Goodbye to the Hot Dog Rockets, and Preschool

Things are starting to wrap up!

Camden finished soccer with the Hot Dog Rockets. His team almost always lost by double digits but Camden scored a goal in every game. His breakaways were so fun to watch. He really is a little soccer man. Asher finished his Mighty Kicks time too, and it was fun to watch him really engage with that. I thought he might be intimidated to join in but he really loved it. Then Asher finished his first year of preschool with Mrs. Tolman. What a happy year he had! The beginning: Me chasing him around her upstairs to catch him and carry him down to school. The end: Him walking into the house all by himself with just a wave or two to me, and heading on down to school like a big kid. It's so fun to see your kids grow.

Westin is working hard with his friends to put together a lip sync performance. The tryouts for the school lip sync are soon and they're really hoping to make it. He has a fun group of kids he hangs out with.

We took all the boys to Sheep Detectives this weekend, and Bennett especially loved it. Michael and I had a fun date with the Dimonds Friday night. We're just soaking up the end of routines and May has been really fun even through all the busy days.

A walk at Coyote Ridge for Young Womens.
We saw two rattlesnakes, yikes!

Asher's cute little thank you message.

He sure grew to love preschool this year!

Camden sure loved being in Mason's class this year.
He was so excited to have him over to play after school one day this week.

Kitty is such a cuddly girl.
If we're all busy, she'll find a solution.

Asher has loved Mighty Kicks!

These cute Hot Dog Rockets.
What a team.

The coach's wife made some hot dog cupcakes for their last game,
and they were a big hit.

End of season barbecue for the Hot Dog Rockets

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Disneyland 2026!

Disney 2026 with the Miner crew!

We wondered if 20 people would make it impossible to stay together throughout our days in the park, but it ended up being really great.

Our first day we learned the magic of matching shirts. We knew they'd be fun, but the way the cast members easily kept you together on rides was an unanticipated bonus. And no one is mad at you catching up to the big group of red shirts in line after taking a kid to the bathroom when you so obviously match the group. Who knew.

My favorite moments were riding Dumbo with Asher, watching my big kids love the Matterhorn (and Asher tolerate it), scheming with Ali and Jenny to make that Lightning Lane work for us, and seeing my dad and Michael go on Rise of the Resistance for the first time. Asher still talks about that light saber coming through the roof and I love when you just feel like their little mind is blown by something memorable. We had such a fun day together and I was shocked at how smooth it was. Our ONLY long wait of the day was when that ride broke down while we were in line and we decided to wait it out. But when you're with all your cousins, it doesn't even feel boring! Though they did make an announcement to stop roughhousing in line and that was 100% directed at us, sorry.

Day 2 was California Adventure, which I love. The Guardians ride makes me SO NERVOUS but Lydia sat by me and I even survived it twice :) Riding it with my dad was really sweet, he's been going on rides with us my whole life and I didn't expect him to brave so many on this trip. Bennett rode the Incredicoaster with him, a big group of his cute grandsons rode the ferris wheel with him, and it was just so fun to have them make those memories. We made the single rider lane work for the group for the Cars ride in the beginning and everyone rode it 2-3 times. Between strollers, Lightning Lanes, and single riders, we truly rode so many rides with very little wait. Jenny texted Ali and me in the afternoon to say how wonderful and smooth everything had been with our big group, and that was the moment that it alllllll fell apart haha. We don't need to dwell on it but we'll just remember: the dinner order timing failure, lost Lewis, broken down Incredicoaster, truly terrible lady coming at Grandpa, Elise and the lemonade, and trying to get the last of the rider switches back in on Incredicoaster during dinner mayhem. Wow, that hour. But then we all road Soarin' twice right at closing time and all was well!! Haha still very smooth and wonderful. Asher on Toy Story... so cute.

Then, we paused the parks for a beach day! Shelley so kindly set us up to have the gear we needed for a happy beach time -- boogie boards, sand toys, a tent for grandma and grandpa, and some chairs. She truly made our day so much more pleasant and I loved that my parents could be there and just relax and watch the grandkids play. Then some BIG ice cream before we got back to hit the pool, get some Mediterrannean takeout, and go to sleep blissfully early.

Disney day 3 was one of my favorite days of my life, for real. The lines were short the first half of the day. We rode everything. Asher's little scream on Splash Mountain was (sad, yes but) the absolute cutest thing. Multiple rounds of teacups in a row and Grandma jumping on with me because she was remembering how much I loved it when we were little. Riding the train around the park together. Hitting Peter Pan with a short wait time. The light parade! The light parade was magic. Michael found the best spot. I carried clam chowder across the entire park with Westin so we could eat before the parade, and honestly I even loved that part. Asher telling us "We should live here, right?" as he stared at the parade in awe. Staying late with the big kids to ride Matterhorn, Space Mountain, and Star Tours again.

We had the best day. We had the best, best day.

This trip will be a treasure in my mind forever.

Dumbo through the years :)

I love my family.

Lip Syncs and Bake Sales

Asher had a fun preschool trip this week. I feel really lucky to go on those things with him right now. It's funny how you have so much one-on-one time with the oldest kid and the youngest kid, and life feels so different with each. He was adorable trying to act like a butterfly through the butterfly gardens, because he thought that might make a butterfly want to land on him. What a joy to have a preschooler.

I'm having so much fun watching Westin be so independent. The way he walks home a little ahead of us right now so he can have time to grab a snack, before riding his bike to his friend's house and riding to football practice with them. His Star Squad meetings or Minecraft Club mornings, his lip sync rehearsals with his friends, baking cookies for the youth bake sale. He's just a busy guy but our happy location means that he's just walking or riding his bike to almost all of this and it's just so fun to see what he likes being involved in.

We had a Zoom meeting this week with my friend Janette who is helping my family get ready for Disneyland next week. Jenny and Ali and Matthias were on the call with Michael and me and it just had me so excited to get together for a good time soon :) I love that my family and Michael's family make the effort to get together. Cousin memories are so special. My boys are counting down the days!

Westin's lip sync audition went well this week. Those boys cracked me up and I hope they get to be in the show. I'm glad I'm not on the judging panel that has to cut cute acts!

It was a little crazy doing the youth bake sale on Saturday morning before flying out to California that afternoon, but it was a good day! Flying feels so easy with this crew now, although Southwest policies are making it more annoying to use them -- not knowing if you're going to get to sit by your kid is stressful! But not like, pay $40 a person for it kind of stressful :) Haha. It'll work out.

Always the winner in this game lately,
and I can't quite figure out how he's so consistent about it!

Spotted, feral little bro at Camden's soccer practice

Camden loves when it's Tuesday and he gets to stay after school for soccer

Fifth grade studs in tutus getting ready for the school lip sync.
These guys crack me up.

Our garage has moved into our house.
I'd like to say we know where everything is right now, but, 
it's a lot.

Butterfly preschool field trip at Spring Creek Gardens

Studying the caterpillars

Asher thought if he acted like a butterfly then one might land on him :)

This one was his favorite.

"Mom, I found a tiny snail!"

Garage is about to get a glow up

When all is said and done we should hopefully be able to fit a truck in here one day.
I still love the Corolla though, for what it's worth.

More garage-in-house.

Youth Bake Sale!

These kids worked hard selling their baked goods at a couple different locations on Saturday.

Preschool pictures from the last little while.

Westin's last flag football game this season!
This team was so much fun to play with.