California Adventure

We checked out of our hotel before heading over to make the most of our time at California Adventure. Our hotel allowed us to park for free until 2, so we decided we could do it all in four hours. And, mostly we did. We walked on to just about every ride with no waiting. And most of the rides we didn't get to the girls weren't big enough for, or none of the kids were big enough for. And now we have a reason to go back. Because in a few years, it will be really fun to watch Nathan on Tower of Terror.

The cars would talk to you. Nathan liked it. Clara would not come stand by it.

Thanks to our stop a Whole Foods, our kids discovered a love for Pirate's Booty. I think, meh. It's kind of weird.

Sorry; I don't know why this is sideways. Levi took Nathan to do Soaring over California while the girls and I shuttled between two rides in bugs' land before they decided they needed (another) snack. While waiting, Clara started playing and doing "magician tricks" behind this bench. They were pretty fantastic magician tricks.

Alice was starting to feel better by this day, although she was still really tired. She missed the first couple of rides because she fell asleep on the walk into the park.

When we got to the front of the line for this ride, we realized I couldn't take both kids at once, and Nathan wasn't old enough to drive alone. So a nice lady behind us offered to be with him so he wouldn't have to wait for me to take him on the next ride. He was surprisingly okay with it.

Clara was not so expert on bumper cars. Oh well.

The kids really enjoyed waiting for the Bug's Life show to begin. I forgot to realize that they might not enjoy the actual show. Oops. Little scary.

Christmas in November? Yes. Although in a few places we saw Halloween decorations, almost everywhere in both parks it was already Christmas. On November 4. Nutso.

And behold, by 2 we had seen pretty much everything that we could all do as a family. The kids were exhausted after three days of playing hard. Time for a nice nap as we drove to San Diego.

Seal Beach

 The day we drove from St. George to Anaheim we had a bit of extra time before we could check into our hotel, so we headed to Seal Beach, a town with quaint (read: expensive) beach homes. It was long past lunch, and the nearest place we could find with food was a Whole Foods. I joked that it was probably the only time I'd get Levi into a Whole Foods. Their pizza is kind of cardboardish, in case you were wondering. But the beach was beautiful.

After we cleaned the sand off Nathan's hands and arms, we headed to Anaheim and found our hotel. We parked the van and didn't move it again for three days. It was awesome.

That Disneyland place

 "The sun is too bright. Let me have your sunglasses." He was going to give me his hat, but quickly asked for it back.

First, let me just say, that staying at a hotel across the street from Disneyland was the absolute best. We parked our car at the hotel and left it there for three days. Five minutes and we were there.

The first morning we got there just a few minutes after it opened. Once we picked up our tickets and headed inside we had to...stop for a bathroom break, notwithstanding the bathroom break we'd all taken just before we left the hotel. I may or may not have been part of this first bathroom break (I was.) We saw some characters, walked down some magical real estate, et cetera. Our first stop was Tomorrowland. We rode the little rocket ride right at the entrance. Alice liked it until we put the seat belt on; meaning, she liked it for the first ten seconds. She was all right after it started going, but there was  a lever that she really wanted to reach and it was not cooperating. Clara, who I thought might be scared, giggled the whole time.

After that ride Clara was (surprise!) hungry, so Levi fed the girls a snack while I took Nathan on Star Tours. He was in heaven.


It was a little crowded that first day so we tried to avoid rides with a long line. Clara got to ride the tea cups, which she had been highly anticipating thanks to the Disneyland website? We had some ridiculously overpriced lunch in Toon Town, Levi walked a grumpy Alice around in the stroller while I took the kids to meet Mickey.

Midway through the afternoon everyone was fading fast and wanted to head back to the hotel. So we did. We rested for a little while and then went swimming. We walked to McDonald's for dinner and then went back to Disneyland until it closed at 8. We rode a few rides and watched the parade. Clara got really excited and waved at the princesses. Nathan enjoyed it as well. I think Alice was asleep (poor sicky).

The next day we had Magic Morning early entry tickets, which was a little less magical than I'd expected. The gates didn't open until 9:30, instead of 9--so imagine a bunch of hyped-up kids told to hurry up and get ready so we could wait in a line outside Disneyland. Then, when the gates opened and we hurried to get on a ride before the lines piled up, all the areas with rides were roped off. But, said the voice over the loudspeaker, "our shops are all open." Thanks so much. We bided the time in the candy shop where I convinced the kids the best option was what turned out to be ridiculously expensive jelly bellys. By the time the kids "helped" me put several kinds into our bag it turned out to be something like 14 dollars. This was not a large amount of jelly beans. It was still cheaper than the giant lollipops they wanted, and much less of a sticky mess. The kids also enjoyed the antique "moving picture" shows in the candy shop. At a penny, they were the best deal in the whole park.

Once the rides opened, we had a better time. The crowds were less, and I had  a bag full of sugar to help make waiting in the lines easier. I doled out those expensive blobs of flavor one at a time, and it helped to make the kids much more patient. We rode almost all the rides in Fantasyland before Alice got too grumpy. We had a late lunch and then rode the paddle boat, which made us too late to get over to Tom Sawyer's island. Nathan was very sad. Levi and Nathan went to do Haunted Mansion while I took the girls to Winnie the Pooh. Then we rode the train all around the perimeter of the park. Clara, true to form, somehow managed to find even this scary (the dinosaur dioramas). After the train, we (finally! allowed the kids to pick out their souvenirs. I picked one for Alice, Clara was really fast, but Nathan had to go to two different stores before I allowed him to choose his because he wanted everything (especially the really annoying Buzz Lightyear toys with lights and noises). He ended up making his own droids at the Star Wars shop, which I was much more okay with. After we had those, I wanted to ride some more rides, since the lines had really dwindled as everyone gathered for the parade, but the kids just wanted to go back to the hotel to play with their new toys. So, all the fun rides I could have taken Nathan on, since the girls were so tired and really too small, will just have to wait.

 Nathan, working on the art of the photobomb. He totally did this on purpose, and got a little surly when we caught him.

We went to there

The kids were ridiculously excited about packing. Nathan wanted to pack himself. We got all our clothes packed Saturday so we could head out Sunday right after stake conference. I've got oodles of bajillions of pictures to share, but I'll break it up a little. But here's a little overview of our trip.

We left Sunday and drove to St. George.
Early the next morning we headed out and drove to California
Visited Seal Beach and then checked into our hotel
Spent the next three days at Disneyland/California Adventure
Drove to San Diego and checked into our hotel
Spent time at Sea World, walked along the harbor, and ended our trip at Cabrillo Point
Got an early start Sunday and made the 12 hour drive home all in one day

The good:
The kids were absolutely amazing in the car. I went to the dollar store and stocked up on new coloring books, blank notebooks, and a couple small toys for each kid. I packed a box with stickers, treats, presents, pipe cleaners, and didn't even have to use most of it. They spent most of their time coloring. We also had some books on cd to listen to (side note: love is renting the Berenstain Bears cd from the library even though you know it's hugely annoying, with synthesized cheesy music in the background and ridiculously overdone voices and side effects, but those childrens do love it). We brought our car dvd player along and didn't even get it out of the bag, which was a huge win for me. Call me old fashioned, but I think it's important for my kids to learn to deal with boredom without just plugging into a device all the time; this trip showed me that they are on their way. Even Alice did awesome. Good thing she had her fingers to suck on, though. They were really the lifesaver.

Overall, the kids were well behaved all week, barring tired/sick/hungry tantrums (see The Bad below). No children were (really) lost or sunburned during the making of these memories.

The weather was just about perfect. It actually felt a little hot at Seaworld, even though the weather said it was only in the high 60s. Mid-70s and sunshine all week.

Moderate crowds at Disneyland, and almost no lines at all at California Adventure. We didn't have any trouble getting in to see all the shows at Seaworld.

Being able to spend the week with no distractions from the kids. At home I have so many other things on my mind it's hard to focus on them. No housework, cooking, Relief Society stuff--it was so nice to just focus on my kids and enjoy their personalities.

The bad:
Everybody in the family (except me, amazingly, knock on wood) got a cold the week before we left, so everyone was on the uphill side of things by the time we left. All except Alice. Her cough got worse and developed a slight fever our first night. (It's fitting, though--I, the youngest in my family, was sick during my first trip to Disneyland at age 5. My parents just kept giving my tylenol when I started to flag and then I'd be off again to play.) So we gave her some motrin when she needed it and she spent a lot of time napping in the stroller. Poor kid.

Clara seems to have a habit of licking her food rather than eating it. Then, when it's become sufficiently slimy and disgusting (think of a well-licked banana), will quietly throw it away and say that she's full. We have such a hard time getting her to eat a full meal at home, and it was worse because she was so excited to get going. Then we'd walk to Disneyland, be ready to ride the first ride, and she'd cry that she couldn't go on a ride because she was Too Hungry. This being no more than 10 minutes after we tried to make her eat a snack before we left our hotel room and she insisted she was full. She wanted to constantly snack, all day long, and her temper suffered as a result of her grazing ways.

So that it that and we are home and attempting to adjust to real life again. Are you sure I couldn't just live the rest of my life on vacation?

18 months

Yeah, this picture's a little old. Go with it. Since Alice is nearing 19 months this week, I thought I ought to tell about what 18 months has been for all of us.

She has a new favorite word: No. Everything is no. Her other favorite word is: Mom. Surprise! She'll also say a few others, occasionally: Dad, yeah, hi, eye. Mostly she does a lot of really expressive grunts and gestures. She will nod her head yes or no, which is helpful, and she's really learned that the sign for please opens a lot of doors. We're still working on the sign for all done, hopefully to replace all the screaming and throwing of food that currently happens when she's done eating. She knows it, she just is too much of a stink to do it usually.

The last few weeks we've been leaving her in nursery. Levi took her in there for a few weeks to help her get used to it, so now she's doing really well. Toys and snacks? What isn't there to love? We sat in front of her nursery teachers last week in sacrament and she kept looking and smiling at them. And Alice going has helped Clara to feel better about going. Clara's not been loving nursery lately, I think because she's so much older than the other kids.

She loves sunglasses. She will bring you some, grunting appealingly, until you put them on her face. Then she'll smile and walk away, coming back a maximum of two minutes later to repeat the process.

She loves dolls and pushing dolls around in strollers. Big brother and sister mostly ignore the Little People toys under their bunk beds, but Alice will crawl all the way under there to get them out. And, she knows about guns. Nathan builds guns out of trio blocks, and Alice shoots them at us. She even makes shooting noises.

She's learning that hitting, pushing, and kicking are hilarious, and doesn't understand why there would possibly be negative consequences for said hilarity.

The other night at bedtime she wanted to get into Nathan's bed. She climbed up towards the pillow, pushed him out of the way, lay down with her head on the pillow, and pulled the covers over here. Clara was very disturbed we'd leave her there all night. So I got out a pillow and put it in Alice's bed. She was very happy. As soon as we laid her down she waved to us to get us out of there already so she could enjoy this pillowy luxury.

She loves strollers. Anytime we're playing outside she'll climb in and try to grunt her way into a stroller ride. Once as we got home from school she climbed out of the double stroller, walked into the garage, and climbed into the single stroller. She was pretty upset I wouldn't take her for a ride.

A couple of weeks ago I took the older kids to the dentist. When they got their new toothbrushes from the hygienist she walked up to her, expecting her due. She was pretty upset she didn't get one.

Oh, and we finally transitioned her out of the infant seat and turned her forward facing. Happy day! She feels so big, which, of course, she's been trying to tell us for oh so long.

Happy Fall

We made it--October! It's here! and glorious. October, weather-wise, is my favorite month. The air is so crisp. Such a great time for doing and being.

I've got several projects I've been saving up for the coolness of September: the garage, fixing and staining the fence, and a little masonry work, anyone? But the doing of them just doesn't seem to be happening. It's hard to gird up the will for even these exciting (!) projects when I can't even keep to my regular housework schedule.

Here's to hoping my energy comes back soon. I'm out of the first trimester this week, so that's encouraging news. I'm sure everyone will appreciate a little more normalcy around here.

Also, would someone please tell Nathan to pick a costume and stick with it? I'm not doing anything about his costume until he stops vascillating.

Stories about a bed

So, what's a month and a half between friends? Or a blog? Here I am, I'm back...briefly. Two short stories about what's been going on here.

A couple weeks ago at bedtime, Nathan asked, "Can Alice get in my bed for just a minute?" I said no, dad said no, but Alice heard. She toddled over to the ladder and started trying to climb it. She was pretty unhappy when we didn't let her finish before taking her to her own bed.

Last night (again at bedtime) Nathan was sitting with us on the couch in the family room. He could see into the bedroom and said, "Something crazy is happening to Clara!" The crazy thing? She had climbed up to his bed to throw all his stuffed animals to the floor. She thought she was pretty funny stuff.

Tonight the kids rigged "curtains" by hanging blankets from the upper bunk so they could put on a "show." I love how much fun my kids can get out of boring furniture.