d-land day 3 details

Now that I'm back in the land of the living I can share our final disneyland adventures! We had a GREAT last day! Because we had the goal of staying until the midnight closing (I know we're NUTS!), we decided to head to the park around 11am. We were there for 13 hours of fun filled... well fun! The morning started out at Splash mountain which is now one of Abby's favorites. Then headed to tomorrowland to gather toy story buzz blaster fast passes. We then took a journey on It's a Small World which has been revamped a bit but is still as classic as ever. The next trip was on the train which took us back to tomorrowland and the monorail. Heading to lunch we rode the monorail into downtown disney. Let me tell you... I wish we had used the monorail more on the first day. It was a great way to travel out of the park for less expensive and quieter meals. We ate lunch at the Jazz Kitchen which was DELICIOUS!! They had a great kids menu and Neil and I enjoyed yummy fare as well.
After lunch we headed back to park and used our fast passes... obtained more fast passes and then used those. I don't exactly remember the order in which we went on rides but we hit all the kids favorites which were basically the "mountains". IE: Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Railroad Mountain. We had hoped to get on the Matterhorn which opened the first time at about 9pm last night but the line was INSANE!! The highlight of the evening was watching the Fantasmic show!! We got our seats an hour early and are glad we did... it was packed!! The show was WONDERFUL and we all enjoyed it... highly recommend!!

Here is the synopsis of our daily "adventure". We are now proud owners of $50 worth of disneyland kids pants! That's right... Abby decided she had to go pee NOW while we were doing the sleeping beauty castle walk through... 1 set of narrow stairs and a whole lot of people. I grab her and as fast as I can get out of the walk through all the way yelling "toddler needs to pee... excuse us!" She made it to the potty but not before wetting enough that she needed new clothes. We took a trip to the baby care center... my new favorite d-land find! (Jill, we'll chat about this great place before you leave!) Bought a pull-up and some wipes (much cheaper than the $12 panties in the store) got all cleaned up with brand new tinkerbell pants on and we were off to the next adventure. After we saw fantasmic we got on Pirates of the Caribbean. While we're about to get on the boat Mason starts jumping up and down, "mom I got to go NOW!!". So we rush through boat out the exit and run to the nearest bathroom while mom is yelling yet again, "kid who has to pee... excuse us!". He makes it into the mens room (because he won't go into the ladies with me) and I'm thinking great we made it! WRONG!! He comes out 3 minutes later with his pants SOAKED... mom I didn't make it. There was a line for the potty. I later learned that there was no line just someone in the big ie handicapped stall. OI! So we meet the rest of the fam and ride pirates with Mason's soaking pants, and then head back to the baby center with newly purchased pants in hand to clean Mason up.
Joy of Joys! So Abby and Mason got lovely clothing souvenirs and I got a whole lot of laundry! :)
We're sad our Disney adventure is over but we look forward to heading back next year sometime. Signing off from the land of Happily Ever After! :)

Last day at Disneyland :(

We did it! We made it through 3 whole days at Disneyland with lots of fun happenings, a few mishaps and a WHOLE LOT of memories!! I can't wait to get home and post some pictures. Seeing that it's 12:45am and we just got home and I can barely keep my eyes open let alone lift my fingers off the keyboard I'll bid a goodnight with no "details" But fear not! I'll be back to write the whole final day story when I can function... well when I "think" I'm functioning. :)

D-land day 2.... California Adventures

Today was another dawn to dusk day in sunny southern California! We awoke this morning at 6:45am to get ready, fed and out the door by 7:45am. I HATE early mornings... let me say it again.... I DO NOT DO MORNINGS! It's pathetic really. :(
We drive to D-land, park, tram it into the theme park and get in for early admission Magic Morning.
While Neil, Felicia (cousin extraordinaire), and the girls head to fantasy land to ride rides, Mason and I head to first aid... yes just moments after entering the park... because what we thought was a slight sunburn on his face turned out to be a MAJOR allergic reaction to something. Hives all over his face, ears, neck, chest, tummy, behind his knees and in his arm pits and elbows... itching everywhere... and we have NO CLUE what's caused this. Fun huh? So Mason has a little chat with d-land nurse about itching, what does your tongue feel like? can you swallow? do you feel dizzy? the whole sha-bang. Everything checks out and we're off to the enchanted something or other store to buy childrens benedryl. We pay for our $10 bottle of meds, get him a dose and are off to join the rest of the family in the now PACKED fantasyland. My poor little man was so well behaved! Especially considering the crowds, noise and the fact that his body was being invaded by little bumps everywhere. He's a trooper!

So after a quick jaunt on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and It's a Small World we head over to California Adventures. FUN PLACE!! None of us had ever been so every ride was new for us all. Our favorites were Soarin' over California and Toy Story Mania. Both were loved by every member of our family! HIGHLY recommend if you go. :) Neil, Felicia and I LOVED the California Screaming roller coaster. Great for adults... not so much for younger kids. We had a yummy overpriced lunch, rode a few rides, saw a few shows and then headed back to D-land for Finding Nemo's submarine ride and Fantasmic. It got REALLY cold when the sun went down which was a bit stinky but had very little effect on the overall attitude of the gang. We watched the show, busted out of there and are now safely back at the Villa with popcorn and hot cocoa. Who could ask for anything more? .... well maybe a bit more sleep right?
Stay tuned for more vacation adventures!

Chillaxin'

Today was our "chill" day. We slept in, looked at tidepools on the beach, swam in the beautiful resort pool and ordered snacks and drinks poolside. We ended the evening with delicious dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's house. The kids loved seeing their second cousins and I enjoyed visiting with my family that I rarely get to spend time with.
It's been nice to have a day "off" full of chillaxin' activities. Tomorrow it's back to the vaca grind with another full d-land day! 'Till then! :)

Shamu, sunburns and sleepy mommy...

Today my hubby was teasing me because I'm writing a "Travel Blog"... now I don't consider myself a travel blogger because you would have to actually travel more than once every few years to count yourself a blogger about travel. So who knows... maybe I'll have a new profession... maybe some famous publisher will want to make my Disneyland travel adventures into a famous book!
Well... I can dream far fetched dreams can't I?

Anyhoo... on to the adventure of the day! Today we went to Sea World in San Diego. The day started with my awesome cousin who decided that she would let Neil and I sleep a bit and she fed the kids breakfast and put them in front of cartoons... Yes Felicia is a rockstar! Can I bring her back to Oregon with me? PLEASE?!? Again I can dream right?
We drove the hour down to Sea World and got our day started with the Dolphin show. The kids loved! We took the pre-show time to lather on the sunscreen and make sure everyone had a sun hat. Abby was very excited because we bought her one there. Sesame Street is big at Sea World so she got an Abby-Cadabby hat... she thought she was a star! After the dolphin show we went onto the sea lion and seal show... again super cute. The main drama of the day happened in the middle of that show when Chloe realized she left her wallet at the dolphin stadium. So Neil and Chloe went to look for it and file a claim at lost and found. (BTW... wallet still MIA) But the loss of said wallet and it's contents were quickly remedied when we bought stuffed Shamu's which were the intent of her money in the first place. oi! It was a quick lesson learned that when mommy says keep your wallet in your pocket until you are paying for something.... YOU STINKING LISTEN!!
On with the day... we then went to the Sesame Street kids area and the kids rode on a couple rides. The spinning stars were a bit much for mommy's tummy so I sat out on the next couple kiddo adventures. (oh too bad!) After the kiddie rides we went for the big guns and rode Journey to Atlantis... Abby rode it and loved it. We have the photo and it's HILARIOUS!
Overall there were many adventures, a sunburned mommy and daddy, and yet another great day in the land of the INSANE DRIVERS!! So 'til tomorrow... this is wanna-be blogging momma signing off and heading to bed! :) I can barely lift my fingers to type.

surviving the "mouse ears" literally!

Well we made it folks! The trip down was uneventful and we are now settled into our BEAUTIFUL accommodations in Newport Beach. Yesterday we started our week long craziness with our first day at D-land accompanied by my sweet cousin Felicia who is along with us as a "nanny" of sorts. She has been a wonderful and fun addition to our crazy crew!
The kids were AMAZINGLY well behaved and we no meltdowns or freak outs...it was WONDERFUL! We enjoyed lunch at the rainforest cafe which we had never been to. And rode every rollercoaster in the park. Abby's favorite was the thunder mountain railroad. Mason's Favorite was "all of them!" Chloe loved splash mountain.
Now you're reading this thinking.... surviving? This sounds like it was a cake day! Well the mouse ear hats... that's what we had to survive!
Frammie aka my mom, gave each of the kids money for mouse ears and a treat. Of course they needed to buy their ears right away but we were able to persuade them to wait until lunch. So we purchase said ears and continue on our adventure. Within moments the first set of ears if flying off on the Roger Rabbit cartoon spin. We tell the cast member and they say come back at closing and we can look when the ride is shut down. No problem. So we continue on our day and about 5 hours later Chloe leaves her hat in the pocket on the Indiana Jones Ride. She comes outside devistated so mommy goes in to save the day and the cast members search every car and again say come back at closing and we search the ride when it shuts down.
So we continue on our day knowing that we need to hit these 2 rides at closing on opposite ends of the park with 3 kids who have been disneyfied for 10 hours and are beat.
SO at closing Felicia, myself and the girls head to toontown and Neil and Mason head to Indiana Jones. No hats to be found... but of course Disney writes us vouchers for free replacement hats which was above and beyond fabulous! They even gave us a fast pass for our whole party for our "inconvienience". Here's the kicker... while waiting for the voucher in toontown Mason's ears were stolen off the stroller outside the ride. So they give us a 3rd voucher to replace is ears. Can I just say that Disney totally rocks my world and made my children's day!!
The moral of the story is... just give all the hats to the 4 year old... she's the only one who still has her original pair!! Stay "tooned" for more vacation updates through out the week. :)

2 days and counting down...

This is what I hear every morning upon waking this past week... "mom we leave to go to disneyland in 2 days!!" And promptly remind them that they don't get to go unless they get their little tushies outta bed, dressed and ready for breakfast. ;)

Don't get me wrong... I'm TOTALLY stoked about our grand southern CA adventure! But I've been spending the last week making lists, checking them twice, reminding my kids that only nice ones get to go... the rest get left at the kennel. J/K!

I've already accomplished packing all 3 kids including raincoats, hats and bathing suits. (Even Abby's life jacket) I have all our d-land "uniforms" packed (ie: matching shirts so we can all see each other) I packed myself last night and got all the toiletries set out to put in my bag. I encouraged DH to pack but he just looked at me like I was smoking something and went back to his video game... typical! I printed out all our confirmation stuff and made sure the tickets, confirmation numbers etc are all together. I bought snacks and loaded them into a big rubbermaid bin... yes I know sounds pathetic but snacks for 6 people for 7 days... it's alot!

So am I prepared? Am I missing something? DH thinks I'm nuts with all my preparedness and lists but I'm telling you he's going to thank me when the kids start puking after the mad hatter tea cups and I'm prepared with pepto and dramamine. :p

Scrabble..

This is for my friend Sue. She is as amazing person, friend, seamstress and apparently a SCRABBLE FIEND! So I have to make a confession that Sue may deem sinful but I feel I need to make none the less.
Ok... prepare yourselves... I have NEVER played scrabble. There I said it! I have never, ever in my life played scrabble. I pretend to know what people are talking about when they speak of triple word score and amazing scrabble feats but I honestly have no clue!
So feel free to berate me, scold me, laugh 'til you pee your pants or whatever you may... but someone PLEASE educate me on the fabulousness that is "SCRABBLE"

Today is my birthday....

I'm gonna have a good time!! :)

Baptism pictures

Here they are! It was such a special day! Chloe was BEAMING after her baptism. We were surrounded by friend who love Chloe and she was overwhelmed with the emotions of the day. It truly was a blessing to experience with her.

Baptism

Chloe is getting baptized tomorrow afternoon at 4pm.

I am so proud of the decision she has made to become a member of the church and be baptized. She woke up this morning SO excited yelling: mommy, mommy tomorrow I'm getting baptized! She's been telling all her friends about it and why she wants to do it. I love how grown up she's getting.

We'd love to see you there!

picture fun!

My friend Jamie tagged me in her Picture fun game and I thought it was pretty cool! So I'm playing along!

Picture Fun-
1. I choose the 4th folder where I store my pictures on the computer. 2. Select the 4th picture in the folder. 3. Explain the picture. 4. Tag 4 people to do the same. 5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)




We call this picture Mason's Trick. When he was little he was FACINATED by spoons... so we were teaching him fun things that spoons could do like work as a catapult and of course sit in your nose. It wouldn't stick on Chloe's nose or Neil's nose but I got it stick and it stuck to Mason first try. He loved it!

I Tag:
Jenn Hunt
Sue Quackenbush
Danette Schwarz
Tana Lacy

Have fun ladies!! :)

blogworthy?!

So I was flipping through a magazine today and about half way through I noticed an add where a product was advertised as "BLOGWORTHY". Seriously?!! Has blogging gotten so big that now the advertising specialists are sending out ad's for products they deem blogworthy?

This new form of reaching the customer brings a few thoughts to mind...
1) Who determine's that said product is blogworthy? Is it the company, the marketing people, a panel of customers, the blue people who live on the moon? WHO?
(I certainly would not try the one I saw... it looked like I would bite into carboard bread with chewy chicken and cheese... yuck!)
2) Once said product is deemed blogworthy does that mean that when you try it you'll instantly run and blog about it to your friends and online pals?
3) Then when said products is finally blogged about does it matter if the review is good or bad? OR is it just to get the name out into cyberspace with little or no effort of the marketing folk??

Hmmm... what are your thoughts?!

withdrawls....

I've been participating in the Year of No Fear this past year. And I've LOVED feeling motivated by it... knowing that the possibility of YONF or Mrs. B hearing of my bravery or my non-bravery makes me think about every situation differently than I did before.
So here's my beef... They haven't posted this week! I love reading about their own challenges and over coming them... I countdown the days until Weds. when I know they'll post... and it's now Sunday and sadly... no posting!!

Come on girls!! I need my fix!!