We are celebrating Valentine's in true Cole fashion. The ice cream party!
Adam playing tennis in the yard with his friend Andrew. It is great not having school on Fridays.
It rained hard and got so cold it snowed or rather hailed! You can see it all along the fence.
We had a little hot cocoa party with lime rolls to celebrate, and keep warm.
They began construction on the lot next door to us.
Supposedly they are building houses. We shall see. Adam was very sad that they ripped out the old tree stump he used to hide his special treasures in, because now all his special treasures are gone without warning.
A friend of mine was given a turkey at Thanksgiving and was getting rid of it.
We were happy to help.
On Friday morning the children do chores, but where are the children?
Outside.
This time it snowed gentle flakes that they could play in and catch on their tongues.
Sarah danced.
Rachel huddled.
Later during violin lesson it snowed big flakes.
Rachel, Gracie, and Kjersti held a Barbie wedding in the snow.
Sarah was inside being diligent.
On February 22nd Grandma and Grandpa came into town. We went to the temple in the morning and met them at their hotel after they checked in and went to lunch at McDonald's.
Grandpa surprised Adam with an early birthday celebration of little donuts and rainbow sherbet.
We played and talked until we had to drive home for 9 am church. It was hard to tear myself away.
We got lucky Friday when Grandma and Grandpa decided they couldn't live without us and came to stay with us for a few days! I loved this shot of Grandpa and the subak!
Sarah and Rachel had youth conference so they were gone most of the time, but that gave me lots of time to chat with Grandma and to let Grandpa do his family history, eat chocolate chip cookies, and watch a BYU game with Adam and Tyler.
Grandpa Cole shared some special family history stories with us on Sunday. We had our family testimony meeting and games which it was special to enjoy together. Monday morning Grandma rode along to take everyone to school. It was a cute image watching Grandma hug Sarah in front of her high school in her jammies and cheetah slippers, and Sarah didn't even care. That's love.
After that weekend they went back to Vegas and we went where? Back to Disneyland of course!
Minnie was dressed 1920's on California's Buena Vista Boulevard.
We watched the newsboys show, which I loved.
Headed to Guardians.
Monsters Inc, which has the cutest "bus terminal rules" that we love so much.
We went to Turtle Talk with Crush where Aqua Adam got to ask what his kids' names are and they sung happy birthday in Turtle, "Dude, Dude Dude Dude Dude Dude...." and he blamed his "bubble" on Adam.
Then we got soaked on Grizzly River Run.
It was a little cold, and we were hungry, so we got a hot meal at the restaurant by Soarin'
Adam got the birthday cotton candy he was so looking forward to.
We went through the Boudin Bakery tour where they make the sourdough Mickey heads and made a plan to bring one home for Aunt Luise.
We ate the cotton candy in line for Toy Story. It made Adam very happy.
It also made Adam happy that there was hardly any line, only a 5 minute wait because of the construction, so we went again and again and tried to learn all the secrets of unlocking extra points.
Sarah was glad we'd gone on King Triton's carousel in January before it is no longer fish themed. We didn't know they were going to change everything. These blue walls were up all the way from the Pier Entrance to Toy Story, and it was the only thing open. Everything else was shut down for it's remake into Pixar Palisades.
I took these pictures of the plans. It looks like there won't be any new rides, but Screamin' will be Incredibles themed and the Carousel will be Toy Story themed, or possibly just general pixar characters, but there is a giant Jessie by it in the picture.
The other side of the pier was open, but none of the shops. We went to Ariel.
Then Philmore's
And Luigi's
The cars broke and we almost left, but then they got working again.
Yay, dance it' cars!
On the way out of the park we noticed the big rock candy mountain is decorated for Easter with chocolate eggs and bunnies.
Saturday we went to Knott's shopping at the Emporium. Tyler's work friend said their Boysenberry popcorn is life-changing. We got him some, but we didn't agree that it was very life-changing.
The Emporium candy shop was so cute. I loved the big Snoopy face cookies.
It all reminded us of Grandma Cole.
Saturday night we went to a stake dance. Aunt Luise's ward was having Brian's band play. Mandee and Manuel came with their girls, and Tory and Dora came.
Tory got his groove on! He is a fun partner!
It was fun to reconnect with Mandee and to meet her girls. They played really well with Adam in the balloons.
Sunday, my little man turned 10! Aunt Luise had choir practice early, so Uncle Van rode to church with us. Rachel was sick so she stayed home to get better so she could enjoy the rest of the vacation.
Sunday afternoon Aunt Luise and I went to her New Beginnings. She is serving as Beehive Advisor right now. I can tell the girls all love her. They have very sweet young women. After the meeting she and Van went to the hospital to visit their son Scott who just had a knee replacement surgery. We went for a walk around their neighborhood and told memories of Adam to each other.
Sarah loved the flowers.
Rachel loved feeling better after her day of rest.
These are the gorgeous cupcakes Aunt Luise bought for the birthday celebration.
Adam was excited about the rainbow sherbet and the cupcakes.
Aunt Luise was excited about the cupcakes too.
He was happy to go back for more,
and it was good to the last drop!
My sweet Tyler making a map for the following day...a special day for Rachel.
While we were in civilization we decided it would be best to get Rachel fitted for pointe shoes. Our plan for Monday was to go to Huntington Beach, and the best pointe shoe fitter we learned is in Huntington Beach. So we stopped there on our way to the beach. Rachel was in heaven. She learned she has very, very strong feet and walked out with a beautiful new pair of shoes.
At the beach Tyler tried out his new wetsuit.
He and Sarah rode the waves.
Adam collected seaweed and threw it back into the ocean.
Tyler and the girls walked to the end of the pier while Adam and I watched the kite flyers.
Tuesday we went to Disneyland.
The trees in bloom were so beautiful.
We started at Peter Pan and did other Fantasy Land rides.
Saw Belle.
We were missing the rest of our red shirt buddies. Sarah is sad her red shirt died, it came out of the washer with ten mystery holes in Mickey's head. It was assassination for sure.
The Wildest Ride in the West.
It was wild.
On to Pirates.
Then the rain unleashed.
We rode Space Mountain as single riders, and all got on together.
The kids kept going and I got to rest.
Small World.
Mr. Toad's
Sisters on the Carousel.
Rachel loves this window by the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo Boutique.
Wednesday promised to be rainy too, just look at those gorgeous storm clouds.
It felt a little ominous watching my family walk into it, but I knew we had our faithful ponchos ready.
Rachel drove me on Autopias. This is her best "tough-guy" face.
Adam drove Dad.
Sarah rode solo.
We saw Burt and Mary Poppins
Tried out single rider on Indiana Jones, Adam and I ended up together.
Jungle Cruise, hilarious as always.
This is the concept art for Star Wars Land. It hangs on the wall at the new entrance.
The Small World moose had a hitchhiker.
On Storyboats Peter Pan's London Park had baby chicks.
There was a new little red motorcar outside Toad Hall.
Elsa's Castle.
We rode Gadget's Go-Coaster again and this time noticed that Mickey was naked somewhere! He left his shorts to dry on the line. Poor guy!
Ready for 54 seconds of awesome?
This is the Aunt Fran Face photo bomb picture. Awesome.
Toon Town Mickey Fountain
We purchased our special Mickey Ice Creams from Grandpa and went to Tiki Room to enjoy them.
Adam got the Frozen Strawberry Lemonade, Tyler a Dole Whip, and I got the Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich.
Another Wild Ride in the West.
We found a new passageway, which was a big deal for us. It went from through restaurants by Thunder to the Castle. It had these posters. We love that they have one where they didn't get Flynn's nose right.
So Romantic.
Sister Shot.
We loved the Mickey Pepperoni on the is Tee.
Sarah found a violin.
Mickey!
We like the things no one else does. We sat and watched the Black and White Mickey cartoons on Main Street. The lights on the stairs are Mickey heads.
Then we went to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. It was a good thing, because Sarah said after wards that she had only heard negative things about Lincoln from her history teacher. She had no idea he was religious or known as being a great President. Ug. We had a good talk about that.
In the picture gallery before the theater entrance they have this picture of Walt at the castle and the exact bench he was sitting on at Griffith Park when he first had the idea of Disneyland.
I couldn't believe there wasn't a line to take pictures by this beauty. Oh Captain EO, how we miss you.
Opening day speech. I love that Disneyland and I almost share a birthday.
Thursday we started at Guardians, a new fav as you can see. We had a fun thing happen. Our family friends from Laveen appeared and we had them join us in line. You can see the family with the Mom in the BYU shirt in the front row.
Max was by Tyler and Adam behind us.
Our friends the Farris family from Laveen.This is their last trip as a family before Morghan goes to BYU this year. Congrats!
Sarah's favorite Hidden Mickey.
We came here twice during the day and drew Olaf and later Piglet.
Went back to Guardians with Fastpasses,
...love the photo bomber.
Bug's Land
Chew Chew Train
The Wrinkle in Time Sneak Peak-kind of wierd
We are so glad this is back.
Adam's first time since being a little baby. He loved the stingers and worms.
Then we went to Little Mermaid, and saw the Zootopia guys.
During our water fill-up and bathroom break this little guy was making a Mickey head on the ground with whatever he could find. I asked him to show it to me, he was so precious.
We went to the Redwood Park where Adam did the zipline.
Cutest magnets ever! They were in the store by the park.
Hollywood Street, so Romantic!
The Frozen show with close-up seats. It is spectacular!
The Swings.
Look at all that construction.
Toy Story!
So cold on the tram!
YAY!
Goodbye!
We had to cut our visit a little short. Tyler was asked to baptize Kaylynn so we had to get there in time.
Sarah and Adam still had a full week of Spring Break. I felt bad that during it there had to be drilling.
Every day the workers would chip away at this solid rock
They were trying to lay a water pipe to connect the new lots to the sewer system and ran into pure rock all along the back of our fence where their pipe needed to go. For weeks we endured the constant boom boom boom of the jackhammer.
Progress was slow, we watched how far they still had to go each day, hoping again for silence. We looked for places to escape to and errands to run. We mostly had home cleaning projects, music, and German homework for Sarah to work on. All of which had to be done at home.
It made practicing violin very difficult for Sarah. It was like a huge metronome pounding off beat. We survived the week and the migraines brought on by the pounding. It wasn't the restful rejuvenating week we had hoped for, but we survived. Sarah was almost glad to go back to school Monday to avoid the pounding.
Saturday Tyler took the young men to Phoenix to attend the Mesa Temple and a Spring Training Baseball game. He enjoyed being in a car with Brother Neth, Jake and Edison. He entertained them with stories of his childhood and had a great time. We stayed home to clean and shop. Sarah and Rachel found swim suits for Easter. They were thrilled.
Sunday Adam tied a perfect tie all by himself. I was so proud. It was ward conference so the Relief Society was providing a meal for visiting stake leaders.
Adam's school mathathon for St. Jude Hospital. He got pizza and cookies and math, what more could a little boy want? Oh yeah, Mom! I got to come and be with him during it.
I built Adam's basketball hoop with him. He finally decided what to order with his birthday money, and it finally came Friday!
Swish!
That is a happy 10 year old.
It was a great month, but the best was saved for last...General Conference! Saturday Sarah went through her rock collection and was able to reduce it by 1/3.
Rachel sewed the elastic and ribbons on her pointe shoes.
We all prepared for Easter while Dad was at Priesthood session hearing about amazing new changes.
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