Disneyland

We finally did it. Last year Aubrey asked if we could go to Disneyland sometime before she left home. We had always planned on going, we just never thought about when. So the gauntlet had been thrown down and after a lot of late night jobs and a little saving, we made it happen.


Unfortunatlly, Jackie had just started a new job and couldn't get the time off. So, without any parental supervision AT ALL! Her 5 kids Went to Disneyland.

Aubrey, driving somewhere south of Sacramento

Party in the backseat

Turns out, I still can't sleep the night before a big trip,  So I got everybody up reeeeely early (1:30). That meant we had some time to kill when we got there. So we did a little detour through Hollywood.

The Theater

 A little wax Museum

And the sign. 

The consensus was that the visit was now something we can say we did. Don't think we will be going back soon.  Makes the panhandlers in Ashland seem down right cuddly.



Made it!



Every girl need a carousel ride



Sev thought these were cool till he realized they were on a track and no passing





ON the bus to and from the Hotel.



Ferris Wheel togetherness

Waiting in line.

Dressed up like a pilot. Looked good on Sev......

They just don't make em in BIG kid size.

Still won't come out.

We found shelter in Bugs Land during the Rainstorm

Still raining.

Who knew? There is an official sign!

Happy even in line.

Raft ride. Cause we weren't wet enough already.

Hey Sev and Ash! Its just like Jumpin' Jellyfish! But in an elevator, in the dark,

with a bigger seatbelt, and a little faster, with lots of screaming!

You will love it! (They didn't love it)

NO.1 favorite movie.

We wrote postcard in line. Might as well be productive.

Disney California was fun

Four kids four tractor seats. 

It's a 5 pack of action figures.

I did a Dad tourist thing and took my kids to the Reagan Library on the way home. I don't know how much they apprecated it. They did humor me. 

  After the Reagen Library,  we decided to head home to see Jackie. After a suicide 10 hour drive straight through, we made it home at around 1:00 and suprised Mom.

It has been a few weeks since we completed our journey. There are a few things that I learned from our longest trip ever.  I learned that after spending 5 straight days in the same area as each other that my kids have very distinct personalities. They all make up this family and bring something that defines each one of them as a person and our family as a whole. Time in line is not that bad when you have someone to share it with. I literally spend the next week and a half having Disneyland dreams, I was back with my kids walking down Mainstreet and riding rides. I don't think it was where we were so much as it was being with each other with no other distractions and just getting to play.

Would I do it again?  In a heartbeat.

Shared Room

In a four-bedroom house with six people living in it, two of the lucky inhabitants get to share a room. That falls upon number 2 and 4, Emma and Ash. I do feel the strain that they go through, but there is not a whole lot I can do about it that costs less than a small ransom (new wall, second floor, new house). I have offered the storage room behind the garage, to which Emma is all too eager to volunteer Ashlin.

The last option is for Emma to wait for Aubrey's departure from the nest, at which time she will get a room of her own by default. Emma has devised a coping skill that would work if Ash had enough attention span to finish reading the rules Emma leaves for them. For those of you who grew up sharing a room, I offer the following. This pretty much outlines every fight they have had. I do like the colorful use of markers. 

Ashlin posted lists of her own. She's not so sure about Santa anymore but slapping the list to the door might cover all the bases.

Tree Controversy Comes To Ashland

While PTO president last year at my kid's elementary school, I introduced a new holiday activity for the PTO to work on to replace 'Christmas Bags', which were goodie bags filled with small toys and treats for each child at school. This new activity was placing a 'Giving Tree' near the office of the school with paper tags attached with names of children from the school who were in need of presents for Christmas, etc. Classrooms were also assigned items to have students donate, such as stuffing or cans of green beans, to create a holiday meal for a needy family. The gifts, food, stockings full of hygiene items, and a turkey, provided by PTO, were all loaded into a storage bin and delivered to the families by the school principal. The project was a success and was the best thing PTO had ever done as it was our school community taking care of their own.

This year, the current PTO decided to continue with this new tradition. The same two ladies who had chaired the project were heading it up again, so I found two faux evergreens the Ashland ward was throwing away and donated them to the project. Before Thanksgiving, the ladies set the trees up, attached the name tags, and sent out flyers on the project home to all students. When we all arrived back on school the following Monday, the six-foot tall trees were gone, having been replaced with 18" wicker snowmen. Apparently, one parent complained to the principal about the tree representing Christmas, which could make her non-Christian children feel not welcome at school. So, the principal took it upon herself to remove the trees without discussing the issue with her staff, PTO, or other parents. She says she knows a tree has been deemed a secular item by the Supreme Court, but she decided to remove it as a decorated tree could be offensive to a few of the students as it was suggestive of Christmas.

Needless to say, her bad, knee-jerk decision has caused an uproar not only in our school and community, but has today gone national as the AP has picked it up. The majority of our school are moderate to conservative Christians, so they are outraged as they feel a great project has been tainted, with the tree holding the name tags being demonized as Christian. I don't think the principal, a liberal democrat, understands that this is just one more vilification of Christians in order to be politically correct. While I don't think the principal deserves the outrageous and derogatory calls, emails, and letters she is receiving, I do believe that she made the wrong call on this issue and she will have to deal with the ramifications of her bad decision. I will be attending a meeting with the principal and superintendent on Tuesday, which I expect will be a zoo, so we'll see if this bad decision will be reversed. I know that her action of removing the tree has damaged her relationship with her staff, children at the school, and their parents, of which I am both, and we are now wary of her leadership.

An eventful day...

Today, Brett & I were able to attend the funeral of his Aunt Helyn Hassell. We saw a lot of relatives and realized that the Hassell clan is even more numerous than I had previously thought. The service was nice and Sister Pulsipher gave one of the nicest eulogies I have ever heard. The family history tidbits contained within her talk were numerous, even attracting Brett's attention when a story of Helyn's family of 7 all packed into a 1914 Model T on a trip from Louisiana to Utah woke him from one of his usual chapel "power naps". Following the service I was able to work kitchen duty and serve a luncheon to the family and mingle with old friends and new family acquaintances.

This evening, our family was able to participate in a ward "no rules pinewood derby". Sadly, Brett's motorized aluminum brick over-amped, so it lost out to a plain, simple regulation pinewood derby car. But, after the official heats were over, he fixed the issue and our car was faster than all the other cars except the Cropper's rubber tubing-slingshot-block, which was super fast, but also kinda scary. Sadly, my toasted coconut cowboy cookies did not even place in the cookie bake off, but at least my kids like them.

Campaigning

I haven't had time to post on here in a while. With less than a month until the election I am busy with the city council campaign I am working on. Poor Brett must feel like a widower by now as I'm gone evenings and weekends working house parties, canvassing, and passing out campaign literature to voters. I've met some nice people and some interesting Ashland people. Can you believe there are actually people who believe our government controls us through 'chemtrails' in the atmosphere? But I've also been in some of the nicest houses in Ashland and have rubbed shoulders with some of Ashland's elite. Now I know why it takes my father-in-law so long to run errands as everywhere I go I am stopped by people I know who want to chat. That is one of the things I love about living in the small town of Ashland. Now if I can just help rid the place of those pesky Greens in city government...

Music Appreciation 101

I added some of my favorite tunes to the blog this morning. If you don't like it then turn your volume down! By the way, my kids have all learned to appreciate my 20+ year love of Social D and named my Sequoia "Mommy's Big Monster" and my Civic "Mommy's Little Monster." Brett calls my Civic "Dutchess" since my old blue Civic was named "Duke". I don't think it would be appropriate to put what Brett calls my Sequoia into actual written words visible to others. *Note to self - Do NOT buy new vehicle while husband is out of town.

Teenagers

I sometimes forget Aubrey is officially a teenager now, until she does something that reminds me. Like showing her our blog and having her give me a big sigh when I tell her I will be leaving the anti-Obama pic on it. Guess it's just another way for a parent to embarrass her daughter. She'd better get used to it...