Officially Tired

I've obviously been a little slow to update the blog recently, but only because I'm too tired from all the fun stuff we've been doing. All I've wanted to do during my down time is finish the Twilight series (love it!), but now that that's done I guess I have some catching up to do. So what have we been up to?

Ava caught a caterpillar

Two weeks ago we went for an overnight camping trip at Memorial Park. It's a great camp site in the redwoods and it's only about 45 minutes from our house. We went with the Annisons and my parents, which cut the work load down significantly, because the kids were entertained and we had more hands to cook meals, etc. The most exciting parts of the camp trip had to been the 4 a.m. raccoon brawl and the crazy woman camping next to us who decided to rage at us for being too loud. She said she came up there for peace and quiet and didn't want to hear kids (who were being SO good BTW). Obviously this woman has no experience with group campsites if she expects total silence. Sigh.




Last weekend we went to Disneyland. If you're keeping track, yes, that's the third time we've been this year. We're not ashamed to say that we're Disney freaks, and our kids love it just as much each time. Julia, Sven and their 1 year old son, Finn were visiting from the Netherlands, so we took a special trip down with them, my parents and the Annisons. We rode the new Finding Nemo ride (it was a little overrated) and saw Harrison Ford and Kalista Flockhart, which was kind of cool. After passing them a second time in one day Tyler decided to say, "Hey Harrison! How's it going?" To which Harrison (we're on a first name basis now) replied, "Good."






Ava was finally tall enough (with the help of some strategically placed napkins in her shoes) to ride some of the big rides at Disneyland. She loved Soaring California, and like Splash Mountain until she got wet at the end. We took her on the Tower of Terror and have felt guilty ever since. She was totally freaked out. I guess just because you're big enough to do something doesn't mean you should. Her highlight of the trip was eating at Ariels Grotto and meeting all of the princesses.





So that's the latest from us. It's starting to feel like we're travelling so much that I only have time to wash our clothes and pack the bags again before we're off on our next adventure.

Tour de Tahoe

Tyler wowed us all by participating in the Tour de Tahoe this weekend with my parents, Kim, Dan, Katianne, and Dan's mom, Cindy. He biked 72 miles around Lake Tahoe in 7 hours (and he didn't even train for it!). I'm not sure I could have completed it with only spin classes as preparation and no road bike, so I volunteered to babysit.

Go Ty!!!

Preschool Girl

The last few weeks have been a little busy between Tyler's new job and Ava starting pre-school, but life is pretty great for us Nielsons. Ava LOVES her new preschool. She seems so much more grown up since she started. She's 100% potty trained now during the day, gets along better with other kids (sister and cousins included), and has fewer temper tantrums with me. She's quickly making friends and learning social skills that make life easier. I think I'm loving her school as much as she is.



We bought her "first day of school" outfit a few weeks ahead of time and she patiently waited to wear it until that day. What she didn't quite understand was the concept that she wasn't going to wear that outfit every day that she goes to school. She felt the need to explain to all of her teachers that she wasn't wearing her heart shirt that second day because it was dirty.



WARNING! Personal Tangent:



I had some reservations about the preschool because it's located at a local church that I've had a bad experience with. When I was in high school I had an entire group of friends decide not to be my friend because I didn't go to that church. Well, in their minds they thought they were still my friends, but they stopped inviting me to do things with them because I wasn't "Christian." I ended up making better friends and it all worked out for the best, but I think I'm forever hurt by that and I blamed it on the messages they were getting from church. I'm happy to report that everyone there treats us wonderfully despite our evil Mormon ways and I remind myself every day that I can't blame an entire church for the actions of teenage girls.