Baby boy # 3 is turning 13...

I can't believe that the last of our boys is turning 13 today. Mikey becoming teen is the beginning of another chapter for him and the end of another chapter for us as parents. No more little boys (at all), just a household full of teenagers now. Where did the time go? One of those moments full of mixed emotions of some sadness, joy and pride.

 
Mikey might be our youngest, but he's also the one that completes our family puzzle, our bookend of personality and that final piece that makes up this Camacho clan. He brings so much light and spirit to our family that we wouldn't have it any other way.













 Mikey is our artist, the creative one. He is good at doing a little bit of everything. He is resourceful and can make something out of nothing. He is creative in the kitchen, in his playing, but his artwork amazes us every time. You can tell it comes from inside him, he has great visual perspective, and loves attention to detail. However proud of his work, he is his own worst critic so he keeps challenging himself to get better. It is one the things I love about him. We love his artwork and encourage this talent anyway we can, and can't wait to see what he does with them in high school and the years to come.

He's our consummate entertainer. He does a little acting, singing, and now he's dancing. Ha, I finally got a dancer! Having grown up in the Colombian culture, dancing is a big deal but my boys including Jerry can instrumentally hear/play notes beautifully but dancing is not necessarily their forte. Mikey however, is the one that got and actually enjoys this dancing gene. He's got rhythm in his groove and can feel the music in his body, and loves to express himself any chance he gets. He had been teaching himself some routines by watching videos, but he will be taking some hip hop classes next year to help him with improve his moves. 







Mikey is our enthusiastic one, the sometimes mischievous one, sometimes the louder than we'd like him to be one with a voice getting deeper by the minute, but with a wonderful spirit full of good intent in all he does.


    

                    
He is our patient and kind one too. He is a good friend to everyone and a helper in class. He is very is tolerant and so very patient with all kids which explains why they gravitate to him no matter where he is. He has a natural ability to understand those kids who need a little bit more help or who just need someone to hang out with.







Mikey is all about comfort (very much like his dad). Getting 'dressed up' is not top on his to do list, and hey matching his colors and plaids is just not always that important, lol. But now that he is a little older, there is always that rare occasion where he shows a little flair for style.










Our Mikey has a beautiful smile, a big laugh, but a bigger heart. He feels deeply but is the most subtle with his emotions. He puts himself out there completely in his own way, even it means risking getting hurt. He has been Danny's saving grace, and has a soft spot for his oldest brother. He loves being with all his family as much as he likes being around his friends, and he still loves holding my hand. How can a mom complain, right?

Mikey is all of these things and so much more. And we love him for being All of it.

This guy has always had the key to our hearts. 

Happy 13th Birthday baby boy!! 

We're so proud of the young man you are becoming. 

May your teenage years be blessed, full of growth and adventure

and always guided by God.

We Love You Mikey!

The reality of letting go...

Its been about week and a half since we dropped off Christian at LAX.  I don't know how, but we found the strength to see him off, to physically let him go, and not actually lose it.  It was hard and there were tears but they were full of pride and so much love. It is his turn to start his life's journey at school and in this case in Spain, and we can't hold him back. We definitely forfeited the privilege of traveling with him and going through the craziness of shopping to get him settled into a dorm at FSU this time around. But instead we made the choice to help pack him up into 2 bags to go experience college in an extraordinary manner in the hopes that the fruits of our labor will be in this adventure to celebrate and enjoy along with him.

I was sweetly texted and messaged by friends and family throughout the day letting us know that they were with us in spirit knowing how hard it would be let Chris go, and we so appreciated feeling supported by all the good vibes and blessings being sent Chris's way. They all let us know it was going to be ok. And it was.

I have to say that I was surprised that as hard as it was at the airport, Jerry and I came home and talked about how much peace we felt and how happy we actually were about it all. Like in the company of all other parents and friends dropping off their kids this year, we felt like we did our job. For the last 18 years, this is what we have worked for, right? We did it! We have been getting ready for this day through every possible experience in life and in school that we could have given him. All of that to prepare him for this day. To prepare US for this day.



So as we reflected, it was kind of hard to be sad about it really. If anything, all we could truly feel is extremely grateful that we were able to give him this opportunity somehow. But how to stop from missing him was now the question.  I was holding up pretty well until the dust settled over the last weekend and the tears showed up as the novelty of "we sent our kid off to college, hooray!" became "Holy Crap! We sent our kid off to college!!!...in Spain!"

What the HECK did we do??!!

I'm getting pretty good at asking and answering my own life questions lately I think. Its helpful when I have to take a step back from panic to talk myself out of it with some common sense reality and logic. Its works most of the time, but if not then Jerry's there to help me through it.
So to answer that lovely question? For one, we did what we would have wanted to do back in our own college days but never got the chance to do. Second, we knew that given all the options this was the best fit for Christian and what he wanted for his future...so we took this opportunity, and now he'll be living it, and we're nothing but excited for him!

As a family, the reality of letting go has been as normal as could be expected I'm sure...

We all miss him! How can we not? Again, we are handling it as well as possible, but seeing the love his younger brothers have for Chris expressed through their heartfelt prayers to keep him safe, and sleeping in his bed to feel close to him can make some days harder than others :') 

Every conversation, skype session and text is cherished and looked forward to. However, although the technology is there to keep us connected, we're finding it necessary to hold back (at least a little) to find a way to give him his space and help relieve him of feeling homesick as much as possible. 

We are celebrating every discovery and experience with him. His stories, his pictures and blog posts produce some of our biggest smiles and happy hearts.    
 
As a mom, I'm find myself worried about something new every other day. Is he sleeping ok or enough? Does he need anything? Is he eating ok, enough or at all? He says he is, but is he really?? Is he just saying that or is he going without something he could have here at home? Ugghh...all the things that can kill a mom's spirit in 2 seconds flat, but I guess all other "top ramen/mac-n-cheese" eating kids have made it through college ok. So yes mom, Its part of the process. He will figure this out too.

At home, we are also figuring out our new normal. Like sleeping with our cell phones nearby, converting time to Spain time every time we look at the clock. To remembering that I am making one less lunch, not necessarily needing to go in his room for laundry, or even remembering to ask for a table for 4 instead of 5 when we go out! Its habit what can I say...we'll always be 5 right? ;)

As parents its 1 down and 2 to go. Danny and Mikey are growing up too. They're needing their own guidance and encouragement to grow and gain their own sense of individuality during this time apart. Chris's going away for college will be a great inspiration to them, but they will find what works best for them when the time comes. For now it will be about continuing to cherish them, who they are and our time with them as life continues to fly by.

Ultimately, this will always be Christian's home, our boys' home, but we've been told by many parents before us that they will become 'visitors' in our home. Kind of sad? Yes! But isn't it a problem we want to have? Its what we want for your kids right? For them to become independent and self sufficient and yet still be there for them to give them a reason to want to come home and visit.

The reality of letting go?...It is what it is for now and will be what it will be in the future. We have officially sent our first born off to school..Hooray! With God's help, Chris will be back in December for the holidays and then leave again, come home in the summer and leave again. Also part of our new normal for the next 4 years to come. It doesn't mean we're supposed to like it or get used to it but its what's supposed to happen. The truth is, we are embracing this reality with every inch of our heart and soul with joy, love and lots of faith.

From my little corner to yours...have a blessed week.

Today he turns 18...Now what??

Today, Christian, our first born turns 18. We really can't believe it. It just seems impossible that not so long ago we had a baby boy in my arms and today he turns into an adult. Just absolutely crazy.  As of yesterday, I've been finding myself breaking into sudden burst of tears as the reality of this reality sets in. Am I feeling happy, sad or even scared? Or is it because I'm feeling so grateful for having had 18 years to see this little guy grow up right in front of our eyes. I'm sure its a little of everything, but as his parents, we couldn't feel luckier.

But now what? So he's 18! What does that really mean? There is so much more to turning 18 nowadays and its not lost on any of us, including Christian himself...

As we ponder this we realize that turning 18 now means that...

• He is a legal adult.
• He now has the right to vote.
• He can sign his own notes at school and sign himself out if necessary.
• He can legally drive with other others in the car.
• He can buy lottery tickets and be a lotto winner.
• He can legally work full time...(to buy said lottery tickets?)
• He can apply for credit cards/loans.
• He has the legal right to keep his medical records private and to make his own decisions about his health...(did you know that?)
• His Selective Service papers came in the other day..so he can enlist in the military if he chooses to or is needed to.... (That was a reality check if I ever felt one!!)
• In other places around the world, he can legally drink.
• And he is now legally responsible for his own decisions/actions.

So many things on this list here include the word 'legal' and its scaring the crap out of me. As a parent, you want to continue to always be there to protect them, to get them out of trouble if need be, and we will be but he is now going to be held accountable for himself. A normal right of passage, a life step. We've all been there. Ouch, this is hard.

But am I worried about him badly taking advantage of any of these privileges? Honestly, No. Not really. That's just not who Christian is. If anything, that is one of the things I am most grateful about him is that he has always been very considerate of us when making decisions and he has willingly accepted and respected our rules and the decisions we have made for him AND with him. I have the feeling that he will continue to do so even though he's turned 18. THAT is who Christian is. And although this will be the harder part for us to do as parents, but within reason I think its going to be our turn to trust and respect him and the decisions he in turn begins to make for himself. A right of passage for us.

Anyway, we have been fortunate in that open and honest communication is key for us as a family so its expected and practiced amongst the 5 of us when necessary.  So now as Chris finishes his Senior year and will be getting ready to go off to college probably out of state (maybe out of the country??) by the end of summer, those open and honest conversations will continue to happen as often as need be just so that we're as much on the same page as possible.  I feel like these are 'Spiderman' type conversations..."with more power (or age in this case) comes more responsibility." And as many of us know, this will hold true no matter where he is, where he goes and with what he decides to do in life.

Aside from all the seriousness...I can honestly say that no matter the age, Christian will always be our little boy with the sunshine smile and we will be there for him no matter what.


Christian, you have made the last 18 years such a pleasure for us as it has gone by almost too fast.  We thank you for having made it so easy for us. We couldn't be more grateful and blessed to have you in our lives and we couldn't be prouder of the man you have become. We can't wait to see what the future has ahead for you.

May this 18th Birthday be the beginning of a wonderful and exciting adventure! You deserve it and may God continue to bless you and keep you today and always buddy.

Happy 18th Birthday Christian!

We LOvE you Pop!

XOXO

Mom and Dad

What we love... about each other

4 years ago I did a cute, quick little Valentines He/She loves mini book project .  A picture book about each family member and a few things about what each of us happened to love in 2011. I was looking back at the book and the pictures this past week and I realized how much we've changed in just 4 years. I'm so glad I made that little book at that time as now its serves as a point of reference for me.  So I figured since tomorrow is Valentines Day,  It wouldn't hurt to update this project digitally here on my blog. But instead of writing down things we love now in 2015,  I made this a family project and I asked each one what we love about each other instead...

What do you love about Dad?

• Me-     "How much he loves us and how he makes me laugh "
• Chris-  "That he raised us to believe in ourselves first and foremost"
• Danny- "How much he supports me in all that I do"
• Mikey- "That he does what he has to do for the family"

What do you love about Mom?

• Jerry-   "How shy you get sometimes"
• Chris-  "Your friendship, Momma"
• Danny- "That you cook for me and always there for me"
• Mikey- "That you're super creative and that you make really good food for us"

 

What do you love about Chris...

• Jerry-  "That he's what a big brother should be"
• Me-     "His heart and sunshine smile"
• Danny- 'The advice he gives me."
• Mikey- "How he teaches me things and helps me with homework"

What do you love about Danny?

• Jerry-  "That he gives you who he is. He's real"
• Me-     "His empathetic heart"
• Chris-  "His laugh and cute personality"
• Mikey- "That he will still play with me even when he doesn't want to sometimes"

 What do you love about Mikey...

• Jerry- "His smarts, intelligence and his laughter"
• Me-    "That he will still hold my hand in public"
• Chris- "His creativity and art"
• Danny- "His funny personality and that he's my friend"

                   
 
What we love about Lulu...

• Jerry- "She's been a good dog"
• Me-  "She loves being my walking partner"
• Chris- "She's a great cuddle buddy"
• Danny- "That she plays with me outside"
• Mikey- "She's adorable and that she loves us"

Awww... this was a lot of fun and so much more important than chocolates and gifts for all of us to take the time to reflect even on the little things that we love about each other on a daily basis to keep us strong.

I just want my 4 guys (and Lulu) to know how much I LOVE them and everything about them not just on Valentines day, but every day of the year. How everything I do, I do for them and to see them happy in life.  I wouldn't be complete without them.  Thank You boys for loving me back the way you do!


From my corner to yours... may you all love and be loved today and always.


Happy Valentines Day! 
XOXO

Danny's 15th B-Day...Surprise movie night

We had a great time this weekend celebrating Danny's 15th B-day. Traditionally, if we would have had all girls we possibly would have been planning a big Quinceanera, but Jerry is thanking his stars he didn't have to.  So instead we've somewhat started a family tradition to celebrate the boys 15th b-day with at least an extra special surprise party each that has happened to work out to be themed around something that totally describes who they each are.


For Chris, we surprised him with a music themed party of course, where we rented out a rehearsal room at GC Studios just for him and his friends to jam and hangout. Totally Chris and it totally rocked!

For Danny, we surprised him with an outdoor movie night right in our back yard.  The boys had attended a few parties earlier this summer where they had seen this theme and I loved it. I knew this was the perfect for him. If you know Danny, you know that he absolutely is a huge movie buff.

He can tell you when most movies are coming out, premier dates, who the actors are and if they're his favorites then he can even tell you what other movies they've been in. So of course, we started planning.

And the day arrived. We rented a projector and made a very rudimentary screen out of a plain white bed sheet hung up with clothes hangers- it worked people! That's all that mattered. We also had fun getting all the fixin's you would find at the movie theatres including a popcorn machine (with jalapeños no less), popcorn trays from a local theatre, a candy bar, nachos and individually wrapped hot dogs and soda.

Danny was excited to see his best friends were there along with his cousins. Its been nice to see him wanting to connect a lot more with his peers lately, and having them there to celebrate with him was just the best.

Jerry surprised all of us including myself by taking care of  setting up a few video clip previews as a way to start off the movie just like they did in the good ol' drive-in days. He included some old Fast food commercials, a classic Disney cartoon, and threw in some really fun Brady Bunch song clips that we all most of us remembered the words to. Then he showed a movie he had put together of Danny pictures throughout the years that made me laugh, cry and be amazed at just how much our baby has grown up. It was beautiful! Thank you Babe!

 
And before we actually put the movie selection on for the night- Spiderman 2 (Andrew Garfield version- his favorite!), we sang Happy Birthday and he blew out his candle on the Popcorn bucket cake I attempted to make for him.

I got the idea from a friend (Thank you Karen Wright!) who used it to make the cutest popcorn cupcakes for her son's movie night so I just expanded the idea to make a larger size cake. Although it turned out very rustic, He loved it!!

• Baking tip- I used the Pampered Chef batter bowl I've had for years to bake the cake. You can put it in the oven and it gave me a wonderful little dome for the popcorn.

• Decorating tip- the popcorn is made out of cut up marshmallows and yellow food coloring for the butter effect- so genius right? You spray your kitchen shears with cooking spray to cut through the marshmallows so they don't stick, and you attach them over a layer of frosting. Refrigerate to set the cake.

Anyway, Spiderman 2 turned out to be a pretty good movie and the night turned out to be a success. It was nice to hear our guests express how much fun this had been. This is something that we'll definitely consider doing again next summer just because.

Danny isn't one to say very much, but he was definitely very grateful and thanked everyone individually for coming and celebrating with him. It was an amazing birthday weekend according to him and that's what we were shooting for.  I think we this will be a special one we will all remember.

We love you Danny and hope to share many more memorable birthdays with you baby!

From my little corner to yours...Thanks for stopping by!

Documenting life...The next generation

Christian posted this two nights ago, and it took my breath away.  Is it possible that my love of pictures and documenting our lives was finally being passed on to the next generation, to my boys no less...well at least my oldest for now? Wow!!!  

His words were inspiring and sincere and they made my heart overflow. I was so proud of him. 

He came down after he posted this, all excited about his 'picture project' and told me how he couldn't  wait to see what his year would look like in pictures. That he wants to put all his pictures into an album of sorts...What??!!

And with just as much excitement I told him that this is exactly WHY I take soo many darn pictures, why I do Project Life, why I blog, and why I document their lives, our lives, and everything we do in between. 

I emotionally quoted him Becky Higgins who developed Project Life- 

"Cultivate a good life and record it!" 

Omg, because its soooo important to preserve those memories of your life! To be able to look back through pictures is a gift you give yourself and your loved ones.

I can't wait to follow his journey and to see what he does with this idea. I can't wait to see how develops his own style of taking pictures and documenting. I'm excited for him because this is his Senior year and it will be a year full of amazing events worthy of documenting. And I can't wait to help him figure out how to put it all together at the end. 

Christian, Go For It Babe. Your life is waiting to be told.

I love you!

From my little corner to yours...Have a great day!

Around Here...Its Catch up Time

Ok, so its finally time to catch you all up on what's been going on around here in these parts of Camachoville in the last few month or so, but there has been so much going on with all the boys that I'm going to tackle each one at a time. This post might be a little late and a little long, but I need to get these events recorded. Its been a big year for all my boys.

Christian
Around here...Christian has just finished up a very difficult Junior year. He took his normal 6 periods which included 2 AP classes, plus a zero period and an independent study Health class. A crazy 8 classes total this year. It has also been a year of an emotional and time consuming curriculum in his Humanities CORE classes. The push for getting ready for college has set in as well and is his current course of action for the summer. The stress is far from over.

But it hasn't been all work and no play for him either. This has truly been such a busy yet exciting year for him, his music and his expanding band playing along with his cousin Jordan (the drummer).  He's been able to find a variety of venues and opportunities to play in the last few months and we've never been so excited to see where he's headed.

Chris has had the opportunity to perform as a solo act at the Guitar Merchant in March which he got a good response from and helped him gain some confidence for his other gigs.  He then had the opportunity to play again at the Pablove's Benefit this year not only in a beautiful duet with his friend, Leah, but he also reunited to perform with his former "Big Brother" band which he had performed with last year at this same event. That had also been Jordan's first performance ever so this was his return to this stage.

Chris and Jordan have found that they are not only super close as cousins, but they work really well together as musicians and have been trying to expand their musical chops together by having joined a band earlier this year, and now have recently split off together to build their own band along with Junior, a former band mate/friend. They've been in the process of writing and co-writing their own originals and have taken a couple of opportunities to do some 'open mic' nights at The Rack in Woodland Hills to get some practice and feedback to perfect their act. They have some gigs coming up this summer they're working on as well so we're all really excited to see where this all goes for them.




Danny
Around here...Danny had a tremendous 8th grade year both socially and academically and it ended amazingly for him as well.  It was so gratifying to see that because of his good grades, he was invited during the last week of school to attend his 8th grade picnic, a recognition ceremony, and a formal 8th grade awards ceremony and of course his Culmination ceremony.

During the recognition ceremony he was awarded 5 certificates of distinction and Danny was so proud of himself as he went up to receive each one.

At the 8th grade Awards Ceremony, we knew he was going to get some kind of an award but didn't know which one, and we were proudly surprised to find that he had been chosen by his teachers to be awarded two separate awards- The Optimist Award and the Lynn Stern Memorial Award. We were beyond proud and he was happy to see first hand just how well hard work pays off.

 His 8th grade Culmination ceremony was short, sweet and beyond emotional for me. Danny so ready for this day. He looked soo handsome, felt great and he showed it. His beaming smile as he proudly held his certificate said it all, and he let us know from his seat that he knew he had accomplished something big for himself, and it turned me into mush to say the least. He is ready and very excited about going to Cleveland High School along side Christian at least for one year together and we can't wait to see what he'll accomplish while he's there.

Mikey
Around here...our little Mike also had a great last year in elementary school. His teachers made it possible for him and all his classmates to have a very exciting 5th grade year that included class elections, plenty of fieldtrips, an annual project, a 5th grade Disneyland trip, a 5th grade hockey game, and a beautiful band recital in which he played the saxaphone and performed a song he co-wrote with 2 friends. They fit in A LOT of events and made tons of last year memories together.

One of the projects Mikey took on for himself was to once again join the spring drama club to do a play called Starship (about a bug who wants to be a human starship ranger)  in which he played the role of Tootsie Noodle. We were once again taken by surprise to see Mikey's personality shine in this role which included beautifully singing a ballad with his love interest 'Mega Girl.' (wink, wink). He really does well in drama and his drama teachers loved what he did with his role. We can't wait to see what other roles he'll take up in the years to come. He's an artist in the making.

At CHIME, the 5th graders participate in a 'Step Up' ceremony of sorts as they cross from elementary school to middle school which he'll be attending next year. They have a wonderful tradition of allowing the children who wish to do so, to say end of the year speeches to express there feelings about there experience at CHIME and Mikey was one of those kids. He was funny, articulate and took a chance to thank his teachers and his friends for all the great years he's had so far at CHIME and that he was looking forward to having 3 more years to go.


Ok, so there it is. I finally feel like I caught you all up and in good conscience can move on to our summer activities ;) Time is going by so fast that its hard to keep up with everything that's going on, but we're trying to enjoy every minute we have together.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're all enjoying your summer too.

From my corner to yours...see you again soon!

Grad Night...just for Danny!

Danny is in 8th grade and graduating from middle school in less than 3 weeks, so one of the privileges that 8th graders get to go to is the middle school version of Grad Night which is going to Magic Mountain on May 16th. However, to make it an incentive the students are only eligible to go if they have good grades and no disciplinary issues or 'U's on their report card. Ok fair enough, Danny has been working really hard all year and has had amazing success so he well deserved to go to this event.

So we had been planning on letting Danny go on his own (parents were not allowed to go) even though it would have been the first time he'd ever attend a field trip like this and to an amusement park he's never been to boot. A little lot scary for us as his parents not knowing exactly how he would handle a park like that on his own, but we figured if he went with the few friends he's developed this year, he would be ok. However, the 3 friends he was planning on going with were either not going or not eligible to go. So For many reasons we just felt it wasn't safe to do by himself, and he just wasn't going to get to go to Grad Night with his school.


But as luck would have it, we were fortunate enough to find an alternative that worked out better than we could ever have hoped for.

By the grace of God, I happened to find out that AAA was having a 'Members Only Night' on May 9th from 6pm- 12 am and this tickets were incredibly discounted. OMG!! I couldn't believe it!
This was it- a week before his actual Grad Night- it was perfect! So we made plans to take Danny to Magic Mountain as a family (Jerry unfortunately had to work) along with a couple of friends for him to go with and we gave him our own version of Grad Night!!

 

 He was soo excited to be able to go and his friend Andrew was so grateful that we

 were taking him with us. They were ready for a great night.

 We stopped off at In-N-Out to eat a full meal (for a decent price!) before we got to the park.

This place always hits the spot!

 Almost there...

 Andrew couldn't wait to get inside since he knows the park backwards and forwards. 

He was a great tour guide.

We were going to start off slow, with some easy rides first just to see how Danny, Mikey and Zack would do since they've never been on these rides. And honestly I think the last time I had been to Magic Mountain was before Chris was born...oh gosh, a really long time ago!
So I wasn't sure how my stomach was going to handle it either.

Ninja was the first ride we went on and it was soo much fun. It definitely got us ready for the next ones, and Christian mentioned how he never knew just how much I could scream.

LOL!

 Danny was even more excited when he realized that they had a a DC Nation section of the park. 

He loves DC Comics and this section had all of his favorite characters.

 Danny shocked me completely. The kid was taking Andrew's lead and was proving to have
 nerves of steel (no pun intended, hehe). He got on the loop rides, standing/going backward rides, 

even this 'going-in-circles-to-make-you-sick' ride without a hitch. I was so proud of him
and happy that he was fully taking advantage of this night and hoping that it would live up to the 

grad night he was technically missing out on.

 So Mikey and Zach, being a lot younger, were not quite ready to hit the big thrill seeking rides, 

so I would wait with them outside while Chris would go with Danny and Andrew on these rides.

To be honest, I was happy to have these few breaks in between because

my stomach was not sure what it was feeling or what it wanted to do after the first few rides
(I told you), so I wasn't going to push it...so we took selfies instead. ;)

 

One of the most wonderful things about this AAA Members Only Night,
and that really made it worth it (for me) was the fact that the lines for the rides were
 basically non-existent! On some rides we would walk right up and I think the
 longest we waited fort the boys was about 30 minutes outside of Goliath. 

Short lines are the best way to get through a theme park!

 These two were having soo much fun. They're friendship is relatively new but
they were totally bonding that day on a new level and were excited to share this experience together.
Andrew is very much the extrovert, which Danny is not so I appreciate Andrew for helping
Danny come out of his shell a little bit to have this much fun. 

So one of the rides I was looking forward to riding was Lex Luthor's Drop of Doom. For all of you 80's kids like me, we used to know it as Free Fall. It is a 40 story high, 400 ft drop of hell. 

So the picture to the left is a google pic, but I wanted to give you perspective of what the ride looks like. Why I wanted to do this to myself at the moment? I'm not sure anymore.

It was evening time already, and Danny and Andrew above were totally pysched and went on this with me. However, as soon as we got hitched into our seats, I realized that for the first time Danny had gotten second thoughts, and out of his own volition he felt it necessary to do the sign of the cross over himself and had me do it too. LOL! I think the reality of what a possible mishap on this ride could mean for all of us had hit him, and he felt the need to get himself some holy insurance from above that we'd be ok. Gosh I  love this kid, he was too cute!

Anyway, we got to the top (beautiful view btw), but it was just way to high and the cart starts swaying before the drop!! Lets just say that there is nothing like that adrenaline rush, and we got down ok, but Danny had decided he was never getting on that again! And that's ok with me!

 

 

  After that we decided to skip of few of the other big rides, as we were getting tired but we 

ended the evening by riding Ninja 3 times in a row while Chris and Andrew got on Full Throttle 

to finish up the night on a high. The kids had all gotten these cool capes and had ice cream

for a nightcap and we said goodbye to Magic Mountain around 11:30pm.

We were all exhausted especially after a full day of school and then a full night of fun, but the kids kept saying what an awesome time they had had. Danny was especially grateful that we had done this for him and that he would never forget Magic Mountain. Aww...that's all we ever wanted for him and so grateful that we found a way to make this happen for Danny. He soo deserved to have a Grad Night just how wanted it and he got just that!

And why not throw in a little plug for AAA! Thank you for all your services and for having a day like this for your members just when we needed one at such a great price!!

I'm sure we'll go back soon knowing that its definitely something he and the boys can handle, 

but the memories I have of Danny enjoying his own grad night are priceless. 

Danny We Love You and are soo happy you had a great time!

From my corner to yours...Thanks for stopping by!