An amazing sunset captured the final moments of our fantastic visit

We had the wonderful opportunity to visit with Bill's Uncle Barry and Cousin Hannah recently and what an awesome visit it was!  Bill grew up not having much of a relationship with his extended family, something that was completely opposite to how I was raised.  Both of my parents have large families, I have many cousins and second cousins, and one grandmother still holding strong.  Family gatherings were the norm growing up.  Every holiday meant a house full of people, lots of talking and lots of wine.  Amazingly, we all (my immediate extended family) still live in the same state and, except for one cousin, all live within a few hours drive of each other.  We don't get together as often as we did when I was a child, mostly because we all have our own families now, but family reunions still happen occasionally.

Bill's dad was an only child, so there were never any large family gatherings on that side.  There could perhaps be distant relatives in that family line, but I've never heard about them.  Bill's mom is one of three and her mother is still living.  I've been a part of Bill's family for 14 years now, having only met his Grandmother once and his Aunt once, maybe twice.  I had never had the privilege of meeting his Uncle until just last week.  I'm so happy that I did get the chance to meet him and his granddaughter, Hannah, and it was an amazing feeling to be able to introduce my children to their extended family. 

To me, family is family regardless.  Yes, everyone has drama and challenges, but all families have drama because that is what happens when you bring people together.  But they are still family.  To me, family doesn't have to be blood related.  The relationship could be made via marriage, but it could also just be a spiritual bond.  We have several "family members" that aren't in our blood line, but I would not consider them any less of a family member than my own blood siblings. 

Fortunately, Barry viewed family that same way I do.  We only had one day to visit, and it definitely wasn't enough, but from what I can tell, Barry is a very loving grandpa and a really nice gentleman.  My girls thoroughly enjoyed their visit with their cousin Hannah.  Hannah is one year older than Katelyn, so fit well into the mix of our gaggle of girls.

Bill said, the day after our visit, that he was really sad that he never had much of a relationship with his Uncle growing up.  I reminded him that its never to late to start, so why not start now and why let another year pass.  I am looking forward to watching my husband build a relationship with his extended family.  I'm looking forward to watching my girls learn about their cousins and how life is so similar, yet so different, than the ones they lead (unfortunately, we don't own a horse, live on a ranch or own cattle).

Hannah, Katelyn and Vanessa.  Paige had just woken up from a nap, was grumpy, and refused to be in the picture.

We decided to head down to the beach after dinner to dip our toes in the water.  It ended up being a spectacular sunset and we were there until it was long gone.

She looks so small in comparison to the vast ocean.

It was only a matter of time before they jumped into the water.  Can you guess who fell first?

 

And yes, we came home with a bucket load of sand from off of their clothes.

I have a feeling that we'll be taking a trip out of state within the next year and I'm eager to make it happen.

Part two of our adventure

The next few days of our adventure at Disneyland were filled with lots of ride, junk food, sunscreen, and people.  There were a fair amount of rides that Paige was able to go on and she enjoyed every single one!  The trip was a memorable one and we are looking forward to the next time we get to return to the most magical and happiest place on Earth.  We were blessed that family was able to join us, making the trip even more special. 

While Katelyn and Vanessa were riding Space Mountain, Paige and Daddy road the rockets.

Paige thinking that she can drive.  My whip-lash proved otherwise!

Thank God Walt Disney used all white horses on his carousal in Disneyland (unlike that at California Adventure), because it makes it a lot easier for the girls to get on the ride quicker.  As it is, they still have to debate between which color saddle they want to ride.  The biggest challenge was getting them to stay in the same area of the ride, and not on opposite sides, so that we could keep an eye on them.

Malissa's Mini-Me!  Paige (and the rest of us) were very happy that Malissa and Eric joined us on our adventure.  It was a lot of fun hanging out with them and loads of entertainment watching the girls interact with their Aunt.

Disneyland does an AMAZING firework display.  It truly captures that magical feeling and reassures in you why you are there.

Can you tell who that is flying above the castle during the fireworks show?  It's Tinker Bell!  I was holding a kid up, standing in a very crowded area and only had my small point-and-shoot camera, so I wasn't able to get the shots that I really would have liked to have taken.  But, you can see it's her, even if she is not in focused and really small. 

But wait!  There's more to the fireworks show.  Dumbo flew over the castle too!  I've never seen him fly before in this type of show and it was awesome.  The entire show is timed with music, and it absolutely just blows my mind that someone gets to have so much fun using their creative juices to arrange these shows.

The closest shot I was able to get of Dumbo.

The fireworks painted the sky!

Minnie Mouse was Paige's second most requested person to visit on this trip.  Mickey was first.  But when we saw Minnie, she was so excited to give her a hug and kiss.  It just makes my heart melt at how sweet and innocent she is!

What was Paige's favorite ride, you ask?  The roller coaster!  In Toontown, there is one made for little ones (Gadget Go Coaster) and Paige rode it with her hands in the air the entire time and a huge smile on her face!

Our last birthday celebration at the Blue Bayou.  Remember, by this point, Paige had gotten pretty good at telling people it was her birthday and getting a free dessert (usually to be eaten by her sisters, as she usually was only interested in the attention, but not in actually eating the dessert).

Meeting Mickey Mouse!

Paige could not contain her excitement when she met Mickey.  She covered her mouth, almost in disbelief, that she was actually meeting her favorite character.

Meeting Daisy was a crazy scene.  We were in Toontown and usually when a character comes out to meet people, there is a worker there to do crowd control.  Apparently Daisy decided to take a walk out on her own, which just created a huge crowd with adults pushing in front of small children to get their picture taken, no order or line, just poor Daisy trying to make the kids happy.  So what did Daisy do?  She took control herself!  Seriously, this is one smart duck (remember, they cannot talk, just hand and head movements)!  She started telling people to wait their turn and for others to come up when it was theirs.

We caught Donald as we were leaving the park to head to the airport.  We were all really tired by this point, but still had it in us for one last picture.

Our fun adventure took us to...

DISNEYLAND!                                                                                               (Part One)

The girls and I, along with Papa and Grandma, flew in on Saturday morning and took the Disneyland Express shuttle, which was covered in Ariel!!!, to the Disneyland Hotel where we stayed for the next few nights.  Bill had been in Brazil for the prior two weeks and flew in that morning too and met us at the hotel.  After such a long trip that he had been on, it was wonderful to see him, but even more magical that it was at Disneyland!  We were lucky enough to have Aunt Malissa and Eric join us for a few days and help us celebrate.

Saturday was a relaxing day, with lunch at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney, followed by a spa appointment for myself (hey, without me, there would be no Paige, so why not treat myself in honor of my daughter's birthday!) and Grandma, while swimming was planned for the girls and everyone else.

Yes, Bill looks REALLY tired here, but given that he had just flown in from Brazil (around a 14 hour flight, plus time zone differences), we were happy to have him with us in the vertical form!

We had dinner at Goofy's Kitchen, which is a character buffet restaurant.  We had lots of friendly visitors from so many of the Disney stories, most of whom Paige had no idea who they were!  But that didn't matter.  She would run and get her autograph book, go up to them with her book in hand, and give hugs and kisses like they were old friends. 

The gang with Pluto at Goofy's Kitchen.  Apparently Goofy was on a break, so Pluto was covering for him.  Kind of odd, if you ask me!  All night we kept an eye out looking for Goofy, since after all, it was his restaurant, we should get a picture with him!

With the White Rabbit.

Hugs for Chip.

One of Paige's Favorite, Minnie Mouse!

Alice was especially sweet with Paige, especially when she noticed her wearing her birthday shirt.  Yes, night #2 of Paige's birthday celebration and she had the hang of taking full advantage of it.

With Dale

With Aladdin

Impressive blue lips and tongue!  I don't even want to know what her insides looked like after eating this cupcake...yes, these beautiful colorful additions all came from the frosting of a cupcake!

And as we were leaving the restaurant (almost three hours later!), who did we finally happen to see?  Goofy!

Paige loves all of the excitement of her birthday, except for when she realizes that everyone is staring at her.  Notice how she leans towards me when she realizes this?

 They told everyone to get up and dance, so why not?!?!

 
Part Two...posted tomorrow!

Paige on all of her birthdays

Just a few hours old



Celebrating her first birthday with face painting and a yummy cupcake!

All smiles as she turns two!

Turning three!

Paige is THREE!

We celebrated Paige's third birthday a few weeks back, however because it falls towards the end of the school year, which somehow is just as busy as the Christmas season, I'm just now writing about it!

This was the first year that she totally "got it".  She knew that it was her birthday, that she was no longer two years old, that we celebrated her (and only her, no sisters!), and that there would be cake and presents involved somewhere.  For Paige, just for a few days, the world revolved around her and she milked every minute of it!

The beginning of her birthday celebration began at school.Paige's birthday fell on the last day of school for her, so it was a fun little send off before summer break. On each child's birthday at Paige's school, the parents are invited into the classroom to participate in a birthday celebration and share pictures of the child from each year of his/her life. They have a very sweet way to celebrate and honor each year the child has been born, which is demonstrated as the child holds the Earth and walks around a lit candle (representing the sun), with rays coming out (representing each month).The child starts at their birthday month, signified with an empty flower vase, and walks around the sun stopping briefly at their birthday month, adding a flower to the vase and where then the parents shares a picture of the child from that year.  As the child walks around the sun, the children sing "The Earth goes around the sun, the sun, the Earth goes around the sun.  It takes 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days."  After the child has walked around the appropriate amount of times, they then sing happy birthday and he/she gets to blow out the candle.  I had never seen this done before, and it was just beautiful.  First off, what a great way to introduce a lesson about how many months/weeks/day in a year.  Secondly, it showed the children that life happens and they grow from year to year.  We finished the celebration with a little birthday treat.

We went to dinner that night with Papa and Grandma and opened a few presents.  However, her big birthday celebration came the next day as we boarded a plane and went on a fun adventure, which I'll post about next!

Two Peas in a Pod

I went into Vanessa and Paige's room the other morning to wake Vanessa up for school and found two of my precious princesses sound asleep.  Since we are in our temporary home, Vanessa and Paige share a room and, in fact, share a double bed.  They will be sharing a room in our new house, so had no issues with sharing a bed here.  And since they usually like to sleep touching someone else, holding my hand, snuggling with Mommy or Daddy, it made sense to have them share a bed.  For Katelyn, this situation would have NEVER worked.  Katelyn is a very light sleeper and, as it is now, takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r to fall asleep.  I could only imagine how long her falling asleep process would take if she had to share a bed for several months.  I'm hoping that when she finds a husband that she will have adjusted to having someone sleep next to her! 

So, here is what I found the other morning...

Attached at the hip, even in their sleep

Notice the empty pillow and entire other half of the bed?

Now Vanessa knows how it feels on most mornings when I wake up to discover Paige had made her way into my bed at night.

Every girl needs to feel pretty!

A few pictures of the girls getting ready for Katelyn's First Communion.  You're never to young to visit the nail salon!

Sitting so still!

Aren't those some of the cutest piggies you've ever seen!

Enjoying the entire experience.

I think she could get use to this!

The tickle-y part.  She went with a grape purple color - very pretty.

Imagine that...hot pink was her color of choice.