Tennis, anyone?

For her birthday, Amelia received a tennis racquet and balls from her grandpa and grandma Lorla.  And she has been itching to use them!  We finally made it up to David's parents' court and played.  Amelia's pretty darn good for a three year-old.  She says it's her sneakers that make her such a fast runner, of course.  (Dave says I shouldn't dress her like Richard Simmons if she's going out in public.)

The Annual Candy Toss

If it's the Forth of July, it must be time to decorate the trike and round up some candy!  We joined the Moss family again and walked the Evergreen parade route through their neighborhood.  Amelia absolutely loves this parade and takes her candy-tossing responsibilities very seriously!  Post parade, we enjoyed the pancake breakfast, cotton candy, live musical performances, and the bounce houses.

Amelia anxious to get moving.

No, Olivia was not throwing Trix into the crowd.  That cereal was all for her!

Caroline and Amanda in the Barbie Jeep.

Three best girlies dancing.  Big thanks to Natalie who made matching tutus for the girlies!  Why do you keep saying that you're not crafty?  They were so darling!

Glow sticks in hand and dressed in pajamas for the neighborhood fireworks.

Happy birthday, Amelia Jean.

It's hard to believe that Amelia is now three years old.  Old enough to tell me exactly what she wants for her birthday and birthday party.  "An Alice in Wonderland cake with Cinderella on top."  Yeah, it's nice that she can tell me what she wants, but it's too bad that I'm totally unwilling to comply.  (There's a theme here folks!  And there's no room for mixing and matching Disney characters!)  And so, Amelia's Alice in Wonderland party was a success and not one kid even missed Cinderella's absence.

13th Annual Tiny Tots Track & Field Invitational

East High School is best known for playing host to an annual track meet for kids every summer.  Okay, that's not entirely true.  EHS is probably best known for being the high school in Disney's High School Musical films.  But for one day each summer and to the kids that participate, it's best known for a super fun track meet!

50 meter dash

100 meter dash

80 meter hurdles.  I love this kid.  She ran, jumped, knocked the hurdle over, and then stopped to stand it back up at just about every hurdle.

All in all, Amelia competed in five events.  What a superstar!  She left super excited about her new sneakers, the shiny medal pinned to her chest, the track and field sticker and certificate awarded her, and the yummy grape Otter Pop melting in her hand.

The Princess and the Frog

Good thing that Amelia's dance teacher, Miss Julie, had the foresight to have Amelia's dance class perform to two musical number in their spring dance recital.  Because...

Song #1 (Almost There - tap) went off beautifully!  Such cute little tappers.

But for song #2 (Evangeline - ballet) Amelia decided to sit on the edge of the stage and hold up the start of the music.  [David and Teishi in audience yelling her name and shaking their heads...  Miss Julie's helper on stage trying desperately to stand her back up...]  Finally Amelia she warmed up and got to dancing.  She was fabulous!

In addition to grandpa and nana Kennedy, aunt Katherine, cousin Nina, and cousin Ella in the audience, Amelia was so thrilled that Gracey's visit to her Grammy's in Utah made it possible for her to come to the dance recital with her mommy Felicity.  They spent plenty of time being goofy, as only three year-olds can!  Thanks again to everyone.  Especially patient, sweet, kind, forgiving Miss Julie!

Digging to China

The time has come to fulfill a childhood ambition - digging to China.  We thought, "where best to start this project but in our very own basement?"  Actually, we're just excavating our basement to give it a decent ceiling height and change some rooms around a bit.  The work is slow-going to say the least and I'm about ready to kick our excavator in the shins (really hard!).  At the same time, we're remodeling the upstairs bathroom.  That is just about done, thankfully.  How people survive a dusty remodel is beyond me...

The Okerlunds were so generous to spend a few moments of their vacation to Utah digging.  When the project is nearing completion, I'm sure they'll return to paint.  :)  

Ketchup, Catsup, Catch Up!

Any way you say it, I've been way behind in my blogging.

After wrapping up Toy Story 3, David wanted an escape from Salt Lake and the studio.  (Hurray for completing the game, by the way!)  So we headed west, again, to Disneyland!  I'm not sure if he counted on running into so many other co-workers and their families who had the same idea!  But the place was crawling with DIS employees.  It was especially great to play with the Giles at the Park.

We laughed our way through the Parks with the Bleaks.  (sidenote: Teishi and Angela rediscovered a common love for really terrible 1990s music.  Come on, Surface and Mint Condition?  Has anyone but the two of us even heard of them?)

Natalie and Emme spent a day and, let me tell you, there is nothing sweeter than these two girls playing together in Disneyland.  The boogied down in the Enchanted Tiki Room and giggled the day away.  And, as two little girls who both have mommies with big cameras, knew exactly how to ham it up right on cue!

My cousin, Kirstin, and her family met up with us, too.  But this active family moves way faster than our snail's pace.  They crisscrossed the Park and we met now and then to watch Brett devour a [grody] turkey leg and let Cambria teach Amelia how to pose for the camera.  So fun!

Every trip to SoCal we hope to catch a glimpse of the Hatch family and this time we actually spent some quality time in the Parks.  I think they have the most beautiful sun-kissed family around.

And... drumroll, please... we lunched at Club 33!  It was beyond amazing and might just deserve its own blog entry.  So glad that we were able to share the experience with family.  A thousand thanks to Katherine and her connections for the hookup!  I have every intention of making this an annual adventure.

(From here on out - the photos that should be seen are being held captive on our other Mac.  I can see them, I can copy them, but they refuse to transfer and work as photos should.  As soon as we fix this, I'll insert the photos into the blog.   I am super mad about this.)

Allen and his friend, Cecily, came to play, too.  (Did I mention this was a crazy trip?)  Somehow the day they visited was "Bat Day" - a day when goth enthusiasts gather at Disneyland.  Let me tell you, it was a very odd to see - goth parasols, six-inch soled boots, steampunk style, gas masks, walking canes, black eyeliner for miles, etc. set against a "Happiest Place on Earth" backdrop.  And the Haunted Mansion turned into some kind of rave when the sun when down!

We even spent time with the FitzRandolfs.  (Tim worked with David until a recent move back to the Glendale studio.)  Amelia and Sarah had a language all their own!

As an anniversary treat to ourselves we spent the tail end of our trip at DIsney's Grand Californian. Now that we've done it, we're convinced that there's no other way to do Disney!  It was spectacular and the best part was having grandma Lorla join us for a night.  Amelia and Lorla spent quality time on the balcony having a tea party and counting/cleaning the coins in her new sock coin purse.  (Grandma Lorla's nickname is now "Money Bags".)

Tagged onto the Disneyland trip was an escape to Oceanside for Gracey, Beckham, and Justin's birthday party.  What fun to play with the Mays for the afternoon.