Brestyan's Invitational

Go For It Excel team

Etta and Mackenzie had a gymnastics meet last night.  As usual they were up against some big girls but thought Etta did fairly well last night.  They started out on floor and she went a little fast for the music and ended up early at the end and had a little fall out of her handstand.  Otherwise she did a good job.  Surprisingly she had a relatively a low score of 8.8. 

She went to vault next (didn't get a video of this since it was so far away) and she's been having a hard time with vault.  Not sure if it has anything to do with her ankles, but it took 6 practice vaults to finally get over!  She landed her vault for competition but the judges saw her practice vaults so I wasn't surprised with her 8.675.
Next was bars which she does pretty well with.  Her practice routine was awesome then she got up to compete.  She took a huge cast and instead of doing one back hip circle she did two, but was sloppy.  Luckily she didn't fall which would have been a big deduction.  She ended up with a 8.825.

Last was beam which is her worst event since she is so loose, possibly since she is so flexible.  But, she didn't fall!  However, her handstand looked a little sloppy.  She got an 8.9 which was her highest score of the day.

So, she didn't have a great day, but it wasn't a bad day either.  She was comforted by the fact that she didn't get last place in anything.  It was a late night last night.  We didn't get home till 10:30pm.  Needless to say Etta wasn't in the best of moods this morning getting ready for school. 

Eric's Lieutenant Colonel Pinning Ceremony

Eric's Lt. Col. pinning ceremony was January 31st at Creech AFB.  Eric is so funny.  I kept asking him to check when he was going to promote since I want to host a promotion party for him at our house.  He had told me months ago that it would be around March.  So, I finally reminded him to check on it and he did, January 29th.  He called me up later in the day and asked if I would be available for a pinning ceremony two days later.  I told him I'd make myself available by taking the girls out of school early and take the girls to dance class late!  Of all the times to miss school and dance, this was a good enough reason for me.  The girls and I did the 45 minute drive up to Eric's work for the ceremony.

Chloe waiting in daddy's work chair.

 The girls looking super cute with Eric's major hat.

 

General (select) Hecker and Eric reciting the oath of office.

  The girls took off Eric's major rank and low and behold his Lt. Col. patches were on underneath.

 I changed Eric's major pin to Lt Col pin on his flight hat.

Eric wanted to publicly thank me putting putting up with all that comes with being married to the military (moving frequently, tiny kitchens, no dishwashers, etc) by giving me roses but Etta kept trying to steal them from him.  Her face was priceless (hence my constant laughing)!

 However, the girls seemed happy enough when Eric gave them tulips.

Eric's ceremony was followed by eating cake and drinking apple cider.  I'm sure it would have been a more exciting party with lots of booze if everyone didn't have to drive so far to go home!

Party at our house coming soon.



Disneyland

We spent our second day and part of our third day at Disneyland.  We spent so much time on characters we don't have many other pictures.  We tried going to Tomorrowland and got in line for Star Tours first since there was no wait.  We were in line to board and Chloe broke down.  Eric took her out so just Etta and I road it.  I think Chloe had a hard time not seeing the rides before getting on them.  It's too scary for her.  Etta enjoyed Star Tours but said she didn't want to do it again since it was a little scary.

We did Autopia and the girls had tons of fun on that.  Of course the gas pedal was really hard to push so I did the pushing on Etta's car while she drove.  Space Mountain...I have memories riding that when I was little and it was scary!  Now, both the girls love roller coasters so we presented it as a roller coaster ride.  I wish I took a picture of the girls' face from the first time they road it.  Etta couldn't be seen since she was so small but Chloe had her ears covered with her hands since she thought it was too loud.  Chloe was not up for it again but Etta LOVED it.  Throughout the weekend, she went on it about 10 times.  That's how short the lines were.  However, Chloe ended up loving the Matterhorn.

Something about going round and around and up and down makes the kids happy.



After Tomorrowland we headed to Fanatasyland where the girls could see all the princesses.  I was shocked to she how long the lines were to ride simple rides like Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland.  We chose not to wait in those lines and headed for quicker moving rides with short waits, like the carousel.

The merry go round always puts smiles on little faces

It's a Small World was closed so after walking around Fantasyland we remembered Pixie Hollow.  We didn't wait long but got to see a cute set up that reminded the girls of Secret of the Wings, one of their favorite movies!

We went over to Toon Town and the kids had a blast.  It's just fun to walk around (see all the characters) and ride a small roller coaster.  The girls lucked out and get the front seat.  Happy girls!

 

 After meeting Mickey, the girls got in this cute car for pictures.

 

 

In the evening there was a parade and we had great seats!

It was about 5pm our third day and wanted to call it quits, but the girls still had some spending money.  So, we told them we'd take them to Build a Bear to spend what they had left and we'd cover them if they were short.  It took the girls around 30 minutes just to pick which stuffed animal.  Then Eric said they could pick out a sound.  It didn't take Chloe long since she picked a dog but Etta has picked a Minnie Mouse inspired teddy and they didn't have a Minnie sound.  So, he let her pick a sent.  After stuffing he even let them pick out accessories!  Chloe picked a dog house and some hair clips.  Etta had a harder time, she tried on every dress before picking the first one tried on.  Then, she had to pick out shoes.  Sigh, it took us about 90 minutes to get out of the store. 
We had a blast at Disneyland and we are finally recovered!



California Adventure

We spent our first day at California Adventure and none of us have ever been there before.  We had been told by friends the first thing we should do was get fast passes for Cars Land's Racers.  Learning how to get and use fast passes was an experience, but it worked.  I got in line with everyone's passes and everyone else went to check out other stuff.  Friends of ours were at Disney the same time so they were hanging out with us the first day.  After getting fast passes we went to Bugs Land, a great introduction to rides for the kids.

 

Kade, the girls, and I waiting in to ride Flik's Flyers.

 

 We waited in line for 30  minutes for the Chew Chew train and I wish we could have that 30 minutes back.  Really, it's only worth it if you have a tiny kid that can't ride anything else.

 

 

I know a few of my friends are planning trips to Disneyland right now and if you make it to California Adventure, please skip It's Tough to be a Bug if your kids are younger than 8 years old.  Chloe cried the entire time and Etta ended up in my lap.  It's like a 4D show but it was pretty freaky for them.  Of course Eric and I thought it was entertaining but not age appropriate for our girls.  The girls still talk about that being the scariest part of the trip (granted we skipped Tower of Terror and Haunted Mansion).

 

After scaring the girls to death, we took them to anther part of the park where they are carousels, swings, and Ferris wheels.  They were much happier.

 This carousel was cool since they were all sea animals covered in jewels.

 The swinging/gliding carts on the Ferris wheels, why bother with the non swinging?

 

 

I waited in line for about 25 minutes to get the fast passes for Racers and then we had to wait another 10 minutes in line during our fast pass time but it was better than the 90 minutes that the normal wait was.  Etta, Kade, and I rode up front while the dad's and Chloe rode in the back. 

 

 

 We got great seats for the Pixar Parade.  Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures in focus.

Our third and last day was split between the two parks and went and saw the Adventure Challenge which is a great place for kids to run around.  There was hardly anyone there which made it all the better.  Right after we entered the trail we found the dog from UP.

There was rock climbing, zip lines, slides, and lots of rope ways.  The girls had lots of fun here.

We went to Cars Land again and checked out Mater's Towing or something along those lines and was lots of fun, way more fun the Luigi's Flying Tires.

 Outside the Cozy Cone waiting to see Lightening.

We rode Racers again after waiting only 15 minutes in line for fast passes.  Then our friends were leaving the Parks without using their fast passes so we got to ride again.  We had so much fun, plus there are two tracks so we got to see both of them!
My favorite ride in California Adventure: Racers.  Chloe's: Goofy Sky School.  Etta's: Soarin' California.  Eric's: Goofy's Sky School.



Meeting Characters in California Adventure and Disneyland

Some characters we sook out and others we just happen to run into while heading from one attraction to another.  Here are some fun pictures with Disney characters in California Adventure:

The Incredibles with friend Kade.

The girls with Flick from A Bugs Life.

 Donald Duck

 Woody

The girls getting to dance in Cars Land after getting off a Lugi's Flying Tires.  Good timing on our part.

 

  Just before heading to Radiator Springs Racers, we saw Red.

 

We were waiting in line to meet Lightening McQueen but he left just before the girls got to take a picture with him.  He was then replaced with:

 

Mater.  He commented on how cute the girls were.  Was he talking about Etta and Chloe...or me?  Haaaa.

 

After riding Soarin' we saw Minnie's Fly Girls perform and then Etta got her picture taken with her.  Chloe was done with pictures at that time.

We went to the Wilderness Challenge and found the dog from UP.  But we were sad he didn't say that he loved us or "Squirel!"

 

We didn't see as many characters in Disneyland since we were so busy on the rides!  Here is who we met:

 We saw Minnie as soon as we entered the park.

 

 The girls knew it was going to be a long wait and were willing to stand in line.  An hour later they got to meet Rapunzel and Flynn Rider.  They got to talk for a few minutes before pictures.

 Eric said that I had to take a picture with Flyn since we waited so long!

 Daisy in Toontown

 We went through Mickey's house in Toontown and got to take a family photo.

 We had to stop at Pixie Hollow and we saw Fawn and Iradessa.

 Pluto

We went back to our hotel for some pizza and came back in the evening for a few more rides and the evening parade.  But got a surprise when we came in through the entrance and saw Ariel with no one in line.  The girls ran over to her and were so excited.  Ariel sat down and had an entire conversation with them.  She noticed both of them were wearing Ariel sweaters.

What an impromptu meeting which happened to be the highlight for the girls.  It's amazing to watch the girls' faces light up everytime they saw someone they watch from their favorite movies.