Bradley's 11th Birthday

This year for Bradley's birthday we decided to have his party at Boondocks. We had pizza and cake and Bradley got the opportunity to win 200 extra tickets. He just had to wrap himself up in tickets before the Birthday song was over.

Then the kids were free to play games, play laser tag, ride go-karts along with a lot of other activities.

Bradley spent most of his time with his friend Heber either at laser tag or the go-karts.

All in all I would say it was a wonderful birthday for an 11 year old!

Princess Festival 2013

Olivia and I went to the Princess Festival at Thanksgiving Point with Kelsey, Lynlee, Toni and Nicole. The girls got all dressed up in their princess garb.


Kelsey, Olivia and Lynlee making a scene.

We rode in a pumpkin carriage. Kelsey kept saying "I getting married." I think she was referring to Cinderella, where her and the prince go off in the carriage at the end.

 

 

 

The girls all got story books about the featured princess "Kadesia and the Blue Boy " at the end of the book their were pages where all the Princess, Princes, Queens, Kings and others could sign.

Among many many others we got to meet Beauty...

 



The Little Mermaid (who I think had the best costume)...

 



The Princess from the Princess and the Frog...

 

Pocahontas....

Captain Hook...

 

 

And Prince Charming (my favorite picture of the day)

 

 

 

I am sure you noticed like I did really quick, that most of the princesses here did not have their Disney names (Ariel, Belle, Tiana). I guess it is probably a copy right thing right?

 

There was a lot of activities for the kids to do, like Princess Adventures, stories, magic shows, and hair and nail stations, but the girls mostly liked running around and getting all the autographs. All in all we had a great day!

 

Oh and a BIG thanks to Marilyn who got us free tickets!



Now and Then

Here are some comparison pictures from our San Diego vacation in 2005 and 2013. Boy how Bradley has grown from an adorable toddler to a handsome pre-teen.




3 years old

 

10 years old

 

 

This picture is one of my favorites of Bradley.

 

Vacation: San Diego

This year Ricard and I decided to take the kids to San Diego to go to Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, Lego Land and the Beach.

We went in 2005 with Bradley (3 years old) and while pregnant with Olivia. So Olivia has had this complex about never going to a beach while she was born. Even though when we last went we spent a total of maybe 20 minutes on the beach, because it was hot, Bradley did not like the waves, and I was very uncomfortable. Plus I really don't believe Bradley remembers anything more than the pictures we took. But he could claim he had been to the beach, and Olivia saw this as unfair.

We decided to not tell the kids until we were actually on the road. The last day of school they got home, the car was packed, (unbeknown to them) and went to lunch. After lunch we started driving south, Bradley caught on that something was not quite right before we even hit the freeway, but we kept dodging his questions until right before Lehi. We told them by giving them Vacation Journals that I had made for them. The vacation journals included pictures of Shamu, the zoo and of course the beach. When they saw the journal pictures and put it together they were yelling and hollering. They were amazed we were able to keep it a secret, hey so was I. Also they were so excited that we packed everything, even their swimsuits (that is one of the first questions Olivia asked).

We stopped in Las Vegas the first night and stayed at the Treasure Island. We saw their pirate show out front where they sink a boat. The kids really enjoyed that.

Lego Land



It is a lot like Lagoon, but with a lot of Lego exhibits, and an aquarium. But boy did the kids just love it.

  Lego Yoda

Lego Poseidon outside the aquarium



Sea World

 Breakfast with Shamu

Besides seeing all the different shows and displays we had Breakfast with Shamu, and went on a Behind the Scenes Tour. On the tour we got to feed Sea Turtles, feed moray eels and pet and feed dolphins and give them hand signals to do tricks.

San Diego Wild Animal Park

Here the animals are in a safari like setting. We fed lorakeets, and saw a cheetah run at full speed, but best of all we rode in a hot air balloon.

San Diego Zoo

Besides seeing all the animals, we rode their sky ride and a double decker bus.

Mission Bay Beach

We spent many hours at the beach this time. Both the kids loved the water, we bought them boogie boards, and they loved to ride the waves. Both the kids and Richard got buried in the sand, we actually couldn't keep Olivia from burring herself over and over.

Olivia as a sand mermaid

Bradley burried

Our Hotel was right on Mission Bay, we had wonderful views of the Ocean and Mission Bay. There was 3 swim pools that the kids swam in every night. One day we rented a motorized lounge chair and took it out on Mission Bay.



Our view from the hotel.





We didn't take any pictures of us in the chair, just the scenery.



Valentines Box 2013

This is our first yeat of making a Valentine's box, because at the kids' school, they don't usually make Valentine's Boxes, the school supplies bags and decorations, this way all the kids have a similar bag. They do let the 4th, 5th and 6th Graders bring in their own boxes. Bradley's class had a contest on the best box, Bradley won, but hey who doesn't love a Minion.

The cards go in his mouth!