Pre-Disney Fun

We spent a few days in California before going to Disneyland. We flew into the Burbank Airport and then rented a van and drove to Camarillo/Oxnard (where my brother and family live). 

After checking in at the hotel in Camarillo we headed directly for the beach, of course.  What else do you do when you are in California?  The only problem?  It was pretty cold and windy - in CA in August.  Who knew that was possible!  Undeterred, we played in the waves for awhile. Well, the kids played while Dan and I huddled under towels on the beach.

A little girl playing nearby was thrilled to hang out with our big girls and Joseph.

After sufficiently freezing our bums for an hour or so, we departed for the Cafe Rio in Oxnard. Before our trip we had researched Cafe Rios in CA and had planned our trip around two separate visits to different locations of our favorite restaurant.

With our tummies full and happy, we headed back to the hotel to rest and swim in the much warmer pool while we waited for our cousins to be available. 

At dinnertime we met up with the Camarillo Springers at a pizza place.  Scott, his three girls, and a soccer coach from England staying with them were all there.

After dinner the girls left with their cousins for a "girl weekend" . . . they had several days of nonstop girl fun - movies, talking, ice cream, water park, lots of laughter, and three soccer games on Saturday. It was cold in  Camarillo that day, so the kids huddled under a blanket.

 

Meanwhile, Dan, Joseph, and I headed back to the hotel for the night and then drove south to Carlsbad the next morning.

Oh, California traffic. I know that I lost at least 3 years from my life from the stress of being in the crazy LA traffic. It's unreal. Eventually we made it down to Carlsbad, near San Diego and checked into our hotel and my stress level dropped considerably.

And then we were off to Legoland for a parent/Joseph adventure! It was a unique opportunity for Dan and I to get to focus on just our youngest child for a few days.  We spent half the day on Friday and all day on Saturday in Legoland, and we saw and did everything.  Legoland is a magical place for a 7 year old - and Joseph was the perfect age to enjoy everything about the destination.
 
In Legoland, practically EVERYTHING is made out of Legos.  It's truly amazing.

 Can you spot Joseph in the welcome sign below?

 
Many of the rides in Legoland are "kid powered," which I really like.  This particular ride was "Mom and Joseph" powered, and we were so pathetic. We had to pump the lever up and down while holding the joystick to move us down a track toward a firestation (at which point we were to jump out of the firetruck and shoot water at a "burning" building, and then hop back into the truck to return to the start.  It was a race with the other firetrucks.  Somehow we just couldn't get our rhythm right, and Dan, watching from the side, laughed himself silly as we came in completely dead last.  

A break for ice cream and popcorn (and Joseph shows his Lego souvenir - he had earned money prior to the trip to spend in Legoland.)

I love the little cars the kids can drive on real-looking streets with intersections, stoplights, stop signs, etc.  So fun!  At the end Joseph got his official driver's license.  He was pretty excited to get his license before Bailey (who is in real world drivers ed right now).

Legoland also has a pretty good aquarium, which we enjoyed on Friday.  Here Joseph poses by a freaky looking spider crab.

 On one of Joseph's favorite rides, we shot lasers at targets in an Egyptian tomb to rack up points.  I was pretty impressed that I totally won our first round through the ride. (My score is on the left - Joseph's on the right.)

 And, the next time we rode it Joseph (still on the right) beat me - hands down!

 We loved this restroom sign.

Our second day in the park we decided to do all the water rides.  There is a water park connected to Legoland.  That's great, except for the fact that it was CHILLY the two days we were in Carlsbad. Not freezing cold, but not warm enough to want to put on a swimsuit and get wet. But, what could we do?  We got wet anyway.

 This pics were taken just after we finished a ride which soaked us to the bone.  Brrrr.

 
A cool thing about Legoland: there are Lego play areas for the kids at every ride line. So, the parents wait in line and the kids join them when it's just about time to enter the ride. It is a very kid-centric park.

 Goodbye Legoland - we had a fantastic time!  And now we're off to Disney . . . .

DisneyDisneyDisney

We love Disney, and we had so much fun visiting Disneyland in August!  We spent five days in the parks the last week of August.  We chose this week on purpose, allowing most of the country to get back to school so the crowds would be lighter.  It worked - we waited in almost no lines in Disneyland.  California Adventure was another story - the recent addition of Carsland (which is really magical) drew all the crowds like a giant magnet.  So, we worked the system and got a fastpass for the premiere ride in Carsland (Radiator Springs) first thing in the morning.  Then we rode it (twice) in the evening with virtually no wait in line (compared to the 1-2 hour standby wait).


Another favorite of this trip - our first time viewing the "World of Color" show in CA Adventure.  It was so spectacular . . . we watched it on two different nights!

A mistake I made on this trip . . . I brought two small cameras, each which have a nice video camera. Because of this, I didn't bring a video camera.  But I forgot to bring the charger for one of the cameras.  By the time we got to Disneyland, that camera was almost out of battery.  I brought the charger for the other camera, but then could NOT find it in my suitcase (I found it tucked in a corner of the bag when we were home).  So, midway through our Disneyland trip we had to rely on my iphone for all our pictures, including most of our important "tradition" pictures. Not the best quality pictures, and no video from the trip!

 Waiting for the parade to start

Our only complaint about this pilgrimage to Disneyland  . . . it was unusually hot.  Hot and humid. So we hit the parks first thing in the morning and toured heavily until about 1 p.m.  At which time we dragged our sweaty selves back to the hotel (across the street) and took a 3-4 hour nap.  Then we ate dinner in the hotel room and headed back into the park, right as the sun was going doing.  Aaahh - the evenings were gorgeous!   By the way, we did eat lunch in the park each day, and we discovered that Disneyland and DCA have seriously upgraded the quality of their food!  We had some delish and unusual  food that we're still thinking about . . .

Our fourth day in the park was my 42nd birthday, so on the first day I picked up an official "Happy Birthday" pin, which I wore the entire week.  Now, that is the way to celebrate a birthday!  Disney employees have been well-trained to acknowledge any guest wearing a celebratory button.  So, at least 50 times a day I was wished a happy birthday.  It was awesome!  From now on, I'm wearing my birthday pin all week at home, and I expect everyone I see to wish me a happy birthday with equal enthusiasm!  (Ha ha)  My favorite "happy birthday" moment was when a parade performer, walking on 8-foot tall stilts in the Disneyland parade, noticed and read my birthday button, and called out, "happy birthday, Tiffany" as he passed me in the parade.  Seriously the best way to spend a birthday week.

We had some breakthroughs on this trip.  Bailey - who hates rides with "drops", willingly went on Pirates many times and Splash Mountain twice.
And Joseph, who was incredibly afraid of any rollercoaster, learned to love Thunder Mountain.  He was terrified to ride Splash Mountain, but finally rode it in the last half hour we were in the park.  He tried to get himself to go on the ride all week, but finally decided on the last afternoon that he was willing to try it.  Then he sobbed the entire time we were waiting in line - it was heartbreaking and we looked like seriously cruel parents.  Still sobbing, he sat next to Dan on the ride.  His wails increased as we reached the big drop at the end.
 As soon as we dropped, he popped up his head and said, "that's my favorite ride!"  He wanted to ride it again, but we were out of time . . . so that will need to be next time.  Aubrey, true to form, rode and loved every single ride.

A notable moment - there was an earthquake one of the days we were in the park.  Because of this, all of the rides in the park were closed for awhile.  We didn't feel the earthquake, but I guess if a tremor is detected precautions are taken.  At the time of the quake, Aubrey and I were waiting inside the Indiana Jones ride. I guess I'm glad the quake wasn't a noticeable one, because it would really ruin our vacation if we were crushed inside the Indiana waiting queue.

We had fun choreographing our poses for the pictures on the rollercoasters.  Our favorite one was acting out "Call Me Maybe" on Space Mountain.

It was hard to say goodbye . . .

 

 But we did.  Time to get back to reality and school!

A visit to 2nd grade

Last week I spent some time in Joseph's classroom for Curriculum Night.  And I decided that I really like Joseph's teacher, because she encourages the sort of good-hearted sarcasm that is so prevalent in the Porter household.  As evidenced by the instructions on the folder she had the kids put together for their parents:

 

I especially like the "no whining" instruction.  It sounds like something I say on a frequent basis . . . .

And I loved this.  Each of the kids had chosen their favorite "sense," and then recorded why this is the case.  Their explanation and a picture were hanging around the room.

"The best part about me is my eyes.  It helps me see my friend.  And it also helps me see the words in a book.  And it helps me play games.  Without it I couldn't see directions.  Joseph."

Yes, 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Coffey is a great fit for our Mr. Joseph!

Awesome Bailey

Like the scripture says, there is nothing more joyful than to know that my children walk in truth.  

Last night Bailey asked to be in charge of family home evening.  She had prepared a truly amazing lesson about giving service.  She had (as part of a personal progress goal) paid special attention over a two week period to people giving small acts of service at home or at school. She kept a record of these things in her journal, which she shared with us, and she told us that she was surprised how often people did very small, kind things. She said she realized how easy it is to do small things to brighten someone's day which have a great effect on the recipient.

Bailey had us look us some scriptures about service - Matthew 25:40, Mosiah 2:17, Luke 9:24.  She talked about Jesus is our greatest example of giving service. She specifically mentioned the time He washed the feet of the apostles, showing love and humility.

She had carefully chosen the opening and closing songs: the 2nd and 3rd verses of of "Lord, I Would Follow Thee" and "I'll Walk With You" from the Children's Songbook.

Bailey shared some great quotes about service.  These are some of my favorites. They are earning a spot on our wall:

"In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness,
but the number of prayers we answer may be of greater importance."  Elder Uchtdorf

"A little consideration, a little thought for others makes all the difference."  Eeyore 

(we made her read this one using Eeyore's voice)

"You have never really lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you."  

Elder Eyring

"Let our hearts and hands be stretched out in compassion toward others,
 for everyone is walking his or her own difficult path."  Elder Uchtdorf

She finished the lesson by having everyone write a "get well" card to a cousin who had surgery that day.

I'm so proud of my Bailey girl - she is a remarkable young woman, and she truly exemplifies the charitable qualities she was teaching us. Almost every day I hear from someone how delighted they are with the way she is charitable to others, especially those who can "never repay" her. 

A final thought . . . . the lesson obviously had an impact, because after we sang the closing song and had the family prayer, Bailey headed upstairs to work on homework.  I mused out loud that she had forgotten to do her chore (vacuuming the hardwoods).  Joseph jumped up and volunteered to do it for her, as a "secret service."  After the chore was done, he left this note attached to the vacuum:

Then he really wanted me to "order her to come do her chore."  So, I sternly told Bailey to come down and do her chore right now.  I guess the tone and words were a little out of character for me, because she looked pretty shocked.  Until she saw the note, and then we we all laughed and she smothered her brother with kisses.

A really good day

Last Saturday was a really good day - the kind of early fall day which is rare and precious.  We were busy, but not too busy.  The weather was perfect - not too hot or too cold.  We were outside lots, there was a minimum of fighting between kids, and we got a lot done.

Maybe I'll back up a bit - Friday night Dan and I were able to attend the temple. And we stayed attentive, even after a long week of waking up early for Seminary.  Now that's a miracle . . .

Then Saturday started with a 9 a.m. soccer game.  I unfortunately have no pictures, because I was too busy cheering for Joseph!  This is how Dan explained the game in a letter to Brandon this week, "On Saturday we witnessed Joseph make three of the team's four goals, helping them win the game.  His games last about 50 minutes and they were 40 minutes into the game.  They were down 2 goals to nothing and had not even been very close to the goal.  Then, within about three minutes Joseph made three goals.  It was so amazing that I actually made a strange yippee sound when he made his third goal.  You would have been very embarrassed for me.  It happened so fast that the coach had to put him back on defense to keep him from scoring again (three goal max rule - which we had never heard of)."

Last week I read in my sister Ali's blog that her little soccer star Lindsey was pulled out of the game because she was getting so many goals that the other kids couldn't get the ball.  I marveled because nothing of the sort had ever happened in the Porter family.  But, then when Joseph started scoring goals in quick succession he was pulled to play defense instead of forward.  It is especially great to watch his confidence grow.


After the game Dan, Joseph, and I meandered through a few errands, enjoying the rare fact that we had nowhere in particular to be at any particular time and the sun was shining.

First we spent time in Best Buy while Dan tried to find the right cords to hook up his new iPad to a projector to play Seminary videos.  Joseph and I entertained ourselves by playing with the crazy effects in the Macbook photo booth.  Our favorite was "Space Alien."

Next we drove to Krispy Kreme to buy some donuts to celebrate the awesome game.  We went inside and took time to watch how they make the artery-clogging, uber-sugary, heavenly treats.  Then we picked out two dozen assorted donuts.

We dropped off a van full of stuff at the DI trailer and then took a dozen donuts to our new Bishop (who is also our good friend) as a birthday treat.

Now, where were the girls during all of this?  Bailey was actually at a friend's house.  She had slept over there the night before (an exception to our no-sleepover policy) so that she could babysit her friend's younger siblings the next morning while her friend and friend's parents went with the youth in their ward to the temple at 6 a.m. (did you follow that convoluted explanation?) Then, she hung out for awhile before coming home in the afternoon.

Aubrey wasn't awake when we left to the game, but woke up and got all her chores done while we were gone. She was happy to help us eat donuts when we arrived home. Then she begged Dan to teach her how to powerwash.  Aubrey is an entrepreneur at heart, and she is highly motivated to earn extra money right now for a big item she wants to purchase.  So, she spent almost four hours in the beautiful sunshine doing a great job getting black mold off our driveway.

Meanwhile, we found some friends for Joseph, and (once Joseph finished his chores and piano) they spent hours outside throwing a football back and forth.

Dan took a few hours to work on his Seminary lessons for the coming week, and I got the house organized.

When Bailey finished her chores, she drove me and Aubrey to Target.  Yes, I said she drove us. And she's a  good driver.  While we shopped for a few things and the girls tried on some clothes, Dan took Joseph swimming at Lakeshore.

Then we met up at home, ate dinner together, made a bed on the family room floor, popped popcorn, and watched some old Disney movies - "Now You See Them, Now You Don't," and "The Shaggy Dog."

This was a very good day, and not because anything dramatic happened. There are some days and moments which resonate with me, and I try to take a mental picture of what the day looked, sounded, and felt like.  I file those moments away in my mental bank and pull them out to revisit from time to time.

It's human nature to feel like the big events are the memorable ones, but for me the never-to-be-forgotten moments are the quiet, simple ones. The hanging out together, laughing, eating, working, and playing together.  The being together with people I love more than anything and feeling grateful that this is my life.

Three meals a day forever

I remember the day when I was about 10 years old when I really realized that someday I would be the mom and I would be in at least partly in charge of preparing food for the family every day.  Three meals a day, every day, forever and ever.  I literally groaned out loud at the thought of it.  It seemed like the most tedious thing in the world to cook, clean up, cook some more, clean up some more, and cook once again.

Well, life is never exactly like we dream or fear. Contrary to my 10-year-old fears, I don't usually mind the preparation of the meals.  I admit that there are days when I can't believe that my family wants to eat again.  I mean, didn't we already do that today?  Several times already?  And isn't cold cereal acceptable for every meal?

But, truthfully, I kind of like cooking, and I don't mind feeding my family because I can see how it helps everyone be happier and healthy.  Plus, I do my best to not be the only one cleaning up, and I'm trying to train some cooks to help out, too.  (It's too late for Dan - his expertise begins and ends at bean burritos.)

But, today I have to admit that this feeding the family thing is wearing me out, largely because we have some mighty picky eaters in our house.  It's probably the justice of the universe that I have picky eaters, because I was a picky eater myself, so now I am consigned to forever try to feed picky eaters.  Without a doubt, as the kids get older they learn to expand their food repertoire.  Without a doubt, the youngest child struggles the most.

I made a decision a few years ago that I will not let my kid's timidity about trying awesome food keep me from preparing awesome food.  So, I make it a point to make flavorful and yummy recipes often, knowing that only Dan and I will eat it.  There are some exceptions. There are certain dishes that one child will eat, certain dishes another child will eat, almost nothing the third will eat.  What it boils down to, though, is only one meal that everyone eats, and that's pizza, so I'm not sure that counts at all.  Then, there are about three or four meals that everyone will eat except one person.  Everything else I can think of, and I mean everything, results in someone being unhappy. There are often tears involved, and it's very frustrating for everyone, myself included.

• Yes, we try to make everyone at least try a bite of unfamiliar foods.  Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't.  I'm not okay with every dinner being a battlefield, so sometimes I push the kids and other times I ignore the issue. 
• No, it doesn't work to say "this is all there is to eat - you can just go hungry if you don't eat it."  Because one of our kids will choose to do just that - not eat - rather than deal with the stress of eating something scary.  And his total calorie intake is not enough to allow him to fall into this pattern.  Even though we try to keep everything positive at meal times, he often falls apart (crying, acting out) when dinner time is approaching - it's that stressful for him.
• Yes, I frequently try to have the kids help me choose recipes that look good to them.  I try to get them involved in making the food.  We even provide incentives for trying something new, and there have been some times when these incentives paid off big time in an added food to the repertoire.

But, the bottom line is that meal time and the prep leading up to it is exhausting.  I'm constantly evaluating how to put an interesting main dish on the table - and make it palatable for the kids, healthy for all of us, and hopefully help Dan and I fight middle age girth expansion (the girls would love all creamy, cheesy sauces if possible, but we can't eat like that every day!)   And then I have to figure out how to add in some side dishes which I know various kids will eat in case they won't eat the main dish.  And then there's generally a different prep for the youngest, who pretty much only eats fruits, veggies, seeds and nuts, yogurt and milk.  And I have to decide how much I'm going to push people to try unfamiliar foods at that meal.

There are times when I don't make any special accommodations and I require everyone to find and make their own alternate food if they won't eat what I prepared. And I think it's good for them to do this.  But, as I said, I'm not okay with every dinner being a battlefield and I've found that we can't live in this state of agitation all the time.  I have to cut my losses somewhere, and sometimes getting everyone to eat what I prepared is less important than having good family interaction and fun around the dinner table when we gather together after our crazy day.  So, sometimes I choose peace and ignore the rest temporarily.

But, the frustration about how to feed my brood still simmers, and sometimes it boils over.  Last night was one of those nights.  Sigh and double sigh.  Last night I felt like I was ready to retire from the thankless job of feeding the family. Except there is really no way to retire . . . I just have to keep on trying.  Every day, three meals a day forever.


p.s.: On a positive note, here is something hopeful. I think I will title this part of the post:

  

How peer pressure can sometimes be a good thing

One of Joseph's most feared foods is bread - all kinds of bread.  With the very notable exception of pizza crust, which we frequently point out to him IS actually bread.  Whereas most people swoon at the sight and smell of fresh-baked rolls or bread, Joseph gags.

Needless to say, he does not take the sacrament bread during church.  But at least now he doesn't shriek and dive under the pew when the bread is passed in front of him. Yes, we have made some definite progress over the last few years.

We have pointed out to him that the Sacrament is not just bread, but is actually what we consider to be a very sacred symbol of the body and sacrifice of Christ. We have explained that the Sacrament is an important chance to renew baptismal covenants and think about how we can be like the Savior.  But we've also recognized that at this point Joseph may need to find a way to think about Jesus and acknowledge the sacrifice without actually eating the bread, and that is okay.

Back to the story . . . Sunday was the Primary program and all the kids were on the stand, up in the choir seats. Joseph was sitting next to all his buddies.  When the bread was passed, his best buddy Alex wouldn't let him get away with not eating the bread.  He insisted Joseph try it. And, not wanting to "look dumb in front of my friends (his words)", Joseph did try it.   As soon as Sacrament Meeting was concluded, he beelined to us and told us, "I ate the bread!"  He was really, really  proud of himself, and we were excited for him.  He said he didn't really like it, but it was sort of okay and he thought he might be able to do it again next week.

We're just glad that Alex is not pushing illicit substances at this point, because apparently his peer pressure motivates Joseph to try something he doesn't want to try!

So, small steps.  Miniscule progress.  That's just the way it's going to be.

End of Summer Fun

After returning from our trip, we only had a few precious days before school started. This was our plan for those days:

1. Organize school clothes and set out outfits for each day of the first week (Joseph did not participate in this particular ritual.  I'm thinking it's a girl thing to obsess over new school clothes).
2. Load backpacks with new supplies.
3. Finish moving all of Aubrey's things from her old room to her new room.  
4. Help Bailey do a massive overhaul of her closet/room. We bagged up a HUGE pile of DI stuff from each of the kid's rooms the week before school.  We are in the get-rid-of-it mode!  Well, at least I am.
5. Stay up late every night, even though we theoretically were going to start "moving our clock back" to make it easier to get up for school.  Yeah, that didn't happen.
6. Eat lots of fresh veggies and fruit, some of it from our garden.
7. Revel in the beautiful weather. We deserve sunshine and we love it! (If only we could bottle it up to pull out in February.)
8. Enjoy playdates with friends.  Bailey attended a movie party with her awesome group of friends.  Joseph had at least one friend over each day.  Aubrey also hung out with her friend Laura.  On the day before school started  Aubrey and Laura  picked a recipe off of one of Aubrey's Pinterest boards (Aubrey and Bailey are both devotees of Pinterest) and made chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. They made a huge mess, but the end result was delicious!

 You can't really see it in the picture, but they had frosting all over their faces. And all over the kitchen, too.

  They had cleaned up their faces, but I told them to smear some more on for the picture.

 
   9.  That night Dan set up our tent in the back yard, and we did my favorite kind of camping. The kind where you still get to be outside, breathing the crisp and cool night air, but are close to a bathroom, a kitchen, and the couch (I may have defected to the couch at about 3 a.m. when I couldn't feel my hip joints or left arm after sleeping on the ground.)   Bailey missed the fun because she was at a party until late. Besides which, our five-man tent only really fits 3 or possibly 4 of us comfortably!

10.  We also spent some time catching up on our Book of Mormon reading. We are following a schedule our Stake President gave us at the last Stake Conference, with the goal of completing the Book of Mormon by the next Stake Conference. Our Disney trip threw us off a bit, but we're catching up. Right now we're in the end of Helaman.

11.  Dan did oodles of Seminary preparation. Reading,thinking, printing things off, buying supplies for his class and putting together awesome binders for each student. The whole family helped out with the prep, and we made a huge mess.

And that was the end of our summer.  We loved it - every bit of it!