The Happiest Place On Earth

The Happiest Place On Earth did not feel that happy last week, no thanks to the scorching 100 degree weather plus humidity! Regardless, the kids still had tons of fun. Our Star Wars loving boy was able to ride on Star Tours SIX times! He visited all the planets! If that's not fun, I don't know what is (for him). 

Obligatory picture in the front

This would've been perfect if that mother/daughter didn't photobomb us! Maybe it's time to work on my Photoshop skills and take them out! I think this is Lucas's third time at Disney and Char's second. This was definitely a trip to remember for them; they're at the perfect age right now to capture fun family vacation memories.

Obligatory picture in front of the castle

How long has Disney been celebrating their diamond anniversary? Regardless, glad we didn't miss it! 

Obligatory picture in front of the wishing well

You may be wondering, why is this an obligatory picture? Well, around eight years ago, somebody proposed here and the rest is history!

 Hello Boba Fett!

 May the Force be with you forever!

 Yum! $12 turkey leg!

 BB-8!!! Yeee!!!

Dan told me all the BB-8 cups were sold out. While I was wandering around with Charlotte, looking for a cold drink, I stumbled upon this little stand who... lo and behold, sold this sought after BB-8 cup! I win!

 Kids loved this ride, I was a bit scared of it

 Kids did not like Mr Toad (or Snow White)

 Not-so-happy with her favorite princess

Charlotte insisted she wanted to take pictures with the princesses while Lucas was riding Star Tours. When we got there, she refused to smile. Come on, girlfriend! 

 They loved the tea cup ride (parents hated it!)

 Two days at Disney comes to an end

It was HOT in Anaheim! I'm talking 100 degree weather plus humidity. I'm talking walk-out-of-your-hotel-room-at-8-in-the-morning-and-still-feeling-the-heat! It was insanely HOT! The kids had fun, so I guess it was worth it. We also did a lot of walking, super tiring!

Once our Disney adventures were over, we spent an extra day exploring downtown Disney. Did I mention how horrendous it was walking up and down in the insane heat?! We ended our trip at Goofy's Kitchen. You pay a fortune for this restaurant and it's comparable to Hometown Buffet quality. The kids loved this place because of all the characters parading around and taking pictures with them. Charlotte loved seeing Minnie!

 Char's a bit camera shy in the beginning

 They took a picture with Minnie three times!

 Char's unsure about Pluto

 Loved Chip (or Dale?)

 Chip or Dale? Who are you?

 Cute map of Disneyland

 Goodbye Disneyland... see you in two years!

 I had some people give me really good tips. A couple which really helped... 

1) Ride the monorail from downtown to Tomorrowland. This is perfect because it stops right by Star Tours! Beware: it's closed during the hottest parts of the day because there's no a/c inside and the monorail is around 20 degrees hotter. 

2) Bring your own liquid enhancer so you can put it in your water. Don't buy their bottled waters. If you go to any restaurant or stand, Disney provides water. Keep hydrated, peoples!

3) Ask a cast member photographer to take your picture! They take much better pictures than a random person you stop! Notice how perfectly centered all our pictures are with the family. Cast member, yo!

And now, I have two weeks of vacation left before school! How did summer fly by so fast?! That's the end of our summer vacationing!

Summer Summer

... is nearly over over! How can that be?! I just checked my calendar and realized that (not including this week), I only have two weeks of summer left! How?! How did it go by so quickly?! I've probably talked about this before... but HOW did Lucas become a Kindergartner already?! Anyway, here's a random selection of things on my phone. Next post: Disneyland!

Random lunch time outing

ChikFilA Day - eat mor chiken!

Fun at Barnes & Noble

One of their favorite stores

My favorite babysitter: iPod

Bubble fun in the backyard

Char's picnic/tea party set up


Char's only tea party victim

Charlotte's been obsessed with this whole tea party thing lately. She will wake up (always first to wake up in this house) and set up her tea party in the playroom. Then she'll ask everyone to have a tea party with her. Dad's the only victim who falls into her trap. The rest of us just tell her "no thanks" or "maybe later". 

 She wanted a picture with storm troopers

Another Weekend Gone

Summer is quickly coming to an end with just one month remaining. I have all this new curriculum to go over in a month's span. In the meantime, I have two kids keeping me equally busy. Oh boy. Anyway, we finished off Lucas's final birthday party this weekend and also had a family wedding. 

 Enjoying their playroom

 "Reading" at the library

 Summer time = Yogurtland time

 "Reading" at home

I really can't wait till Lucas can read next year. I really hope he masters reading by the end of Kindergarten. 

Moose!

 Face Swap!

Yes, this is actually their face swapped. They look so eerily similar, it's crazy!

 HH with friends

 Movie was ehhh

 Thank you Apple for our free summer movie

Birthday party with friends

 Happy final 5th birthday, Lucas!

This was a first for us. For Lucas's school party, we just had the parents drop off their kids at our place for 1.5 hours. Lucas claims his party was too short, I thought the opposite. Having five boys outside was tolerable. I guess this is the beginning of something new. I guess this also means that my little boy is growing up. 

 Wedding rehearsal

 Pre-ceremony (killing time)

My brother got married this past weekend. What's cool about this place is that nearly seven years ago, we got married here, too and that's how "our shinnanigans" started. 

 My favorite flower girl

 Someone wasn't very patient during the ceremony

Pretty awesome backdrop

 

Family selfie

 

 Family pic

 Sister twins!

 Photobooths are awesome

 Free slurpee day!

And that was our week/weekend! Next week we're off on our July vacation. Can't wait! It'll be awesome!

Happy 5th Birthday Lucas!

It was Lucas's 5th birthday this past Saturday. Time sure flies! 

 Birthday Jedi

 Without the influence of anybody, Lucas decided to be a SW fan. He's already watched all seven episodes (waiting for Rogue One to come out in December) and knows a whole mess of Star Wars facts. This kid is a good kid because he only likes people on the Light Side.

 Our Star Wars family

Birthday morning donuts

We suddenly have like seven boxes of (built) SW Legos at home

 Building Legos all by himself

Building Poe's X-Wing

Lucas received a whole bunch of SW Legos for his birthday. I was surprised that he was able to build pretty much everything by himself. It's great during nap time since he's occupied. He's currently playing with the gigantic X-Wing that he built this weekend (with a little help from Mommy and Daddy). 

Even though Lucas just turned five, it seems like he's much older than his age. I really don't think I'm biased when I say this, but he's a really bright kid. I guess we'll see if I'm biased when his report card comes out in Kindergarten. Lucas is a really kind kid who always thinks about others first. He chose a strawberry cake for his birthday because he knew Charlotte likes strawberries. He wanted to have tie fighter sandwiches (note: doesn't like the Dark Side) because he wants to make sure some of his friends who like bad guys will get a sandwich when they come. He wanted to get chocolate cupcakes because his BFF likes chocolate. That's just a few examples of the kind of boy Lucas is. 

Happy birthday to my favorite Jedi! 

In other news...

 Smelling the flowers

 Ayesha Curry International Smoke House (no Ayesha that night)

 The whole family is obsessed with Tsums

 C: I need headphones so I can hear better (notice where the jack is)

Working my butt off to redesign their playroom was worth it

 Celebrating July 4th with some burgers

 Added four Adirondack chairs to the backyard

 Painted a nasty Ikea table with chalkboard paint for some sidewalk chalk fun

 Loves going to the library to get new books

... and that was Lucas's 5th birthday and our week's adventures.