This fall break we were kinda all over the place! Max & Tatum had 2 1/2 weeks of break and Carlie and Ethan had only one. Max spent his first week in Deming, NM working with my dad in the pumpkin patch. Tatum and I went and picked him up the next weekend and spent a few days there as well. We also had lots of friends over, LOTS of Spirit store trips, and LOTS of scary movies during week one.
The second week, we all headed out of town! Carlie went on the Heritage Independence Tour--one of a two-part tour of American history sites back east. (She will be making her own blog post on this:) Ethan headed out with the Heritage Science group and toured all of southern California/Catalina Island (He will also be making his own blog post:) Chris, Max, Tatum, and I headed out to Disneyland!!! The last time we were there, Tatum was 3. Tatum wanted to go to Disneyland for her 9th birthday instead of having a party--that's the way we like to party:)
It was SUPER crowded at Disneyland but thankfully I asked an "expert" friend for all of her tips and they were fantastic! We pretty much followed every single detail:) Lines were long but we learned how to make good use of the fast passes so we honestly only waited about 30 minutes for each ride.
So first thing we did on the night we arrived, made good on Tatum's birthday present--a Build-a-Bear from Downtown Disney. She choose the Picachu and wanted no clothes for him (we got off cheap:)
Day One: Disneyland
We arrived 30 minutes early and hit the ground running (literally). We had one day here and we were going to make the most of it!
Once Peter Pan, always Peter Pan:)
We ran into lots of people we knew in the Park. We stood in line for the Peter Pan ride right behind some good friends of ours:) Her youngest daughter was super tired and grumpy and was giving her mom a tough time in line--she was in line while her husband was taking their other 3 kids on other rides. She made the comment that her daughter was really a "daddy's girl" so Chris offered to try and hold the grumpy baby and she settled right down immediately and fell asleep!!! We think she thought Chris was her actual dad. The rest of the wait was quite peaceful and when we made it up to our turn, Chris handed the baby off to her real dad and you should have seen the look on her face!!! Kinda like, "Hey...that was a dirty trick!" Sure was funny!!!
The Baby Whisperer:)
I'm terrible at selfies but I tried:) Here we are on "It's a Small World"
Max ran into his good friend, Scarlett:)
Max is a little creepy looking but the Mickey-Mouse shaped pretzels were super cute!
We LOVE The Haunted Mansion!!! Nightmare Before Christmas is pretty our all-time favorite movie!
About mid-day we took a break from the park to go see a movie in Downtown Disney. It was nice to get out of the crowds and sit and relax. We watched "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" and LOVED it! Our kind of movie (and book) for sure:)
Max in the "Troll Movie" sign:)
Funny story...at our hotel we were walking to our car when I saw this skeleton in the car! Caught me off guard for sure but was hilarious afterwards:)
Day Two: California Adventure
Arrived early once again to hit the ground running in this park as well. If it weren't for fast passes, we may not have got to ride anything! It was kinda insane:) There was a "0 minute Wait" for the carousel so we did NOT pass that one by:) Anything with that wait time we hit:)
We rode the Grizzly Rapids two times in a row because the wait was low there too:) We were soaked but didn't care:)
This was us right before "California Screaming!" Thank goodness all 4 of us LOVE the crazy rides!!! Tatum is actually the one who begs for these kind of rides:)
So we left California Adventure totally exhausted and a little wet but boy we had a GREAT time! We sure missed our other two kiddos but knew they were having a great time where they were:) Fall Break 2016 pretty much ROCKED:)
Carlie was super excited about her first school dance! Heritage gives a "theme" to all of their Homecomings and this year's theme was "Dynamic Duos."
Carlie was mysteriously given a "Hobbit" book in Calculus class one day that had her name on it. Inside, she would find a piece of paper telling her that someone wanted to go on a "grand adventure" with her to Homecoming and that she would have to decipher a code to figure out who. So poor Carlie is "trying" to pay attention to the lesson but really wanting to figure out who was asking her to Homecoming. It took a few minutes but then determined that a friend--Jacob Grossen--was asking her:) Jacob and Carlie have actually known each other since 1st grade! They went to the same elementary school in Chandler and have now ended up at the same high school in Mesa--go figure because we don't live close to their family at all:) But cool nonetheless--my son Ethan has been BEST friends with Jacob's younger brother (Nickolas) since kindergarten so both these boys thought it was REALLY cool that Carlie and Jacob were going on a date:)
Carlie and Jacob decided on "Mario and Princess Peach" from the Ninetendo games. It was such a great idea and they both went all out on their costumes and were the ONLY Mario and Princess Peach at the dance:) We had SOOO much fun hitting the Goodwills to find her dress and making the jewelry to match:)
The date was an all-day event! Jacob picked her up at 1:00 and they went to Freestone Rec center to play racquetball and rock climb. Then he brought her back home and picked her up again at 6:00 for dinner with 3 other couples at the Grossen home--authentic Japanese cuisine:)
Rocco was sad that he didn't get to go to Homecoming too:)
Flowers and a corsage:) Perfect gentelman:)
Japanese dinner
From front: Wesley and Buttercup (Princess Bride) Mickey & Minnie Mouse Mario & Princess Peach Great Britain & America??? (Studio C sketch)
The mustache made this AWESOME:)
They had a great time! Jacob was the perfect date and they have plans on hanging out again in the future to play "Lego Rockband" along with their little brothers Ethan and Nik:)
I was "on-call" to take in a pregnant cat with the shelter I volunteer at (Lost Our Home in Tempe, AZ) when I got an emergency call asking if I could possibly take in a momma chihuahua with her 6 pups that had just been rescued out of a yard along with 17 other dogs!!! I had already "cleared" the cat with my husband, so I quickly texted him while he was in a Bishopric meeting.
"So, about the cat....not happening BUT...there is a momma chihuahua with 6 puppies that need to be fostered..."
He responds back with, "Is there a question in that?"
I texted back, "Thanks babe!!! You're THE BEST and I love you!!!"
Here are some pics of the what they were rescued out of. They were found in a yard under an old sink in the middle of August in Phoenix--the owner had been evicted and left all the feral dogs there. The momma was badly dehydrated and malnourished but nothing was said to me until I arrived at the shelter to get them. I was told that they did not expect this puppies to make it through the night. "Great...did I just drive all the way into Tempe to bring home puppies that would die??? If my kids wake up to 6 dead pups tomorrow, I'm NEVER fostering again."
So I loaded up everything I needed--bedding/food/bottles/puppy formula--and drove home with a prayer in my heart. I did NOT sleep well that first night as I kept coming down to check on the momma and encourage her to eat and drink. She did an AMAZING job and kept doing an amazing job and these puppies are alive and well today because of the great mom she was.
There were only days old when we took them in--eyes closed and everything. They were SOO tiny easily fitting into the palm of one hand. My kids were instantly in love:
They easily fit into your palm.
We got to see their eyes open!!!
They seriously just grew so fast right before our eyes! We gave all of them names from "Harry Potter" because they're the best names:) The 8 weeks we've kept them flew by! It was so fun watching their little personalities come through. Here's what we learned about them:
Albus: (male) This little guy was my personal favorite! I was thinking of different ways I could talk my husband into one more dog:) He was soo kicked back and chill about everything. And he has the BEST ears ever!!! They stood straight up! He had a giant head--we think there may have been a daddy pitbull:) I honestly wanted to adopt this little guy because he was that cool--I thought Rocco needed a little "therapy dog" partner:) But, the people who first found them have been out to visit them 3 times during their stay here and they have decided that they want to adopt Albus. So he's going to a great home and they promised to keep sending me pictures of him growing up:)
Albus
Hedwig: (female) She was the runt of the little and the lightest in color as well. She was also a more independent, calm pup. She was often found doing her own thing away from the others wrestling around. She has also been spoken for and will be adopted immediately after she is spayed.
Hedwig
Dobby: (male) This little guy was the most vocal out of all the pups. SUPER cute ears to as one stood up straight, and the other one not so much. He's full of energy and loves to wrestle. My most favorite thing about him was his "speckled" nose! Always looked like he had dirt on his nose:)
Dobby
Cedric: (male) We probably should have named this guy "Dudley" because he was the biggest and fattest of them all! Super full of energy and loved to wrestle with his siblings. Tatum took a liking to this little guy:)
Cedric
Bellatrix: (female) She is a super fiesty little girl!!! She had this little growl that just melted your heart. SUPER energetic and always up for a wrestling match. One night she found an old mint lifesaver in our yard--from who knows when or where?!?! Well, we had brought the puppies in for the night and Carlie noticed her acting strange. She picked her up and noticed Bella was choking on something white in her mouth. Carlie immediately calls me and hands me the choking pup. I saw the round lifesaver and did a quick finger sweep to get it out!!! Seriously almost had a heart attack over this! I was SOOO grateful that Carlie noticed this!!! Just like having human babies sometimes!!!
Bellatrix
Luna (aka "Killer Clown"): (female) Yep! This little girl was the CRAZIEST of all of them! FULL of energy and needing only half the sleep of everyone else! But look at her face!!! She's adorable right? She was the first one to figure out how to get out of the cage, the first one to start every wrestling match, and she'll kiss your face to death!!! SUPER cute but gonna need a LOT of work:)
Winky (aka Momma): And here's the real hero of this story! She did such a great job with these babies and they are all alive and well and thriving because of her! Such a brave momma to have done this all on her own. We kept her here for 6 weeks and then took her back to the shelter as the puppies weaned. She is up for adoption now.
She sometimes "hid" from her pups
for a break:)
So we have just LOVED our time with these little things. I take them (along with a little piece of my heart) back next Tuesday and I am REALLY sad about it. But I'm taking them back knowing I've got them off to a great start. They have been WELL loved by my family and my 50+ piano students. I will definitely be following up to make sure these pups all go to great homes:)
I was watching TV with Tatum last night. She was multi-tasking--watching TV, doing homework, and listening to her favorite music by Fallout Boy (what ALL 8 year olds listen to right?!) I just glanced over and caught the CUTEST glimpse of my 8 year old who somehow turned into a 16 year old:) This girl has straight "A's" (her lowest "A" is a 96%!) so I say ROCK ON BABY GIRL!!!
Carlie and Ethan FINALLY went back to school on Wednesday, Aug. 10th! (I'm only a month late posting this:) They had an extra 2.5 weeks of summer vacation and enjoyed every extra second of it!
Carlie is a junior this year and DRIVING to school--YAY!!!
Ethan is a freshman this year!!! (And almost as tall as Carlie:)
Half of my kids are in HIGH SCHOOL!!! Gosh...I'm old!
So after eating ourselves sick, we were ready to get off the boat and walk it all off! We arrived back in port and headed right over to our resort--The Royal Pacific. W-O-W! This was hands down the NICEST resort I've ever stayed in. Even Carlie said, "Wow! This place is HG TV legit!" This place was definitely not the cheapest place to stay but we stayed here because, #1-It was close to Universal Studios, and #2-We got into the parks an hour earlier than opening AND free "Express Passes" to all the rides---TOTALLY 100% worth it!!!
Check out our resort:
We ran into Gru at check in!!!
So we spent our first day relaxing at our hotel pool. Then we headed over to the park (using our super cool resort water-taxi that took us from our resort to Universal Studios and back:) to watch The Blue Man Group. OH MY GOSH! The Blue Man group was HILARIOUS!!! We absolutely LOVED this show!!!
Our Water Taxi
Universal Studios: (Days 6 & 7):
We hit the ground running the next morning to make sure we got there in plenty of time for our one hour early entrance. Most important stop...Harry Potter's Wonderful Wizarding World!!! I have wanted to go here for years!!! Our whole family are HUGE Harry Potter fans!!! And this place did not disappoint! We LOVED LOVED LOVED it!!! The attention to detail in the park is impeccable.
Entrance to Hogsmeade
The Owl Post
Butter Beers!!!
Waiting for the Hogswarts Express
We used the train to get us between the 2 different parks here at Universal Studio--the train ride presentation was different each way:)
Inside the train cars!
The Knight Bus!!!
The Hogwarts Castle and Diagonally!
Weasley's Wizard's Wheezes!!!
Tatum got her Luna Lovegood wand at Olivander's Wand Shoppe!
The "Vanishing Cabinet" inside Bourgen and Burkes
Gringott's Bank!!!
The chandelier inside the bank-- kinda reminded me of the Gilbert Temple chandlier:)
The Goblins busy at work inside Gringott's!
We spent most of our time in the Harry Potter section but branched out to all the other rides as well. We LOVED having our Express Passes. The longest we waited for any ride was 20 minutes! I was not expecting that in the middle of summer! So we seriously rode every ride we wanted and as many times as we wanted--my kids felt so important waving their Express Passes around:) We hit the water rides in the middle of the day to keep cool. We seriously spent our entire first day at the park 7 am to 10 pm--only taking a short lunch and dinner break. Our kids were troopers!
We didn't take many other pictures as we were focused on rides but here are a few more.
Max loves the Simpsons and wanted a picture with Millhouse.
There were several shows available in the park (we cared mostly about the rides) but we managed to hit just one. My animal-loving kids wanted to see the animal show. SUPER cute! The show highlight was definitely "Frank" the pug star in Men in Black!!!
DANG!!! He's cute!!!
On our last day of vacation, we again hit the ground running to make sure we took in all our favorite rides at least one more time. By the time we headed out to get dinner to catch our flight home, we were thoroughly EXHAUSTED! But it was absolutely WORTH the exhaustion. We ended this family vacation on a bang! We got home at midnight and then needed a couple days to recover from our vacation. It sure stinks getting back to normal life! Realizing that there's really no Hogwarts:( But we sure enjoyed it while we were there. The Wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter is the Meeker family MOST favorite theme park we've ever been to! AWESOME family vacation and AWESOME family memories...CHECK! Summer 2016 ROCKED!
This is the Meeker family residing in beautiful, sunny Chandler, AZ. Chris and I have 4 beautiful kids: Carlie (23), Ethan (21), Maxwell (18), and Tatum (16). Thanks for stopping by:)
