Disneyland Trip

The boys had a 3-day weekend  October 8-10th. We planned to go to Six Flags but happened to look at flight prices for California and saw they were super cheap! So we made a spontaneous decision and planned a quick trip to Disneyland! The boys had never been, and we knew it was something we wanted to do before Caleb graduated high school. Instead of saying "someday," we asked ourselves, "why not now?" We flew out Thursday night, which was a tough decision because Matt and Carter had to miss a baseball game. We went to California Adventure on Friday and Disneyland on Saturday. Then we flew home Sunday. Here are some pictures from our trip:

Bryson and me driving together on a race car ride

Family picture

Star Wars section

Winnie the Pooh

Jungle Cruise

Best ride: Cars

We did this water ride 3x in a row because the line was so short. They didn't even make us get off the ride.

Ride on the Pier

Austin and me hanging out while the other boys rode the Incredicoaster

My turn on Incredicoaster

We waited in a LONG line for this ride twice. It was tough to look at the Disney World app and see the wait time was significantly shorter. My boys loved it though.

(back row)

We had a fun time! But, my boys also aren't interested in going back. They would rank Disney World, Universal Studios, and Dollywood above Disneyland, in that order.

Austin's 6th Birthday

Austin was counting down the days until his birthday.

Grandma and Grandpa's present to Austin

 I took Austin out of school for a lunch date followed by a well-check visit at the doctor. He was brave when he got his flu shot.

The start of school was a tougher adjustment than I anticipated; he is the oldest in his grade, so I thought it would be a breeze. He was whiny and cranky after school for the first two weeks, and he still thinks school is too long. He's a smart cookie so I assume boredom plays a big part of not wanting to be at school. I was nervous about past experiences with his teacher from other moms (she yelled at kids), but that hasn't been Austin's experience. He loves his teacher, and he lucked out by getting his best friend in his class, which has helped a lot!

Hurricane Ida Clean-up

Matt spent a weekend helping out in Louisiana with the aftermath of Ida. He was excited to use features of his jeep, including sleeping in the tent on the top!

 

Caleb's 14th Birthday

Not seen here: Caleb got a new tennis racket cover and a back-up tennis racket

One of Caleb's favorite desserts: banana cream pie. A few days later I made him a peanut butter pie, which is another favorite.

Also, tennis started up right away in the school year. Caleb is near the bottom of the Varsity team, but he has thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to play and try to get better.

Last Day of Summer and 1st Day of School

A good friend threw an end of summer bash with some swimming, face painting, and balloon artist. It was such a fun way to end the summer!

Bryson's first day of 3rd grade and Austin's first day of Kindergarten. They were both very excited!

 

Durango, Colorado Family Reunion

We were so excited to travel somewhere with cooler weather! Matt drove the family 15 hours, then we stopped an hour outside of Durango to stay the night. The next morning, I dropped Matt off at the airport for him to fly back home in order to work Monday and Tuesday. He flew back out Tuesday night after work and joined us for the rest of the vacation. After dropping Matt off at the super tiny airport, the boys and I met up with my parents and went to church in Durango. After church, we went to a park for lunch and toured the college a bit before we were able to check into our lodge. Matt helped get a great deal on the lodge, and it was perfect...except for the restaurant in the middle of the lodge that was open to the public! It turned out not to be as big of a deal as we thought, but still very strange.

Monday we went on a 3-mile hike down to a river. (It was so nice to go hiking mid-morning and not sweat to death!) The way down was no big deal, and everyone did great. Going back up on the other hand, that was a bit tough for the small kids. Bryson and Austin were my hiking buddies on the way up, and it took a lot of encouragement plus many breaks to make it back up. I also had to patiently endure a lot of whining. Austin loves to collect rocks, and some of the ones he had his sweatshirt pocket were quite large. He wanted me to carry him, but I said he'd have to leave the rocks behind if he wanted me to do that. He stubbornly refused. I finally gave in and carried him and his rocks on my back for awhile.

Notice the large bulge of rocks weighing down his sweatshirt.

There was a scare at the river with some of the kids wading in the river. The current was quite strong, but Clay found a place that broke off from the main river where kids could get their feet wet. However, Benson entered the water too close to the current and started to get swept away. Jared went in head first to grab him, slipped himself, and had a bit of a workout pulling himself and Benson to safety. It all happened very fast and both were soaked.

Tuesday we went to a hot spring in Ouray. Thankfully my parents carpooled with us (Matt was gone still) and did the driving through the winding mountains, which makes me so stressed!

Then we went to Silverton and did the mining tour. It was interesting and a good outing.

The kids enjoyed the sauna and hot tubs at the lodge

Showers outside the sauna

Gaming happened whenever we could fit it in!

A group went on an adventure to find a hike to a lake while some stayed back for games. Apparently getting to the start of the hike was sketchy; Matt's jeep could have made it, but not the mini vans everyone was driving. I heard horror stories of the difficulty of turning the cars around. 

Wednesday we decided to do the small theme park in the area called Purgatory. They had an alpine slide, ski lift, a mountain coaster, and rock sifting. The Go Karts were supposed to be available, but due to rain the day before, the ground was too muddy.

Alpine Slide

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Mountain rollercoaster

Matt is sporting a black eye from helping out at a baseball practice. A kid threw a ball in from outfield and Matt stood up at a bad time.

Thursday, our family went grocery shopping and fishing then prepped dinner. Everyone else went to Mesa Verde. My boys opted out of the 5 hour drive round trip.

Friday we went white water rafting, which was great fun!

I love Austin's face in this one!

Saturday morning, we left bright and early at 6am. We drove straight through and got home at 10:30pm. Austin had a rough time the last 3 hours (minus a 30-minute nap in there) because he was tired of being in the car, but otherwise the kids did great. Other than Austin, the kids said they'd rather knock out the driving in one day instead of two. I'm not sure if their opinion matters though as Matt would choose to do it in one day regardless of how anyone else feels. Matt was a trooper and did all the driving. I took some naps, caught up on journaling, and worked on planning music for Primary. 

We love spending time with family, bonding, gaming, and creating memories together. Another great vacation in the books.