A week of change

Lots of changes are going on in the house.  Hopefully come January things will settle down.

We went to Lake Miramar to watch the sunset and go on a family walk.  We also fed the ducks.  I don't care how old I get, but feeding the ducks is one of my favorite things to do. It was a fun family outing.

One of the bigger changes was saying goodbye to my parents.  They are going on a mission for our church down in Fiji.  They will be there for 2 years.  We are all very excited for them and glad they are going, but a part of me will miss the calming influence of my mom and the support of my dad.  We drove up to spend one last weekend with them up at Mortensen Manor before they flew to Fiji.  I really do have the best, amazing and sometimes weird parents.

This week hasn't been to bad.  There has been lots going on to make the time pass quickly.  We have had field trips, an election, scouts, pack meeting, swim practice, piano, tennis and a swim meet.  Plus it rained. 

One of Lily's races from the meet last week.  It was our last meet as Ned Baumer Seals.  The kids have really enjoyed swimming.

Family Disney Trip

Damon wanted to do one last thing for fun while we were all still together in California.  We voted on Disneyland (no surprise there).  We also were celebrating my birthday since the day sort of got overlooked with the house going on the market/open house.

We started off the day nice and early at PCH Grill.  We had breakfast with Mickey and the gang.  Eating was hard because we wanted to keep taking pictures with everyone.  I also got sang to because we were celebrating my birthday.

The only family picture of the day.

We headed over to California Adventure to get passes to go on the new Cars Land race way.  Our tickets were good for 6:40pm.  We had a long wait, but we filled up the time.

Every time!

A new Walt & Mickey Statue.  A man, a mouse and an idea.

Lily got to have a conversation with Ariel.  She was so excited.

I told Noah every time he crashed that I would add a year to when he could get his driver's license.  I think we ended at 30 years old.

Our most favorite ride ever!!  Damon was taking action shots during the ride.  It was hilarious to see the kids expressions during the ride.

We ran into Cinderella who was on her way to the Castle with the Mad Hatter.

The Best ride of the day.  It was amazing and well worth the wait.  I'm glad we didn't have to wait the 75 minutes in the normal line.  

We had a great day at Disneyland.  We loved spending time together as a family.

Halloween Fun

 Halloween came up quick this year as we are all preoccupied with 100 other things.  We still managed to have a little bit of fun and enjoy the time together.

 Some pre-Halloween crafts are always a must.  This year they got mixed in with homework as well, but we had fun anyway.  Trunk-or-Treat at church is always fun too.

 Trunk-or-Treat and pumpkin carving with spooky houses!  It's like gingerbread, but for Halloween.

 Noah's cell.  He had to build this for science class.  I've been in heaven this year with him in the class.  It's right up my alley.  It was a cookie cell with candy representing the different organelles of the cell.

Halloween Night we had one of the old Tree Kids come over and celebrate with us.  We had pizza and witches brew.  It's become a tradition at our house.  Our Trick-or-treating group has gotten smaller this year, but we still managed to have a lot of fun.  The kids especially liked trading their candy after we got back home.

October posts

It was a hard October.  It was actually quite sad.  It's one of my favorite months and I just couldn't get excited about it this year.  There is much change going on in the Afualo household and I think that is why I had a hard time do anything except the basics.

 This is going to be the October catch-up post.

Yummy Halloween Treats!

It's been unseasonable warm this year and I spent the day at the beach enjoying it.

Nana and Papa came for the weekend.  It was the weekend we put the house on the market.  We loved having them with us even if it was a super busy weekend.  Lily and Noah also had a swim meet and did a fantastic job in their races.

Pumpkin Patch!!

Flying High above Scripps Ranch!

Lily, Adam and I took and afternoon off and went to Disneyland for the day. (Oct 25th)  We had a lot of fun and got to explore the new Cars Land. 

Our Traditional picture at Toy Story Mania

We love Disneyland at Halloween Time. 

A visit with Family

Family is the most important thing in my mind.  That includes all family.  So when one of my favorite cousins calls and says she is going to be in town for a week I make every effort to see her.

We had to change plans a couple times, but we were finally able to get together for dinner with Bethanne and Nathan and their family.  Oh what fun we had.  It may have been short, but we packed it in.

The kids swam in the pool/spa, we barbequed and then we went to the beach with some sparklers.  All in all a successful family outing.

We found it funny that Sam and Adam had the same pose.