Family Adventures

I have to clarify something right from the start...going somewhere with 3 little children can most definitely be classifed as an "adventure" but I'm not sure I would call it a "vacation". In my mind, a vacation involves lots of stress-free leisure with a fruity, slushy drink in one hand, a good book in the other hand, and my whole body resting on some kind of floating device in water. I didn't drink, read or float on this trip so it definitely classifies as a grand adventure! (And really if that is my definition of a "vacation" then I'm not sure I've ever really been on one. But I'm a big dreamer!)

We decided to squeeze one last trip out of our annual Disneyland pass and thought we would be clever by going at the beginning of October when surely no one else would be skipping school to go to Disneyland. We left bright and early Saturday morning and headed for Las Vegas to start our adventure with Abby, James and Caleb. It was truly a glorious 2 days! Their house is beautiful and tasteful and classy, Betty's cookies are amazing, the meals unbelievable, the company divine, and the purple sofa thingy heavenly to sit on. I truly loved every minute of being with my sister and her sweet family. Unfortunately, it was not well documented photographically. I will need you to zip on over to Abby's website for the one snapshot that was taken. Sunday evening we headed for California. After a bizarre traffic jam in the middle of nowhere, we arrived at the Taylor's home. Chris' sister and her sweet family have endured us 3 times in the last year and I'm certain they are very grateful that this annual pass is expiring! The next morning, bright and early, we headed for the happiest place on earth.

Now as I mentioned, I fully expected the park to be empty...what other irresponsible parents would pull their school age children out of school for a week to go to Disneyland? Well, we were in very good company. It wasn't summertime packed but it was definitely more crowded than I expected. Still...we started the day off hanging out with Buzz Lightyear! Great guy...lots of laughs. We then proceeded to ride as many rides as we could before the lines got too long.


This time of year Disneyland is DECKED out in full Halloween gear and I love it! My favorite ride is the Haunted Mansion which has been converted in to "The Nightmare Before Christmas" in honor of the season. It is spectacular! This is a picture of one of the "holiday wreaths" at the Haunted Mansion and J. preparing his best fright face for the experience!






























J., H., and I spent some quality time at Woody's Halloween Round-Up in the petting zoo. Why does it seem like we spend lots of time petting goats in our family? Everywhere we go there seems to be goat petting zoos. Not that it is bothersome, just a little strange. I wouldn't mind petting a sheep or pony or other furry animal sometime.

There was the most amazing pumpkin sculptor. He had just sculpted a Davy Jones pumpkin and an Alice In Wonderland pumpkin. How would you like to sculpt pumpkins at Disneyland for a living? Doesn't sound like a bad plan to me...except I don't sculpt.




This is J. and M. playing on the "skulls and bones" playset on Pirate's Cove Island (formerally known as Tom Sawyer's Island).










If there is anything to climb, hang from, explore or touch, M. will have it done in no time flat. I really don't know where this child gets his amazing energy!









J. with his first prom date. I'll have you know he set this picture up himself.










M. taking his turn with J.'s prom date. They seriously thought they were so, so, so funny! And they were.










As we were wondering around toward the end of the first day, we looked over and H. had climbed on a bench and was "resting". Nothing like a day being dragged around Disneyland on 2-year old legs. We did have a stroller but who wants to be strapped in when there are a million things to touch?




We truly had a fantastic time at Disneyland. Here is the "must have" photo in front of the Pumpkin Mickey on Main Street. Should have specified to the photographer that we wanted more than Mickey's lips in the shot!





On Day 2 of Disneyland, we celebrated M.'s 5th birthday! C.'s sister presented M. with a pumpkin cake for breakfast on his birthday. She had even dribbled his name and age out of white chocolate to put on the top. She is truly the master homemaker! M. thought it was tremendous fun to have cake for breakfast...and his favorite gift that morning was a pack of gum he received. I love 5 year olds!















The birthday breakfast ended with a rousing game of "use paper plates to make Dumbo ears and sing weird songs". I'm so glad these 2 boys have each other.






One of the strangest parts of Disneyland is Mickey's house. In order to actually meet Mickey Mouse, you have to walk through his house, garden and out back to his movie studio where you then wait in line FOREVER and are finally ushered a few at a time in to a room where he is standing and you awkwardly shake his hand and have a one-sided conversation and feel like an idiot at a peepshow. M. had written him a letter which he presented and H. had written Minnie Mouse a letter so when Mickey tried to take her letter, we had a little temper tantrum. Thus the picture where M. looks very solemn and H. is gripping her Minnie letter for dear life so the weird big mouse doesn't steal it from her. It was all a little surreal.

Speaking of surreal, try Mr. Incredible in tights with a huge plastic head.











Favorite moment from the entire adventure...we were resting on a bench inside California Adventure, when they started a "block party"with music and character's from the movie "High School Musical 2". The music was blaring over the loud speaker but we had already seen the show so we just continued our sitting. Well, M. heard that music start and threw off his shoes and headed out to the middle of the walkway for some serious dancing. Pretty soon H. and J. went out to join him. It was so hilarious! M. was seriously out there just being carried away by the music and nothing was going to interrupt his moment. Pretty soon, we had our own little group of vendors that had gathered to watch our show and they were very validating with their clapping and smiles! Our children had zero inhibition and it made C. and I laugh for a good 20 minutes. It was quite a show!

Disneyland was wonderful but after 2 days, I was ready to go. My feet, legs, arms...entire body hurt from pounding the pavement for 2 long days. So on Wednesday morning we said good-bye to Anaheim and headed for San Diego to visit C.'s brother and his family. It was divine!

We spent our day with them on the beach and had a great time! H. loved the sand, M. headed out for some boogey boarding, and J. alternated between serious sand building and wave crashing. It was the perfect afternoon!













































It was a great trip! We arrived home exhausted but really grateful for the time we had together and with family without all the interruptions of daily life! Thank you to the 3 families who cleaned their homes, baked cookies and cakes, and entertained us on our way! Our favorite moments with definitely spending time with aunts and uncles and cousins! So now that our passes are expired...who wants to host us next??