On the Road

Disneyland

An impromptu trip to Disneyland...the older kids on their trip to Australia so we decided to spend the 4th of July in the happiest place on earth. Apparently .

I love the original Disney rides. You know the ones where you don't feel like your going to soil yourself because your plummeting to your death.

This is perhaps my favorite photo from the trip. Their faces crack me up. I think that guy at the front should stick to the original rides. He definitely looks like he may have had to invest in some new underwear.

We had a great hotel. Just a few minutes walk from the maingate and we had a waterpark in the hotel which was a good way to have a break and get away from the heat .

California scream in'

Matt looks so scared 

Mandatory picture with Walt and the mouse.

The Matterhorn 

The evening fireworks were amazing. Hard to believe they do this every night 

The effort that goes into creating the setting for some of these rides was amazing. This was the new Cars ride.

Certainly of all the times we have been to a Disney park  this was the most fun. As it turns out teenagers are more fun to take to a theme park than toddlers. 

Catching up

Just some pictures to get the summer rolling.....

 The newly painted deck

Lawn games with the neighbors

Spokane's summer hot air balloon 

Matt's stash from his trip to Australia 

The kids new car

From our garden.

Friends racing

Off to Australia for the oldest 2

And an impromptu trip to Disneyland for the youngest one 

13

The last one to become a teenager. Happy birthday 

Roadtrips and birthdays

My philosophy is that there is no point having a bucket list unless you devote time to checking things off your list. Now the kids will sometimes call my incessant need to check things off my bucket list FFF or Forced Family Fun.  But this time I think everyone agreed that we nailed it.  A total hoot of a weekend.

Matt and I took friday off work and the kids took the day off school and we headed off to Seattle

The weather was perfect

We made it to Seattle and checked in to my favourite hotel...the Edgewater....ahhhhh.

Then we headed to Pike place for some shopping and met up with max and his friends that also came over from Spokane. We went and grabbed a pub meal for dinner and then headed off to the main event.

Billy Joel baby!

My kids are big Billy Joel fans and it was Jack's birthday weekend so what better way to celebrate than to have this once in a lifetime experience.  The guy is a legend. And he didn't disappoint. I thought it may be a bit of a mellow concert, him being a piano player and all. But it was a total old school, rock n roll, get up and dance kinda gig.

Mothers Day

Just the gift for a chocolate lover.  Thank you kids....and pinterest.

New Digs

This is the view from my new digs. 

Conference champions

Goth rugby club are conference champions.  On to the state championship playoffs.  So excited for these boys.

Ps....yes Max has blonde hair...long story!!!

Photo credit: Bruce Murrin Photography

Rugby

Rugby. It makes boys into men. Or so I have been told! And since it's officially spring that means it's rugby season...and in the Pacific NW that can mean some challenging conditions.  Max's team ( in the black  jerseys) have to travel far and wide to play against other teams.  Here are some pictures from some recent matches. 

 

Between games they all keep warm in the team tent!

I think Max had about 4 sweatshirts on in this picture.

Winners are grinners...the smallest trophy ever made!

Don't you love the snow in the background?

We don't go on too many of the rugby trips with him.  It's just the coaches and a small group of diehards.  What brave people to take these bunch of high schoolers all over the Pacific NW.