It continues! Days 4 & 5

On Saturday, we headed to Huntington Beach to try boogie boarding. Angie had brought two boards and I was excited to try and learn how. Grandpa Quaife loaded us up in the RV and we trekked down there. Unfortunately, it was the US Open of surfing at Huntington Beach so it was quite busy, but we still had a gnarly time in the waves!

Chloe REALLY liked Aunt Angie!

Learning how to boogie board with Dad.

Iva preferred to eat the sand. Seriously. She would fist it in.

And then lick her fingers clean.

Mom would take Iva up to the RV for a little sand time out so they could hang out with Grandpa and Chloe. Chloe wasn't allowed on the beach.

Learning how to drive!

Aunt Angie and Uncle E left shortly after our morning at the beach, but we stayed for a barbecue with Aunt Jeanette and then a swim. We enjoyed playing with her!

We could have, of course, woken up on Sunday and driven home, but instead Mommy talked Daddy into just six more hours at Disney. It turned into seven because it is impossible to get out of there on time! We packed in a few more things on our bucket list! 

Siena had never met Winnie the Pooh in his Pooh corner because she was always on Splash Mountain instead. She was pretty thrilled.

A Maleficent candy apple!

Iva was DONE. This was on our way out. She wasn't grumpy. She just couldn't face the world anymore.

We would have made it home at a decent hour, but we stopped to eat dinner with Aunt Becca and Uncle Phil. Totally worth it.

Phew. I still need a nap after that vacation! School starts in just a few days. It's crazy!

Birthday Celebration Days 2 & 3

Day Two of the Birthday Celebration was Cara's actual birthday! She got her special button and Mom bought her the toy that she had earned. It was lovely! Cara opened up some presents at the hotel and Mom and Dad had gotten her three new princess dresses! She chose to be Aurora and then let me wear Mulan. Iva wore her new Tinker Bell dress too!

First things first! Midway Mania!

Iva always napped fairly quickly in the day!

Cara got to ride Radiator Springs Racers for the first time on this trip! It was a first for Uncle Eric and Aunt Angie too!

We were so glad Uncle E came with us. It was fun to share all the rides with him. And Dad appreciated having another dude along.

We made him meet Minnie!

Birthday cake in Disneyland tastes better!

One of Mommy's surprises for us was that Anna and Elsa were now part of the parade!

We called it a night after the fireworks and after Uncle Eric and Aunt Angie ran with Cara in their arms and got on Racers one more time even though it was in a different park! We slept HARD.

Day Three started just like the others! Crazy early. Especially because we had to pack up! We once again partied in Critter Country but then had lots of fun just trying to squeeze in all the rides!

I didn't get to meet Minnie this time because I was riding Indiana Jones with Uncle Eric and Daddy. I had grown at least an inch since May!

We loved having Iva meet all the characters. She was so funny and would grab their faces or hands and smile at them!

We had Grandpa and Grandma Quaife join us for a yummy dinner at Naples. So much pizza and fun balloon guys!

Lexi and Aunt Angie were done at this point so Mommy and Iva jumped in their car and let Daddy and Uncle Eric play with us big girls for a little longer in the park! When your little it's hard work being at Disney.

Iva was happy to get to the Quaife house and be allowed to crawl around and try and get Chloe.

It was another night of hard sleeping and gratefully we didn't have anywhere to be in the morning!

Cara's Birthday Celebration Day 1

We of course went to Disneyland for Cara's birthday! It was so fun to be there for summer hours of 8am-Midnight! Normally we outlast the off season hours, but this time the hours outlasted us!

Mommy got us a hotel right across from Disneyland this time! It was called the Carousel Inn and it felt like a shorter walk than even the Disneyland Hotel! Iva got upgraded to the front seat on our double stroller because we no longer use her little car seat. Here we go into Disneyland!

We went straight over to Critter Country for Splash Mountain. Cara was just tall enough to ride which was a big deal because last time we had to use big shoes! This time she got on no problem in her flip flops. Daddy, Cara, and I rode Splash three times in a row. They didn't even make us get out of the boat! There was NO line. Mommy and Iva rode Winnie the Pooh three times in a row too. We eventually let Mom go on the big ride. We decided to look super scared for our picture.  Looks real eh?

This fun box was right outside Pirates and we love it because each character is going to be a costume for someone in our family! How awesome.

Iva was a blast this trip. Mommy was really worried because she's a crawler, but boy did she love the rides. She loved to sit forward and help pull down the lap bars and sit forward and look around. Small World was finally open. It had been closed for all our other trips!

And since it's summer, it's hot. We obviously needed ice cream!

Mommy surprised Cara with her new birthday ears! Cara had picked out what kind she wanted but Mommy snuck away and bought them while we did Tower of Terror!

Waiting to get into The Aladdin show! Iva didn't last in the theater. She found a 45 minute show very boring.

Mommy got an up close look at some props though!

First time on Jumpin' Jellyfish!

That night Aunt Angie and Lexi joined us with Uncle Eric! That's right we crammed eight people into our hotel room. Cara and I had to sleep on the floor. Boo. But we were alway so tired it didn't matter!

Uncle E didn't have a ticket yet so we decided to send him and Daddy back to the hotel with Iva and the big girls went and played for a little longer!

I loved pretending that we were checking in to the Hollywood Tower Hotel every time we went on the ride. I came up with some pretty elaborate back stories!

Our Cara turns FIVE

Guest post by Mom:

I think every parent cannot believe the passage of time when it comes to their kids. It feels like we all say the phrase "I can't believe she's FIVE!" And sometimes we can't believe it and other times we forget that she isn't the same age as Siena.

One of the things we most often talk about is her size. It's just so diminutive. She reminds me of my mom. Petite. The funny part is that my sister, Angie, was just like her when she was little and now she is at least three inches taller than me.

Her vocabulary is quite flavorful. She says fun things like "apparently" and "horrific" all the time. You can tell she has an older sister and that we let them watch movies that are probably a little too old for them!

One of my favorite things is to watch her in the swimming pool. She gave me the impression at the beginning of the summer that this might be a less adventurous year for her in the water and that she might hang back. Boy, did she change her mind. She loves to swim, goggles on, face down and legs and arms working together. She shows off her floating skills and chases after Siena with gusto. She refuses to go off the diving board however. And if there is a chance that it will be over her head she wants her life jacket on. The best part? She gets frustrated that the life jacket won't let her go under.

She still has a little lisp. Sometimes it's with her "s" sounds, sometimes it's with her "l" sounds. We're not sure if it will stick around, but I think it might have to do with the fact that she's still a thumb sucker. I'm not super concerned because her dentist isn't, but we kind of fight a daily battle. Currently she gets to chew on gum at all hours to try and keep her mouth busy.

I think she is more moody than Siena, but I'd hate to label her as that. If she doesn't want to talk to you, she's not going to do it. She's also a little more pushy than Siena and can be more of the bully even though she's younger. They don't really fight enough to say that though. She has a hard time with her younger cousins and understanding that they are too little to understand sharing or no grabbing.

The other day she had a complete meltdown over Iva getting to sit in her seat on the double stroller. She didn't want to sit in the big seat. She cried and said she didn't want to turn five or get bigger. That same morning she was DEVASTATED that she had grown out of a shirt. Crying, clinging, and telling me how much she loved the shirt and she was going to miss it and she just doesn't want to get bigger. Today she's fine with being bigger. She gets to ride all the fun rides at Disneyland.

She still loves to play by herself. She can have very elaborate games. I love it. She likes other friends over, but values quiet time to herself. I think she can read. She knows quite a few words anyway. I have never pushed it or really tried to teach her. I am holding her out of kindergarten for one more year because school starts in less than two weeks. I think she'll be happier older. Or maybe not. I don't know. The decision still stresses me completely out.

There are a million other things that make Cara...Cara, but I always feel completely inadequate at putting that to paper..er computer screen. I hope she is enjoying her birthday celebration in Disneyland.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CARA MAY!

Edit: 8/19 We took Cara in for her 5 year well check and her final shots for kindergarten. She was 33 lbs and 41.5 inches according to them. I happen to know that at Disneyland she BARELY made the 40 inch standard ride measure so I legitimately believe their ruler is off by about an inch. Oh well. :) She is only in the 7% for weight and 20% for height. Again I think she's smaller than that.