Disneyland Vacation - Day Four

On the second day, we didn't go to Disneyland, but instead went to California Adventure. We got on the shuttle much quicker this day (we are such fast learners). We arrived at the security gate and some sharp eye noted Chad's pocket had a clip showing and identified his pocket knife. There was no way that they were going to let such a dangerous weapon into the Happiest Place on Earth (never mind he'd had it the entire time yesterday)!

I suggested he walk away for a bit and put it all the way in his pocket until we got into the park where we could put it at the bottom of the backpack. While he disappeared, the rest of us went through security. That plan didn't work, because the whole security force was on to him now. A different woman (Disneyland has a lot of women security personnel) approached him and asked him what he'd done with the knife.

Keep in mind, this is a dull knife with a two-inch blade. They never asked to see it. He didn't even realize he had it, really. It's just always in his pocket and comes out in time of need. I mean, this is CHAD! So they question him on where he might have dumped the knife and claimed they were concerned for the safety of guests and employees. They would not keep it for him. He must return it to his car or hotel room (over an hour round trip). Eventually, he just found a hotel outside the park gates that promised to hold it for him until he returned for it.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting with the kids and making them all use the bathroom while we wait. We eventually got reunited and entered California Adventure unarmed.

Our first ride was Soarin' Over California. While in line we met a nice family who had come all the way from Shelley, ID. :) They were good friends with some of our old friends from our previous address. They went on and on about how much they loved this family and I didn't dare tell them that family had lost touch with us (not our choice, but maybe we offended them somehow). Anyway, we ended up sitting near them and he took our picture for us.

(He covered up the flash, just like I keep doing!)

We spent quite a bit of time enjoying the Disney Animation displays. These were some cartoon pictures on a wheel that "moved" when the kids turned them. They were fascinated.

This was a library like in "Beauty and the Beast." There were some semi-interactive stations that the kids enjoyed. I think the looks on their faces tell it all. :)

I loved this shot of Daddy and Sarah checking out the talking book.

This was a fun backdrop for a picture. The street ended in a wall, but the perspective was painted to be a little deceiving.

We saw Sully and got a picture with him. Sarah wasn't as excited about meeting the Monster's Inc. celebrity as much as the others were. But he looks so huggable!


Next was the Monster's Inc. ride. We could all go on it. There weren't a lot of rides that we could all go on, so we tried to take advantage of them.

These are probably more illegal pictures.


We left the animation area and went towards "A Bug's Land." On the way was the Twilight Zone's Tower of Terror. I wanted to go on the ride, but no one else seemed interested. I kept asking and finally someone agreed to go with me! Surprisingly, it was Rebekah who wanted to go. I wasn't sure about that, but we were on!

The interior of the building the ride was in was decorated to look deserted and dilapidated. There were dead flowers and cobwebs everywhere and everything was grey. There was a theme of people being electrocuted and returning as "ghosts." I worried that this would bother Rebekah. Nope.

What did bother her was the ride itself. We sat in seats, put a strap over our laps and rose into the air. Then suddenly we dropped and Rebekah found herself with her feet higher than her head and she was clinging to my arm! It did that a couple more times before the ride was over. If you ask her, Rebekah will still tell you that she did NOT like that ride! ;)

After I emotionally scarred Rebekah, we went to find everyone at the bumper cars. We took a few turns getting everyone a ride that wanted one.



Leah preferred to watch from the outside.

We skipped a few things in this section and made our way to Paradise Pier. The carousel was something we could all ride. I can't get over all the bright colors in this shot!


Sarah and Joseph enjoyed the ride.


Daniel found himself a very nice dolphin to ride.


One ride that caught the eye of Chad and I was the big wheel (Mickey's Fun Wheel). We were quite impressed by the track that some of the cars were on. As the wheel turns, the car slides around on this ovalish track and keeps rocking. Leah and Joseph did not want to ride in a rocking car. We ignored them and forced them on. I was grateful that we all fit into one gondola.


Leah and Joseph were the most worried by the rocking (and some of it was pretty big), but Sarah thought it was worth some giggles. :)


There was a ride that boys wanted to go on. Joseph and Sarah were too small and I think Leah opted out (she did that a lot), so Chad waited with them. While we were in line and riding, Chad bought some cotton candy for the kids. As we finished it up, we saw the army men from Toy Story come walking by, singing. That was kind of fun.

When the cotton candy was all gone (all 6 kids got some, eventually), we had sticky hands. We cannot have sticky hands! While we were looking for a place to wash up, we found this fountain. Perfect!

Leah was much insulted that we wouldn't provide her with a proper place for washing her hands. She got over it before too long and even got more than her hands wet!



Poor Sarah missed out on the water fun. She got a nap instead. So cute!


Right by the fountain was the Little Mermaid ride, "Ariel's Grotto." Absolutely no line. I loved it! Caution: more forbidden (maybe) pictures.




Whew! That section was done (mostly) and we headed to the last section of the park. We found ourselves in "Redwood Creek Challenge Trail." This is a play area based on the scouts in the movie, "Up."

We unintentionally found ourselves in line to take pictures with this character. Remember the dog in the movie that can talk because of his collar? Anyway, I somehow got forced into the shot, too. Try to focus on the cute kids...you can if you put your mind to it. I love the way Joseph is looking up at the dog.

They were taking pictures here to add to their Disney stash of photos. They asked Chad and I to sign release forms in case they ever want to use the photos for anything. So if you ever get a Disney junk mailer and you see our yellow-shirted family, please save it for us! :)


There were many rope bridges to cross. It got to be a little tough on my old ankles. Sarah's tiny feet didn't like it, either!


This was something that the kids really liked. They rode the ropes with great abandon!


I think Sarah was getting tired of hanging out while we waited for the big kids to get through with their adventures. I didn't blame her.


Chad took the kids on a water ride. I like most rides. I do not like water rides. Maybe if I didn't have so many curves, I wouldn't mind having wet clothes clinging to me. Anyway, I was more than happy to be the one to wait with Joseph and Sarah this time.

Of course, when the kids got off the ride, they wanted to go again. The line was very short and Chad encouraged me to go. I tried to get out of it, but part of me was saying it's part of the Disneyland adventure. So I went. And I got wet. Then we headed back to the hotel room.


We were pooped, even though we ended the day a little early. We had dinner at the hotel again (hamburgers/hotdogs, chips and pop) and checked out a movie from the front desk.

We slept well again!

Disneyland Vacation - Day Three

Finally! The long-awaited day had arrived and we were going to Disneyland! The park didn't open until 10 AM, so we had plenty of time. The hotel we stayed at provided a full breakfast, which we took full advantage of.

I'd made matching shirts for the kids, in hopes of easily spotting them in large crowds. They got a lot of attention in those shirts, starting at breakfast.

After waiting for the shuttle to Disneyland for at least 15 minutes (more like 20+), we learned that we were in the wrong place. So we went to the right place and waited a little more. We had a 10 minute ride to the park, and eventually made it in!

Here we are approaching the gates.

And here we are inside Disneyland.


Our first stop was "It's a Small World." We walked right on and soaked in our first real Disneyland memory in the making.


I think I wasn't supposed to be taking pictures in the ride. I never saw a sign, and no one ever said anything, so I took lots...all 3 days. It was afterward that I got the impression I wasn't supposed to. So if these pictures are illegal, I apologize.







It's kind of hard to take decent pictures in the dark in a moving boat.

After that, we headed to Toontown. It wasn't quite open so we stood outside the gates, in the hot sun, with a bunch of other people, facing a guy that did not embody the "Happiest Place on Earth" persona. Maybe he'd be better at the doors of Walmart two minutes before the Black Friday sales begin. Anyway, we finally made it in and went straight to Mickey Mouse's house.

We also met Minnie Mouse.


She has a lot of cheese in her fridge!




There was a voice down in the well and the littlest in our group were very interested!


We threw all the kids in jail...where they belong.


Notice anything wrong in this picture?


We spent a lot of time in Toontown. Enough that we didn't need to go back again! From there, we found ourselves in line for the Storybook Land ride. Wow. That sun was hot for 8 folks from Eastern Idaho! Considering it was the last week of September, I was a little surprised at the heat. Sarah looks hot in this picture.


Rebekah is anticipating going into the whale's mouth. :)

Our day was passing quickly and there was so much we hadn't done! We bought a meager lunch for the whole family for $60. I made the kids eat every fry. After a bathroom break, we hit a "real" ride...the Matterhorn. The boys first, then the girls, then Joseph and me. Chad stayed on firm ground with Sarah, who was catching a nap.


This was an energetic ride! From this ride, I learned that Rebekah is a roller coaster person and Leah is not. In fact, Leah only experienced this ride with two senses: sound and touch. She shut her eyes when it got dark (at the beginning). So I also learned that Leah is easily frightened. She had her eyes shut a lot during the three days we rode rides.

We went to Tomorrowland next. It was at Star Tours that we learned of a pass they give to families with little kids that can't ride, but parents who want to. Chad stood in line with Daniel, Nathan and Rebekah and got a pass for me. I took Leah when they were done. That was the only ride that made me sick and it took me a little while to recover! The kids really loved the Buzz Lightyear ride and we went twice because there was no line. This was a ride where they shoot at targets and earn a score (displayed on the gondola). We probably should have used hand sanitizer after that one!


We rode the monorail for an excuse to sit for a bit. It was too short of a ride.

We spent some time walking around the Innovations building. It's a building of futuristic ideas and such. They had a house design set up with high-tech gadgets and such, but we weren't much impressed. Most of the stuff wasn't working.

One last ride before we left the park for the day was this rocket ride. Chad sat this one out, too. I don't think he's much of a ride person. Or maybe he was just filling his memory banks with images of his family having fun. I captured some memories of my own. :)


We got ourselves to the shuttle pick-up/drop-off spot and waited. And waited. Those shuttles were not running as often as they said they were! We had a light dinner that the hotel provided and the kids went swimming with Chad. Joseph and Sarah stayed with me in the room and then we all ate sugary cereal and went to bed. Oh, how well we slept!

Disneyland Vacation - Day Two

We had an early start this day. The night before, Chad discovered that he'd left his bathroom stuff (razor, hair gel, toothbrush) at home. So I decided to make a quick trip to Walmart before everyone got up. I don't know how you sleep when you know you have to get up at an earlier time than normal. I tossed and checked the time all night! And I was at the store by 5:30 AM. There are some very interesting people working at the Taylorsville Walmart in the wee hours!

We got all the kids up and into the car and after several return trips into Grandma's house, we finally left the driveway...before sunrise. We made a map of the trip we were taking and every hour we put a little car-shaped sticker on the map to mark our progress. This idea was a last-minute stroke of genius or inspiration. No one ever asked how much longer or if we were almost there. Instead they asked to see the map or where we were on the map. If we have to make another long trip like that again, I will definitely make another map! We used two different colors of stickers...one for the way down and one for the way back.

We lunched at a rest area somewhere around Cedar City and the kids got their wiggles out by throwing acorns at each other. Too bad they don't have better aim - I got hit by a few. Chad's Grandma lived in St. George (she recently moved, or is moving soon) so we gave her about 2 hours notice and stopped for a visit. We used to visit her often when we lived in Las Vegas. Our last visit to her home was spring of 2006.

As it turned out, Grandma Russell still gave rides on her ottoman. Sarah was the first lucky rider because Grandma was trying to warm her up a bit.


It soon turned into a major attraction among the younger kids. Of course, we must fight so Grandma will know we're normal kids.






We got a group picture with Grandma Russell before we left. It's not easy to get Grandma to take a picture. Hopefully, she has forgiven us.


We grabbed some gas on our way to the interstate. Chad was doing something goofy outside the van, and the kids were watching him. Maybe they were shocked at his crazy behavior. ;) It was already getting really warm, especially for us Idaho folks!

We stopped in Las Vegas to change Sarah's diaper and cooked a little more. We stopped in Barstow, CA for hamburgers, play time and then gas. That drained our wallet! We were glad to arrive in Anaheim and check into our hotel room.

We have six pairs of these headphones. I LOVE THEM! I'm so tired of hearing movies I can't see. There are so many movies that I have imagined in my mind while driving. I'm sure it would be like watching them for the first time if I ever sat down to actually view them because it would be so different from the pictures I created for them!


The room was a two-room suite with a common area between them. There was a pool and free laundry. (They also had an exercise room, but how likely was I to use that?) When we checked in, I left again. Chad had "given" me new shoes for my upcoming birthday so that my feet wouldn't get so sore while we walked around Disneyland. So I located an outlet mall nearby and went out shoe shopping.

You might think that getting brand new shoes the night before I'm going to walk in them for 10 hours is crazy. But those shoes saved me! My feet were sore, but they weren't as bad as they would have been in my old sneakers. It was a great birthday idea. :)

Disneyland Vacation - Day One

I haven't posted anything for a while because I've got this week-long vacation holding up the line. I'm a little crazy about getting things in order. I don't always do it, but that only makes me more crazy about the next time. And there are a lot of pictures that I have to include, but Blogger uploads pictures with such difficulty that I keep putting it all off. So enough of the excuses and on with the real story!

We had been planning a trip to Disneyland since March. We started saving a bit of the paycheck and the kids started earning spending money. This was our first trip to Disneyland. My last visit had been 14 years ago and the rest of us had never been. We were excited!

We were going to leave town on Sunday, but after the Primary Program. I posted a picture of this day last month. Review that here, if you'd like, or just scroll down to October 13th.

From there, we had lunch at home, Chad slipped out to get one last Home Teaching visit done (it was the last Sunday of the month after all) and then we headed out of town. We were only going as far as my mom's house in Utah and we weren't in too big of a hurry.

We had a pleasant car ride and only took a couple of pictures. Sarah was drawing with dry erase markers. Some day, this girl will respect markers and only draw on appropriate surfaces! But here, she drew on her face. (Later she would draw on her seat, as well.)

While Chad was trying to take her picture, she covered her eyes. When he told her to move her hands, she did this. Funny girl.

The kids had fun reuniting with Grandma, whom we see about 6 times a year (or so), and we finally got them to bed. We were steeling ourselves for a long drive to California in the morning.

Daniel's Primary talk

Last week Daniel had a turn to give a talk in Primary. He wasn't too thrilled. Surprised?

I took him to Deseret Book and we bought a Mormon Ad packet that had a picture about prayer (the blue one with the white phone...for those of you still "up" on your Mormon Ad posters). He wrote his talk without too much help from Chad and me. (OK. After reading through, Daniel wrote the first half, I gave him the scripture, hoping he would tie it in somehow, and Chad gave him the "testimony." It was a joint effort.) It was kind of a funny one, so I thought I'd share it with you. Here is it...unedited. ;)

How do you talk to god? Do you run to the phone and ask your parents what Heavenly Fathers pone number is. No. You reverently get down on your knees, bow your head, and fold your arms. But what do you say? You can say anything from being gratefull that you didn't fall of the the seat in the bus to being gratefull that you didn't get yelled at by your parents. In Doctrine Covenants section 25 vers 12 it says, For my soul delighteth in the song of heart; yea the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me and it shall be answered with a blessing upuon their heads. I know prayer is important. It is how I can talk to Heavenly Father. In the name of Jesus Crist, Amen.

I don't think I'll run spell check on this post. But what a great talk, don't you think? I can't wait for a year from now when he's giving his first Sacrament Meeting talk as a 12-year-old. I'll try to sneak it away from him then and post it for you (and us) to read over and over again. *sigh*

Joseph has a talk tomorrow morning. We haven't written it yet. Do you think we can use Daniel's?

-Having 5 kids in Primary at one time means a lot of talks, prayers, and scriptures!

Cute and Irritating

This is a post about my oldest and youngest. I'll start with the youngest first. ;)

Sarah is sleeping in a toddler bed...has been for several months. She is pretty good about staying in it. She doesn't get out at bedtime, but she will sit in bed and cry a complaint or two! She does get out in the middle of the night or in the early morning when she thinks it's time to get up. If it's after 6 AM, I'll lift her into the bed and let her snuggle up. Don't think I use "snuggle" casually. This girl will try to become one with you!

If I am about ready to get up anyway, I enjoy the moment. She is my baby, after all! I am soaking up as much of this lovin' as I can get! But I do fear that it will go too far and I will have a screaming child on my hands in the middle of the night. I'm always weighing the decision to let her in the bed.

Last night, she came in just before 2:30 AM. Yeah...that's a little too early for me. I carried her back to bed and covered her up (with 4-6 blankets) and then heard her saying, "Lee-Lee...Beka. Lee-Lee...Beka."

How sweet that she wanted her sisters! Thankfully, she fell back to sleep for another 4 hours. In a year or so, she will love being upstairs with the rest of the kids (and then there really be a party at bedtime)!

And now to my oldest...

I'm going to chalk this all up to the fact that he's eleven. This is mostly because I can't bear the thought that it's a personality flaw.

Anyway, Leah was practicing her spelling words for a spelling bee today and tomorrow. She was stuck on a word and just as she was getting it, Daniel spelled it as he walked out of the room. Grr. I wanted to whack him in the back of the head! I yelled after him, which I'm certain really had a lasting effect.

As the kids were heading out the door and I was encouraging Leah to spell a word on her way out, Daniel did it again! Does he intend to be rude or is it just coming naturally? We seem to be struggling with gaining a level of consideration. Luckily, my foot was too far away from his rear end.

My excuse du jour

Dear Fate,

I really wanted to be successful today. Since I've showered, eaten and have a load of laundry going, I guess I could call it good. But I had plans for a little more.

The problem is that you gave me a sick 2-year-old who kept me up all night and keeps saying "Up, please." It's not even 9 AM!

I may accomplish a bit more before I attempt another night of sleep, but just in case I don't I wanted you to know why.

Sincerely,
Arlyn aka Nurse-slave

P.S. Thank you for the beautiful sunny morning.

Losing my mind...and the phone

I couldn't find a phone that I'd just had in my hands. After a few minutes of looking for it the old fashioned way (walking around aimlessly), I picked up my cell phone and called myself.

It was on my 3rd call (hanging up when the answering machine came on) that I finally found the darned thing. It was under a pile of clothes that I had folded BEFORE I made my last phone call. How in the heck? I can't even blame it on anyone...all the kids were downstairs (fighting).

Things must be bad if I'm doing dumb stuff like that. And to make things crazier, I just became the Box Top lady for the elementary school. I spent hours trimming Box Tops in preparation for submission. Did you know they need to be trimmed? If you are sending in Box Tops for your school, do the coordinator a little favor and trim them. You will be an anonymous angel. But don't trim off the expiration date...that makes it invalid.

Each Box Top is worth 10 cents. I threw away a couple of dollars of invalid Box Tops last night. It doesn't seem like much, but it adds up...isn't that what we tell our kids when they put a penny in their bank? With all the Box Tops and online earnings over the summer, our school will be getting a check for over $1000 this December...just for cutting those little things off the packages!

Some of you will be getting an email to sign up for online Box Tops stuff. Just delete it if you aren't interested. It is worth looking into, though. :)

There...that's my Box Top soap box.

Now I'm off to anchor my cordless phone to the wall so that I don't lose it again.