Today is a good day to start.

I have far too many things happening in my life, too many memories being made, too many lessons being learned to not be keeping up my journal. My boys are growing and changing before my eyes, and life has flooded me with new experiences and insights. Brad's projects continue. And I would like to remember it all. So as is customary to any of my journals, I will follow this apology to self with a renewed commitment to get my rear in gear! My biggest beef with writing down my thoughts is knowing that they will be shared. I want to write for me, not for other people to read it. The accessibility of a blog stops me every time. I need to finally gather email addresses so that I can go private.
In recent news.... We went to Disneyland for fall break! Harwoods and Bergesons came along with us. What a combo, what a trip. The drive down on Wednesday and home on Sunday were as entertaining as every other year has been. The kids waffled between hilarious and horrible. Lily made it clear that she doesn't like babies sitting near her. Austin peed all over me and learned how to screech at the top of his iddie biddie lungs in order to receive giggles from the kids. Logan and Reese were rockstars until a brown crayon was broken and princess movies were voted on. Justin has a bladder the size of a nickel, and like every other trip, relies on his navigation like its his life-force. Steph gets punch drunk and is totally pleasant to travel with. Brayden and Lauren are hyper-focused, motivated drivers. "Serie", our new little apple girl, kept Brad as entertained as a kid in a candy shop. I get easily distracted when I see a mall, and then suddenly "need" a potty break. And tramadol turns me into a chatty Kathy, which is so unlike me:)

We maximized day 1 with a thorough run-through of the entire Disneyland park. Honestly, I can't say that I was a fan of space mountain or the haunted mansion. But the tea cups and Small World rocked me and Austin's world.  The little kids were brave and proudly taller than 2 years ago. Splash mountain was the group favorite. Love. It. We were EXHAUSTED by the end of the night! We started day 2 in California Adventures with zeal, and ended it at Bucca Di Peppo with 5 out of 6 kids sound asleep in various empty booths like wrapped up like little dolls in their dollhouse. Yes, it was Logan that was still buzzing. We had so much fun that day! Lots of Tower of Terror, lots of California Screamer, and a super soak on the Grizz. Aussie slept in his stroller and ran through the park against traffic, tilting his head and jabbering to every stranger he saw. Day 3- all the guys pulled out their rockstars for caffeine, the girls took a lot of motrin, we bought Aussie some shoes that would help the blisters from walking, and off to the beach we went. We showed up to Newport, saw the wave break, and quickly drove on to the State Park beach. Perfect. Huge waves. Lots of sand. The kids had a slice, and so did we. Pics will be inserted tomorrow. Braddo left the memory card at work, darnit. Any regrets? YES. Just one big, fat humungous one. Two words: Primm rollercoaster. Seriously people? Never, NEVER, have I felt that destroyed and injured by a machine. Law suit and migraine were the only things that came to our minds as we walked back to the car with our heads hung low, wondering why stupidity had briefly won over consequential thinking. No fatalities, and we learned our lesson. Here are a few pics from my phone until I download the good stuff.