Monday, May 9, 2016

April 2016

We had a very busy and exciting month last month.  The girls are keeping busy with dance, tumbling, piano, volleyball and tennis.  Our weeknights are getting busier and busier.  It's so fun to watch the girls continue to grow and learn new things.  I love their cute little faces and am glad to be their mom.  We even were able to get away for a trip this month.  Yay!


Hannah has been playing volleyball on a team with a lot of girls from the neighborhood.  I love watching her get better every time.  She is very good at her serving.  Check out the video to see!







Dan had been scheduled to go to LA for three weeks last month.  He drove out there, and we decided that halfway though me and the girls would fly out to spend some time with daddy and make the long drive home with him.  I had a great week hanging out with the girls and seeing lots of sights.

Off we go! (Emma hates planes, they always make her ears hurt)



Our first adventure was a trip to the California Science Center.  Most of the exhibits are free, so that is awesome!



learning to fly a plane




We got to see the Endeavor spaceship, it was pretty cool!






Checking out what it's like to live on the spacestation






My little astronauts


Hannah said she would ride this bike, but Emma wouldn't.  My kids are always opposite.







This was the lame pool at our hotel.  We didn't get in once.




The one big thing we did out in California was go to Universal Studios.  It was opening weekend for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!





Hogwarts, we made it!










Most of the rides made me sick


It looks like Emma wants Hannah's pretzel




We got rained on the whole day








The worlds most giant doughnut!!!











After 13 hours, it was time to call it a night!


The next day we headed up to see the Griffith Observatory.  We had quite the hike up to the place, but the views were awesome!









Giant telescope








The view of the observatory from where we parked



We spent a lot of time hanging out in the hotel room.  I decided that I could never live in a tiny house.  I need some space.  Hahahaha!




One morning I took the girls up to the Greystone mansion.  I guess they film a lot of movies at this place.  The house was huge, and we had fun getting lost on the grounds!


















Next we headed to the LA County Museum of Art.  I signed up the girls as youth members, and they get free admission until they are 18.  The bonus is that every time they go they get to bring an adult in for free!!  Not sure that we'll be coming back much :), but it was nice to get in free.

Painting at the art museum


I was missing my Tobi, so I painted a picture of him











The next day we spent wandering in downtown LA.  There was this cool trolley thing we found.






This was at a new museum called The Broad.  We waited FOREVER to get inside, but hey, once again, it was free.









The girls thought this was pretty cool




Then we found a cool bookstore.  I love books!!





This section was organized by color - isn't that awesome!!



They next day we took the metro out to Hollywood.  It was super crowded, but still fun to see the sights.



Rolling out the red carpet for the Jungle Book premier



The kids didn't really know any of the names on the stars, so they were excited when they did see a name they recognized






On our last day we headed out to the Santa Monica Pier.  It was a beautiful day!







Not a big beach person myself.  This is as far as I got in.



















When we finally made it home from our trip we were exhausted, but still had a lot going on.  Here is a video of their piano recital.  They are so cute and make a mom so proud!




Hannah officially turned 10 on May 2nd, but we spent the weekend before celebrating.  She is such a happy and loving little girl.  She loves being creative and collecting things.  She has a very big heart, and is a good friend.  I love this little girl!!










And now for some pictures of my weird dog  . . . just because.

sleeping

sleeping again


and sleeping again - wow Tobi, you are a riot!


I've been doing art projects with the girls the past little while.  Here are a few fun paintings I did.





Ok, I think I'm ready for May now.  I hope I am, because we are already 9 days into May.  Hahaha!!  We've got another fun and busy month ahead of us!