Good Mental Health

Damon and I love the TV show Fraiser.  It makes us laugh and laugh and laugh some more.  One of the phrases the main character uses a lot is, "Good day and good mental health".  It's how he signs off his radio show.

Well, we try to take care of our body's and we do a great job doing that for the most part, but we tend to run ourselves and our spirits ragged.  So when our friend's, the Melanson's, said that they were coming down to Anaheim for the weekend sans kids we decided to join them.

It couldn't have come at a better time.  We have been so stressed with life, work, kids, etc.  Even trying to leave Saturday was a bit stressful, but everything fell into place and we were able to get out of San Diego only 30 minutes later than planned.

The drive up was touch and go once we got into the OC, but we managed to still get where we needed to go in 1.5 hours.  We met Pete and Julie at their hotel room at the Grand Californian, which is an absolutely beautiful hotel in Downtown Disney (I keep typing Downton.  Ha!)  They had the best views form their balcony.  The grizzly bear from the rapids was just outside their window.

We headed to Downtown Disney and scoped out our options for lunch.  We ended up eating at the Jazz Kitchen, which was fabulous.  I've never eaten anywhere else except Rain Forest because of the kids.  The place had the best beignets that I have ever had.  They were so tasty and covered with powdered sugar.  YUM! Had I been by myself I would have eaten the whole bag and not cared.

After lunch we headed for the pool and stayed there for 3 hours.  That was the best.  No worrying about kids and their locations or anything.  Damon, who strained his back on Thursday, was able to stretch it out in the pool and have some of the pressure taken off.  He also went in the spa.  I rode the water slides and everyone enjoyed the conversation and the relaxation.

After the pool we changed into our evening attire and decided to make the boys happy and ate dinner at the ESPN Zone.  It was load, full of people, and had TVs in every direction with every sport on you could imagine.  The Laker game was on on the  big screen.  We had to wait an hour to be seated.

We waited outside where there was a 1920's style dance lesson being taught and a band.  We were able to learn a few dance moves.  It helped pass the time quickly.  Dinner was nice.  The boys watched the game and Julie and I gabbed.  We walked around and enjoyed the sights and sounds.  We also explored the remodeled Disney Hotel.  They did a fabulous job.  At Tangaroa Terrace they had 2 Polynesian singers playing and right after we walked up they started playing "Somewhere over the Rainbow".  It sounded so good and made a good night even better.

All to soon it was time for us to head back to San Diego.  We had a lovely day and hope we have many more days for "good mental health".

Date with Dad

 It was the Daddy/Daughter Dance this past weekend.  Lily was so excited she got to go out on a date with dad. They both got dressed up for the Masquerade Ball.  They looked stylish.  Damon didn't take his camera with him so these are the only pictures from the night.  They are just so cute!

 Lily wanted to dance the tango with Dad and run around with her friends.  By 8pm she was tired and told Damon that she was ready to go home. 

A forced stop!

Well we were sort of complaining about how ultra busy we have been and how we've had no time to relax, slow down or spend time together. All I have to say is, "that will teach us".

After church on Sunday Adam started to not feel well.  He ended up having major stomach pains and he threw up twice.  His stomach would go through waves of cramping.  I called the Dr. and the after hours office said there was a stomach virus going around and it was probably that.

He stayed home from school and I quarantined him and cleaned the whole house.  I didn't want it to go through the whole family.  Monday afternoon the pain got so localized to his lower right side that I was worried that it was his appendix.  We ended up going to the ER.  They ran some tests.  It was his appendix.  He was admitted Monday night and scheduled for his operation on Tuesday morning.

He did well in the operation and has been very brave during this whole process. Either Mom or Dad has been at the hospital with him the whole time.  He enjoyed his visit with Noah and Lily even though it was only for a few minutes. A hospital is not a place for lengthy visits with children.  Grandpa came down to visit and help out.  Adam enjoyed that a lot.

This experienced has made us cancel everything. Reevaluate everything and focus on the most important thing: Family.

Weekend Activities

It's been a busy weekend.  Yesterday I was able to spend the whole day with Noah.  And 60 other band students.  It was the Forum Festival.  We had to be at school at 6:15am.  That was wretched.  We drove in school buses to Irvine High School.  That was wretched.  Noah's band played 3 songs and got a gold rating.  That is the best they could do.  They sounded great!

After the concert we ate lunch on the bus and drove to Knott's Berry Farm.  We spent 5 hours there.  The boys took a while to figure out how to go on rides, but once they did I ditched them and walked around and explored the park.  I think Noah was happy to see me go.  I was happy to be gone.

 I went on the green scary ride.  It's called boomerang.  The really tall roller coaster I couldn't drag myself to go on.  It reminded me of the roller coaster Phineas and Ferb built on the roller coaster episode.  That drop was almost straight down.  I also went on two other roller coasters by myself and have decided that I am to old for rides that I don't know how they go.  

The bus ride home was the worst, but we finally made it home at 8:15pm.  We all crashed.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early again for a swim meet.  Noah did ok.  He still needs to work on some flip turns. No pictures.  I was to busy yelling at the water.

Adam had a baseball game that night.  He struck out every time and was sad about that, but he still is a great cheerleader for the team. He and Damon also worked on his pinewood derby car. 

Damon had a luau out in Oceanside tonight.  Like I said, busy weekend.

Noah's Special Day!

Noah turned 12.  That's a big age in our church.  He was ordained into the office of a deacon.  The whole family came into town to celebrate this special occasion with us.

Since we didn't get to go out for his birthday dinner the day of his birthday we waited til Nana and Papa came into town.  We went to Corvette Diner.  We had a lot of fun and ate way to much.

After dinner we walked around.  It was a beautiful area.  We live in such a beautiful place.

It was fun having all of Damon's and my family over for lunch Sunday.  We didn't take any pictures, but the cousins had fun playing, the adults had fun talking and lots of good food was consumed.

Whenever Damon's dad comes into town projects get down.  Our hallway has been missing cupboards since we moved in.  5 years.  We still aren't used to seeing them there, but they look so nice.  Yea to projects being done.

We finally had to say goodbye to Nana and Papa.  That's the hardest part of the visit.  No one likes to see them go.  In a perfect world they would live 10 minutes away, not 7 hours.

The rest of Spring Break

While Noah only had a week off from school.  The other two had 3 more weeks.  While it was hard balancing school with play during this time the kids and I managed to have a little fun.  Here are some of the things we did.

Lily got some good news at the eye doctor.  She doesn't have to wear her patch anymore!!!  The Dr. was so impressed with he vision change.  She is now reading 20/25 out of her right eye instead of 20/40.  We were all so very happy.

We went bowling on a rainy day.  We went to the beach on a sunny day.  We went to the zoo on a beautiful day.

We met a peacock.

We ran into friends at the science museum and built a huge tower.  Then watched it fall down.

Lily, who is obsessed with Cupcake Wars finally got to go to Sprinkles.  She thought she had died and gone to heaven.  She couldn't believe she was at Candice's store.

Lily also decided to chop 6 inches off her hair.  It looks very grown up.

We finished spring break off today with a trip to the flower fields in Carlsbad.  It was cold and a little wet, but the flowers were still pretty.

 I call these two pictures "Bloom in Adversity" and "Dare to be Different" 

 Race you Out of the flowers.

 Mining for rocks.  The kids favorite part of the flower show.

 I had a fun time taking pictures of the flowers.  They are good test subjects because they don't move.