Jelly Bellies

There was a girl scout trip to the Jelly Belly factory. We took the trip back to Laura's hometown and waited in a long line for the tour. Apparently, we weren't the only ones that thought we should go to the factory on our spring break.
We also had a visit with Laura's friend, Jeannette and her two kids. The kids all agreed to getting pizza. We got home later and exhausted.

Easter Sunday

To take a break with the kids, I took spring break off from work.
Saturday, we all gathered at Golfland for an Easter egg hunt.
That afternoon we all went swimming at a local pool. We then got dinner and were off to a friends house to play games. It was a busy day, but we all had a lot of fun.
On Sunday, after church, we gathered at the Easter celebration at my parents. They hid baskets and eggs for the kids. And, as usual, had an egg hunt for the adults (the treat is $$, not candy).
Monday, Laura and I went out to lunch with my parents. I took them to Big Table, a work cafe, and we had a nice visit and walk around the campus.
Great start to vacation!

Tongue twisted

Collette lost another tooth. This one looked funny for the last few days with it hanging in her mouth loose.
After a bit of working it around with her tongue, it finally dropped out.
Unfortunately, Collette misplaced her lost tooth just before bed, so she wrote the tooth fairy a sweet note.
The tooth fairy accepted the note and left a dollar coin. We has to explain what kind of "penny" that was left for her.

Game ball

Benjamin had his first baseball game of the season. Windy and wet, it was sprinkling throughout the game. The kids were cold and a few broke down crying as a result.

Ben had a hard time. First time at bat, he got a little stage fright and didn't give his bat a swing.

I had arrived midway through. Ben, with a combo of cold and fright didn't want to go on the field. I went out with him to be an outfield coach. That made him a bit more comfortable, but his hands were still icy. 

His second try at bat, I went up with him and got him swinging a few practice swings at the plate. After two strikes, Ben hit a solid grounder up the middle. Confused, it took him a bit to run to the bag. Regardless, it was a great turn around from his first attempt.

As a result of his effort, Benjamin received the game ball! He has been excited about receiving trophies and considers this his first one.

Pre-Spring training

Today, Benjamin had baseball tryouts. It consisted of him fielding the ball and throwing it back to the coach. Twice.

Well, we got Ben's mitt Friday night, so we didn't have too much time to prepare. We practiced the drill in the house before he had to get ready for bed.

This morning (Saturday), we all hopped on bikes to cheer Benjamin on at his tryout. His sisters were very supportive, hanging with him in the dugout. When he got his turn to show his skills, people oh'd in the audience because he threw the ball so well after fielding it.

After being congratulated by the coach, Ben came back into the dugout beaming. It made everyone in the family happy to see him feeling so satisfied with his performance.

He'll be starting little league soon, playing for the Cardinals.

Facing her fears

Collette is our cautious child. She doesn't like roller coaster rides. She just can't look if her siblings are doing something that even appears worrisome.

One of those things was getting her ears pierced. Abigail got the piercing a few months ago. Collette wouldn't do it, because she was afraid it would hurt too much. To be clear, as her Dad, I had absolutely no problem that she didn't want earrings. In fact, Abigail said something like, "don't you want to look pretty? Then, you need to get earrings."

Collette, in her usual way of independence, responded that of course she didn't need anything to be beautiful. I love that about Collette.

We were a little surprised when she can home from school and said she wanted to get her ears pierced! It turns out that some friends at school were getting their ears pierced, so she wanted to take the leap too. How should we feel about this. Honestly, Laura and I were a bit conflicted that Collette is doing something as a result of peer pressure. Though we were happy she was doing something that made her face her fears. So, in the end, we were supportive.

We are proud of Collette and her ability to face her fear, cope with anxiety, and take a leap when she was first afraid.

I'll have to get over the fact my daughters are already starting to become young ladies!

Food, biking, movies, and party hats

Laura's parents offered to take the kids for New Years. So, Saturday morning we dropped them off, and Laura and I had the weekend to ourselves.

First, we went out to lunch — eating at Vik's Chaat Corner, our favorite place for Indian Chaat in the bay area. You'll enjoy everything you order here, but Laura & I particularly love the Bhatura Chole. 

Then, we were off for dessert in Oakland, stopping by Fenton's, Laura's favorite ice cream shop. 

After napping off the delicious food, we took a short bike ride around Coyote Hills. I'm way out of shape, so I held us back. Laura mentioned how she didn't even break a sweat while I, on the other hand, was seeing black spots every time we stopped moving. We saw a fantastic sunset, though. I grabbed a few good shots with my phone.




We then went to a movie and watched Tom Cruise jump across the tallest building in the world and, then, bang his head. Best part of the movie.

Finally, we stopped at a few friends homes, caught up with them and played some card games, ringing in the new year with noise makers and party hats.

Unwrapping

Christmas was great. We spent the traditional Christmas Eve with the rest of the Headleys, enjoying all our family traditions.

On Christmas day, we opened presents. Laura and I hosted a Christmas dinner, making only the second turkey of our married lives. The Souths, friends of ours, made Christmas dinner complete — great food and great company.

Laura, the chief elf in our household, loves to see the kids open lots of presents. As you can see, she made sure that happened this Christmas.



The "Welcome Home" sign is left over from our house sitter after our return from Disneyland.

Fear and no fear, plus the blue knight

For Saturday, we spent a lot of time at California Adventure. Abigail showed no fear and took Mom and Dad (separately) on the fast roller coaster — Screamin'. And, Laura showed some guts by following everyone else on the ferris wheel. Apparently, there are only some scary rides she likes to go on. We went on a swinging cage. The first time it swung, Laura crawled up into a ball, leaving the boys to slide off from their seats. She caught one, but missed the other. I think the whole family was laughing very hard during that ride. We all enjoyed it, but Laura.

It was fun to go on rides together. We all went on the together. Unfortunately, Gabriel is out of view on these pics, but is sitting next to Laura.








That evening we had dinner at Medieval Times, which was a blast. The kids loved cheering for the blue knight. He came in second place, doing a pretty good job, overall. But, for Laura and I, it was really great seeing the kids get into the performance and cheer for the blue night.



The picture of Benjamin with his blue flag exemplifies how all the kids got into the cheering. I don't know what was happening with Gabriel here, but I love that Collette is ready to smile for any picture.



Family picture at the event:

Genies, water shows, & night sights

Day 2 in Disneyland

Friday, we spent our time at Disneyland & California Adventures. The kids favorite ride (except Gabriel, because he didn't quality), was Soarin'. It was always good to have a ride that everyone agreed to. While the other kids were at Soarin', Gabriel and I watched a Monsters Inc. parade and went on the Monters Inc ride a few times.

We also saw a few other shows, including Aladdin and Playhouse Disney. Aladdin was great, despite the magic carpet ride not working. All the kids really loved it.

We took a break from the park at dinnertime and came back to watch the water show. We tried to race over to see the fireworks, but the line was too long to get back into Disneyland. So, we took the kids, once more, on Soarin'.

A bit from the World of Color water show:


Then, we went over to see the night lights at the castle and decided to spend a late night getting onto Small World.
 

It was a slow moving line. They were doing some recording of the characters with what looked like a news reporter. Then, there was also a line held up so that a celebrity (Chaz Bono and his former girlfriend). Apparently, if you're a celebrity, you get to get a boat to yourself. Well, we probably should have gone on a different ride, since the line here was so long. But we got a good family shot out of it.

Jedi Training

Some time ago, Laura introduced the Good Deed Jar, which we've been adding beans to for a good deed done in the family. We told the kids that at 500 deeds, we'd take them to Disneyland. So, Wednesday, after school, we picked up the girls. They were surprised to see me in the car, since I'm usually at work. Then, Laura mentioned I counted the beans before going off to work, found more than 500, so we packed the car and started driving directly to Disneyland.

Yesterday, Laura & I loved watching Collette and Abigail battle it out in the Jedi training. We took Abigail, Ben, and Gabriel on the Matterhorn. Did all the Fantasyland rides, and overall had a great time.

Off to run for the bus! We'll add more pictures later.

Favorite moments of the kids:

Gabe: Matterhorn


Collette: Star Tours

Abigail: Jedi training


Ben: Buzz Lightyear shooting

Abigail's Baptism

Abigail was baptized today. We had cousins come and friends come to support her. Uncles and grandfathers participated in the ordinances with Grandma talking about the gift of the Holy Ghost and G-ma giving the closing prayer.

She was baptized with her friend, Hailey, who has a musical family, and was able to share a lovely musical number. Plus, Hailey's uncle gave the talk on baptism.

 The day of her Baptism with Hailey:

The day with me:



Abigail was so happy to be surrounded by her cousins.




We also did pre-baptismal photos for the program. Here's one of my favorites:



Here's a little slideshow we put together for the event. In part, we used it between the baptism and confirmation.

Pumpkin Patch

I am so behind that I'm just now blogging about going to a pumpkin patch just before Halloween. I took the kids up to Half Moon Bay since I had never been there for pumpkin patches and had heard how fun they are. I had also heard how crazy it is to go on the weekends. So, I ditched Joel and battled the four kids alone so I didn't have to worry about the crowds.

Ben had tons of fun on the horse ride. Go ahead. Click on the picture. See that happy face blown up.


Then there's Gabe, who is so hard to please


It's hard to beat Collette's love for animals, though


However, we might have a winner


After pony rides we saw the petting zoo. Happy kids there. Even Ben.


Collette was in HEAVEN (sing it with me... I'm in heaven...)


Gabe was happy at this distance


And Abigail was just as happy here as with the ponies


They went on a train ride. A lot.




Played in the pumpkin patch


And on the hay bales. It was fun!