Wednesday, January 4, 2012

2011's Trip

2011 would not have been complete without a trip to Disneyland. We were going early November anyway, and were glad to find out that Ry's whole family could come with us. Lots of people ask us how we "do Disneyland." Do we have any secrets, etc? Well, here's a close look at how we spend two days at the park. And guess what?--I bet it's just like how you do it too :)

But we do have a knack at finding Mickey Mouse within the first 5 minutes of being in the park. That was good because I told the kids that if they got rid of their diapers that we could go to MM's house. Good thing we saw him or they might have believed that he actually lives there!









 

 


 First Ride of the Trip: Peter Pan
 
 Dumbo:
 
 
 
 

 

 There is nothing Rachel loves more than a Merry Go Round. Nothing.

 

 

  

 They're good, but they're not that good...



 Rapunzel was a must...
 

 

 Casey Jr. was not a long line, but Adam couldn't wait to go on the train!
 
 Mr. Toad's Wild Ride: Rachel thought it was too wild. "Drive more safely mom"
 

 The only low part of the trip: Rain! But we were more prepared for it than we've ever been.
 

 
 But rain did not dampen the autopia cars experience.



 


 

 
 Dinner at Rainforest Cafe: Inside, warm, good food, entertainment for children? yes, please.
 



  
 
Day Two:
Start at Tarzan

 

  Jungle Cruise:
 California Adventure:


 
 
  


 Gma's dream was to have a princess lunch...too bad Rachel acted scared, and Adam had an accident under the table. But at least they looked cute.
 


 


 












 Later, Rachel told me that Cinderella was her favorite. I'm guessing it's because she came out last and was a little bit less scared :)
 Oh, all we had to do was find another Merry Go Round. Now she's happy
 


They actually wanted to go on some scary rides...too bad they weren't quite tall enough--

 


 I knew Adam needed to go to the bathroom because he risked missing the bumper cars to go. Luckily, we got to get our place in line back and had a great time bumping Rachel--with permission!
 
 



 Okay, it takes a lot to impress me. But these pictures were painted in a few seconds with water and a broom. I was more than impressed.




 Remember how they weren't tall enough? Well, Ryan plus boots, plus nice people on Splash Mountain found a way around that problem. 


 You would think that having three year olds  on the teacups would slow us down. But amazingly enough, we developed a couple of offspring who love getting dizzy. We went faster than ever.
 

 

 
 Even the hotel is fun:
 


So there you go. Until next year, Disneyland.

Sunbeams 1/1/12

Our first day was a success! I expected at least some tears and fears...but they went right in to their class and when I picked them up they were wearing a paper crown and I heard stories about singing songs and throwing beanbags. I only wish I could've been a fly on the wall to see it :)



Halloween 4

The Real Deal:

We didn't trick or treat too much, but we loved watching the neighborhood and giving out candy. I wish we had more people come!
Our neighbors put on a fabulous haunted carnival every year. They have several games and tons of good prizes. The kids kept wanting to play, but I felt bad because they gave us too many prizes.  Rachel earned it though because she held a real palm sized cockroach for about 30 seconds!


And of course I don't have any more pictures!

Halloween 3

Trunk or Treat:

Can you tell what we are?  Probably not, so I'll tell you...Jesse and Woody. And Ry and I are kids...we put our names on our Jesse and Woody toys just so we don't lose them :)
If you still don't know who we are...watch Toy Story
Ry is attempting to blow a bubble







I thought this was the best yarn braid ever...too bad she didn't want to wear it ever again


They loved handing out candy. I asked R if she wanted to go get more candy. She said, "no, I want to give more to the kids"

Ryan was amused by the fact that R would carefully pick out one piece of candy for each kid and A would dump a whole handful in.
The kids are the perfect holiday age and we had a great time!

Monday, January 2, 2012

Magic Words

Uncle Jeff, trying to get Adam to use his manners and ask for something politely:
Jeff: "Adam, what do you say?"
Adam: "Idunno"
Jeff: "What's the magic word?"
Adam: "Abracadabra!"

That's my boy.