End of summer

We had a crazy lead up to the first week of school. The weekend before was the party for my grandparents 65th anniversary.  That's right, 65!  It was on Saturday. We knew the younger kids wouldn't handle driving 6 hours and then being well behaved at a dinner.  So we decided to make a mini vacation out of it.  

We drove down on Thursday after Howard came home from work.  Then we spent all day Friday at Huntington Beach.  We told the kids this was going to be a Disneyland-free trip, so they were happy to spend Saturday shopping and walking around Downtown Disney.  Then we went back to the hotel and primped for the dinner.

It was wonderful to see so many relatives.  My grandparents are such a wonderful example of a loving couple.  I had so many aunts and uncles and cousins there, in addition to two of my brothers and my parents. Annie helped my dad take pictures. 

Annie and Emma had an experience.  I introduced them to one of my cousins, who was considerably more sober at that point of the evening. Somehow, later on, they were talking to him, along with their cousin Olivia.  It turns out that as my cousin drinks more, he gets talkative. Like, never stops. It was kind of funny, the looks on the girls faces and they were considering how to politely get away.  Finally, Howard took pity on them and rescued them.  

Pictures were taken, toasts were made, cake was eaten.  It was a fun night. 

That night, we told the kids that instead of driving home early the next day, we would be going to Disneyland for 1 day.  There would be no park hopper, no parades, no meeting of character.  Just pressing hard and going on ride after ride.

The kids were excited, to put it mildly.  We then had the best day ever, of all of our trips.  Adam was finally tall enough to go on Star Tours, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder.  That meant less time waiting around, switch passes,etc.  We pushed hard all day and stayed until the park closed.  It was so awesome!

Sarah taking the required picture by the Main Street Native American.

Sarah braved Splash Mountain, with some reassurance. Laura was ecstatic, of course.

King Arthur's Carrousel

Laura ready to canoe around the Rivers of America.

We went on the canoes a record breaking 3 times.  

We went back to our hotel for one last sleep, then headed home on Monday.  Tuesday was spent doing laundry and light prep for school.  It was a very busy few days.