Disneyland 2012 (Part 1)

I was going to try to put our entire Disneyland trip into one big blog post, but apparently blogger has an issue when you try to upload 3,278 pictures to a single post.  Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating that number...but not by much.  (There's just too many cute pictures)  So, I'm going to have to split this vacation into 3 separate posts that each cover 3 to 4 days.

DAY 1


So, as you all know by now, we went to Disneyland at the beginning of the month.  My parents came with us & we had a great time.  It was a long trip--10 days--but loved every second of it.  We decided to drive down in California over a two-day period, like we did last year when we went to Carlsbad, CA.  We left the same day that the kids got out of school for the summer & drove down to Mesquite.  We stayed at the Falcon Ridge Hotel.  I love this hotel.  It's one of the few hotels in Mesquite where you don't have to walk through a smoky casino to get to your room.  Plus, it's cheap.  $89 bucks a night, anyone?  And, they have a really cool pool area too.

We got there late that evening (I think it was probably 8 or 9), but the kids still wanted to go swimming.  Since it was still 99 degrees outside, we thought, "Why not?"  Vivvie wasn't sure if she liked the water or not.  She went back and forth between laughter & crying...

The boys loved every second of it though.  Here's Aiden & Cohen in the hot tub (sorry the picture is so dark)...

And Connor swimming in the pool...

After that, it was off to bed to get a good nights sleep before heading to "The Happiest Place on Earth."

DAY 2

The next morning, we woke up bright & early (well okay, like 8:30) and got on the road.  Viv was in a happy mood & actually did really well most of the car ride...

 

We got to Anaheim at about 2:00 that afternoon & went straight to our hotel, Candy Cane Inn, to check in.  Our rooms actually weren't quite ready, so we parked the cars in the parking lot & jumped on the shuttle to head straight over to the park.  Cohen has been so excited to go to Disneyland that I decided we would need to go straight to the park when we got there.  Can you imagine how disappointed he had been if I had told him, "Yes, we're right next to Disneyland, but we can't go until tomorrow."  I'm pretty sure there would have been a total and complete mutiny.  So, we headed to the park for the rest of the day.  Here's Cohen & Viv on the shuttle.  Cohen was so excited he could barely contain it & Viv was just thrilled to be sitting in her own seat...

Even these two were excited.  So excited, in fact, that they actually posed for a hugging picture...

We decided to go to California Adventure because Connor was DYING to go on California Screamin'.  He was about an inch short for it on our last vacation here about three years ago.  Being the daredevil that he is, he thought it was the end of the world, so we headed there first.  On our way over to get Fast Passes for it, we ran into this guy...

After getting our picture taken with our favorite mouse, we got Fast Passes for California Screamin' and then headed to the Toy Story ride.  The wait was a long one (about 40 minutes) so we took lots of pictures.  Here's the boys "chatting" with Mr. Potato Head...

Viv helping Daddy put on some 3D glasses...

Poppy & the boys all ready to go.  I love this picture.  I think it's one of my favorites from the entire vacation...

Me with my favorite guy & favorite gal...

My ride buddy ready to rack up some points...

A wide-eyed Cohen, probably wondering what to expect when the ride starts.  He was 10-months-old the last time he went on this ride...

Nana & he little ride buddy...

After Toy Story, we split up a little bit.  I stayed with Viv while Nana, Mike, Connor & Aiden went on the Symphony Swings...

And Poppy took Cohen on the King Triton Merry-go-round...

After that, it was time to use our Fast Passes for California Screamin'.  Connor, Mike, Poppy & I went on it.  It was everything Connor had hoped it would be & more, as you can see by the huge smile on his face...

After that, we caught some of the Pixar Play Parade.  Once you see a Disney parade, the normal hometown parades just don't compete...

Cohen was very serious as all his favorite characters passed by him in the parade...

After that, we headed into A Bug's Land to do some of the little rides there.  One of the favorites is always the Heimlich Caterpillar ride.  Why is it a favorite?  Because the Caterpillar burps at the end.  My boys crack up every time.  Here's Viv & Nana...

And Aiden, Cohen & me.  They're a little excited for the burping sounds they are about to hear...

And the daredevils who went on the ride just because everyone else was...

After that, it was on to the Flea Circus Bumper Cars...

Mike was very into it...

Here we are on the Monsters Inc. ride.  The highlight was that Roz "talked" to Connor at the end about how HANDSOME he looked...

Later that night, we went on Soarin' Over California and then headed back over to A Bug's Land to do a few more rides there.  Here's Poppy, Cohen, Aiden & I on Flick's Flyers.  Notice how "brave" they are with their hands up in the air...

Viv fell asleep in her stroller.  That's when we decided it might be time to call it a day & head back to the hotel...

DAY 3

On Day 3, we headed over to the Disneyland park.  Since we had let Connor pick the ride that he was most excited about the first day, we let Aiden pick on the 2nd.  He picked Splash Mountain, so we headed that direction and picked up some Fast Passes.  Then we went on Pirates of the Caribbean while we waited for our Fast Pass time...

We had to do a lot of the "big kid rides" in shifts so that someone could wait with Cohen & Viv.  We used all our tickets to get Fast Passes, plus we took advantage of the Rider's Pass too.  If you don't know about the Rider's Pass, here's how you get it.  When you get to the front of the line, where they ask you how many people are in your party, you tell them you have someone waiting with kids that are too small for the ride.  They then give you a pass that allows the person who is waiting, plus a friend, to come to the front of the line.  Thank you Disney!!!  So, between the Fast Passes & the Rider's Pass, we were able to have almost our entire group (minus one or two every time) do each "big kid ride" twice...without waiting in line.  Awesome!!

Here's the first group to go on Splash Mountain.  It was Connor, Mike, Nana, Aiden & me.  Yes, Nana & I have our hoods on to protect our hair.  Don't judge...

Then, the second group went.  It was Connor, Aiden, Poppy & Mike.  They got soaked...

And here's their awesome picture.  It makes me smile...

While the first group was on Splash Mountain, Poppy took Cohen & Vivvie on the Mark Twain Riverboat...

They loved it, especially Miss Viv...

Then we all got back together to go through the Haunted Mansion.  This was a big accomplishment because Connor has refused to go on this ride for YEARS!  We made the mistake of taking him through it when he was only three & it freaked him out...big time!  He's absolutely refused to go on it since.  This year, we were able to talk him into going on it--basically by calling him a big baby (Yep, we're the parents of the year!).  Here's a picture Mike took when we had just walked into that chamber that stretches (Yes, he got in trouble for taking it).  I love the picture because 1) Mike's overly dramatic face is awesome, and 2) it's proof that, no matter how much they deny it, my big boys still come to me when they're scared.  Do you see how they are both squeezing my hands for dear life?

Afterwards, Connor could not believe that he had been scared of that ride.  He kept saying, "What was I scared of?  Singing & dancing ghosts?  There's nothing scary about singing & dancing ghosts."  Yay!  Love that he finally faced one of his fears.

Viv fell asleep after that, so my Mom & I stayed with her while the boys went over to Tom Sawyer Island to do some boy stuff...

I sat & stared at this.  Love her...

Once the boys were done on the island, we headed back to the hotel for a little swimming break, but I totally forgot to take any pictures.  Oops.  Later that afternoon, we went back to the park because we still hadn't done the ride that Cohen was most excited about--The Buzz Lightyear Ride.  He has been talking about going on the Buzz Lightyear ride since the day we told him we were going to Disneyland.  I doubt he actually really remembered it because he was only 10-months-old the last time we were there, but I think he felt like he remembered it because of pictures he'd seen & conversations he had with his brothers & Poppy.  So, we had to go help Buzz shot Zurg.  Since it was late-afternoon, the entrance to the park wasn't all that busy, so we stopped & took the obligatory family shots at the front of the park...

Then we headed over to the Buzz Lightyear ride.  And, guess who fell asleep while we were waiting in line--and then slept through the entire ride?  You guessed it...

So sad!!!  We made sure to go on it several other times through the rest of the vacation when he was actually awake to make up for it.  We did some other rides in Tomorrowland, like Star Tours--which is actually quite cool now that they've changed it. It's 3D & you see a different movie every time you go.  The boys thought it was awesome!  Then we headed back to the hotel for a good night sleep...

So those were our first 3 days. They were really great & lines weren't bad at all. We were surprised by how few people there, especially on the day I just talked about (Saturday). We were expecting crowds galore, but were pleasantly surprised.  We thought, "Wow!  If lines are this short on the weekend, imagine how short they'll be by Monday!?!"  Boy were we ever wrong!  More on that in Part 2.  --Lindsay

End of School Fun

We were pretty darn busy toward the end of the school year. The calendar was booked almost every single day with fun things that were going on. Here are a few of them:

END OF THE YEAR PROJECTS

Of course there's always the final projects that need to be done.  I hate these projects because I feel like it's more homework for the parents than the kids most the time.  So, when Aiden brought home a paper explaining that he had to write a paper and make a diorama about the Nile Crocodile, I was not amused.  I felt like I barely had enough hours in the day to help my kiddos with their regular homework.  How was I going to help him do this huge project?  But, that's when I got the brilliant idea to have Connor help Aiden do it.  First of all, Connor loves animals & is constantly trying to learn more about that (Animal Planet & Discovery Channel are on in our house ALL.THE.TIME).  Secondly, Connor had done a similar paper & diorama the previous year about Kimono Dragons.  I had helped him with some of the research & then taught him how to put that research into a research paper, but he had done the diorama all by himself & it turned out great.  So, I asked him if he would be willing to help Aiden, and he said YES!  He helped Aiden do some research online.  Connor would read & Aiden would take some "guided" notes.  By that I mean, Connor would read the info and then stop every once in awhile to say, "Aiden, write that down in your notes.  That's important."  It reminded me of how I had helped him with his Kimono Dragon project the year before, except this time he was the one doing the helping.  It was great.  After they had done some research & taken notes, I helped Aiden get the information that was in his notes into a little research paper (that was probably only 5 or 6 sentence long).  He decided what things he wanted to put in the paper & then I told him what to write, but he did all the writing himself.  Then, Connor & Aiden worked together on the diorama.  They used construction paper for the land and then found a bunch of plastic tress & rocks from our basement o' toys to glue onto the land, and used a little plastic crocodile as their Nile Crocodile.  I think it turned out pretty great, and they did it all by themselves...

This picture was taken at Aiden's class "Animal Showcase."  That's where parents could come see all the dioramas and have the students teach us a little bit about their animal.  Aiden's favorite part that he kept sharing with everyone was that, "Nile Crocodiles eat all kinds of meat.  They will even eat other crocodiles sometimes!"  He thought it was pretty cool that they can turn into cannibals if they are desperate enough.  Such a boy!

END OF SCHOOL PROGRAMS

I've been to a lot of school programs where the kids showcase everything they have learned throughout the year.  But, I've never been to a program that was as fun & awesome as Connor's 3rd Grade Program this year.  This program had rapping, soul music, and air guitars.  Does it get any better than that?  It was quite the little production.  The kids had to audition for speaking parts in the program.  There were only 15 parts...and over 120 3rd graders.  But, Connor auditioned & got a speaking part.  Here are some (grainy) pictures that I took with my phone...

Here's Connor saying one of his lines...

And singing with all the other students...

It was a lot of fun and all the students did a great job.

DANCE FESTIVAL

Every year when I was growing up, we did a Dance Festival where each grade would learn a dance & perform it for the rest of the school & the parents.  I thought it was just something that my elementary school did, but my kids' school does it too.  All the parents gather on the hill & watch the kids perform their dances.  Here's Aiden & the rest of the Kindergartners doing "The Chicken Dance."  Aiden is in the circle of kids that have white shirts on.  He's right next to the teacher on her left side (just to the right of her in this picture)...

Now he's in front of the teacher attempting to skip.  I say "attempting" because my kids have absolutely no coordination.  Just another awesome trait that I passed on to them...

Here's Connor & the 3rd Graders.  They did a combination of dances:  YMCA, The Macarena, Thriller, etc.  It was so cute.  And I'm glad he knows how to do all these classic dances from my era now!  Connor is in the line of kids that are wearing yellow shirts.  He's 5th from the right if you have really great eyesight...

FIELD DAY

Another thing I always looked forward to as a kid was Field Day.  Actually, I think my school called it Carnival Day, but it's basically the same thing.  You get to spend the whole day outside playing games & doing fun things.  One really cool thing that my kids' school does is that they have the fire department come out with the fire truck & spray all the kids.  They are all soaked by the end, as you can probably imagine, but they love every second of it...

END-OF-SCHOOL-YEAR TEACHER GIFTS

I have been giving a bouquet of bright spring flowers to my kids' teachers for the past couple of years & I love doing it (and they always seem really excited about them too).  But, this year, my sister sent me a link to some really cute personalized notepads that say "From the desk of..." and then have the teacher's name.  I thought they were so cute (and cheap to boot) that I decided to do these as teacher gifts this year...

I just bought some really nice red (homework correcting) pens and tied them on with some tulle.  Voila!  Such a cute gift.  All the teachers went crazy over them, and talked about how cute they will be to use if they need to send a note home to a parent about something...

I love personalized things.  If I ever have the chance to have something personalized with names or initials, I do it.  I think it makes whatever it is that much more special.  If you're interested for next year, the website is www.lexiphilia.com.

WE LOVE OUR TEACHERS!!!

Here are my kiddos with their great teachers.  Here's Cohen with Mrs. Covington...

And here's Cohen again with Mrs. Covington dressed up like a clown for Circus Day on the last day of school...

We absolutely adore Mrs. Covington!!!  She is such a great teacher & has been able to bring Cohen out of his shell quite a bit over the past year.  I love her to pieces!  Cohen will get to be in her class again next year & I know he's going to love having her for another year.

Here's Connor & his awesome teacher Miss Funk...

Miss Funk rocks!  Plain & simple--she just rocks.  You can tell that she absolutely loves her job & each one of her students.  She makes learning fun & gets the kids to enjoy school.  Connor has learned & grown so much this year because of her.  I hope she gets to teach my other kids when they are in 3rd grade.

Here's Aiden & his teacher Mrs. Parsons...

Mrs. Parsons is leaps & bounds ahead of me on the patience scale.  I don't know how she took care of 30 Kindergartners all morning long, and then did it all over again in the afternoon with 30 different Kindergartners.  That's something I could never, in a million years, do.  I have a hard time taking care of just my 4 kids most days.  Aiden really liked her & said that she made Kindergarten fun.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

Last year, one of the cute mamas in my neighborhood suggested that we meet our kids at the front of our neighborhood with popsicles as they walked home from their last day of school.  The kids (and the moms) loved it so much, that we did it again this year...

Here's my future 1st grader with his popsicle...

And my future 4th grader (after he had already gobbled up his popsicle)...

We (all the mamas) have decided that this will become a tradition we do for years to come.  It is such a fun way to celebrate the end of the school year & the beginning of summer!

Speaking of summer, we left for our summer vacation to Disneyland about 3 hours after school got out for the year.  I'll post all our fun vacation pictures next time.  --Lindsay