Balloon Launch for Grandma's Birthday

 We released balloons last night in honor of Grandma's birthday today. We all wrote little notes to Grandma and tied them to the balloons. This is the third year we've done this. We also like to have a nice big helping of Grandma's homemade Mac and Cheese. We miss our Grandma.

Briggs, always in Dodger gear of some kind.

Ashlynn, always performing.

 Ty, always talking.

Last year on this date, it was so windy, we barely made it out of the car before our balloons blew away. This year, the breeze was perfect to send the balloons off to heaven.

Disneyland 2013

 Are you ready for a ton of Disneyland pictures? We spent a couple of days in sunny Southern California with Grandpa this last week. Cars land was new to us, so there are a lot of pictures of Radiator springs, which, by the way, was awesome. They did a really good job (with the exception of the tire ride, it was kinda lame).

 Ash and I wanted to get frosties here, but it was closed.

 Brian getting ready for the Radiator springs racer ride. This ride was soo much fun! You drive around the town a little, then race another car through the mountains. We went straight to the fast pass line when we got into the park, had our tickets 5 minutes after the park opened, then rode the ride an hour later after waiting about 10 minutes. I hate lines.

 Ty trying out the "rock climbing" course.

 We ran into the Brundages while at the park! The kids got to ride Toy Story Mania with their friends.

 We only managed to talk Ashlynn into riding on California Screamin'. She said it wasn't bad for being her first upside down ride. But... her glasses did fall off and into her lap during the ride. Whoops!

 We sat down in the evening and watched the parade. Sometimes we just needed to sit. I kept trying to snap pictures of the kids to show how excited they were about the show, but my camera kept reacting too slow, or my picture taking skills were too slow. One of those two...

 Each of the kids had "goals" while visiting the park. They wanted to try rides that they had previously been too scared or too short to ride. Indiana Jones was that ride for Ty. And he was so excited when first thing Friday morning, there was a zero minute wait for the ride! He was so worried he wouldn't be tall enough that he stuffed his shoes with padding that morning to guarantee a ride! He liked the ride, but the anticipation was too much for him and he mostly rode with his ears plugged. Baby steps.

 Space Mountain was Briggs's goal ride. We knew they would all have fun on it, so we bribed Ty with an extra day of video games to ride. And they all loved it! In fact they said it was their favorite ride in the park!

 This was the picture from the first ride of the day. Ty insists he wasn't scared, he just didn't know his picture was being taken. So the next time he rode, he posed. Goofy kid. And yes, I look a little silly too. Oh well. It's Disneyland!

 As we were riding the Alice in Wonderland ride, I noticed that Ashlynn had taken her Mad Hatter hat off. I suggested that if she put it on, maybe it would grant us special powers and we would be able to ride on a special track or something. Just as she put it on the ride broke down! The kids started panicking and I started laughing. We ended up climbing out of our car and walking off of the ride. I thought it was so cool but the kids didn't. I don't get it! I made sure to snap pictures of walking in the ride. Wish I had taken video.

 Mickey's house

 Father son twins

 Ashlynn's 5th grade teacher was there, so we snapped a picture. Who gets the chance to see your teacher at Disneyland?!

 All of the brave people went on Matterhorn while Ty and I rode the carousel. And took selfies.

 Ty's souvenir pillow pet. How many stuffed animals does this kid need?

 The whole time we were at the park, we kept bringing up memories of Grandma Caroline, and how much she liked Disneyland.

Briggs's teacher loves Tigger, so we made sure and snapped a picture for her benefit.

We had a great time with Grandpa at the park. (but my feet were done after 2 days...wimp.)

Jewel Tree

 This is one of the jewel trees that Grandma Caroline made using some her grandma's and mom's jewelry. There is some of her jewelry on it, as well. Eventually, this tree will be passed onto Brian.

 My mom has recently come into possession of a lot of her mom's old jewelry. She was going to get rid of it until I suggested we make a jewel tree out of it. Hopefully it turns out as nice as this one!

ALS Walk

These balloons were better than shirts to identify Team Sweet Caroline.

Ash walking up with all of the balloons to hand out to the team.




We always have a cute crowd of grandkids in this family!



To start the walk, each individual team was called out, indicating it was their turn to start the walk. I think they did this to avoid a huge crowd surging towards the starting line. We waited and waited patiently for them to call out Team Sweet Caroline. Finally when it was clear that they were done calling out the teams and we still hadn't been recognized, someone from the team went up to the announcers and pointed out the oversight. It was just an oversight, but to make up for it, they made a big deal about announcing Team Sweet Caroline! We all hooted and hollered, then they played "Sweet Caroline" for all of the walkers to enjoy!



Following the walk, we were able to attend a celebration for the Orange Family History Center where they dedicated a new learning center in honor of Mom. They had a ribbon cutting ceremony and everything! The pictures I got stink because my camera stinks! I could start an entirely separate blog dedicated to all of the stinky pictures I take with my little Canon Powershot.



Dad cutting the ribbon



Then we took a family trip out to the cemetery.

From one generation to the next...

If anybody is familiar with our family, Ashlynn inherited many traits of Grandma Caroline. Never mind that she is the only granddaughter, she loves to go big - just like her grandma. She took those traits, confidence and compassion and decided to put on a bake sale last year benefiting ALS. Many of you contributed to that effort for which we were grateful.

The ALS association in Irvine was so touched with her donation and the work she put on, that she was invited down to Irvine this evening to honor her Grandma at their awards banquet. True to form, following in her Grandma's heritage, she made the family proud this evening.

Ashlynn ALS Banquet from Kate Rober on Vimeo.

Sorry for tablecloth in 1/2 the shot. My hands were shaking so bad, I had to balance the camera on the table for stability. It was an honor to associate with many ALS members and all the staff from the Irvine ALS chapter. May the world find a cure for this disease and long live the memory of Grandma Caroline.