Disneyland!

We had a great time with 3 days at Disneyland!  The Disneyland Hotel was very nice, classy but with lots of discrete Mickey and Disney details worked in. It was great having the hotel right there so we could go back and take breaks midday too.

 The first thing upon arrival Sunday, we met Rolayne for lunch. It was great to see her and get a chance to catch up. When we arrived at the hotel, the first thing we HAD to do was try out the swimming pools!  This was Jackson's idea of course.

 Mind you, it wasn't really warm enough to be swimming. About 68 degrees, as Mike's face attested when he hit that water for the first time...

 But, Jackson was determined to spend some time in the pool and we knew there wouldn't be time once we started into Disneyland. He really liked the water slides, and Daddy did too after he got used to the cold water.

Monday, our first real Disneyland day, we went to California Adventure.  We all liked Cars Land best. Jack was scared of most of the rides at first, but he ended up liking Radiator Springs Racers and all the different Bugs Land rides a lot. We made him cry with Goofy's Sky School Roller Coaster and Grizzly River Run the first day...He was scared! But, fast forward a couple days and his favorite rides were two fast roller coasters!  He got to meet both Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen!  He also got to have breakfast with Goofy, Pluto, and Chip and Dale.

 All the lights were really pretty after dark, and the Color Magic water and light show was pretty spectacular. Jack was excited to stay up late for it!

On Tuesday, the whole family joined us for Disneyland. It was crowded, but the weather couldn't have been better.  The shirts look great, but they were quite a fiasco!  I made all 9 and put 6 of them in the mail on Monday, two day shipping. When they still hadn't arrived by Sunday, Marie ended up making 6 more to replace the missing ones. They didn't show up until after we went to Disney eight days later. Who knows where they were!

 I love all the holiday decorations too! And the lights at night were also great. The Small World ride is amazing after dark and Sleeping Beauty's castle is breathtaking day and night.

 We had lots of fun riding rides together and then dinner at the Blue Bayou!  We planned to stay for Fireworks, but they were cancelled for wind.

 This was Jackson's favorite ride! The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster. We rode it twice the first day and four times the second day. His second favorite was the Space Mountain ride, but I don't have pictures of that one.

We decided to keep Katelyn and Alyssa for day 3 at Disney, so they spent the night with us in the hotel room. We had fun day three riding rides, but it rained most of the day and we were all very wet. It did make the ride lines shorters...there were lots of repeats of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, and Pirates of the Carribean.  Jack was selected to be in a Jedi Training Show, but then they cancelled it because of the rain. He was heartbroken and just sobbed...Visits from Boba Fett and Chewbacca and ride 4 on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad really helped his mood improve though.

 Chewbacca taught Jack to use the force and then the force made Chewy's arm fly up a couple of times.

The kiddos also got to ride in the nose of the monorail, which they liked.

 We went to Toontown, mostly to humor mom, and stood in line to see Mickey Mouse.

Here we are again at Big Thunder Mountain...we ended up riding 6 times in total.

 Even though the show had to be cancelled, Jack did get to dress up and hold the light saber for pictures!

Space Mountain was the second favorite...I think we rode it 4 or 5 times...I lost track. I also didn't get any real pictures of that one.  Here's one pic...I didn't ride this time because I had to go back to Big Thunder to get Jack's hat, which we left in a cargo pouch...

We had a really fun time overall...Staying right there at the park is the way to go, but next time, we need to build in a day of rest in between the park days. I had no trouble getting my steps for a few days, but I plan to be lazy for the rest of the week...more to come!  Lori

Christmas Preparations 2016

Wow, what a December! It looks pretty good on this side of my first Saturday morning of vacation, but it's been a whirlwind.  I've been pushing to get my December homework done early since class moved up this month, and my car has been in the shop more often than not this month.  First, the computer went out. You don't realize how many things the computer controls until it dies...not only do you not have the backup camera and hands free phone, but no radio, CD player, heated seats, you can't control your heater, you can't control anything...It took several weeks to get the part for this but it finally got fixed.  While waiting for this to get fixed, we took the kids to a museum and came out to find someone had hit our car and left a dent (but not a note!). I couldn't get an appointment to get that fixed until January 3rd.  Then, two days later my engine light came on and I had to take my car into the shop again!  I think we will be shopping for a new car after Christmas given how many times mine has had problems this year. Then, Aspen had a tumor on her shoulder that had to be removed the first week of December as well...It turned out okay, and we are hoping they got it all, but she had a rough couple of days.

Despite all this craziness, we did fit in a few fun things along the way. Jack has visited Santa no fewer than 3 times this year!  His first visit was in Snohomish right after Thanksgiving. This might be the first time I've had to stand in line for Santa under an umbrella...It was a very rainy day.

Then, the weekend of Dec 3, we were babysitting Alice, Sam, and Tommy and took all 4 kids to a Christmas event at the Flying Heritage Museum.  Here, Santa arrived by Tank and they had all kinds of 1940s era planes, tanks, trucks, and more. Jack was in heaven! All three big kids had a great time.  It started with facepainting, and then there were games, cookie decorating, and more in addition to the tanks and planes and of course, Santa #2.

 Alice fell asleep while waiting in line for Santa. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but I handed her to Santa without her stirring at all. She slept right through the visit, which might be for the best. She was a tired baby by this point.

The second weekend, I had to go to class all day, but Mike took Jack to a Santa breakfast at his school for Santa visit #3...

In additional to all this, I had one Sunday where I had friends over to do holiday cards and tag crafting and another Sunday where I spent a good portion of the day creating t-shirts for Disneyland!

Today, we have dentist appointments for Mike and Jackson, (That's another thing I had had to fit in December as well. I've been to the dentist twice in the last month for a root canal. ) plus they need haircuts, we need to pack, and we have to drop the pets off a the boarding place, which always makes me feel very guilty. Wall Streets new favorite place in under the tree. It makes me sad that they can't stay at home, but I know they'll be okay. 

We leave for CA before dawn in the morning...We're looking forward to it!