The Magic Kingdom

"To all that come to this happy place: Welcome! Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America... with hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world."

-Walt Disney

 Our passes expired and we are all quite depressed about it.

Thanks for all the good times, Disneyland.

We'll miss you.

Going Going Back Back to Schoooooooooool!!!!!

 What Most Parents Do on the First Day of School: 

-Print off darling little signs for their kids to hold indicating what grade they are in and take a picture of them all dressed up and looking spiffy and rested and continue this tradition for 18 years.

What I Do on the First Day of School: 

-Wake up 8 minutes before we're supposed to leave and have to double check that it is actually the day that school starts.

 What Most Parents Do While Walking To School on the First Day:

-Hold their child's hand and talk calmly about what a great year they're going to have and how magical this grade will be.

What I Do While Walking To School on the First Day:

-Snap one lazy picture from behind while huffing and puffing to keep up in the 106 degree weather while racking my brain to try to remember what darn classrooms they are supposed to be in.

 What Most Parents Do After Dropping Their Kids Off At School:

-Cry and count the minutes until they get to see their darling faces again.

What I Do After Dropping My Kids Off At School:

-Wave goodbye.

 

This year Brooklyn hit the teacher jack-pot and is already having the best year ever.  Aubrey got the same teacher that Brooklyn had last year, and it took her exactly 7 days to bring home a notification that she's earned an Academic Achievement Award.  I'm not worried about either one.

Cameron even got in on the action this year and started his first year of Preschool. 

He exclaimed it the best day of his life and can't wait to come home and tell me all about it each day.  He even gets a page of homework which he thinks is just about the coolest thing to ever happen to anyone ever.

Summer Time {and the Living's Easy}

This summer started off with a list just like all our past summers of 50 awesome things we wanted to do together as a family.  After day 2 that list of things dropped to 30.  And after day 3, that list was down to just a few specific highlights.  And by the end of the summer, I honestly could not have cared less what was on that list.

This summer we just flew by the seat of our pants and I kind of liked it.

What we did accomplish:

Swimming at the Drayson Center * Brain Freeze Icecream * The San Bernardino Museum (twice!) * Adopting 2 bunnies * The Drive-in Movie * Making Homemade Icecream (Dole Whips) * Designing and Painting Baby Onesies * Making Rock Candy * Watching Fireworks * Pirate's Dinner Adventure * Legoland * Building a Teepee * Picking strawberries * Camping (Inside) * Seeing a Movie in the Theatre * Doing the Library Reading Challenge * Having a Playdate With Friends (several, in fact) * Eating a Snowcone * Making ceramics with Grandma * Going to Splash Kingdom Summer Camp * Lunch at Shakey's Pizza * Riding a Mechanical Bull * Going to the Beach (4 times) * Swimming with Friends * Horseback Riding * Surf Lessons with Uncle Brad * Taking Cookies to the Veterans * Getting Ice Cream at Rite Aid * The San Diego Aquarium * Selling Lemonade

* Having a Pretty Darn Amazing Summer

The Decade

What's In A Name?

 We're on the search for a baby name.  And we are getting nowhere reeeeal fast.

So, I thought this would be a good opportunity to record the stories of how we choose our first three kids' names.

(Since our last one won't have a name, I might as well do it now.)

"Brooklyn" was definitely not one of the names I scribbled on my notepad during the less-than-interesting Young Women's lessons.  In fact, none of my kids names were.  They were all mostly last-minute decisions.

 (If I had birthed a child between 1992 and 2004 they would have been named Dustin or McKenzie.  Ick.)  

I always loved the name Brooke and since my mom and Luke's dad's names are Lyn, we stuck the two together and... whoala.

Brooklyn it was.

 The name Brooklyn comes from the city in New York which is abstractly fitting for her.

She's unique and wild and untamed.

Parts of her are classic and elegant.

And parts of her are bold and gritty.

 She's definitely our Brooklyn.

Aubrey was almost not Aubrey at all.

She was going to be Brielle or Bailey or Katelyn.

We had thrown "Aubrey" around a little bit, but it never really stuck for me.

Then on the way to the hospital on a snowy and slick morning between a few nasty contractions, I looked at Luke and told him her name was Aubrey.  And that was that.

 "Aubrey" literally means "ruler of the Elfish people."

I am not making this up.

Ruler. of. the. Elves.

At first I was appalled by this, but again, it kind of fits.

She is a ruler.  And elves or humans or bunnies or aliens or first-grade boys, she is loved by her people.  

Her name also means "noble" and "bright."

If I had only 2 words to describe her, those might be my picks.

Noble.

And so exceptionally bright.

 

"Cameron" means "crooked nose."

Yep.

Crooked. Freakin. Nose.

 This one, fortunately, is not as fitting as the others.  

His nose is pretty straight and pretty darn cute actually.

 In Chinese, the symbols used to make up "Cameron" are the symbols for "esteemed, bright, and manly."

So we're gonna go with that.

Cameron was not decided on until the nurses at the hospital told us we couldn't leave unless we decided on something.

We turned on the TV and agreed that the first boy name that we saw or heard would be his name.

And then the first name was Adam.

So we cut our losses and named him Cameron.

And that is what's in a name.

The Simple Beauty

 "Go outside...

amidst the simple beauty of nature...

and know that as long as

places like this exist, 

there will be comfort for every sorrow, 

whatever the circumstances may be."

-Anne Frank