New Dinner Week

This week we tried something new......., okay, lots of new things. We decided to have a New Dinner Week. Allie started it last week when she pulled out a cookbook and wanted to make a new dessert. She also found a dinner that she thought we would like. Since I happened to have the ingredients, we made it. There was another recipe that she wanted to try, and one that I had been meaning to try for a while, so we just made it new dinner week, and made something new every night. Here's our menu:

Sunday: Chicken Parmesan
Monday: Taco Pizza
Tuesday: Biscuits and Gravy
Wednesday: Cheesy Ham and Potato Soup
Thursday: Pizza Braids
Friday: Chili Tots
Saturday: Tomato Chicken Pasta

I was a little worried that no one would eat for a week, but it turned out all right. Everyone was willing to try the dinners. The Biscuits and Gravy wasn't their favorite, but the Pizza Braids were a huge hit. I thought it was really fun to try different things, and I found a few other things that I would still like to try, but didn't have the ingredients at the time. We will just have to do it again sometime.

A DrOpa in

Opa dropped in for a visit this week. He arrived Wednesday night, then left Thursday morning. It was a very quick visit, but we always enjoy having him around. Allie and Gabe enjoyed climbing up him to get on his shoulders. It is starting to get a little difficult for Gabe, he is getting taller and heavier. Allie scrambles up there like a squirrel climbing a tree!

Breaking the Bank to go Sky High

This week was finally the week! A few years ago, I was tired of finding money all over the house. I liked that part, the part I didn't like was the ensuing argument over whose money it was. So I found a piggy bank, and declared that all money found around the house would go into the "loose change". Once it was full, we would go do an activity that we all enjoyed. It has been overflowing for a few months, but I couldn't find an activity. I finally found one. We broke the bank and went off to play.
We went to Sky High. It was a warehouse that had been converted into a trampoline play zone. There was a huge trampoline area about the size of a basketball court with 100x100 ft trampolines. The walls were also trampolines, so you could bounce in nearly every direction. My favorite thing to do was to bounce from wall to wall and play tag. It was like playing tag on the moon.
They also had a foam pit. There were two successive trampolines and a trampoline wall that ended in a huge foam pit. We did flips, dives and wild bombs into the foam pit and it was like landing on a cushion of air. Once I went in bummy first and folded in half. I couldn't get out!
Jayd's favorite place was the dodgeball court, not surprising, the place was populated with teenage boys. They would be placed on teams, then scramble for the 8 balls and throw them while jumping around. It was a little intense for me, but Jayd sure had a great time. Allie, Gabe and I played dodgeball in the kid zone, an area reserved for smaller children.
All in all, it was a great activity to use our "loose change". We had great family time. Now they are all planning when and how we are going to go back!

Where a Kid (and a Mom) can be a Kid.

I apologize in advance that there is likely to be several Disneyland posts this year. This is another one. I took Allie and Gabe to Disneyland on Friday. Maddie and Jayd didn't want to come. We had a fabulous day. Unfettered by the chains of teenage attitudes, we were free to roam, and to just be kids. Allie and Gabe were both selected to do the Jedi training. Their training was intense, they even had to fight Darth Maul. That alone was enough to scare me! But they were successful, then spent the rest of the day "forcing" me around the park wherever they wanted to go. We spent an hour in Toon Town playing with all the gadgets. Then we went on a few rides here and there, and watched the Fantasmic show. It was a great day with my little ones, who aren't really so little anymore.

Opening Day

Yesterday was opening day for baseball. I don't know if this is a big deal in other sports, but baseball around here has a huge festival for "opening day" where they introduce all of the boys, coaches, board members, etc. They have guest speakers, then games for the boys to play. It is quite a big deal. This year promises to be interesting, both Gabe and Jayd are on the Giants team in different age leagues. It has made things very confusing since I can't tell which team the emails are from. To confuse things a little more, they are both #13. But I think that it is fun to have my boys have something in common this season.