Monday I took the kids to Spectrum in the morning and we had a nice dim-sum lunch. The kids ate two orders of shu-mai between them. Their favorite.
Katelyn was finally back in school this week but she's only there Tue and Thursdays. We dropped her off early Tuesday morning (730am, she was the first one there in her class!) and Will and I drove up to Mtn High. Love the weekday traffic - we got there so quick! Tyler was VERY excited to go snowboarding. I don't even think he really understood what it was though. Tried explaining that it was like skateboarding on snow, not that he's ever skateboarded either though! We got there by 9am and their all-day snow school was already fully booked. What?! I had planned on putting Tyler in the class (10am-3pm) while Will and I did some boarding. We ended up signing him up for the afternoon class (1-3pm) and then spent the morning teaching him ourselves. It was actually really cute to see him on a board, and he was so enthusiastic about learning.
I'm officially now a big fan of Mtn High. First, kids 6 and under are free with a paying adult. And their bunny slope area has a moving carpet so that beginners don't need to be getting on and off the lift all the time. We spent all morning in this area practicing with Tyler. Will and I had flex point lift tickets, which meant that we only used the points when we went on a chairlift. Any remaining points could be used later on in the season. This meant we didn't have to feel wasteful of not being able to hit the slopes while we taught Tyler. Score!
I was so proud of Tyler. He never gave up, and didn't even get disgruntled. He wanted to go go go! He was even learning to turn, which was very impressive since it took me forever to learn that.
After lunch we dropped Tyler off at the snow school. His class had only him and a 12 year old girl. Not sure why he looked a little bummed, probably because he wanted to go out and snowboard instead of sitting in there waiting. His teacher, Caleb, was very nice, but wanted to teach Tyler the basic principles. All very important stuff, but Tyler just wanted to go down the mountain! Will and I would do a run and stop by the school area and watch them for a bit. I loved that we had some time to ourselves, felt like we were back to college / pre-kid days. I can't remember the last time Will and I went boarding, probably when we took a trip when Tyler was 1!
Tyler's favorite sport drink - orange Gatorade. He never gets this stuff unless it's after basketball so it was a nice surprise for him.
Family photo! I somehow that we'd actually be back in time to pick up Katelyn from school, but good thing I planned ahead to have our friend to pick her up. Who knew Tyler was going to be so energetic? We'd get to the bottom of the bunny slopes and he'd insist on going again. He didn't want to go on the chair lift though. He was getting tired and it's quite a bit longer distance-wise than his bunny slope. Although the # of times he went down his bunny slope - he totally could have done with longer run multiple times! I think it was a mental thing though, oh well, he's 5 - whatever keeps him interested.
By 3:30pm we could tell he was tired. He kept insisting that he wanted to go again, but then he'd start falling a lot. He said his head wanted to go but his feet were tired. Awww! So we decided to call it a day and have a snowball fight. :)
On the drive back to Irvine, Tyler stayed awake, saying he wasn't tired. Really? We picked up In-n-Out to bring over to the Garners and the moment we got the food and were headed over there, he fell asleep. Great timing. He was groggy when we got there and took a power nap on the couch before being revived with Kaden's DS. Haha!
We hadn't told Katelyn that we were doing anything different that day, I was worried she'd get upset that she wasn't joining us. But her favorite Uncle Stacy picked her up from school with Kylee so she wasn't upset at all. He sent this photo of her excitedly sitting in his racecar. :)
Before we even got to the Garners, Kylee and Katelyn were having a lot of fun themselves!
Talk about mommy guilt. I was WRACKED with guilt that Katelyn spent the day at school while we were having a great time. So Tuesday night I decided that I was going to take the kids to Disneyland the next day. Will said I was crazy. I was so tired, but I had to! Good thing they didn't open until 10am, so I didn't get there until 930am. Not crowded-wonderful-ness. Walked right onto Dumbo. And met SO many characters that day!
Tyler had insisted that he didn't want to take ANY photos with any princesses that day but he quickly changed his mind when Cinderella beckoned for a hug.
And Small World was amazing! First time I've been on it and saw how it was all decked out for Christmas. I don't remember it being like that before? It was exciting even for me.
Must have a turkey leg when we're here.
Whew, was that a lot of character interactions or what? We even headed over to CA Adventure for a quick ride on Ariel's Great Adventure before we headed home. I was wiped out and the kids were happy. We did a lot, and left by 4pm. Tired mommy.
Thursday morning. Yup, you guessed it. CA Adventure. I had a playdate planned with Tyler's friend Jordan and his mom Bonnie. (Part of the guilt I felt since Katelyn would be missing out again since she was at school that day). We got there even earlier that day so we could get FastPasses for Radiator Springs Racers. First ride was Toy Story Mania! Shortest line I've ever seen for it. My shooter didn't work so we scored and got to go on it again right after! Perfect since it was Jordan's first time on the ride and also one of Tyler's favorites.
Boys like carousels too.
After Midway Mania and King Triton's Carousel, we headed over to Disneyland. Since we're regulars at both parts, it's nice not to feel an urgency to go on several rides. Instead, we headed over to Tom Sawyer's Island. The boys had a great time running around in the caves. The moms, eh, not so much. It gets tiring after a while and it was pretty warm! Tyler was afraid to go in the caves in the beginning, but Jordan convinced him and then he loved it.
My friend Bonnie is pregnant (with her 3rd!) and we walked with them out of Disneyland after this. They headed home while Tyler and I headed back to CA Adventure. I usually don't do this much criss-crossing between the parks, but we had FastPasses for Radiator Springs Racers to use. On the way to the ride, we practically walked onto to the Tow-Mater ride. Definitely a favorite for Tyler.
Then it was time for the Racers! After snowboarding on Tuesday and Disneyland the previous day with both kids, I was feeling pretty tired! This would be our last ride of the day before we headed home. Unfortunately, the ride started having issues when we were almost up. Ack! We probably waited a good half hour, in the cold (it got really cold!), until the ride started up again. Tyler didn't want to go on the ride but I wouldn't hear of it. It's a little fast for him, I guess? I gave up on trying to convince him that we should go a second time (we had another set of FastPasses!) and gave them away to some lucky people sitting next to us.
Back home, Tyler napped for a little and then we went to pick up Katelyn for her trial ballet class at Southland Ballet Academy. The Thursday afternoon time isn't ideal since I have to pick up Katelyn earlier than usual, but she has three friends that are doing it at the same time as well. I grabbed a long sleeve ballerina dress from my trunk of hand-me-downs from my older sister for Katelyn to wear. Size 6. Hmmm. A little big. But it's just a trial class! Katelyn LOVED it ridiculously. She'd wave at me through the window and follow directions adorably. Totally her thing, much better than how she is in Mommy&Me classes where she's distracted with my presence in the room. Here the moms all sit outside. So cute! I plan for her to start weekly classes starting February.
Friday was a nice and relaxing day. We stayed in that night and the kids had a great time just playing Legos with Will! Sometimes you just need some down time, relaxing with the family.
Saturday. Basketball game! Tyler was excited to play, especially since he gets some Gatorade. Haha! No baskets though, need to get him more aggressive. :)
After the game, we went to The Habit for lunch with Tyler's team mate Justin and his family.
Oh my gosh, it was getting cold! I bundled Katelyn up in Tyler's old Buzz Lightyear thick jacket. Still adorable.
Sunday brunch. YUM. The 'Four Seas' Restaurant that I've been stalking for MONTHS has finally opened. We usually only get this stuff when we are in Hacienda Heights in the morning! Deliciousness.
Sunday night we headed to dinner with our friends Jeff/Joan who were visiting from Taiwan. Oh my gosh, it was SO cold outside! It's always good seeing them when they are in town, and I love that we always are able to get together.
Hard to believe how many kids we have between the three families. I guess it's just the natural progression of things. I remember us all being in college/right after college and hanging out all the time. Bittersweet thinking of those old days, so many memories of fun and how easy-going life was back then. It's wonderful that we are all still friends. :)
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