Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Day 2 - California Adventure

This morning Dave and I had another treat planned for the kids. We were going to go to Goofy's Kitchen for breakfast. We didn't tell them thank heaven's.

We had reservations for 7:10 am. Our alarm went off at 6:00am - Dave and I moaned. He said what do you think? Should we go?

I took two Tylenol pm the night before so and I was so groggy! I wished I hadn't done that, but my aches and the urge to get to sleep was too great at the time (it usually takes me over an hour to fall asleep, I just lie there and toss). I said, well I sure would hate to go and pay $20 for Zach to eat 3 bites of a pancake and tell me he is full, but I am sure he would want the ice cream or the whip cream. (It was $30 each for Dave and I). He said, me either and rolled back over. At that moment I didn't really care, I was so tired. I am sure we both were from driving so far and then getting up early and staying up late.

I was sad after we got going that day. 2 Years ago we went to breakfast there with our good friends. Goofy came out carrying a huge tub of dishes and dropped them, that was the cue for the kids to come help pick them up and they smacked them together and danced and sang. Each character there came to our table 2 or 3 times. Baloo the Bear in Jungle book took ali's jacket from her chair and tried to put it on. It was great entertainment. The food was really good too. Zach was small, but loved Pluto and Pluto kept coming over and giving him attention. Ali loved it sooooo much. We thought it would be fun to do it again while they were young and would appreciate it still.....but we copped out on them. ho hum!

We did get up and get going in time to be at the park when it opened and our first ride as usual in California Adventure was Soarin Over California. This ride is incredible and one of our very favorites.

After Soarin we went to Bugs Life and on the way there I realized that i forgot the battery to my camera. UG! It was in the charger back at the hotel. Dave was kind enough to walk back and get it for me. He said he would meet us in the bug land. So off the kids and I went and as we were entering bug land we ran into Jen and Jeremy Runia. That was cool to see people you know while you are on vacation. Someone told me they were going the same time as us, so I was watching for them except for that exact time. They saw me first, fun to talk with them.

Dave did catch up to us and as you see on Tuck and Roll's bumper cars Zach is telling dad...no dad this way...let's get mom and Ali!!

Ali below in her car...she thinks after this she should have a driver's license! Eeeow!

After bugs land Ali decided that she wanted to go and try California Screamin, which is the giant roller coaster that has one upside down loop. We knew before we got to the ride that Zach was too short, but we had him go up and measure anyway. I said, oh Zach your not tall enough. Let's go on a different ride while we wait for Ali and Dad. He was so mad!

We got in line for the new Toy Story ride and Potato Head was out there talking to those in line. I was saying how cool he was. He would even say, hey you in the red...and ask them a question. Not sure if it was a coincidence or not but there was always someone with that color standing in front of him.

I happen to get a picture of Zach as he was telling me that he didn't want to go on this BABY ride! However, after we went on it. He thought it was pretty awesome! It is a 3D game/ride and a lot of fun.

This is Zach just as we were getting ready to go inside, with his cool 3D shades!

Not too long after we got off this ride my mom called and said that she and Andrea, Joe, Hayley and Jaxsen had made it to the park. They were over in line for Soarin. They said when they were done there they would meet us. They wanted to go on Toy Story and it was great cause it gave Dave and I a chance to go on the roller coaster, and a few adult rides that Ali and Zach couldn't go on.

Zach was telling Grandma all about the toy story ride and said she had to go with him so he could teach her how to do it. I also think he wanted to beat her in the game. LOL

Dave and I went on about 4 rides while they were waiting in line for this one. We got back in time to see all of them getting on the ride.

Then we were off to Tower of Terror.

Zach and Hayley were so happy to be together.

They were being goofy for the camera.

Inside Tower of Terror waiting in line and hearing the story of how it all happened....

Andy & Joe

Cute Daddy & Hayley

The last time Andrea went to Disneyland she had Little Jax in the oven....she hadn't been on this ride before. She had to sit all by herself though and I think she was scared. he he

Zach and Hayley happy to be together holding hands...when we got on the ride they just had to sit by each other (inseparable), of course Zach told Hayley that she had to raise her arms up.







See how cute and happy they are! Little did they know that Hayley was about to scream like she has never screamed and Zach was going to cling to the cage of the elevator with all his strength. (He forgot what the ride was, he loved it two years ago).....BUT NOT THIS YEAR!

This is the picture they take of you right before the big drop. You can see Hayley with one arm up still and Zach clinging to the cage already like OH CRAP!

Dave turned around and said that the look on Zach's face was the funniest thing he has ever seen!!!

This is Zach's face when we got back in line to do it again. He wasn't very happy with us. Poor Kid!

Mr. Giggles and me




In the lobby of the hotel (Tower of Terror)

See Zach below....worried about going a second time.

WE ARE SO MEAN!

The second time Ali even cried crocodile tears cause she doesn't really like it either.



Stopped for a Mickey shaped ice cream sandwich... Dave told them in line of Tower of Terror he would buy them one when we got off. Trying to cheer them up.

Ali can't eat anything without it getting all over her entire face.

Monsters Inc. Ride

Jaxsen is happy with mom






Hayley & Mrs. Incredible

We had to chase her down for a picture.

Ali loves her too!

Best Pals!

We split up from my mom, Andrea and Joe because my kids wanted to go on Grizzly River Run and My mom and Andrea didn't want to get wet. I think Andrea didn't want to because she didn't want to ruin her hair doo. Anyway we ran over to Grizzly and Dave asked me if I wanted him to buy me a rain poncho thing. I said, just go see how much they are, so he did while Zach and I waited in line. He came back with one and said, do you know how much these things are? I said no...he said 8 BUCKS! I told him that he was just suppose to see how much and not buy one. He told me he didn't want to listen to me whine. he he....so I had a rain poncho (really cheap one) I told him my main thing was my shoes. I hate getting my shoes wet because it makes them stink and they don't dry out. The ride was great! It was the first time I went on it, cause Zach was too short in the past so just Dave and Ali would go. BUT, a wave went right over the top of Zach and he was drenched. His poor little teeth were just chattering and he knees were knockin together. Ali wanted to go again so bad. She really loves the water rides. I told Dave that I would stay off with Zach, so the two of them went. It was around 4:30 or 5:00 at this time and I knew there was no way that Zach was going to dry out. He was soaked. So we went in the store next to the ride and guess what?!?! They have clothes in there, ha ha ha of course. I am sure it is for just that reason. I bought Zach some Mickey sweat pants for $23.00. We went on the side of the store and we took everything off, put on his sweat pants and then his Jacket which I didn't let him wear on the ride. So he had just sweat pants and his jacket zipped up. It worked. He was dry and warm enough. Dave got off the ride and I told him what I did and he said, that is just fine.

After another ride or so the California Park closed. So we walked over to Disneyland to finish the night out there. We ran into my family again on our way over there. They wanted to go to Pirates and we had promised Zach we would go on Space Mountain so we split up again. We didn't see them again that night but talked on the phone a few times.

When Disneyland closed at 10:00 we walked back to the Hotel with the crowd. We were so tired, but had such a great day.

I handed Dave the bag that had Zach's wet clothes in it so he could hang them up in the bathroom while I helped the kids get in their PJ's. He was amazed at how wet they were. I guess he didn't really see Zach that great when we got of Grizzly River Run. At that point he was glad that I bought him sweat pants so he could be dry and happy...and not have pnemonia.

We decided not to go out to dinner, because of how expensive and we just wanted to go to bed. The kids said they were hungry though when we got back to the room. So I ran to McDonalds next door to the hotel and got each of us a .99 cheeseburger and a yogurt parfait for Dave and Ali. Man it was good and we ate for $9. I was surprised.

Monday March 9th 2009

Day 1 at Disneyland


Ali took a picture of Zach while they were waiting for their breakfast. Zach's favorite breakfast these days are pancakes with sausage. He really loves to dip his sausage in syrup. Sometimes it is pretty messy.

The theme at Disneyland this year is celebrate.

You can get in free on your birthday if you register online prior to arriving and have a print out to give them at the window. It wasn't our birthday. Guess we were just celebrating life with each other. The flowers up front, just inside the main gate are mickey with balloons.

Cruella DaVille was the first character that they wanted to see when we walked inside. She was pretty funny and quite a smart alec with them I wish I could have heard what she was saying better. But it was noisy and when there is background noise, I am out of luck.

Pluto was the second character that they wanted to stand in line for to get a picture and autograph.

Haunted Mansion

Ali and Zach wanted to ride together so we let them go ahead of us so we could watch them from our doom buggy. They hopped in theirs and we were just getting in ours when two kids who were behind us hurried and jumped in ours. Then we had to cut off the people who were behind them so we could be closer to our kids. I didn't want them getting off the ride without us near. The fun of crowds and anxious people.

Ali & Zach love Splash Mountain. This was the first trip that Zach was able to go on this ride. Ali went on it in 2004 and sobbed the entire time she was so worried about the drop. This trip we couldn't keep them off it. I bet we went on this ride 4 times in a row every time we went to this area of the park. The line wasn't bad for Splash Mountain cause the logs are constantly moving. The person who sits in the front seat has to be 5 feet tall or taller so Dave or I always got that pleasure of getting soaked. Luckily Dave doesn't mind that so much and did that more than I had to.

Hands up - which became a must for Zach after a few times. He would check all of us before we came to the hill and make sure everyone had their hands up in the air. You can only see his little orange stick arms in this picture.....Dave blocked his head, but he had to because Zach was on his case about putting his hands up.

After we got off Splash Mountain one of the many times Pooh, and Tigger were out. Zach had to see them, and get their autograph.

We decided to go out of the park for lunch. When we were walking in that morning we were handed a coupon on the sidewalk. I guess that should have been the first sign to avoid it, but Dave didn't care where we went so the kids and I decided to go and check the place out. It was a buffet and they had orange chicken, which is Zach's all time favorite. They told us we could look before we decided. It didn't look that bad, but didn't look that great either. The coupon was for 8.95 for adults and 4.95 for kids. Well when a hamburger costs 7.99 in the park I thought that it couldn't be all that bad so we stayed. It wasn't that great actually and by the time the kids ordered drinks and Dave and I our total was over $40. Not so much a bargain, for yucky food. Oh well, live and learn.

Zach held still for 5 minutes and this was the result.

Ali and Dad on the rockets in Tomorrow Land.

While we were on Thunder Mountain Railroad the fireworks started. My new camera has a fireworks mode, so I tried it out. Not sure how it is suppose to look, but here is one of them. Zach loved the fireworks so much, and ooo'ed and awed the whole time. We went back to the hotel and crashed.

Our Sunday Drive

We woke up on Sunday, March 8th and asked Ali if she would like to go for a Sunday drive and spend some time together since we weren't able to do anything fun while she was off track. Dave was in St. George all week for work and we usually go with him every year when he goes. I was so busy at work that I couldn't take the time off work this year, and I happened to work almost til midnight every night while he was gone. It was really a crazy week.

She was so excited to be able to go for a drive and skip church. I was a little disappointed in her excitement for that. Zach on the other hand, he said he just wanted to stay home "I don't want to go anywhere"!

Dave and I actually had an alternate plan that we had been planning for a few months. We weren't absolutely sure we were going to go so that is why we never brought it up to the kids, we didn't want to get them all excited for something and then tell them, NEVER MIND. That wouldn't be fun at all.

Ali played right into the plan because she said..."can we bring Lexi on our drive?" I said, well that wouldn't be very fun for her. How about we take her to grandma's house and she can play with Ringo and Che (the dogs there) while we are gone? She was all for that. Her dog would be happy too for the day.

We left our house at 7:00 am and took Lexi to my mom's. I put her in the back yard and we were off. They started to ask a few questions and I said well, should we plan a spot to go? or should we just drive and see where a road takes us? She said, lets just pick a road and go. So we did.

They did awesome in the car, kept guessing where we were. We had to stop to get gas in the St. George area. We pulled off the freeway and pulled into a Texaco. There was a cactus in the flower bed and Zach pointed at it and said. We are in Texas!! Look at that!, (pointing at the cactus) We happened to be at Texaco too...which was hilarious. They really thought we were in Texas. We knew that if Ali noticed a few land marks in St. George she would figure out where we were.

I took Ali and Zach into the gas station to go potty and Zach walked right up to the counter and said...."What town we're in?" The cashier leaned over to him and said you are in Hurricane. He said Oh and continued on. He had no idea where that was. I was going to fill her in on what was happening but Ali sticks to me like glue and has to hear every word that comes out of my mouth. When we got back in the car and started going again, Ali noticed the red cliffs and she said, mom these red rocks and hills look like St. George. But she then asked to watch a movie and didn't even notice when we actually drove through St. George. Every now and then Ali would say, mom can we just go to Disneyland please. Just drive there. (my mom was going on Tuesday and Ali had been begging us ever since she found out Grandma was going to be there.)

We got to North Las Vegas and they were still doing incredible, just enjoying looking around and talking. We needed to have another potty break, so Dave pulled off the freeway again by the Vegas Race Track, it was a lot easier on and off the freeway there. Ali saw the sign in big letters, Las Vegas Raceway. She now knew where we were. Dave was teasing with her in the car and when we were half way through Vegas he said..."what comes after Vegas?" She thought for a few seconds, said, Disneyland. Right then they both figured it out and it was so dang funny in the car. Screaming and hootin and hollering etc. I managed to get a little piece of it on video. Zach was more excited that Dave said we might be able to stop at Circus Circus on the way home then the actual thought of Disneyland. He can't remember what Disneyland is like really from the last time we went. He was too young to keep the excitement and fun in his memory. I think the video is to large to up load. I will have to try that again later.

Zach always has to win. We were driving on the freeway in California, cars were passing us. Zach says...Dad, do you have some speed?, Cause those cars are speeding fast. (He was trying to get Dave to speed up so cars couldn't pass us)

We arrived in Anaheim at about 5:00pm, found our hotel and checked in. Of course there was still plenty of time to go swimming, but we told the kids we needed to eat first so we walked next door to Mimi's. Then let the kids go swimming for a couple of hours. I am so glad our hotel had a heated pool because it was cold outside. The wind was blowing too, but they wanted to swim so bad. They could hear some of the rides and see them from our hotel room. They were so excited. Ali thought we were only going to be there for one day and we were leaving in time on Monday to get her home for school. It was really funny to listen to her. When it was time for bed....Zach was so sad cause George wasn't there. George is his other monkey. We brought Archie (monkey), and the green dog that he changes the name of almost every day, but we didn't bring George. He said George was crying at home, and brought him up often. (more to come about George)

More to come of our vacation...I am too tired tonight.

Fun with Savannah

Ali has a friend at school that she just loves. Savannah called her on Friday afternoon, and asked if she could play. Zach already had two friends here, Riley and Parker, so I didn't feel good about letting him play with friends and telling her no. I said yes, and she came over.

It turned into a 28 hour play date. They had so much fun together and I am glad Ali has good friends that she can have fun with. Ali is the sleep over queen. She is always asking for a sleep over with someone. She and Savannah tried to stay up and watch Madagascar 2 but both fell asleep before it was over. Then the next day, they made cookies.

Working....Lots

Poor Zach fell asleep in my office while I was working Thursday, the 5th of March.

I always tell them I will hurry and try to only be a few minutes, but this time we didn't leave my office until 11:30pm.

I know, I shouldn't admit that. They should have been home in bed hours ago. Dave was in St. George for work and I had so much to do.