Disneyland With Family

Now that I think I’ve caught up on things I can move on to now.  To tell you about now I must start with a story…I think I do that (this) a lot.  I hope you like my stories.

My Aunt Neen (FYI I’m pretty sure she hated that when I first started calling her that probably when I was learning to talk, but I’m hoping its grown on her since 27 years later I still call her Aunt Neen) was the “cool” aunt when I was growing up.

She’s the one that would spoil me and do the girl the things with me that a good Aunt should do.  She’d let me break the rules enough that it was exciting (not rules that would kill me or cause me real harm) like swimming in a 60 degree pool in the middle of winter and get me out when my lips were blue or let me eat an entire jar of pickles.

She introduced me to artichokes and she would steam them and we would sit, just the two of us, and devour the entire thing.

She moved to IL several years ago so when she comes to visit it’s a real treat.  She’s been in CA for awhile now and due to the craziness that is life we got to see her for the first time just yesterday!  So I took the day off work and took Taylor out of school to spend a day with them at Disneyland.

Taylor woke up with a fever in the morning, but like a real mom (or bad mom maybe) I gave her some Tylenol and pretty much told her to suck it up.  Aunt Neen and her kids (Dakota 13, Delaney 7, and Lacie 4), my Mom and Dad, and the Davis Clan headed out around 8:00 for what we were assuming would be an exhausting day.

We hit some of the rides and learned early on that Taylor wasn’t the only one that was scared of most of the rides so she was in good company.  Taylor got some quality time with Delaney while Jordan joined the “big kids” (Justin, My Dad, Dakota, and Aunt Neen) on the big rides aka roller coasters.

We also took the girls to meet the fairies, princesses, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and a few others.  Overall they had fun (I think).  The weather was also great unlike last weeks trip.

Taylor at one point starting feeling icky so I gave her half a Tylenol pill and told her to chew it or swallow…she chose the chew option and was not a fan (I warned her!)  Shortly after she fell asleep for about an hour and pretty much just laid in the stroller the rest of the day.  Don’t judge me and my parenting choices! 

We headed home around 4 which was longer then we thought we’d last.  My Aunt and the girls stayed the night with us so we had dinner and the girls continued to play very well together.  At 8 we all pretty much crashed (except Justin because he’s broken).

So Sayith Tay and Jay #40 - Cousin Edition

We have family visiting so we've added Delaney age 7 and Lacey age 4 to the mix.

If you could take a trip anywhere in the world where would you go?

Taylor: Disneyland.

Jordan: To Camping.

Delaney: Japan.

Lacie: To Michigan.

If you could be a princess what would you wear?


Taylor: I'd be Cinderella with a dark blue dress.  Some Cinderella's wear dark blue.

Jordan: A princess costume and be snow white.

Delaney: A blue gown.

Lacie: A blue dress.

What makes you so very very tired?

Taylor: Because I've been at Disneyland for a long long time.

Jordan: Laying.

Delaney: Medicine.

Lacie: Going to Disneyland.

What makes you very very excited?

Taylor: When I see the princesses and go to Toon Town.

Jordan: Having my doggy back when Taylor taked it from me because I didn't' want her to have it.

Delaney: Going to CarsLand

Lacie: Going on top of a mountain.

What makes you very very sad?

Taylor: When someone bits me.

Jordan: When I spank my butt.

Delaney: Moving Away.

Lacie:  Cuz Delaney hit me last week.

What makes you very very scared?

Taylor: A ghost.

Jordan: Ghosts.

Delaney: Nothing.

Lacie: Um going on the airplane.

What is the best dessert in the world?

Taylor: Cake with frosting on it.  Dark blue, red, purple, pink.

Jordan: Cake.

Delaney: Nothing.

Lacie: Brownies.

The Most Exhausting Place On Earth

So I have been asked several times over the last couple of weeks how we manage to go to Disneyland so often.

First I’d like to point out that we have passes.  Second I’d like to mention these passes were obtained after a series of unfortunate events that meant the family vacation we had saved up 2 years for was a no go, so instead we took the family vacation money and got passes.  I kept my week off work and we used them a few times that week (they paid for themselves in 3 visits).  The rest of the family Vacation Money went to buy our new TV that was recently destroyed by the kids.  A story for another day and reminder to us not to buy new things.

We take advantage of the fact we have passes and often will go for just a ride or two or maybe just an hour or two and then head home (usually before the crowds show up).

On Columbus day I had the day off so Justin decided after Taylor got out of school we’d head over as a family and spend some time.  We’ve been wanting to get on the new Cars ride, but the line is always nearly 2 hours long!  So we decided we should get fast passes.  On our way there a family stopped us and asked if we were going on that ride.  We said yes and they handed us their fast passes!  Which was good, because as we got up to the ride they didn’t have any left anyway (I found out later they usually run out within the first couple of hours).

So we went on the new ride (which was awesome) and spent some time in bugs land before heading home.  We found out the following:

Elijah really likes most rides and as we get on them his face looks like this:

…until they start and then you get faces like this:

Taylor is tall enough to drive herself on the bumper cars, but not old enough (which FYI they do not tell you until you get on the actual ride so you’d have no idea until it was too late)

The Chew Chew Train no longer smells like watermelon, that was the best part so now I’m sad.

Elijah really liked seeing Mater and Lightning McQueen…until they start talking or rev the engines then he turns into a coward (surprised? I’m not)

To tell you about the following Sunday I have to first tell you of how horrible and frustrating Justin’s Season Pass has been.  When we got our passes the guy that took the picture took on of Eljiah and not Justin.  This meant every time we went in they thought Justin was not Justin and would make him take his picture again after proving he was in fact Justin and Elijah was not Justin.  We were even told that they would not let us in once.  Lame.  So to say sorry Disney gave us 4 free tickets.

We used those 4 free tickets to hang out with the Webster’s (well 3 for the Webster’s and 1 was given to a random stranger who was waiting outside while her daughter was at Disneyland since she couldn’t get tickets for 2 people)

The day started off poorly when I was told once we got there that the park opened at 10 and not 8…we were there at like 7:45.  So we had to keep our kids happy for nearly 2 hours while we waited.  Once we got in we had a good time to start if you can ignore the nasty heat.  It’s OCTOBER PEOPLE!  Why was it over 90 degrees?! 

See sweaty kids and red cheeks as proof:

We made our rounds at Disneyland then headed over to CA adventure where Justin and my girls met up with us after church.  All the kids went through rounds of crankiness, but in between we got this:

Luckily the little ones knocked out for awhile and we sat inside and enjoyed the air conditioner while they slept. 

While waiting in line for the Disney Junior show a crany employee named Nora took it upon herself to snap at us for being in line "too early" and that "they put put up chains for a reason".  My response "well the chains are up so how would we know?" And her cranky response, "Well its not my fault the somebody took down the chain"...and in my head I thought "then how the heck is my problem that somebody took them down?!" Despite he horrible lady we got these which are some of my favorite pictures of the day:

To cool off we let the kids play in the water and went on a couple of rides in Bugs Land:

By like 5:30 the Websters and the Davis decided we were exhausted and left to go to McDonalds where the kids played while the adults rested (I was feeling super sick at that point too and I just laid in the car for awhile).

It really was fun to spend the time with the Websters and the kids had a great day.  I’m glad we got to do and am not trying to mentally prepare myself for another full day tomorrow with family from out of state.

My Large (Not Fat) Family

So what’s next you ask?  FAMILY.

I have a wonderful, big, mostly crazy family.  I love then and all their oddness.  It makes it easy to blame my crazy on them. Thanks guys.

I once made this stuffed shell manicotti recipe I got from Tawni.  Its delicious.  I let my dad try some and he loved it so I decided I would make for his birthday.  Which is October 2^nd, which is also my mom-in-laws Bday.

So since I had my great uncle Kenny visiting from his cabin in the woods in Nor Cal (stories and memories about that guy another day) we decided that I’d head to my parents house on the 7^th and cook for my parents, sister, Grandma, and Uncle Kenny.

That was the plan.

Things Changed.

In the end here is who was there (in no particular order):

+Justin, Me, Taylor, Jordan, and Elijah

+My Mom, My Dad, My Sister, My Niece Kaydance

+My Grandma, My Uncle Kenny and his dog

+My Aunt Dara, My Uncle Dan

+My Cousin Doug and his Girlfriend, My cousin Devin

+My Cousin Derek and his Wife Michelle and 2 of their 3 kids

+My Cousin Lori and a friend, My cousin Kirsten (no idea how to spell her name actually) and her son Maddex

+My Uncle Kenny’s Son Alan and his wife

+Some other relative I didn’t know and somebody else probably related I didn’t know

+My Cousin Darlene and Her husband Sean and their 2 kids

So yeah, a lot of people.

It was nice to see family that I hadn’t seen in what seems life forever and just enjoy each other and all our oddness.  No seriously my family is super weird.  And I love them all for that.

And here are a few more pictures I managed to get (or Justin managed to get that is).  Enjoy.

Oh and for the record...Taylor may have started developing a crush on her cousin (2nd cousin?) Maddex to which I kept replying "HE'S YOUR COUSIN!!!!"

And Then There Was Saturday...

As I posted yesterday about Friday I realized I was missing the details from last weekend to. So today you get two Saturday’s worth of information.  Try to contain your excitement.

2 Saturday’s ago Taylor had her usual trip to ballet/tap and then we headed to the zoo to meet the Fox’s.  We spent a couple of hours at the zoo and headed home.  That’s it really, but we have cute pictures so that’s why I’m telling you about it.

Last Saturday we started off our morning with Jordan’s 4 year old pictures (those will come in a later post) to get ready for her 4^th birthday in 2 weeks!! Holy cow!  After pictures we finished cleaning our house to get ready for a game night.  This game night was centered around my ECCU friends (with the exception of Travis, but he knew everyone going so it was sort of like he was part of the group).  We had the Fox’s (and baby Quinn), Sam, Travis, and the Blake’s (With Caedmon and baby Charli). 

It was a nice change of crowd and we got the chance to hang out with the Blake’s for the first time in nearly 2 years!  Caedmon and Elijah are literally 2 days apart.  Ali and I were due the same day.  The boys are vastly different in most ways, but there are also small similarities that made me smile.

The kids did a good job keeping each other distracted while the grown ups got to play some games.  I have to admit it was nice having Kurt around since our usual group tends to be fairly indecisive when it comes to picking a game and Kurt kept us moving.  Good job sir.

I also thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with Ali and Tracy.  I don’t get to see either of them nearly enough and they are pretty awesome females.

I think Jordan may sort of fallen in love with Ali.  And the next 2 days after the game night Elijah kept talking about his friend Caedmon.  That makes my heart happy.

So that was Saturday.  We still have even more to come including a HUGE family gathering, Columbus Day, and Disneyland trip with the Webster’s (more of my favorite people ever).