Hawaii

For the third time in about 6 weeks, the girls and I boarded for an airplane.  We had just gotten back 5 days before from Grandma Barney's funeral (I took no pictures).  And we had General Conference Easter, and I worked a ton in those 5 days, so we were a bit busy.  I was just relieved to have Nick with me as I flew with the girls.  

But it was still a long flight with a 10 month old.  She is so incredibly busy.  She doesn't hold still.  Ever.  Luckily she's happy, and she thinks everyone around her is her best friend.  People think its cute at first and then they get a little bit creeped out by the fact that she sits staring with an open mouth grin for 20 minutes straight.

We hadn't taken off yet and we were already feeling a little crazy.  We had to stop in San Jose and we surprised Papa and Nona by showing up on their flight.  That was glorious because Briz sat with them most of the time.  I didn't really know what to do with myself.  

But we made it.  And the sun and water was waiting for us.  We immediately went swimming in the pool.  Tanner and Sierra were already there.

Wubs loves her Papa and Nona, and was so happy to have all of her cousins and aunts and uncles around.  She has lately, however, started to want me a little bit more, particularly if she's tired.

Briz got marks from her goggles and wanted me to take a picture.

We mostly played on the sand and in the ocean.  The kids played in the waves, built sand castles, followed the fish and the sea turtles.  We woke up in the morning, went to the beach for three or four hours, came home, tooks naps, and then went to the pool.  Not a bad schedule.  Then every night someone was in charge of dinner.  So we ate dinner, often followed by dancing and wrestling.  

Wembley was scared of the waves the first day or two but then loved them.  After a few days she started crawling straight for the ocean.  But she loved playing in the sand, as long as she had a toy in her hand to chew on.  Mmm. Plastic and sand.

She was also constantly trying to rip people's sunglasses off of them.  She's pretty quick.

We did a few other things which I didn't get pictures of, but my siblings did.  So once I figure out how to upload shared photos, I may add a few more.  Friday morning, we went to a snorkeling cove where the adults and some of the older kids snorkeled and little kids threw rocks (Or in Wembleys case chewed on rocks). On Saturday, we drove to the Olivine Pools where we went hiking, exploring, and swimming.  We then went hiking in the forest, where the kids discovered some wild chickens that they chased.

On Sunday, we took family pictures in the morning, and then headed to sacrament meeting.  After that the girls had an afternoon to themselves.  We went to a lot of different beaches this trip which was cool.  I was a little bitter because I was looking forward to sleeping and reading, but everyone else decided to ask Landon's girlfriend a lot of questions.  How rude.

On Monday night, we had a little birthday party for Teya and then we had a family home evening activity with Family History Jeopardy.  I dominated.  And then we had a rousing game of Red Rover.

Briz sporting the bikini.

Papa and Nona were awesome taking care of everyone.  They were constantly taking care of the grandkids, and I loved watching all of the special bonding time.

Papa helped Dane get used to the waves.

Wembley was excited watching the kids laugh and play.  This is the face she makes when she is squealing with excitement.

Portia, as the mature 8 year old was the big helper and the little boys loved her.

We did a few other activities: the boys went scuba diving and surfing, we rented a kayak one day.  And we went out to eat as adult kids one night.  

We were just in Hawaii in November, but I'm not sure I could ever be there enough.  The beach and the sun are my heaven.  I love watching my kids explore and be creative and have fun outside.  And even better when they get to do that with family.  It was a pretty special trip that we got to be there altogether.  

Disney Adventure

I really wanted to take Briz to Disneyland.  It had been two years which isn't a long time but I knew she would LOVE it this year.  My sister and I were trying to figure out how to swing it and after changing her mind about a hundred times, I ended up getting a sweet deal.  I went to Disneyland with Briz for two days just us.  My sister was nice enough to watch Wembley the first day; she came up and joined us and then Paul and their babysitter watched Wembley the second day.  I was a little nervous but Wembley did great.  And I had SO much fun with Briz.  We went crazy, running about half the time to rides.

Briz was freaking out about tower of terror, but was so brave.  I knew that once the dark part with the video was done she would have fun.  She loved the dropping, but was still a bit reluctant to go again.

You can't really see us in the picture, we are in the middle row to the left. 

We were able to meet a lot of princesses: Tiana, Ariel, Elsa and Anna, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel.  We also met Lightning McQueen.  And we waited about ten minutes for Elsa and Anna and that was it.  She had a particular affinity towards Tiana this time because her personality test said she was most like her: ambitious and determined.  Yep. 

After the first day, we went back to the hotel and we went swimming.  Briz made some special notes for her Dad because she didn't want him to feel left out.

Briz loved the Buzz lightyear ride.  She was very concerned about comparative points.  So competitive.

We took Dane on Mickeys Wheel of Fun and he wasn't so sure about it.  Briz loved being the expert telling him all about the ride.

Briz brought some money so she could get a souvenir and this is what she bought.  It was a touch decision for her, and I'm pretty sure those ears have been lost since the day after she got home, but hey, she thought she was pretty special for a few of those days.  I told her if she bought them she had to wear them the whole time.

Oh I forgot, she also met Sophia the First.  She was really confused why she didn't talk though.

On the second day she started to get really whiney and I was not having that, so I made her lay down on the bench for 45 minutes.

A few things Brizzy loved: Space Mountain, the Frozen Sing a long and It's a Small World.  It was absolute magic being there with her.  I feel really lucky we were able to go and have so much fun.  I don't have a lot of patience for Disneyland when its crowded and with whiney babies, so this was pretty much my ideal.

New Library

There was this tiny little library branch right by our house and they just expanded it and I'm extremely geeked out about it.  For a few weeks we were going a lot!  

On one day, we met our friends for Science Story Time.  We learned all about colors.  Briz loves bringing Wembley and being the big sister/helper.  She asked me the other day when Wembley was going to start preschool.

Wembley loved meeting up with a lot of friends.  She thought she was so cool being with the big kids.

I love all of the free stuff the library has to offer.  They did a few different experiments with color, and learned how to hypothesize and come up with results.

On another day we brought friends to Lego Mania.  Wembley really wanted to chew on all of the legos and I really wanted to let her know but only stopped her out of public humiliation.

Briz brought her friends Lila and Savannah and were supposed to build the tallest tower they could.  They then played lego bingo.

But the girls were really excited to pick out books.  And they sat quietly for a long time just reading.  This picture is my favorite.  

Lunch Time

I love lunch time with these two littles.  There is a lot of laughing, talking, complaining, sometimes crying, and definitely a lot of messes.  As Wembley gets older, she watches her big sister and wants more big kid food.  They love to ham it up for each other and make each other laugh.

The Brizzy on the Bus

Another ritual we love is walking Briz to the bus in the early afternoon.  Briz is so excited to go to school and loves showing off her baby sister to her friends on the bus.  We were sick for about a month in our house, and yet Briz and Wembley continued to smile through all of our daily rituals.

Wembley isn't used to the sun, so when it comes out she has a hard time keeping her eyes open.

Cinderelli

Briz got a lot of Cinderella in February.  She went to the movie on a special date with her Papa and Nona to see the movie.  And then she and I went to the Broadway musical of Cinderella.  I had never seen it and I was in total awe.  It was much better than I though and Briz was in an absolute fantasy watching it.  It was so fun sharing the special evening with this little princess.