UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

We are starting to really feel the effect of American food now. Everyone is craving veges and fruit and our digestives systems are probably not coping the best. Also feeling pretty gross all around. We went to Walmart the night before but still everything even the fruit had preservatives, sugar and extra “good stuff” added.

Today was also Ammon's day to be sick. We all get sick on this trip, slowly one by one. We were about 10mins down the road on the way to Universal studios when Ammon vomited all through the car and all over his clothes. Being the organised mother that I am, I had no spare clothes for him. I did however have Auron's togs and a towel in the boot for the water park they had at Universal Studios. So we cleaned him up put Auron's togs on him, rubbed his tummy with some essential oils, shake some more oil around the car to drown out the smell and we are off again. He vomited a couple more times but Auron managed to catch it with a bag. I knew he wasn't proper sick just tired, terrible food and likely drinking the tap water. He was fine in the end and was back to himself by the time we arrived.

When we arrived we stopped at the candy store which was on Lili's list of things to do. She wanted to go to this specific one to buy a Gummy Pizza. Which she found. We also bought Ammon a new teeshirt since the vomiting incident ruined his and he was just wearing a too big jersey. He looked pretty unkept...

First things first we headed to Harry Potter! Auron got to go to Olivanders and get his wand. He felt very important and special. The wand he got was able to do actual magic in certain places which he got a real kick out of. Daddy took the kids on some of the big rides. Being pregnant put a bit of a dampener on the whole theme park experience for me. But I still went on a few of the mild rides. While they were riding Ammon and I got Butterbeers which we all decided were really gross. They were unbearably sweet. But we have learnt Americans really love sugar. So maybe if you are from there you would like it much more. I'm glad we only bought 2 to share.

We visited Minion land which was Ammon's highlight. It was also our favourite ride. We got to ride it a few times. Auron and Aarahi rode Jurassic Park and a few others. We also LOVED the studio tour. It was amazing. The special effects they show you were super cool. Auron was excited to see where and how they made the Spiderman movies. Lili and Ammon just loved being apart of the special effects which they were convinced were all for real. I wish we had time to go again but unfortunately the park was closing. On our way out we got a donut from Lard Lads donuts (From the Simpsons?) also on the kids food wish list. I didn't eat any but the kids said it was good.

Once we left the park Aarahi had the fun task of driving through downtown LA at night. We found a Whole Foods supermarket which was a Godsend on this trip. We stocked up on normal cereal, fruits, veges, and milk that just had milk in it. They also had a wonderful salad bar which we frequented many times over the following few weeks.

So that ends our day at Universal Studios. Tomorrow we visit American Girl Doll, LA Farmers Market and Madam Tussauds  

Not too many photos today, we were too busy having fun and making memories

DISNEYLAND

DISNEYLAND

Today was probably the WORST day to go to Disneyland. It was so incredibly busy. Aarahi and I concluded that we would have rather spent the $500 we paid for our tickets on something else. The kids enjoyed themselves but probably not as much as they were expecting. The lines were LONG. We waited over and hour for the Dumbo ride. The kids rarely complained, because they are pretty awesome like that.

Lili was really excited to do her Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. It's where you go to a special castle and get transformed into a princess. We made her dress at home because I am cheap and didn't want to pay $50 for and “official” that she wouldn't like to wear because it was scratchy. So we made her a Belle tutu dress for less than $10 and we were away winning. We arrived with her looking like she had been dragged through the bush on the way. We had to be off the ship super early so no time for fixing her crazy hair.

Soon enough her fairy godmother arrived for her transformation. It was pretty magical. I wont lie, I had “sweaty eyes” watching her. There really is something so special watching your child experience something so special. Daddy was pretty smitten with his beautiful princess when he saw her too.

We had met my parents and siblings at Disneyland too. They arrived in LA the day before. We were all excited to see each other. Lili and Auron haven't been back to New Zealand in almost 2 years so it's been awhile since they have seen anyone other than my mum.

We purchased Ammon and the new baby Mickey Ears hats. Lili and Auron already have some from our last visit. The hats have their names embroidered on the back. We had thought we had decided on new baby's name weeks ago but Aarahi decided he might like to change the name the night before we bought the all important Mickey Ears hat. There's no going back once you have a hat with your name embroidered on it.... Anyway we stayed up til 2am going over name after name after name before finally deciding on the name we had in the beginning. And to think we could have been sleeping all that time!

We left Disneyland at 9pm and went looking for our first fix of Chick Fil A. Oh and it was WONDERFUL! The kids had written themselves lists of food they wanted to try and this was on top of the list. They picked good (thanks youtube)  

Also just notice Auron isn't in any Disney photos. Don't worry he was there. We didn't take too many photos.

See that crazy mane!

CRUISE - Catalina Island & Ensenada Mexico

CRUISE

We collected our rental car and headed to the cruise terminal. Thankfully it was a Sunday afternoon and traffic wasn't too bad. Aarahi was pretty nervous about driving but he has done really well. Once he stopped turning on the window wipers instead of the indicators! Once we got on board the ship we ate then SLEPT!!!!!!!!!!! We were exhausted. The flight was 16 hours long then add in all the waiting in lines at airports etc and it was easily 24 hours from the time we left the house to the time we made it on the ship.

That first day was spent sleeping then making our way down to dinner. The food was just as wonderful as we remembered it. There were plenty of Mormons on our cruise. A lot of them seemed to be on big extended family holidays. On formal night about 12 boys dressed in white shirts walked passed our table and you could have half expected them to be carrying sacrament trays.

Day 2 was a sea day. The kids went to kids club, which they were very very excited about. Despite the fact that we homeschool and our kids are rarely away from us they have no problem going to day care or other places by themselves. Aarahi and I looked around the ship and then went and had another nap. Jet lag was really setting in.

After lunch Aarahi took the big kids to swim and ride on the waterslides. Lili was elated to be tall enough to go on the big slides. Last year she was 5cm too short and it absolutely devastated her. Ammon stayed in the room to nap. One thing we have learnt travelling with kids is that it makes everyone much happier if we stick to our routine as much as possible.

Day 3 was our first port day. We arrived at Catalina island around 7am. Today was also the day that jetlag hit Lili HARD. The poor kid was like a walking zombie. She sure was a trooper though and we love her for her willingness to soldier on through when all she probably wanted to do was sleep.

Catalina Island is a small island village with lots our boutique shops and eateries. We spent ridiculous amounts of money at the candy store. I think that may have been our first purchase of the holiday. We tried chocolate frozen bananas which no one liked, while we waited for our excursion on a glass bottom boat. It was pretty neat to be able to see all the coral and fish under the water. Ammon loved it the most. Lili slept the whole way through and actually didn't wake up properly until the next day. It was 2pm...

By the time we got back on the ship it was dinner time. We took Lili hoping she would wake up once we got there. However the lure of pizza wasn't even enough to wake this sleeping beauty and she slept through dinner.

Day 4 was Ensenada Mexico. It was kind of raining but that didn't dampen our spirits. Lili had a new found energy. I guess sleeping for 17 hours will do that to you. We walked up and down the market streets a few times. Auron saw a mexican jersey he really liked and used his own money to buy it. The kids have saved up their birthday, christmas and easter money for a whole year so they were pretty rich. Lili bought a dress with a matching one for the new baby.We purchased a few other bits and pieces before looking for lunch. We settled on what seemed like a the most questionable place on the street. However it was full of people and the tacos were only $1. We gorged ourselves on tacos, salsa guacamole and chips. There was a cop that came in a did a sweep of the place obviously looking for drugs. But he was nice and stopped to help Aarahi put Ammon in the carrier as we were leaving.

Day 5. Our last day. We had tears again as we were leaving. We really enjoy cruises, even though we were heading off to Disneyland we still wish we could have stayed longer. We have already got our next cruise planned for next year. Once the new baby is here. Unfortunately we are land bound until she is at least 6 months. We disembarked the ship, and looked for our car. We lost our car because we couldn't remember where we parked, or even what it looked like. Then we waited in line to get out of the parking building for an HOUR! While discussing why America has such an inefficent way to pay for parking. You had to pay an actual person, then stop and sign for your card. No paypass here, and hardly any pay machines at the buildings. REALLY REALLY annoying.

Now off to DISNEYLAND!

New House, New Baby, BIG holiday.

I will just preface this by saying to those who receive this by email, you may get a few over the next week while I try to get everything blogged. Sorry. 

Holiday 2017 – Cruise

The week leading up to our much anticipated holiday was unblievably busy and stress inducing. I don't think I have ever been so highly strung in my life. Lets just say it's a miracle we all made it out the other side half sane.

Our final house payment cleared on the Monday which allowed us to collect our keys to our brand new, not a mark on the wall house on Tuesday morning. Ammon intitated it into the family by wiping his pizza fingers along those pristine walls. It was only a matter of time, it is truly a family house now, and no longer show home condition.

On wedneday morning we had an ultrasound for the new baby and got to find out what we were having. A GIRL. Lili is pretty excited. Everything looks good which is a always a relief. This pregnancy has been completely different to any other pregnancy and has had me worried more times that I can even count. After the ultrasound we started to move house. It was a long and very hot day. I had a hospital appointment at 6pm for the new baby, I had only 20mins to make a 45min drive to the hospital in rush hour traffic. I should mention the petrol light started flashing on the freeway. I have a phobia of filling up the petrol and was praying the I could get there and back without having to do it but no such luck. I actually made the appointment on time through some miracle. The hospital is so lovely, I feel so blessed that we are position this time to be able to afford to go private, especially being our last baby. I got home around 9pm and Aarahi was still not finished. He arrived with the missionaries and last truck load at around 9:30pm.

On Thursday we were heading back to return the truck when our car broke down and had to be towed to the mechanic. It is about time it had a trip on a tow truck, we have really been testing fate on that one. I waited with the car and kids while Aarahi returned the truck and picked up the only hire car they had available. A massive SUV. We spent the day cleaning the old house best we could. The thing with the old house is that even when it is clean is still doesn't look clean. I don't know if we will get all our bond back but at this stage I really don't care. Teuila and her Boyfriend were visiting Melbourne so I picked them up from the train to have dinner with us. During that process I decided I really don't want a giant SUV which is what we had been planning on buying in the near future. Aarahi thinks I just need more time to adjust. He was quite smitten with it.

Friday we had carpet cleaners coming to do the carpets at the old house. Unfortuately when Aarahi arrived to let them in they had already been and gone...without cleaning the carpets. So I had to try organise someone else to come VERY last minute to do them. I found someone but the also charged double the price. I have been pretty much throwing money away at this point so this didn't even surprise me. Aarahi dropped off the rental car and picked up our poor car from the mechanics $500 later.

On Saturday we did our last minute holiday shopping before returning home to try do some sorting out. Did you notice that we hadn't unpacked at all yet?? I still have no idea where anything is and the house looks like it has probably been robbed. There is stuff EVERYWHERE. We finally finished packing for holiday at midnight, and gave up on trying to get the house in any kind of order.

The flight was pretty uneventful. Aarahi gave it a 8/10 for flights taken with kids. Everyone slept several hours each. Our kids have flown since they were tiny babies so thankfully they are used to it and it's no big deal to them anymore.

Lili and her favourite temple we visited. St George

Lili is FOUR

Yesterday we celebrated Lili's forth birthday. When I asked her to think about what she might like as a gift she told me not to worry about it because she had everything she needed. Bless her heart. However we did get her a few little things. We don't do lots of gifts anyway, instead we spend money on doing something fun and creating memories together instead.

Lili wanted to go to the hot springs again for her birthday but we had just been a couple of months ago and it was going to be quite warm so we chose to go to the Enchanted Garden and Maze. It was a 90 min drive out of the city. The kids really enjoyed themselves but I think we would have all enjoyed it more if we had all had a proper sleep the night before. Everyone was super tired. The kids loved going down the tube slides the best.

After we had been at the park we drove down to the beach. Lili and Ammon were asleep so I stayed in the car with them while Aarahi and Auron went down for the first swim of Summer. It was a beautiful 25 degrees. In a few month or so that kind of weather will be cause for putting a jacket on but for now its hot enough for swimming! Lili and Ammon woke up after an hour or so and joined in the swimming. The water was beautiful and crystal clear but freeeezing. Kids don't care about cold water though.

We ended the day with fish and chips and a walk along the pier. A lady then rang Aarahi to tell him they had picked up one of our bags we had left in the carpark. It had EVERYTHING in it. My phone, ipad, wallet, camera and passport. My phone only had like 3% battery left on it so they luckily were able to get Aarahi's number and call. What a blessing that was. There are still good people out there! We got home just before 9pm a full 13 hours after we left.

Primary Presentation and Trunk or Treat 2016

Last Sunday the kids had their primary presentation at church. If you aren't sure what that is, it is where the kids all get a chance to say a little part up the front and sing some songs. Lili and Auron both did well saying their parts but someone stood on Lili's foot during the first song and that was her finished. She went and sat down in the front row with Marcelle. Auron got to sing "I love to see the temple" in a little group...when I say sing I mean mouth the majority of the words haha. It's the experience that counts though. It is terrifying enough for an adult to get up and speak or sing in front of a few 100 people. Personally I am glad it is all over. It is so so so much work. One day I would love to be able to just sit and watch. I think that in my whole life the only time I was able to just sit and watch was when I was in youth. Aside from that I have either been in Primary myself or served in Primary.

Yesterday we went to an Art Muesum where the kids had an art class, then they were able to create their own piece of art work. The lady who runs the class is amazing with the kids. First she has them sit down in the reception area and talks about what kind of art we will look at today then takes them upstairs and sits them down in front of several different art works. She explains about the art and asks them questions and lets the kids ask questions. It is really neat to hear some of the questions and answers the kids give. Then we head over to the art studio to create something similar to the artists we have looked at. Aarahi really likes this part. Yesterday they had to create something that would help people or the earth and he made an "understand-inator" He pretended he was helping Ammon but really.....

Today was Trunk or Treat night at church. Lili and Auron have been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks now. Thankfully they already had costumes they wanted to wear. Aarahi and I made Ammon a Dobby costume this morning. He wasn't so keen on the idea but he was easily convinced once he saw everyone else dressed up. It was such a lovely night, with so many families and youth putting in a lot of effort to make it special for the kids. Ammon was definitely flavour of the night. The kids scored big on lollies and junk, which Daddy will be so pleased about. They have eaten a fair amount of it already, so much so that I am considering if they really need dinner.

We drove out to our new house today and they are making good progress, it was nice to see work actually being done on it. This summer is forecast to be super cold which is such a blessing for us as we only have one air con unit in the house we are in now.

Auron has been coming out with some interesting vocabulary lately. Last night he told me that the pizza we were eating was "the most delectable pizza he has ever had" It has been fun having him come to us and ask us what certain words mean and then to have him using them. He has such an amazing imagination I can't wait until he can write fluently, I am sure he will write some amazing stories.

Primary Presentation 2015 and 2016

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

So it's been 4 months or so since I have written anything. I have continued to put it off over and over again because truth be told sometimes life is pretty miserable and I didn't want to have all the rubbish that has gone on recorded in our family year book this year. Today after church however one of our friends asked me why I hadn't blogged for so long and I said "nothing much to write about". His response, though he probably thought nothing of it, left me thinking all afternoon. He said its a journal, a history. He was right so along with the good I should also share the bad.

This past year, the last 8 months in particular it feels like our little family has been barely treading water. Every time we manage to take a breath we have something else thrown at us. We have been screwed over by family more times than I can even count this year. Over and over and over again. By people you would have willing run to the end of the world for. Things like this have made me question my own self worth and found me battling depression for several months. It has sent me back to a place I haven't seen in over 10 years and a place I don't ever want to be.

I have missed my Nana more than anyone could understand. There is not a day that goes by that I don't yearn to talk to her and hear her voice. I have struggled with it more this year that I did when she first passed away. I think it was because I knew to her, I was her special little girl and that I was irreplaceable and I was a part of her everything. Grand-Graeme has moved into a rest home a month or so ago and when I rang him on moving day it was closing the door on a book. I hung up the phone knowing that I had rung Nana's number for the last time. I cried for a good hour after.

So while I have struggled to be able to be strong enough to hold everyone else up I myself have come crumbling down. My family has suffered from my neglect of them. I am so blessed to have such a patient and loving husband who is forever forgiving and kind.

Hopefully we are coming out of the fog that we are in and we will have some time to breathe soon. While this doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the past few months it does feel better to get it out.

BUT it's not been all bad. The concrete for our house is being poured this week. We have 90% of our accommodation booked and paid, for our month long adventure next year along with our flights and we are currently well under holiday budget! Our car is going to live to see another day...or year after a really good trip to the car doctor. It seems after 5 years they may have actually fixed the problem. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father has been strengthen and if there was ever a silver lining to a cloud then that has been it. Time and time again I have been shown how aware of me he is.

My favourite 4. In all the grubby, horiness