Spring Soccer Comes to an End

Well, Kristin had her last spring soccer game on Sunday.  After many games in the wind, rain, and even sideways hail, we got a lovely 80 degree day for soccer.  Kristin played a great game and even tried a header.  :)  Summer soccer starts up in 4 weeks.  What ever will we do???  Oh, that's right, softball!

Kristin's reading test score is actually 230.  The questions each have different amount of points.  A score of 224 is exceeding for her grade.  Way to go Kristin! 

Kellen started swim lessons today and had fun.  He has been happy with the summer weather because he loves being outside and playing with water.  Yes, the water play table has made an appearance and Kellen has been having fun with that and the hose. Kellen is also taking an interest in sports.  If a game is on the TV he asks "who are we rooting for?"  He will often root for the team we are in the house... say the Penguins, but if we are watching a baseball game or something else he will pick the team wearing blue.  :)  Kellen is also looking forward to Wednesday because it is dress like a pirate day at preschool.  He has an eye patch and a dude-rag ready so far for dress up.  They are making hats in class.  Should be fun to see all the pirates!

An Active Spring

We have gotten right back into the swing of things since we got back from spring break. Kristin had two soccer games in sideways rain on the first Sunday and one game on a beautiful Sunday afternoon last weekend. Her last game of the Spring season is this weekend. Summer session will start again at the end of May.
Kristin is also playing softball this spring. They've had 3 games already and could potentially have 14 more if there are no rainouts. That season goes onto June. For only having played 1 season, Kristin is doing very well. She is even batting left handed.

She is also doing very well in school. She excels in math and recently scored 42 out of 46 on the state reading test. She will take the math test in late April or early May I think.

Kellen is enjoying preschool and looking forward to Kindergarten in the fall. He loves riding his bike to to the school when they drop off and pick up Kristin.

He has a round of swimming lessons coming up and is really looking forward to that. He'll play tball again this summer and has been asking to play soccer too. We'll look to find him a program in the fall.

We are getting excited to have a puppy soon. The litter was born earlier this month, so if all goes well we will have our pup in June.

Busy busy!

Happy Birthday Oma

Happy Birthday Oma!

Disneyland, Day 5

Our 5th and final day at Disneyland. Our flight left LA at 5pm and the shuttle left the hotel at 2pm, so we had the morning and early afternoon in the parks. We let Kristin and Kellen each choose a ride that they wanted to go on one more time. Kristin chose the Grizzly River Run at California Adventure Park. Kellen chose Splash Mountain at Disneyland. We also had told them during the week that they could each buy something on the last day, so we did a little shopping as well.

We had 'Magic Morning' passes to get into California Adventure 45 minutes early, so we thought we'd start the day there. Unfortunately, only a portion of the park was open so we had to wait a little while for the Grizzly ride. In the meantime, we visiting a few rides that we hadn't been on yet.

After we had our ride on the Grizzly River (Danelle got soaked, again), we headed over to Disneyland for Splash Mountain. After splash mountain, we did some shopping and ate lunch while watching more Jedi Training. Kellen was enthralled with the Jedi training. After we got home, Kellen was swinging his foam pirate sword at anything and everything.

Friday

Aerials Underwater Adventure
Soaring over California
Grizzly River Run
Splash Mountain
Tarzan's Tree House
Shopping for momentos
Train ride
Photo with Minnie Mouse on Main Street

Disneyland, Day 4

On Thurday we had a day overlap at the park with some close friends of ours. They have a daugther Kristin's age that plays soccer and softball with Kristin and is in the same Girl Scout Troup. They also have twin first graders, a boy and a girl. The boy is Kristin's 'little buddy' in a program at school.

We had a lot of fun spending the day with them in the Disneyland Park. They have been there 6 times in the last five years, so they've got it down, as you can see by our list of adventures for the day:

Thursday with the Borters

Monorail x 2
Space Mountain
Indiana Jones (Kristin & Danelle)
Tarzan’s tree house (Aaron and Kellen)
Jungle Cruz (Aaron and Kellen)
Pirates of Caribbean (AJ & Kellen)
Splash Mountain (Danelle & Kristin)
Haunted House (except Kristin)
Splash Mountain (AJ & Kellen)
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Danelle & Kristin)
Indiana Jones (AJ & Darin)
Splash mountain (Danelle, Kristin, & Kellen)
Lunch at cafe Orleans
Monorail
Autopia x 2
Jedi Training
Star Tours (Star Wars themed ride)
Space Mountain
Small World Ride
Dumbo Ride
Dole Whip soft serve ice cream
Pirates of the Carribbean
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Splash Mountain x 2 during fireworks

We ended up having to split up for small portions of the day because Kellen isn't quite tall enough for the Indiana Jones ride and Kristin got spooked by the same ride and didn't want to go on the Pirates ride or the Haunted House.

We went back to the hotel completely exhausted at the end of the day but we certainly had a lot of fun.

Disneyland, Day 3

So there are actually two parks at Disneyland with two separate entrances. The Disneyland Park is the original park. California Adventure Park is newer. The main gates to both parks are at either side of a large plaza accessable by walking through Downtown Disney. California Adventure Park has a smaller entrance accessable through the Grand California Hotel. Guests of that Hotel and the Disneyland Hotel are allowed to enter the park through that entrance. That's what we did on Day 3, which we spent in the California Adventure Park.

Wednesday

Character breakfast at Goofy’s kitchen
Grizzly River Run x 3 - a white water rafting ride
Redwood Creek Challenge Trail

Green army man show (army men from the movie Toy Story)
Phineas and Ferb float (popular Disney Cartoon)
Jumping Jellyfish ride
Hiemlicks Choo Choo Train (from the movie A Bugs Life)
Pt Fleas Circus bumper cars
Lunch at pier
Back to Hotel for Naptime and Pool Time
Picnic dinner at the park.
Soft serve ice cream
Carousel
Jellyfish ride (Kellen and Danelle)
World of Colors show on the water

Goofy's Kitchen is actually located at the Disneyland Hotel. It is a buffet style breakfast where the characters come around to your table for photos with the kids. The 'talking' characters even chat with the kids for a little while.

The white water rafting was the big hit of the day. Someone always got wet, but it was pretty random who got wet on any given ride. Somehow, Danelle seemed to get wet no matter where she sat on the raft. :-)

Disneyland, Day 2

We spent Tuesday at the Disneyland Theme Park. This time we walked all the way through Downtown Disney and entered at the main gate to the park, which puts you on 'main street'. This is where the characters hang out for photos. Here is the rough itinerary for the day:

Tuesday

Stroll through Downtown Disney

Pictures with characters

Splash Mountain x 3

Winnie the Pooh Ride

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (roller coaster)

Lunch in the park
Back to the Hotel after lunch for Pool time

Monorail to Park
Train
Carousel

Dinner in the park (Aaron and Kristin split a turkey leg)

Gadgets Go Coaster
Fireworks
Fantasmic water show
Monorail

They do a fireworks show every night at Disneyland. Pretty cool for visitors, but I can't say I'd enjoy living in Anaheim. Right after the the fireworks, they do a show over the water called Fantasmic. It is based upon the movie Fantasia. They have a real paddle boat and 'pirate ship' that gives rides during the day. At night, they are used as props for the show. They also spray water from the 'river' up into the air and project the cartoon portions of the show onto the mist. All in all it was a cool show.

Disneyland, Day 1

We flew to LA and checked into the hotel. From there, we walked through Downtown Disney to the monorail. The monorail has two stations; one in Downtown Disney, and one in the Tomorrowland section of the Disneyland Park. Here is a quick list of our adventures:

Monday

Monorail

Autopia (x2)

Train Ride through the Park (4 or 5 stops)

Walked through the tomorrowland exhibit

Watched the Parade (happens twice a day, everyday)

Carousel

Nemo-themed submarine ride

Walk through Downtown Disney

We got the VIP treatment for the Nemo ride. We were wandering around looking for the monorail station to take us back to the hotel. We must have looked like we just fell off the turnip truck, because a park worker stopped and asked if he could help us with anything. He said he'd show us the monorail station, but said we should do the submarine ride first. He then walked us right to the front of the line! The line had to be over an hour long, so we really scored on that one. A good thing too, since that particular ride was onley worthy of walk-up service. :-)