heather before my mission. (Those 3 times at least were from ages 15 to 21. I was 25 when we went this time.) So, needless to say I was very excited about the ride.Here's the tuba and polka band for Joe. Poor guy had to work so he missed coming to Disneyland. Some day I'll bring him back.
My beloved Russia.
Thailand. Joe's oldest nephew Andrew is going here on his mission. He leaves the end of July. My cousin Emily also served her mission there.
And here's the tuba at the very end too.

After It's a Small World we went and stood in line to see the princesses. We got to see Belle, Aurora, and Jasmine. We were hoping to see Ariel because that is Amy's favorite princess. But both girls were excited about seeing the princesses anyway. Then they got to have their faces pained. Adelynne chose a Unicorn crown and Amy chose a Mermaid crown.Then they wandered the Princess store finding the souvineer they wanted most. Amy was especially funny to watch as she inspected each of the princess Polly Pockets.To no one's surprise she finally settled on the Ariel one and took it to her daddy. She didn't take her eyes off of it the entire time he held it.Dustin started swinging it back and forth subconsciously and Amy's head followed it back and forth like a pendulum. Quite funny.She really wanted it and was quite upset with us all that we wouldn't buy it right then. We promised her that we would buy it at the end of the day. To distract her my sister pointed out Ariel who had just gone into the princess greeting area. Amy reached out her arms and said, "Let's go get her." But we couldn't. The princesses change every hour, and the line was over an hour long, so by the time we got up front again, Ariel would be gone. Instead, Tracy and Dustin had to carry a screaming Amy on to the train. It was our only melt down of the entire day. Not bad for a 3 year old.

After the adults rested while we road the train, or tram or whatever it is called, we ventured on to Toon Town. Toon Town isn't as cool as it used to be, in my opinion at least. But I do think the girls enjoyed it. They got to meet Minnie and Mickey too. I took Amy on the roller coaster which she loved. Excuse my boob. I'm not good at taking pictures myself on a moving ride. But I loved how happy she was!Contrast that happy face to the following picture, taken on the Snow White ride, which she thought was really scary.

Once again, the thrilled, happy face:

oh, and my boob again. I don't know how to crop my pictures to take that out. sorry.

From there we ate dinner and Adelynne went on the Rocky Mountain Railroad ride with Dustin. I went with Amy and Grandpa to meet Jessie and Woody. Amy was very excited that Woody blew her a kiss. It was very cute.

We also did the Haunted Mansion and the Pirates ride. The girls enjoyed both of them. On Pirates Amy put her arms up in the air in anticipation of a drop. It was so cute! The people behind us thought it was darn cute too. I am impressed at how much the girls liked the roller coasters.

The last thing I did was go on Space Mountain with my parents and Adelynne. I love roller coasters and miss being able to go on them, especially with my bad back/neck. We had a wheel chair for me throughout the day and that really helped a lot. Space Mountain satisfied my need for thrill, but I hurt quite a bit afterwards, so it was a good thing that it was the end of the day. The girls were pretty tired too:

Disneyland was so fun! I'm so glad I was able to go. I have the cutest nieces and it was fun to share this experience with them. Good thing the party just started.

What Just Happened at My House

I have 3 weeks of vacationing in California with my family to blog about, which included a monumental trip to Disneyland for my nieces and other fun family happenings, but that is going to have to wait so that I can bring you this:

BEFOREThe mohawk I gave him because I figured it would be the only opportunity I have in this lifetime. And this way, someday our kids will think we were so cool. Fully buzzed

AFTER
No hair whatsover. Mr. Clean. Captain Picard. Creepy scary dude. Oh wait, no, not that one. Although he is very strange looking.

I just kissed the top of his head and he giggled like the Pilsbury Doughboy. What fun summer adventures we are having! What are you doing this summer?

Belt Family Visit 2010

My sister and her family came out to visit again this year. I do love that I get to be the first stop (and usually the last stop as they start heading home too). I look forward to spending a couple of days with them, and I also love that it usually means I get to see them a couple of times during their month-long visit. This year they also brought their cats, which sadly, I didn't get a picture of. I do love Nemo and Max. They have fun personalities and I have missed them. The girls seemed to enjoy playing in my room and on my bed, just like last time. The adults continued to get a good laugh at Amy and Adelynne, as they would go into an empty room and close the door each time they got upset. They are pretty spunky for 3 and almost 5.
One day we went to Thanksgiving Point. We went to the Dinosaur Museum and to the Animal Farm. The girls enjoyed the sand/water table.

Here's Adelynne with a handful of dinosaurs.

I don't remember what Joe was doing here, but it obviously made Adelynne very concerned.

Their favorite part? the pony ride of course!

Love that silly face!

Not sure what she was thinking for this one.

There were some very fun animals to see, but I didn't take any pictures of them. The boy peacock was all fluffed out and trying to get the attention of one of the females, who of course
wasn't paying him any attention. There was also a brand new baby goat. So cute! On Sunday we made a fort in our front room and let the girls watch a movie on the laptop.

Tracy took a nap inside.

I love my sister and my brother-in-law Dustin, and my nieces. They are so much fun and I miss them so much! I sure do hope that when Dustin finishes school they will be able to move closer. My nieces are so cute and silly and funny. They make me laugh all the time. They are beautiful reflections of my sister too. I'm looking forward to seeing them again soon!

Retirement

Joe's mom is a middle school orchestra teacher. Well, she "is" one for just another couple of days. She is retiring. She is really excited and we are all excited for her. Ordinarily in her school district, when a teacher retires there is an open house gathering/shindig after school. But she petitioned to those in charge to have hers following her final concert due to the fact that none of her family could actually come. They agreed. So, a few weeks ago the entire (local) family attended her concert. We were also guest performers. We sang a family favorite called "I Can't Get Off Of My Horse." It's a pretty funny song.

Joe and nephew Josh accompanied. I was concerned about Joe playing the guitar because he got his meds earlier that afternoon. But he did great. Oh and that is Ryan on crutches. He was in his final track meet and his muscles were so strong that they ripped the growth plate right off the bone. He has this really cool scooter thing too. He's doing better.

And here's the whole picture. I just asked some parent behind us to take a few pictures. Most are pretty blurry, but at least these 2 came out. It was fun to be able to support Janet at her last concert. I know her children are all really excited for her to be done teaching. She has really enjoyed it, especially these past couple years. She has had 3 of her own grandchildren in her orchestra, which is pretty cool. She started with just 2 periods of orchestra, but has grown to 4 because the groups have gotten so large. Congrats to Janet! Happy Retirement!