Blue and Gold dinner for Cub Scouts

The theme this year was to celebrate 100 years of Scouting.

We enjoyed a delicious potato bar dinner with chili and toppings.

Goodbye San Diego . . . Hello Jacksonville, Florida

Christian has orders to move to Jacksonville, Florida in June. We knew the San Diego thing couldn't last forever. We were supposed to move to North Carolina last year, but were allowed to stay in San Diego for one final year. We are grateful for the wonderful time we've had in San Diego these past 8 years and look forward to our new adventures back in Florida.

WAP with Mom, Dad, and Aleya

It is unusual for Christian and I to only take one child with us . . . anywhere. Since Christian had the day off and the other kids were in school, we decided to take Aleya over to the Wild Animal Park. We found it to be quite enjoyable with only one child.

The meerkats were on alert when a bird invaded their comfort zone.

At an animal encounter, we learned about the most plentiful mammal in Australia. It's a squirrel glider and is a marsupial that can glide up to 240 feet.

We fed the lorikeets.

Another animal encounter with a hawk.

Measuring up.

Another animal encounter with a fossa (pronounced "foo-sa") from Madagascar.

We were lucky enough for another animal encounter with a couple of cheetahs.

It was a fun and enjoyable outing with Aleya.

Disneyland 2010

Our family decided to take one last trip to Disneyland before we move to Florida.

One of our families favorite rides at Disney is the Buzz Lightyear ride. I scored the highest this time of the whole family (due to the ride stalling a little). 209,000!

We love the new Nemo ride, but not the wait. Ugh.

The jokes on the Jungle Cruise don't seem to change, but they're still pretty funny.

Yeah! Indiana Jones off-roading!

The Pirates of the Caribbean is always a pleasure to ride.

The Haunted Mansion is the bomb!

While waiting in line to see the princesses, Aleya engaged some girls in dancing. She taught them the way princesses should dance. She was pretty sad that we forgot to bring one of her princess dresses to wear, but got over it by enjoying the dresses the other girls were wearing.

Aleya even taught them how to dance the waltz with a prince and how to trade partners.

Aleya enjoyed meeting Princess Tiana. We haven't even seen the movie, yet.

Next, she met Belle. My, how yellow your dress is looking, Belle. A little TOO yellow.

After the princess met and greet, Aleya discovered the princess store and immediately wanted to try on dresses.


The dresses were $65 each, which is about $50 more than I paid for each dress that Aleya has at home.
I convinced Aleya to settle for a princess hat, instead. It was a better deal.


We finally rode the Fairy Tale Boats which we've missed the past few years because the line was too long.
Orrin's head is about to be consumed by Monstro, from Pinocchio.

We had a pretty good day and even saw a fun party parade. The pictures mysteriously disappeared, however, so I'll have to hunt them down.

7th Grade Auction Project for Fundraiser

For the 7th grade art auction project, I had the students help stencil-paint a beach umbrella and 2 chairs and their carry bags. Other items were donated to complete the package. It was supposed to be a school pride type theme . . . like something you could bring to the school sports games and also use at the beach.

I had the entire 7th grade sign the umbrella, as well.

Presidents Day Family Bike Ride at Mission Bay

We don't go bike riding often enough, but we're glad when we do. This time we decided to ride around Mission Bay. It took us 3 hours that morning to get all the tires pumped, brakes repaired and gears working. Maybe that's why we don't go that often.


When we happened upon a large tree, well, the kids just scampered right up it.




Aleya was really enjoying riding her bike on her own with the family.

At the end of our bike ride, we stopped at playground.

The kids discovered a huge sand mound and they began a game of "King of the Hill" with their dad.

Who do you think won?