Saint Margaret Mary Lomita Fair!

We had the St. Margaret Mary fair last weekend to kick off our first couple days of school. The girls have anxiously been awaiting the fair ever since the banner went up advertising it about a month ago on a local street.

We met up with my parents, Joann and had dinner (BEST Tacos EVER!) and then Michelle and Mike met up with us to do the rides. My parents volunteered in a booth near the rides we were going on so they got to watch too.

Being seasoned Disney visitors now- the plans for rides changed dramatically after the one on one visits to Disney. Maddie wanted NOTHING to do with the kiddie rides! LOL No real surprise there but wow- did she pick some rides to go on! Can you so "no fear"? I was glad Uncle Mike was there to ride with her! HAHAHAHA! She also insisted on going in both "fun" houses. Emily agreed to both but Ashley had to warm to the idea and only did the second.

We also played some games! (See- I'm not such a mean mommy after all- if you remember my OC Fair post with the rules, "No rides, no games"! LOL) To our delight everyone was a winner! Emily was the big winner though winning a LARGE prize while the other 2 got smalls. (they were ok with that- phew!)

Emily and Ashley surprised me as well- they wanted to go on a couple of the kid rides- but Ashley had her heart set on the spinning bear ride (thank you Aunt Chelle for riding with her!).

Emily and Ashley did ride some of the smaller rides- taking their new stuffed friends with them. Maddie said "no way".



Here is the other fun house- a lot of fun- until it started to make loud noises- the girls do not like that (well- Maddie didn't care so much).

And then Maddie said- I want to go on THAT ride!

Uncle Mike agreed to go with her- this thing went up, up, up and then dropped them down, down, down- over and over! Yeech! She loved it of course! Emily and Ashley opted for boat rides.

Then we did the carousel

And then the traditional slide ride!

WEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Emily and Ashley wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel so Aunt Chelle and I agreed to ride with them- I forgot the sensation of being suspended in the air in a swinging seat- ick! Emily said it made her tummy feel funny- but she did great!

And what about Maddie you ask??? The only thing that distracted me from the Ferris wheel was the fact that I knew Maddie and Uncle Mike were riding on THE SEA DRAGON!!!! AHHHHHH!!!! I'm taking these pictures helplessly from my Ferris wheel seat- of course they are in the very last row (Maddie's choice)- here you can barely see them behind the white pole at the top of the boat.
And here is the best close up I could get. Uncle Mike said she giggled and did her "roller coaster" scream the whole time. And again- she LOVED it.
Ride tickets gone at this point (80 went by fast!), it was time to visit Grammie and Grandpa again to tell them of our bravery and get a sno-cone treat.

We love the Lomita Fair at St. Margaret Mary!

We're so happy that Uncle Mike and Aunt Chelle joined us again this year!

And how fun to have Grammie and Grandpa working in the drink/sno-cone booth!

It was a great night! Can't wait until next year!

First Day of Kindergarten!

No- I never thought this day would come. Yes, I am in denial! September 10, 2009 was the day my BABIES went to Kindergarten! It seems like yesterday we were trying to juggle schedules, bottles, diapers and sleep. We weren't sure who was going to help my mom watch the girls when I went back to work. And now- here we are- 5 years later- with Kindergartners!

We started the special morning with a special breakfast! The girls asked for bacon, eggs and pancakes. Everyone ate pretty well and the marathon of getting ready began! Rick has started a new job recently and thankfully his boss is family oriented and said it was ok for Rick to come to school with us! The girls helped me choose their first day of school outfits the day before (we had a fashion show with Grammie). I will not be dressing them a like at school to help the teachers and assistants get to know each of the girls as individuals (though I still think they look cute matching!) We have decided to place them in the same room this year- if anything to make me feel better knowing they are there for each other!


EMILY

ASHLEY

MADELINE

There's something reassuring knowing they are doing this TOGETHER!

We loaded up the van and took the short drive to school!

This is the same school that Rick and I both went to so it was a familiar feeling walking back onto campus. So much is the same and yet there are many differences.

Waiting for the gates to open to go find our room!

Here's our room! Everyone has their own desk this year!

Meeting their teacher- Mrs. B., taking attendance- we are her first set of triplets in her 30 years of teaching! I think 30 years of teaching makes her great for the challenge! LOL After a brief parent meeting we were asked to leave. Madeline was fine and barely had time to give me a kiss, Emily gave me a hug and a kiss and lingered a bit, Ashley started to cry. :( I expected her to (we started having this happen towards the end of Pre-K last year) and I had warned Mrs. B about it. I gave her a hug and a kiss, promised I would be back soon. Emily took one hand and Mrs. B took the other and off they went and out the door I went. Sigh... A couple hours later I was back with Grammie to pick them up (they had early dismissal the first 2 days). Everyone was smiling and happy to see us. I think it is going to be a great year! To celebrate we took the girls to Bob's Big Boy to use some of their rewards certificates from the summer reading program!We then went home to rest and get ready for Day 2! Grammie dropped them off and I picked them up. They showed Grammie the ropes and did just as great! I'm so proud of my girls!

Emily's Disneyland Day!

Last Thursday, Emily and I kept our date and headed to the Happiest Place on Earth for some Mommy and me time! Emily turned out to be the low key triplet and really had no interest in roller coasters. In fact, Emily's first stop (though are you really surprised?) was to see the goats at Big Thunder Ranch. After spending quite some time there she finally wanted to leave and do some rides. But no roller coasters she told me! LOL We rode several of the Fantasyland rides and then she wanted to ride the horse drawn trolley down Main Street.

Emily was not into waiting and if a line looked even 5 minutes long she opted not to ride. In fact she preferred SHOPPING in all the little stores. We did a lot of browsing, which was fine with me because this was the hottest of the 3 days I'd been with the girls and the a/c was heavenly!

We did end up going on a lot of rides (there really were NO lines and we walked on most rides!) so I ended up on the tea cups much to my dismay, and of course Emily figured out how to make it spin!

We also rode the rockets in Tomorrowland, which I had never been on myself! It's a bigger version of Dumbo and boy do they go HIGH! (see those people down there?) Yikes! Emily was loving it- she took us all the way up to the top and then left us there so she could take in the scene. We also went on Autopia and Emily proved to be a pretty competent driver! And then one of the biggest surprises of the day happened for us- Emily wanted to ride Star Tours! I wasn't sure she was going to like it- but I should know better by now as each day I've spent with the girls one on one, they have surprised me by doing something I wasn't expecting! Emily LOVED Star Tours and we actually rode it twice because she loved it so much! The other delight of the day was her response to the only roller coaster she did go on. It's a small coaster in Toon Town called Gadget's Go Coaster. She wasn't too sure when we started, but she was giggling like crazy when we finished and she managed to say, "I just love it! Let's do it again!" So we did- three more times! Hot and tired- we rode the train from land to land to get around- here Emily sports her- I don't want to take a picture, but I'll do it anyway face. In the end it cooled off quite a bit, we enjoyed some more shopping on Main Street, got a lollipop for Emily (and an ice cream for Mommy) and headed home. Emily loved her day and I loved having this chance to do this with all my girls. School is upon us and a huge milestone is about to happen~ I'm not ready, but its coming!