The Parkway

Lately the family and I have been taking walks on the parkway each Sunday. We started in Riverdale and walked as far South as we could, then headed North. We love exploring new parts of the trail every week. Tonight we actually got on the bikes and rode around the 21st street pond and the whole West Haven Parkway. It is so fun being out with the family in as close to nature as you can get in downtown Ogden. Next stop is from the 21st street pond to Washington Blvd. Hopefully our kids will pick up on the "It's fun to bike bug" that I have. Someday I'll post pictures because there is some pretty stuff out there.

Cali Day 5

Today we slept in! It was nice. We hit the continental breakfast had omelets, Belgian waffles, yogurt, sausage, and cereal. MMMMM, I will miss not being able to eat such good breakfast when we get home.

We headed over to California Adventure again and each took turns picking the rides we wanted to ride. We hit Soarin, then Turtle Talk with Crush again and the Playhouse Disney Live on Stage. It was a good morning.





Headed back to Disney, met some characters, ate some lunch, and rode a few rides. Joy of Joys we talked Matt into riding Pirates and Paige into riding Haunted Mansion. I am proud of how my kids handled their fears this time. Now they think they are sooo brave.

After a trip back to the hotel where only Doug took a nap we headed back to the park, each of us got to choose one more ride to go on. Matt chose The Haunted Mansion, Paige chose Mulholland Madness, Doug chose Space Mountain, and I chose It's a Small World to end the trip.

While Doug and Paige were riding Mulholland Madness, Matt decided he wanted to try the Tower of Terror. He walked in, the smallest little guy in line, brave as can be. WE went through the boiler room line, where there was a 27 year old woman freaking out. He just walked on by, where the woman's boyfriend pointed to Matt, asked how old he was, and then told his girlfriend "Three--Twenty Seven. Three--Twenty Seven." When we got on the ride, I tried to explain what was going to happen. He just sat there all serious and didn't say a word. Throughout the ride, he did move or yell, or even look scared. As we walked out of the elevator, he quietly said, "I never want to do that again." When Paige saw us after the ride, she asked me, "Mom? Did you pee your pants?" I had to answer honestly, "Just a little." I never want to go on that ride again either.

We tried some new treats at the park. We tried the Cheshire Cat Tail, The Dole Whip, The Apple Pie Carmel Apple, and the bacon Wrapped Asparagus. The Carmel Apple won hands down, and opinions were mixed on the other things. I liked the Dole whip, Doug didn't, he thought the tail was okay, I didn't like it at all.

We had a group of kids check into our hotel for choir tour or something. There were only about 35 or so of them, and they were not fun to have around. Just crowed things up here at the hotel. they were well behaved and it got me thinking about how crazy we were in Florida for choir Tour and there were about 100 of us. Holy crap, I feel sorry for the people who were around us.






This has been a great trip and has been good for our family to spend so much time together doing different things. We fly home tomorrow and hopefully we will all sleep the whole way home. I don't want this vacation to end especially because it means that Doug takes off for San Fran next week. Oh well, as always it will always be good to be back home in a familiar place with familiar people.

Cali Day 4

Today things started to slow down. We have felt like we got to do everything we wanted to do so we began hitting the things that the kids and the parents wanted to do again and got to see a few things we hadn't seen before.



We began the morning in Disneyland because we felt like we wouldn't get another chance to get there without the crowds. Boy were we right. We hit Pixie Hollow, the Alice in Wonderland ride, and the Nemo Subs, and none of the lines were long. We had never seen them so short. Then we walked over to the Haunted Mansion, Matt got bribed with Cotton candy to get on the ride, but Paige was having none of it. Matt did great! Paige went on Pirates again while Matt and I rode mansion. (Still having a hard time talking Matt into riding that ride.



Went back to the hotel took a nap, (boy those naps have saved all of us.) and headed back to California adventure to see the Pixar Parade. I saved us a shaded spot and Doug took the kids to Turtle Talk with Crush. Everyone loved it even Doug (who got called out by Crush for having his cell phone ring during the show.) Oops, sorry Doug! :)

We hit the Jelly fish again and Mulholland Madness, I think that one is one of Paige's favorites, right up there with the Carousel and Space Mountain.




Headed back over to Disneyland rode the Monorail and called it a night! It was a good day in the Magic Kingdom!

Cali Day 3

Today we used our Magic Morning Pass and headed into the park an hour early. We went on Dumbo first and then (you'll never guess) rode the Merry-Go-Round two times in a row because there was no line. Paige and Matt both took a turn riding Julie Andrews horse called Jingles. Every time we walk passed the merry go round Paige has to see who is riding her and wave at her. We went on the Matterhorn next, and waited in line for 20 minutes. It seemed like a long time, but the kids were really good and they both liked the ride.



We headed over to Tomorrow land next and rode Autopia cars. Matt was a crazy driver, but I think he had lots of fun. Space Mountain was next, and we had to split up when Doug had to take Matt on a quick potty break. Paige absolutely loved Space mountain. I think she could ride it over and over.

We headed to Toon town a little later, and enjoyed some time in Frontier land too. We had never been over there before and it was quiet and not very crowed. Good place to take a minute to relax, and Paige and Matt got to pet goats. Happy day!






One of the highlights of our day came when we were doing a little pin trading. Paige really wanted a merry go round pin, but they don't sell them in the stores, but I was walking past a cast member and spotted a carousel horse pin. We stopped and traded a pin and he told us they were pretty rare and that they had come out a few months ago as cast pins, so they would never sell them. Paige and I were both pretty pleased with our find!

Another highlight of the day came when I talked both kids into riding Splash Mountain (Okay, bribed them with treats). We walked right onto the ride, which was CRAZY! They did really good, but we were glad they had little rain ponchos on. I asked if they wanted to go again and Matt told me, "Next Year." Baby steps....Baby steps. :)

After a long day Matt and I headed back to the hotel (stopping to grab the yummy smelling Kettle Corn along the way. Doug and Paige took another detour to Space Mountain.

It was a great day, and we got to try some new things today. We ate some yummy meat skewers and one filled with bacon wrapped asparagus (I had no idea they could grow them that big!) I enjoyed a Jalapeno filled Pretzel and didn't even need to eat dinner we had snacked so much today.






Two more days in the park, and I think tomorrow I am going to try to talk Doug into going to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. We'll see how it works out. Doug still wants his gumbo too before we go!

Cali Day 2

Today was a fun busy day! We started out our day eating breakfast in our hotel, Paige had a cheese omelet, Matt had Fruit Loops and Yogurt, I had a mini bagel, some bacon and sausage and a mini doughnut. It was a really good breakfast, we were impressed.

We got our tickets to Disney and went to California Adventure. We rode Soaring Over California first then headed over to the Merry-Go-Round. There was no line at the Roller Coaster so Doug took a quick trip on it, while I got on the Carosel......Lucky us no one else was riding so they told us we could stay on. Three rides later we pulled a very sad Paige off the ride.



Next stop was Toy Story Mania and the Mickey Ferris wheel. I really enjoyed both of these. We continued around the circle and hit the Jelly Fish ride and The golden Zephyr where Matt told us he was feeling too dizzy. This is the first time we have ever heard one of our kids complain about motion sickness. After that I took Paige on Mulholland Madness. I thought she would be so scared, but she came off sobbing because she wanted to stay on it. I told her it was a lot like my driving and she got a big kick out of that.

Next stop, Bug's Land. We hit the bumper cars and Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. Again, the line was non-existent so lucky me got to ride three times in a row. We were very lucky with lines today.





We decided we were ready to sit for a few minutes and we to see It's tough to be a bug. All I can say to that is...... What were we thinking. The kids did really good until we put on the 3-D glasses and they started throwing things at us and spraying water that they called acid at us. Then the spiders with red eyes came down from the ceiling and Matt's )who had been crying the whole time) screamed bloody murder, and I got up with him and left. (Paige was about 30 seconds behind with Doug) Hmmmm, maybe next time they will see the fun in that.

We spent a little more time in California Adventure, then headed over to Disneyland where you'll never guess....we rode the Merry-go-round with the horses, then the Jungle Cruise. We stopped into a magic store where they showed us a really cool trick that Doug is going to buy, hopefully he can master that trick, it will be a great one for the kids.

Lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe came next. By this time Matt was ready for bed, but we wanted to feed him first. Yet another big mistake. The thunder and lightening in the cafe freaked him out. We ended up taking the food to go and eating in our hotel room. Then it was nap time (blessed nap time)

Doug and Paige took off a few hours later and I woke up Matt and told him we could go to Toon Town when he was ready. We had some fun walking around there, but I forgot my camera so we will have to go back to get pictures another day. We hit it's a small world, rode the train, Pooh's Ride and tried Pirates (although Matt didn't want to go into "Davey Jones Locker" and so we sat that one out. Paige had freaked out on this ride last year, but this year she sang the whole ride through Yo Ho Yo Ho a pirates life for me. Matt and I got a Dole Whip while we waited. For how much I had heard about them, they weren't that great.

We decided to call it a night then, picked up so glowing things that the kids had to have, and now have settled into the hotel room for the night. Will blog more tomorrow.



I am so beat, I am going to need a vacation from the vacation when these 4 days are over, but it's lots of fun and the memories we are making are awesome!

Trip to Cali!!!! Day 1

We started our family vacation today by flying in to LAX. The kids did really good on the plane and I think they enjoyed it. After landing and picking up the car, we headed for the beach. I LOVE driving along highway 1, but after hitting a little bit of traffic I was ready to turn around and just make for our hotel. I am so glad we didn't!

I have never been one that loves the sandy beaches where people surf and lay out, so I looked online for a different kind of beach. We went up by Malibu to a beach called El Matador Beach. To get down to the beach we had a bit of a hike. I LOVED it! It was beautiful and a little bit exciting to come down the steep hill with the kids. They had fun hiking too.



When we got to the beach, it was rocky and had lots of shells. We were one of about 5 groups of people there, and it was really nice. There were tide pools with lots of anemones.




The highlight of the beach trip for Doug and I was the sea caves we found. They were beautiful and so different from anything I had seen before. Doug and the kids had fun exploring them and I had fun taking pictures.










After the beach we drove to our hotel. I love our Cali hotel. It isn't necessarily the nicest place, but it is clean, quiet, with a fridge and microwave, continental breakfast, and we are literally right across the street from the entrance to the park. They even left a gift basket in the room, with a personalized note! Talk about quality customer service!

We walked to Downtown Disney to eat at the Rain Forest Cafe, but changed our minds when the wait was 45 minutes. We walked back to IHOP next to our hotel and ate there where the kids ate for free! I ordered the Chicken Fried Steak, and I could probably eat it for the next two days it was so huge! Maybe tomorrow for dinner.

After that we went up to the deck of our hotel and watched the fireworks. Now it's time for bed. Tomorrow will be a crazy busy day. Plans for the day are to start out at California Adventure with Soaring over California (for Doug and Matt), then the merry go round and Ferris wheel for Paige. Matt is also looking forward to riding Tower of Terror tomorrow. We'll see if that happens! Doug and I will definitely be prepared with some meclizine tomorrow.

I love Disney. Everything is so magical!!!

Paige's favorite part of the day today (in her own words) "The anemones, and they close up when you touch them. And I like running in the waves."

Matt's favorite part of today: "The sea caves and that's all I liked." (But we know he loved finding sea shells, too.)

Christmas/New Year/Finally Post

Well here it is almost 10 months since my last blog post. To make an excuse I have 2 posts sitting in draft form waiting for pictures which may or may not ever get published. We shall see.

Life as I know it changed a bit this past year. We sent out sweet Paige to full day kindergarten. This was a glorious day for both Paige and I. As much as we love each other, the time away is not only good for her and I, but also her little brother Matt, who thinks as soon as she walks out the door it is time to lay on the couch and cuddle. I of course comply as I have no idea how much longer this will last. Hopefully at least beyond 4. (The other day he told me no kisses were allowed because people were around) :( Made me cherish the little times I have with him.

Paige is learning to read and it tops in Math in her class. She is blooming with smarts, and I am so thankful for the time everyone has put in with her speech and language. We really moved to the right school district at the right time. She will be in a regular 1st grade class next year with a speech therapist on the side. This makes me so happy.

Matt is a little boy through and through. For Christmas all he wanted was Makugan (Bakugan) He plays with them ever day and can't get enough. I brought his little bike with training wheels on down stairs the other day and he hopped right on and took off around the basement. (Which is now considered not a basement, but a race track, glad it's so big and not finished yet.) Matt just started sunbeams last week and was a champ. He has great teachers and thinks being big is the greatest.

I am officially NOT Paige's teacher any more. She is a pretty good girl now and I don't have to hold her on my lap to keep her quiet. AHHHHH just saying that makes my sabbath days so much less stressful. I am teaching the CTR7's which are the kids that get baptized. This adds a little bit of stress back on the shoulders. I feel that the obligation on teaching these kids is HUGE, and hope I do a good job of it.

I have had a great school year this year getting involved with the PTA. It's so much fun, and I have got to meet some great parents and some of the teachers in the school. I was in charge of the Santa shop and had so much fun doing that, and one of my good friends was in charge of the book fair, and I LOVED helping with that.

I put the kids in swim lessons this summer, and boy they really stunk at it. They both get to repeat their classes next year, Matt being the youngest I was okay with, but Paige being the oldest we need to work with her a little better. (She told the teachers she could do everything by herself, and wouldn't let them touch her. Stubborn chickie!) I think we'll try to get tem in next month or so again.

Doug finally made the move down to Riverton. All I can say about that is YUCK! He has such a long commute now and I worry about him driving instead of riding the train. Hopefully all will go as planned and the train line will be extended by 2012. If not, you may see us packing up and moving down South. :( Doug is still Ward Clerk, and loves his calling.

We still live in West Haven and love our neighbors and friends here. I love how much my kids are growing up and turning into good kids (most of the time.) I am so lucky to be able to stay at home with my kids and hope like any mom that I am doing a good job. We have been so very blessed to have a stable job in a rough economy, and hope it continues. (Not the economy, the stable job.)

I guess this about fills in the blog and the few readers as to the life and times of the Ensigns. Hopefully I will write more later.