Albuquerque Turkeys

March 17-20, 2012
Nat & Bri's House, Disneyland & California Adventure


Natalie and Brian were so great to have us invade their home "on our way" back to Albuquerque and be our personal tour guides at Disneyland & California Adventure.  We had such a blast!  We got the 3-Day hopper pass for both parks and went on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.

Saturday it was raining so it was the least crowded of the days we were there.  And since the Evans' passes were blacked out on that day, Natalie kept Sydney home with her.  (thanks, you guys!) So without a stroller and with fewer people at the parks, Saturday was our most productive day.  Our shoes were wet, and Hayden kept freaking out whenever the wind blew his poncho hood off his head, but other than that, we had a wonderful day.

Monday and Tuesday, the weather was perfect, so EVERYbody came out.  But it was still fun.  Natalie, Brian and Kyrie came with us on Monday, and we had those fast passes down to a science!  We hit lots of great rides, and ate at a fun BBQ place in Frontier Land.  On a whim, we stayed to watch the fireworks and Fantasmic.  And I know it sounds super cheesy, but the only word I can think of to describe those shows is "Magical."  Disney knows how to make magic. -- Seriously, when we retire, I might want to go work at Disneyland.

Sadly, on Tuesday, Brian had to go to work  so we muddled along with out him.  That may have been the most crowded day, and as we were navigating through the crowds that day, Natalie had her first experience with losing a child in a big place.  One minute Kyrie was holding hands with Daphne, and the next minute she was nowhere in sight.  We split up looking for her, and were just praying she would find someone nice to help her get to the lost child office, and she did!  It is the worst feeling in the world to discover your child is missing--poor Natalie handled it really well.

So glad we found this girl!!! Even if she purposely jumped in front of the camera while we were trying to take a picture . . .

We had such a fun time together!  We went on every ride on our agenda, and did lots of fun stuff off the beaten path, like Turtle Talk with Crush, and visiting Beast's Library, where you can read some enchanted book to find out what Disney Characters we most resemble.  That was fun and kind-of telling:  Dallin--Jiminy Cricket, Daphne--Tinkerbelle, Sean--Hades (the bad guy from Hercules) and Hayden--Shan Yu, (the bad guy from Mulan.)  How appropriate.  You can guess what they answered on the last question which determines if you are a hero or a villain: "Would you rather eat lunch with nice people, or eat nice people for lunch?"



We also saw the Aladdin Show (which was great!), the Jedi Training Academy show.  Both Dallin & Kyrie were chosen to participate so after the other kids got over their devastation at not being chosen, it was fun  to cheer their family members on.



And the girls saw a Princess Show where they got to learn to dance and wave like a princess, and were visited by Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora.  I took them to see that while Natalie was holding our place in the "Meet-the-princess" line.


Even though Sydney recognizes Disney princesses, can even say "Sincess" and refuses to take off her princess nightgown, she was pretty skeptical of the princesses we met.  She wouldn't approach Ariel or Belle, but when we got to Jasmine, Sydney got down from my arms and walked up to her and waved.
Cute.

The boys, meanwhile, went on Star Tours--no WAY they were gonna wait for a half an hour to take pictures with some girly princesses, although it should be stated for historical purposes that Hayden has shown some partiality to Jasmine--(probably because she shows more skin than the others, if we're being totally honest.)

Okay, I know this post is too long already, but I just have to write down some of my favorite memories from our Disney trip.

Star Tours--This is a 3-D ride.  The first time we went on that ride, Hayden came out saying, "Oh my gosh.  I totally thought Darth Vader wath real.  I wath about to unbuckle my theatbelt, and punch him in the fathe. (face)"


Splash Mountain--Hayden is a little dare devil.  He loves the fast roller coasters.  He rode on all of them that he was tall enough for, which was almost everything.  He even did Tower of Terror and said it was "Crazy awethome!"  Well, on his third time on Splash Mountain, there was a problem with the ride, and his log/boat/thingy stopped for a few minutes right before the ascent to the big drop.  It's the part where the poverty-stricken little rabbit family is singing in a minor key, "Don't go to the laughing place, the laughing place, you'll surely die . . ."  or something equally as morbid.  Well, after a couple minutes of that, he just lost it, and started screaming at the top of his lungs, and continued screaming for basically the rest of the ride.  What an unfortunate place for his boat to stop.  Poor guy.

Space Mountain--This was my favorite ride growing up.  I think it still might be.  I love it.  The first time we went on this ride, Arthur was wondering if it might be too scary for Sean and Hayden since it was all dark.  I told him I thought it would be fine.  When we got off, Hayden was totally excited and said it was  so crazy fast and was his crazy, crazy, craziest favorite ride ever.  Then I asked Sean how he liked it.  When I looked at him, he was on the verge of tears with his bottom lip sticking way out.  He did not like it.  Just look at this picture of him at the end of the ride.


Now this may reveal what a horrible parent I am, but when I saw that picture, I laughed so hard.  And to this day, when I think about the look of complete and utter terror on his face, I still laugh out loud.  Poor Sean!  I'm pleased to report, however, that we did get him to ride it again, and he liked it better and even better the 3rd time.  But those fast roller coasters are not his favorite, to be sure.

Tips to remember when we take the family again:
Go in February or September (less crowded)
Don't ever let the kids get hungry -- (they fall apart really fast when that happens) They definitely need a real lunch--snacks aren't filling enough.
Don't go two days in a row.  The younger kids were pretty fragile on Tuesday--I think a break in between might have helped . . .


Finally, here's a little slideshow for any of you who feel that you just haven't gotten enough of our Disney experience.  Sydney loves it and points to the "Doggy" (pluto) and "Mickey" and "Daddy" and asks to watch it over and over.  I'm sure you'll feel the same.  ;)

Gorgeous weather, blossoms on our fruit trees, and DAFFODILS!  Don't you love how cheerful they are?  Tomorrow, my garden is going in the ground (before all the seedlings I started last month start to die), and I think I'll probably break out my capris for the first time this year.  wahoo!

And eventually, (because I know you're all dying to see) I'll sort through all our spring break pictures and post about our adventures in California over the last couple of weeks.  We had a wonderful time out there!

Friday, March 16th, 2012
Monterey & Highway 1, CA


Friday I packed up the kids, said good-bye to Nona and Papa, and we headed over to Monterey to pick up Arthur from his conference.   From there we would take Highway 1 south for most of our drive down to Natalie and Brian's place.  Here are pics from our drive down California's Highway 1.  It was a LOT of driving, but really beautiful.

Saying good-bye to Nona and Papa, and of course, Aunt Emma.

A cool bridge south of Monterey

March 12-15th, 2012
Modesto, CA


The kids had a blast playing at Nona & Papa's house, especially since they have cousins who live so close by.  One of the days, we went park hopping.  I took them to feed the ducks at the Donnelly park, then we went to pick up Aunt Emma from work and visited Papa in his office, and then we went to the Graceada Park and met Aunt Amber and Uncle Mikey for a bit, and then headed home where they ate popsicles and jumped on the trampoline.  They slept really well that night!

Sydney LOVED the ducks!  She kept saying "kack, kack, kack!"

Dallin & Sean were put in prison by Jemma and Daphne

Daphne and Jemma in their fortress

Dad with the kids in his office

With Uncle Mikey and Aunt Amber

Hayden and Carter--these two boys are so funny together!

Sydney with her Papa

I was just re-reading this before I posted, and I thought that I should preface this post with this: that I love being a mother.  I consider it one of the greatest blessings in my life.  But it is very demanding and noisy and full of people who have needs to fill, and who whine at you if they are not filled on their timeline.  Sometimes at the end of the day when the kids are all in bed, I just stop and absorb the silence, and revel in my ability to hear my own thoughts, which are pathetically mushy by that time of day.  So getting a couple of quiet days with my husband felt rather splendid . . . so if it seems like I'm doing a lot of complaining about my noisy kids, I'm actually just trying to illustrate what a contrast this was from my daily reality, and it just got me thinking that "quiet" is something that I need a little more of somehow . . .

Monterey, CA
March 12-14, 2012


Right now, I am sitting in a completely quiet room.  Oh the luxury.  I got up this morning when I felt like it, not because I had to get anyone off to school and not because someone was so starving they might die if they didn't eat breakfast in 2 minutes, and not because someone crawled up on my bed with a poopy diaper . . .  I just lay in my gigantic, fluffy king-sized bed and listened to the silence until I felt like I wanted to get up.  It was beautiful.

Arthur is attending a conference for work held here in Monterey, CA.  Since Monterey is not far from where my parents live, we decided to bring everyone out.  Mom was wonderful to keep the kids for a couple of days so Arthur and I could have a little get-away together.  (Sometimes life gets so busy, that I forget how much I like hanging out with my husband!)  So thanks for keeping all our little crazies, Mom, because I can't tell you how nice it is to be able to hear myself think. 

When we got here Monday afternoon, we checked in, and then went for a drive along the coast and in particular drove the famous 17 Mile Drive which goes through several famous Golf Courses, one of them being Pebble Beach.  I'm pretty sure I caught Arthur drooling on the steering wheel.

Sneaking a peak of Pebble Beach Golf Course.  It was the hardest to catch a glimpse of. . .

My fish tacos at Crabby Jim's

Big ole' pelicans sitting outside a restaurant window

Sea Lions by Fisherman's Wharf

Look at that lollipop--it's bigger than my head! On the back, it says, "Don't touch--you break it you buy it, $100." yowsa!

A charming little seaside inn called "Green Gables"

Cannery Row

Anyway, we've had a lovely, relaxing and quiet time, that was the perfect break we needed.  Thank you, Mom, (and anyone else there at home who helped look after our little Garietys) for filling lots of extra needs for us!