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.

Valentines Day

Our Valentines Day celebration wasn't really spectacular since I was still recovering from being sick, and I didn't have an opportunity to prepare anything on Saturday. But we still had a nice day. Allie made herself a heart headband to wear to school. Each of the kids wrote something that they love (hot chocolate, snuggling in a blanket, etc.) on their heart and posted it on our banner. In return, they received a heart filled with chocolates. We all enjoyed the fragrance and beautiful red roses from the centerpiece that we brought home from the wedding on Saturday night. All in all, it was an enjoyable day.

World of Color

Sorry about my absence. I have been out the with flu, which eventually developed into pneumonia. So I have not done a lot for the past three weeks. Everyone else, Jeff, the kids, the ward has done extra work taking care of me. I appreciate all of their help, it has really been great to know that I am loved.
Since I really don't have much to write about for the past 3 weeks, I will go back to the last thing I was going to write about. We went to Disneyland again. I became sick the day after we went, so I was very grateful that we went when we did. We had a great day. Maddie's friend, Patrick, came with us. It was a nice empty January day, so we went on nearly all of the rides in both parks. They we went to see the World of Color presentation at the end of the day. It was very strange. The park closed at 8:00, but the presentation didn't start until 8:30. I have never seen that happen before. So we spent an extra hour at the park. The World of Color was fabulous. There were fountains that moved and sprayed in sync with the music. There were lights that came from everywhere, lasers, and spotlights, and all sorts of different combinations. With the fountains and the lights, it made some very unique effects. We often thought "How did they do that?" It was a very fun day.

Projects, projects

For some reason, I seem to have feast or famine on my household projects. Either I am not working on anything, or I have 4 projects going at the same time. This month is a feast. We have been working on installing crown moulding in our home. I was fortunate to find 500 feet of crown moulding for free. One of my neighbors was just giving it away. So we are looking forward to the finished product. We started in the bedrooms and are nearly done with them. Now that we have some experience, we will attack the living areas of the house.
Another project currently underway is the front yard, what is left of it. I have been working on making a little planter area to add some character. Yesterday, I put in the bricks. I had never done any brick work before, so there was definitely some learning. But I think that it turned out all right, and should do for a small planter in the front yard.

Snow is bright and white and makes black and blue

Living in So Cal has many benefits, but at times, the lack of snow can actually be a detriment. Trying to go on a snow campout is an extreme challenge for our scouts. Most of the time when they are able to put one together, there is a pitiful amount of slush on the rocky ground. This year, they were in luck. There was 2-3 feet of snow on the ground. It was like really snow camping! Still being Californians, we didn't have any sleds available to take advantage of this boon. But never fear, we are resourceful and they brought boogie boards to slide down the snow. It worked quite well......in fact, maybe a little too well. Jayd became bold in his sledding on the icy snow and eventually came face to face with physics and mother nature and met a tree head on. A little dazed and certainly black and blue, he was not to be stopped in his enjoyment and charged back up the hill. However, he does admit that after that run, he would try to slow down when approaching a tree!