We're Back!!!!! Part 1

Well it was a really quick and long week, but we are finally back from our whirlwind cross country adventure! Last Sunday, right after I got off of work, we left for sunny California. Brenda, Tracy, Skylee, and I left for my mom's house in Upland. We got there Monday morning and were greeted by a rain storm. Who would have thought that would greet us? But Tuesday shaped up to be a really nice day.




On Tuesday we all went to Disneyland, and we got there early and had to wait for it to open.

Then they let you in and you have to wait again for the rope to drop. Seriously WTF? That is so mean...lookie lookie, no touchie touchie..lol.

Skylee had an appointment at Bippity Boppity Boutique. Now for those of you who are asking yourself "What in the heck is that?" It is a boutique that does Princess makeovers. It runs anywhere from $40 to $200 and can include hair, makeup, dress, nails, and photos. Since Skylee is in that magical age, I went big and did the castle package. It cost $215 but was way worth it.

Her "fairy godmother" took her shopping in their store and let her pick out a dress, shoes, wand, gloves, and purse.

Then they sat her in a chair and proceeded with the make over.





You wouldn't believe that they were able to get all of her curly hair into a tight little bun, but they did! Now at home.. it is usually a fight to brush her hair, but she was brave and uttered not one peep while getting her make over... ah the magic of Disney.





Her look was complete after make up, nails, crown, ring, and an ungodly amount of glitter. (It is almost a week later and she still has the glitter on her scalp!)


After all that they took some really great professional shots in the photo studio. Skylee isn't fond of pictures anyways, and in the end she became a little irritated with all the pictures.

Her look was complete after make up, nails, crown, ring, and an ungodly amount of glitter. (It is almost a week later and she still has the glitter on her scalp!)


Now, I am not sure who had more fun, her or her Aunts who insisted on trying every hat on in the store.



The park was so crowded that we didn't have time to do much but we did wait in line for 1 hour to meet a few princesses. I got some really great pics on the Disney Photo Pass.. I can't wait to get our cd from that.


Isn't Ariel pretty? And I love the hair... I wonder if I could pull off that look

After that we Skylee rode her fave ride.... the tea cups. About this time Skylee was ready for a change back into her clothes, so after a snack and a change of clothes we went to toon town and we went thru Mickey's house and she got to meet him. I never realized Mickey has little man syndrome. Everything in the house was huge. There is no way a mouse needs anything this big.


Don't we look cute? Man I should have sucked in my gut at least!


After that we rode the Roger Rabbit ride... someone was not having it!!!


It wouldn't be a complete day with out a Mickey Pretzel

About this time I got really sick of the inlaws saying "Oh it's too much for her" um no it isn't it's just too crowded. The crowds were getting to all of us, everyone except the kid was irritating me and we were ready to shop for gifts and head to downtown Disney.
We hit the Build a Bear store, the candy shop fr a Cheshire Cat Tail (marshmallows on a stick covered in caramel, covered in pink candy, with purple sugar stripes) and the Ms Matched store. They make a fortune off of selling mismatched socks in packs of three, and socks for flip flops. I have tons of mismatched socks already, and flip flop socks?? That is even more wrong than brussell sprouts.
We finally ended the evening with some Luigi's D'Italia with My Aunt Nell and Cousin Ryan. Of course Skylee insisted on sitting with Ryan and gushed over him the entire meal. She loves the men! Luckily Ryan was a big sport and payed her plenty of attention. Most 22-23 yr olds wouldn't so the princess had a lovely dinner.
And this would be my fave picture of the beautiful Princess Skylee-Rose Lynn...

I think I may just have to use that in the future.. maybe her sweet 16 invite, bridal shower invite, ooh the possibilities are endless.

I will continue the next step in our trip tomorrow. We left for San Diego the next morning and the crazy fun continued on...

Trip to the Zoo

Well it is officially Spring Break, but we wont be taking a trip anywhere since we will be headed to California in less than two weeks.
I did promise to Skylee to take her somewhere though, so today we went to the zoo. We took Jackson with us and met up with Austin and his family. It was such a beautiful day. It was in the low 70's and was so nice. Of course I got a little too much sun and I lost a nice gold bracelet I was wearing. But other than that it was so great. Skylee and Jackson were on their best behavior. No fighting, or jealous squabbles to speak of. He held my hand all day and Skylee didn't get mad and that is a miracle its self.

We started out with the chimps. And it was sooo cute. There were two babies playing and having a wild rumpus. One of them would do this run and roll move very much like an action star flipping over a car. LOL.

Despite being inside you will notice Skylee and Austin couldn't be bothered to take off their sunglasses. Such rockstars.



And of course the Camel was out so for $5 per kid, they all rode the camel. Austin wasn't really into it but since the others were wanting to he caved in. And I think he liked it in the end.


This was the only grumpy part of the day. After a quick picnic lunch we tried to get a group photo, but Miss thang wasn't into it! But the boys look adorable.


Look at these monkeys!!!


You know I am so bored by this petting zoo! Can't they get something else to pet besides goats? Isn't there some other kind of domesticated animal that would love to be swamped by unruly children all day? How about some pigs, lambs or really fat lazy cats.


Jackson wasn't really into this at first. He would stand as far away as he could and reach over and brush the but with the brush, very cute.


Skylee has no problem getting down and dirty with the animals. She told me yesterday that she wants to have 1000 jobs when she gets big so she can be rich. After Lenka and I explained one good paying job is better than several bad paying jobs, she announced she wants to work with animals in Africa. Do they have malls in Africa? If they don't Skylee wont make it. LOL.



Jackson wants to be a farmer when he grows up so he can own a big green tractor and a barn. He wants to have horses so he can lock them in the barn at night.


I think we have been to the Tulsa Zoo maybe 4-5 times. Never once have we ever seen a prairie dog in the prairie dog exhibit. Well today we broke that streak! Skylee now has a reference when someone says Bruno is begging like a prairie dog.


I love this picture. I am not sure if it is the look on Jackson's face, or the statues on the bench, but I really love it. This is in the Rain forest exhibit. It houses alligators, jaguars, poison frogs, anacondas, monkeys, and really colorful birds. If it hadn't been so warm inside it would have been perfect.


Fruit bats def a fave of Jacksons. He took a recent trip to the caves in New Mexico and really likes bats.


Fish bigger than the kids!


And the really awesome Jaguar. Poor thing paces in circles all day long. Is that a sign of being bored? Or maybe he is just contemplating the deaths of the small children banging on his glass.


Jackson giving his best rock climber face.


Break time at the park. I love that there is a big playground in the middle of this park. the perfect opportunity to rest while the kids play.


Peek a boo


Hey no one but us in here!


Sweet little Colton was getting tired but was still a trooper.


"matchy matchy" as Skylee says. Totally not planned, but really helpful when I was searching for one or the other


Waiting for the train. I think we finally were able to board the train on the third time it came thru the station.People just weren't getting off so we could get on. Why not make them all get off and reboard. It is only fair to all those forced to wait for an available seat.


But once we got on it was great. All three sat in the caboose and loved it!! they ate popcorn and took in the sights.


Last but not least they rode the carousel and we were off.

Spring is in the air

So on the first official day of spring.... snow storm!!! We had eleven inches of snow fall



And the day after??? Melted! The yard is now a soggy mess and Skylee is okay with that. I don't think I will ever get used to the way the weather changes here.




Skylee went to a friend's birthday party last weekend. I had to work so I didn't get any photos of the party, but I did get one of her before she left. We made a cute little pirate costume since the birthday was a pirate party. Not bad since the only thing I purchased was the black/white striped material, I had everything else on hand.


And of course St Patrick's Day. We spent the morning playing at a local pizza place with our friends while our corned beef cooked at home. It turned out so yummy, I even made a soda bread to go with it. Skylee wouldn't eat anything but the vegetables, including two helpings of cabbage.

Birthday Skating!

Happy Birthday Skylee! It is hard to believe that she is five. It seems like yesterday that she was the chubiest little baby with legs to rival the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. She had her party at the Jones center this year. We had a great time ice skating, especially since Skylee now has double runner ice skates. Sorry that there aren't very many pictures. I had to ask someone else to take pictures since I am the only one in the family that knows how to skate. That person didn't take very many and most are super blurry. So as I like to tell Skylee.. You get what you get and you don't get upset!

Here we are adjusting the new skates. It is super cute to see her skate. She runs real fast and then basically slides across the ice. They give her an amazing amount of confidence and that is the key!


Paula and Lenka are the only girls I know that can skate! Here is Paula and Abe looking FABULOUS!


And here is Mr. Austin, Skylee's #1 man. LOL. Just don't let him hear you say that. I just know Skylee is going to be so sad when he and his family move to North Carolina this May.


Here is another preschool friend, Carlee Ann. She is a super sweet girl that Skylee really enjoys
playing with.


We had a little craft area set up so that there was something other to do than ice skate.


After all that she was super tired. I told her that now she is five and that means no more sleeping with other people. So here she is with Flower. Ah and if anyone is in the market for a kitten, just let me know. I am pretty sure that we should have kittens mid-April. I saw a Siamese cat and all black cat stalking our home a few weeks ago, but who knows they may be part Dachshund.


Our playgroup had a winter dance and Skylee loved it. We even got Damien to show up for a little bit. The kids danced, played games and had a wonderful time! Don't you love the dress she picked out? I think the cowboy boots really complete the outfit. For some reason we had no idea where her little black shoes were and in a pinch the boots worked.




Would it really kill him to smile? Men.


These girls were so funny! They all dressed up so cute!



Today she had her Kindergarten physical. She weighed 47 lbs, and is 44 3/4 in tall. So she is in the 80% in both. She will be taller than me for sure most likely 5'7" or so. Everything was great but she reccomended a hearing test since her speech isn't as clear as she should be, so we will see how that goes.