Disneyland or bust!

Sitting down to type this post has kind of left me speechless, or I guess I should say "typeless".

We went to Disneyland with my parents and my sister Kristina. Between all of us, we have hundreds and hundreds of pictures. Dare I say thousands? And I'm going to post every. single. one.

We had ourselves a great time. It was the first time any of the kids had been on a flight (that they remember). They loved it. Livvy didn't love sitting so much. But that's Livvy and we pretty much expected crazy behavior from her. The good (or maybe bad) thing about flying to California is that many of the other passengers on the flight are also on their way to Disneyland. For me, that pretty much means the other naughty kids act as a distraction for any bad behavior my kids may have. It's just like sacrament meeting. My kids did behave very well. Taylor had an incident where he lifted up his drink tray while his drink was still on it (and very full with orange juice, might I add). Fortunately for me, I wasn't sitting by him. Kristina was. hehehe! She cleaned it up and they recovered nicely. I'm already giving way too many details and we haven't even landed in California yet. I'll stop.

Oh, and if you're worried about the picture thing, I'm really not going to post every picture. Only a couple hundred.

Monday was our buffer day. We explored Downtown Disney. We went to the movies and saw Bolt in 3-D. The sound and screen were messed up the entire time despite our numerous complaints. As we walked out they gave us free tickets to see another movie (thanks but we don't live here for crying out loud). I guess the best part of that would have to be that we actually all slept through most of the movie so bargain!

We spent four blissful (and tiring) days at Disneyland. (Tuesday-Friday) It was awesome. Tuesday we had early entry at 7:00 a.m. We basically had the park to ourselves for a couple hours. Our hotel was just across the street from the park so it made for fast and easy access.

So here's some highlights from the week:

• Taylor riding Space Mountain and bursting into tears the moment it stopped. And then riding it again the next day, only to burst into tears again.
• Sara riding the Matterhorn and squealing with delight. She pronounced it her favorite ride.
• Taylor bursting into tears once again after Splash Mountain. And no, he didn't ride that one again. He was traumatized for quite a while after that. We are proud of him for trying it though! The picture they captured of his face was priceless.
• I've learned that it's much less stressful to lose a child when you don't even know they are missing. Yes. You heard me right. One night we got on the train (lame). All were accounted for on the platform. We boarded. A couple minutes later an announcement came over the loud speaker, "Parents, please look around you and make sure you have all your children." Crap. The second I heard the announcement I knew it was Livvy. I just knew it. And yes, Livvy was missing. Dave went off to retrieve our child. One lady turned around and said to me, "How many children do you have?" (all sympathetic like) I said "four" she nodded her head all matter of fact "That's why". What is that supposed to mean? I didn't exactly agree with her on that one. Keeping track of four kids is not impossible- this woman has just obviously never met Livvy.
• Sara wore pull-ups the entire time! Such a life saver.
• My parents taking the kids back early and letting us stay and play!
• We went through Mickey's house in Toon Town. When they let us in the room to meet Mickey, Livvy timidly walked up to him. She kind of eyed him for a minute. Then she went in for a hug. We snapped pictures. Oohed and aaahed. Mickey pulled his arms away. Livvy didn't. She kept on hugging. So Mickey hugged her again. He let go. Livvy didn't. This went on forever. It was hilarious. She was in a dead-lock hug with Mickey and wouldn't let go. Mickey just kept patting her and hugging her. It's one of those moments you kick yourself for not having the video camera out.
• One day Dave, Taylor, & Kristina went over to check out the Jedi Training. Taylor didn't participate because Dave wanted me there with the cameras. I showed up maybe 5 minutes into the show. It was absolutely hilarious watching Taylor watch the show. His face was so fierce. As the kids were fighting Darth Vader and Darth Maal his face was all mean and contorted and he was holding an imaginary light saber in his hands. I could just see this intense battle going on in his head just by watching his face. It was priceless. The next day he was able to get up on stage and do the training. He was definetly more reserved about the whole thing being in the spotlight but he got to battle it out with Darth Vader and had himself a great time!
• And then there was the other time we lost Livvy in Toon Town... quite terrifying actually.
• It was so fun watching the kids experience all the rides. We took Livvy on the Gadget Go-Coaster in Toon Town and she screamed "More! More!" as the ride ended. I think the first ride we took her on was Small World and she loved it. She kept standing up, pointing at everything, and looking at us like "do you see that?"
• Sara wanted more than anything to have her face painted like a princess. Livvy got hers done as well. Taylor took the manly route and got a dragon done on his face.
• We loved seeing all the Christmas decorations. The Sleeping Beauty castle was awesome, especially when it was all lit up at night. Small World was also lit up really cool at night too.
• The girls met Mulan (Livvy calls her Boo-lan), Cinderella, & Jasmine. They danced with Snow White during the Princess Coronation thing. They listened to Sleeping Beauty and Snow White tell stories. And they saw Ariel and Belle. I would say we were quite successful in the Princess department.
• Other characters we met: Tigger & Pooh, Tinker Bell, Pluto, Taylor met 2 pirates, who both pulled out their swords and threatened to removed "that serpent from your face".
• Dave's first time seeing Fantasmic- it did not disappoint.

Saturday we flew out but we pretty much had the whole day to spend in California. We headed back over to the movie theater and used our free movie passes to watch Madagascar 2. It was actually pretty good. I was reminded once again that I am glad I don't live in California- everything is just too darn expensive!

We had a great time. We were so tired by the end of every day. I love vacations that wear the kids down so they sleep as soon as (if not before) their heads hit the pillow. Dave was convinced to be at the park every single second it was open. He pretty much met his goal with one exception- the kids got drenched at 'A Bugs Land' in California Adventure so we hauled all our soaking kids back to the hotel to change clothes and to take a nap.

The best part of the entire trip was having my parents and Kristina come along. It's so fun to share experiences in life with family. Family is everything and if you don't value that, you are missing out! We had a great time being together. Of course it was also nice to have more adults than children. However, I think that may be one reason we lost Livvy- we all thought someone else had her!

I've decided that going to Disneyland is kind of like being pregnant. The idea of it is all exciting and fun. But once you get there- you're dead tired. It's fun. And amazing. But tiring. By the time you leave, you're done. And you don't want to go back. But then you forget just how tired you were. All you remember is the amazing part- and oops, you're back. Is anyone following me here?

Good times. I'll leave you with a few pictures just to prove that yes, we were actually there and the content of this post is not just a figment of my imagination! Happy looking!

In front of the castle with the sun in our eyes:



See how chummy we were with Pooh? This was right after Taylor got off Splash Mtn so he was rather traumatized and sulky.



Liv meets Mickey:

the eternal hug:

Sara was thrilled to have her face "painted like a princess". I've yet to see a princess with her face painted like this. How do they dupe these kids into stuff like this? Doesn't matter- she totally loved it. I love her make-up coated teeth. What a treat!

For Liv we chose a much less involved design. With Olivia we never know exactly what is going to go down so it's best to choose the shortest route between point A and point B. And this was it. She did so good and held oh so still.

Taylor opted for the fire breathing dragon:

Here Taylor is battling it out with Darth Vader!

This picture makes me laugh because Taylor is asleep, all hunched over, on top of the stroller.

How sweet is this baby? Yum. I just want to eat him. He was such a trooper. He never got a good nap and caught a cold halfway through but was still a happy little guy.

Sara & Livvy met Cinderella and Sara suddenly became the shyest little girl on the planet

Me and Kristina



My parents. Bless them for coming on this trip with us! Seriously. My mom is flower obsessed so this picture is perfect.

Now that we are home I need a vacation from our vacation.