Disneyland–Day 1–March 21

Monday morning, we woke up bright an early to begin our first day at Disneyland!  This picture was taken just after we got through the gates. 

We started off by heading over to the Buzz Lightyear ride in Tomorrowland. This the ride that Landon and Davis had been most excited about riding.  Even just standing in line was exciting as there was a huge Buzz Lightyear that talks to you and explains your mission on the ride.  They had fun shooting the lazers, and we ended up riding this ride more than once on our Disneyland trip. 

Me and Landon and Shane with Davis (can’t really see him) on the Buzz ride

After the Buzz ride, we headed over to Autopia.  I always loved that ride when I was little.  The boys had fun driving in their cars, and this also became one of their favorite rides.  I shot a little video of my ride with Davis.  He could barely see over the steering wheel, but he did pretty good except for when he would let go of the steering wheel, and we’d jerk back and forth. 

   

After our sunny Autopia ride, we got in line for the Matterhorn when the weather started to change.  After being in line for about ten minutes, we started to feel rain drops.  Before long, it was pouring rain!  We only had jackets and one poncho to put over the stroller, but of course James wouldn’t stay in there anyway, so we were all getting soaked.  My mom came to the rescue and ran to buy us all ponchos as we stood in line.  Before she got back, these kind women behind us gave us this extra poncho they had for James.  They probably thought I was the worst mother ever because he was getting so wet, but I couldn’t put him in the stroller where he would be dry.  We got all in our ponchos just as we got to the front of the line.  The ride on the Matterhorn was less than idea as we were sopping wet, and we got even more wet as we sat down on the wet seats.  We’d come around the corners on the ride and out into the rain, making it not so fun.   I was just freezing, holding on, and hoping it would soon be over!  Landon didn’t want to ride (smart kid), but Davis went with Shane and he got scared because it was dark at first, then it was cold and raining in his eyes, then the monsters, so by the time it was over, he wasn’t too happy! 

We hung out under this Monorail bridge for awhile after the ride trying to decide what to do next.  Landon was really excited to get a Mickey ears hat, so my mom took him over to a hat shop to get a hat with his name stitched on the back.  He was so excited, and wore it proudly the rest of our Disneyland trip!  Davis and Kallie got one the next day to wear too. 

                   

We finally decided to head over to Space Mountain.  We had fast passes there, so we ate lunch in this covered area while each of the couples took turns going on Space Mountain.  We were all freezing, but we were dry and had some yummy chicken salad sandwiches. 

Jake holding Ethan and Landon and Davis playing the itouch and with Jake’s phone while Shane and I rode on Space Mountain.

Luckily, by the time we all took our turns on Space Mountain, the rain had stopped and the sun had come back out, and the weather was perfect the rest of the day.  We headed to It’s a Small World, which was another favorite for the boys.  In fact, Davis could be heard throughout the rest of the day, and the trip, singing It’s a small world after all . . . in various funny versions.

   

Waiting in line at “It’s a Small World”

 

On the boats just before going in

Another favorite was the boat ride in Storybook land.  The boys loved going in the whale’s mouth, and it was fun to see the houses of the three little pigs, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, and others.

 

While we were waiting in line at Peter Pan, Davis and Kallie saw the carousel in the middle of Fantasyland.   They were so excited to go on it! Luckily the carousel has a short wait time.  James took a nice nap with grandpa during this time.  He did really well on the Disneyland trip – napping in the stroller or in our arms as we took him from place to place.

       

Kallie was also excited to ride on Dumbo, and she convinced Landon and Davis to go with her.  They were a little nervous, but liked it in the end.  Kalli really wanted a pink one, so when it was our turn, we all ran out to get her one.  Luckily, there were plenty of pink ones when we were getting out there.  We ate dinner at the Hungry Bear restaurant, which was pretty quiet since Splash Mountain was closed.  After dinner, we did a quick ride of Winnie the Pooh, and the adults took turns on Indiana Jones before we finished off the night on a dark Jungle Cruise ride.  Overall, it was a successful first day at Disneyland!

Disneyland Trip–Part 1–The drive down and Sunday

A year ago, Shane and I decided to start saving for a family trip to Disneyland for Spring Break of 2011.  We invited anyone from our families who could to join us, and we started saving.  On Friday afternoon, March 18, after Landon got home from school of his last day before Spring Break, we loaded up the car and drove to Ashland for the beginning of our Disneyland trip.  We arrived that evening, got a little sleep, and then left at 5:30 a.m. the next morning, with the hope that we would make it to our hotel for tip off of the BYU vs Gonzaga basketball game.   My parents and Jake and Stacey’s family went with us, so they drove down to California with us.  My parents drove with us in our van, and Jacob and Stacey drove their car.  We hit some snow around Shasta, but luckily, we still made it to our hotel in Laguna Hills by the end of the first half of the BYU basketball game, and a great BYU game it was!  It was a great start to our trip! 

After the exciting game, we went and relaxed in the hot tub, and then after putting the kids to bed, enjoyed some delicious Pinkberry frozen yogurt that Stacey introduced us to.

Sunday:

Sunday morning, we went to church with Kim and Dave. After church, we headed back to our hotel to check out.  The kids had fun pushing around each other on the luggage cart, then sitting there together eating pretzels.  They sure are good buddies.  

     

After checking out of our hotel, we headed over to Kim and Dave’s house, where they hosted us at their house for a delicious roast and potatoes Sunday dinner.  They were so generous to let us in their home and provide such a great meal!  We are excited that they are moving to Oregon in a few months so we will get to see them more often.  After dinner, they took us down to the beach, and even though it was a little windy and cool, it was a fun walk.

   

Walking down to the beach, cute Ethan and Jake, and Grandma walking with Davis

 

Walking along the beach, and my dad trying to keep baby James warm

   

   

Baby James peeking out from his warm covering, Shane and Landon watching the waves, and Davis (with a stick, of course) enjoying the sand on his toes

Me and Kim!

 

Dave and Kim at the beach, and my mom with Kallie and Landon riding the nice elevator back up to the parking lot.  Landon and Davis wanted to go on that “ride.”  Who knew we didn’t need to even go to Disneyland – just go on the free elevator “ride” to get to and from the beach!

After our walk on the beach, we headed to another hotel in Anaheim to get ready for our first day at Disneyland!

Kelly’s Birthday Party–March 17

On Thursday, March 17, we celebrated Kelly’s birthday.  His birthday was actually on Sunday, the 20th, but we were leaving for California on Friday, so we had a little party for him Thursday night.  We had tri tip, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and a yummy strawberry cake dessert that is Kelly’s favorite of his mom’s.  I didn’t quite measure up to Christie’s baking skills, but it turned out decent.  The main problem was that my pan wasn’t the right size, so when I poured the strawberry Danish dessert on the top, it all dripped off all over the counter and the fridge!  It made a mess, but still tasted good.

 

The boys of course loved having Kelly over to entertain them.  This time, he pulled them around on this blanket.  They thought it was pretty fun!

Finally, here is a picture of Davis holding James before bed.  I think it’s funny when he wants to hold James, because James seems almost as big as him!  My mom has a picture of me holding Becky that is very similar to this.  If we get our scanner working again, I’ll have to add it to this post.  It is fun to see how much James loves Landon and Davis as he gets older.

  

A Rainbow Walk

Yesterday, I printed out a sheet that had 10 activities to do in March on it.  The first activity was to go on a walk to look for a rainbow.  It said to bring a camera, and find and take a picture of an object of each color of the rainbow.  Since it wasn’t raining today (and it’s supposed to for the rest of the week), we thought we should head out and try this one today.  Landon was in charge of the pictures, so here is our “rainbow” we found on our walk to the park today.

Some Recent Happenings

On Wednesday last week, we celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday.  Landon had green eggs and ham at school, but when he came home, he wanted some more for lunch, so that is what we had.  They both really liked it and have asked to have it again for lunch.

Later that afternoon, we had some friends over, Ellie and Jared, and did some fun Dr. Seuss activities together.  We did some rhyming games, played “the cat says . . .,”  and we made some little Cat in the Hat finger puppets that of course didn’t turn out as cute as the picture in the tutorial.  We did make a cake of the cat’s hat, and luckily it turned out all right, except for the frosting, which Landon informed me was not red, but pink, when I showed him the finished product . I guess he had a valid point.  :)

I couldn’t seem to get a decent picture with everyone smiling, so I finally just settled on this one. 

We also installed a new toilet in one of our bathrooms.  It was a much-needed repair as our water bill was huge last month after the toilet kept running.  I asked the boys if they wanted to make a house or something out of the toilet box, and they decided that a dog house would be fun.  They played in it for quite awhile, and we later decorated it with shutters, flowers along the bottom, and an address.  James had fun playing with them too when they woke up, and he would stand outside and pull himself up to the window, laughing when either Landon or Davis peeked their heads out at him. 

  

That night, Kelly came over to babysit while Shane and I went to the temple.  Kelly said they both wanted to sleep in the dog house, so he had to give them each a turn to lie down in there with their blankets and pillows.  Because it’s not too big of a box, they kept pushing on the door and calling to Kelly to come and shut it for them, so after countless time of going back there, he added a little hole on the door for a door knob for them to pull the door open and shut.   We have one more toilet to install, and we already have plans to make a puppet theater out of that one.

And finally, here are some pictures of Shane and the boys reading scriptures before bed.   They always want to read on his itouch, and they take turns pushing the "bookmark” to get to our family reading spot.

This is actually one of Davis’s calmer nights.  Usually he is bouncing all over the living room while we try to get him to sit and listen and read with us.

James’s Appliance Friends

Just this last week, James has been changing so much.  He is so mobile now, crawling all the time instead of army crawling, standing up to everything, and trying to move from one object to another.  He has been moving around for awhile now, but his army crawl just wasn’t as fast as his crawl.  We now have to keep the bathroom door closed, as well as most of the other rooms down the hallway, because he crawls down the hall before we know it.  He loves to stand up to the couch if Landon and Davis are there on it, or crawl around with them where they are. 

Lately, he has also been fascinated with two appliances – the Kitchen Aid and the dishwasher.   The dishwasher is not really surprising; all three boys have had a fascination with it as soon as they could pull themselves up to things.  The Kitchen Aid is unique to James though.  Whenever James sees the Kitchen Aid when we are holding him, he starts kicking his legs and leaning towards it, trying to get over there.  Here are a few pictures of him sitting on the counter, playing with his new friend.

 

Is there anything much cuter than that smile?

 

Some fun with the dishwasher.  I love his squinty-eye smile in the last picture.