Disneyland Day 3

On day three, our day started a bit on the crazy side.  Kenyon was trying to dry his shoes from our wet day the day before and he set them on the heater turned the heater on full blast and then left them and went on his merry way getting ready.  When he went to put his shoes on as we were heading out the door, his shoes had big holes in them!  It took me a minute to realize that the heater had melted the plastic of the shoes.  YIKES!  (and they were expensive Nikes, of course, they couldn't be cheapy shoes).  So, while I headed out the door with the other four kids to Disneyland, Pete and Kenyon headed off to Walmart to buy Kenyon new shoes.  Not a good way to start the day, but Pete was super fast and was able to meet us at our first ride of the day, Peter Pan.  We waited in this line for probably minutes.  It was the longest line we waited in for a ride.  It was worth it because it is a classic.  Pete and Maycee didn't go on it, instead Pete went and got fast passes for another ride (I can't remember which one).  We spent the morning at DL and rode Peter Pan, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Dumbo, Star Tours, Buzz Lighter Year's Astroblasters (Jaron did not ride this on our first day because he was so sick), Splash Mountain, and Pirate's of the Carribean.  I really wanted to ride Space Mountain, but it was closed.  Pete stood in line for an hour so that Shaylee could go to the Princess Fantasy Faire.  She and Maycee got to see Cinderella, Ariel, and Belle.  While they did that I took the boys to Toon town, since it is right next door.  The older boys rode Gadget's Go Coaster (the said it was lame) and I took Jaron to meet Mickey.  He loved Mickey's house it was so cute.  Luckily while we were waiting to see Mickey Pete and the girls were done at the Princess faire and were able to come and meet us just in time to go in and meet Mickey.  The older boys were so mad when they realized that they missed out on Mickey for "stupid, and very short ride", but such is life.  Before leaving they were able to see Pluto and meet Donald Duck (Jaron's favorite Disney character).  It was now time to head off to California Adventure.

At California Adventure we rode all of our favorite rides again and again and again.  I don't know how many times the boys rode California Screamin', but they loved that ride!  We had a great day and rode until we could ride no more!  Pete and the boys had to go on a few last rides, so I took the three little ones and got a spot for the World of Color.  I love that show, it was so pretty and the kids seemed to enjoy it.  After the park closed we headed out to Downtown Disney and went to the Disney store and bought all of our souvenirs from there.  The kids all got some fun things and we were able to call it a very successful Disney vacation.

On this day the kids ate pretzel hot dogs from a pretzel place in Downtown Disney and Pete and I ate at a burrito place.  It had an outdoor eating area and so we left the kids with Brandon in charge while I went into the burrito place with Pete to decide what I wanted.  I then came back out while he paid and got the food.  When I came outside a lady sitting just a few tables down told me that my kids are the best behaved children she has ever seen.  She couldn't believe how good they were with each other and they all stayed right where we sat them and ate and didn't get up and mess around.  I was a very proud momma!  They got lots of praise for their wonderful behavior.  They were so great the whole trip.  Very little whining and complaining.

Sleeping Beauty's castle

Brandon, Shaylee Kenyon, Steph and Pete (Maycee was sleeping and Jaron was having attitude)

The kids with Alice and the Mad Hatter (Shaylee loves Alice)

Shaylee at the Princess Fantasy Faire

Shaylee and Belle

Cinderella loved Maycee- I adore this picture

 

Cinderella and Shaylee

Ariel and Shaylee (her favorite princess)

Toon Town (the only thing worth doing here is Mickey's house)

Toon Town

Mickey's House

Maycee, Steph, Jaron, Mickey, Shaylee and Pete- Loved this!

Donald and Brandon

Kenyon and Donald

Shaylee and Donald

Donald and Jaron - he was so excited to meet Donald

Pluto

 We had such a great time at Disneyland and we hope to do it again in a few years.  Thanks to all my friends who gave us such great advice on how to work the system to our advantage.  It made a world of difference.

Disneyland Day 2

On day 2, we spent the day at California Adventure.  We got there right when it opened and I headed to the Toy Story ride with the kids while Pete went to get fast passes for Soarin' over California.  When I got to Toy Story the line was already WAY long.  I didn't want to start out the day with a long line, so instead I went to see what else the park had to offer.  Brandon wanted to go on California Screamin' anyway.  Pete met up with us and we realized that the Toy Story ride was broken which is why the line was so long so soon after the park opened.  They made everyone get out of line and closed it temporarily, so I was super happy I hadn't sat in that line for 25 minutes and then had to get out.  We spent the morning going on the Mickey's fun wheel (Pete, Brandon and Kenyon went on this- rated it OK), Ariel's undersea adventure (I rode this three times with the three little ones while the others were on the Ferris Wheel - the little kids liked it), California Screamin' (LOVED it, best ride in the park including DL) and Jumpin' Jellyfish (Shaylee's favorite ride- she laughed the WHOLE time).  Buy this time it was time to go to California Soarin' for our fast passes.  I went with the four oldest and Pete stayed with Maycee.  I convinced Jaron he would love it, but when we actually got in there and he saw the weird seats, he refused to go on it, so Jaron, Shaylee and I all had to leave the ride.  Shaylee was not seven, so she couldn't ride any ride without an adult on with her.  Brandon and Kenyon stayed and rode it alone.  I took Jaron to Pete and then got back in line.  Luckily they gave me a parents pass, so Shaylee and I could go right onto the ride.  After Soarin' Over Ca. the weather took a turn and it started raining.  It was great.  Everyone left the park and it was like a ghost town.  The rest of that day we rode ride after ride after ride most with almost no wait at all.  We did have to wait for Toy Story, but even that was only like a 15 minute wait.  The rest of the rides we rode that day were: Monsters Inc. (cute), Tower of Terror (awesome), King Triton's Carousel (good kid ride), Goofy's Sky School (Brandon and Kenyon loved it and I thought it was fun), Mickey's Silly Swings (Kenyon's favorite), Flik's Flyers, Francis Ladybug Boogy, Heimlich's Chew Chew Train, Tuck and Roll's Drive Em Buggies (all of these rides are great for the little kids).

We also saw the Muppets 3D movie and the Bugs Life Show.  I loved the Bugs Life show.  It was so much fun.  It was such a great day.  We were wet, but we went on so many rides I can't even count them.  It was worth the rain to be able to get off a ride and go and get right back on it.  Brandon, Kenyon and I rode Goofy's Flying School five times in a row.  We got off, back on, off....  It really was so much fun!  We also were able to ride Toy Story Mania three times in a row.  We had so much fun!  This day for dinner we were going to go to the Rain Forest Cafe, but it was so late and the wait was an hour long, so we ate at the McDonald's across the street.  I will say, I was so hungry and that was best McD's I have ever eaten!  YUM! 

Pete and Shaylee

 

Brandon ramming Jaron and me.

Brandon crashing in to Kenyon.  See all the empty bugs!

We rode this one a ton because it was under cover.  The kids loved this one.

Shaylee and I getting rained on.  This ride had the rain streaming off the top of the nut and right onto our heads!

Yep, it's pouring rain and we are riding rides!  That's Kenyon in the green poncho.

Pete thought this was the funniest name for a food stand!

King Triton's Carousel.  They rode this while we were riding California Screamin'

Shaylee's favorite ride!  We rode this like five times!

Disneyland Day 1

On Tuesday morning we headed to Disneyland first thing in the morning.  We got there right when it opened at 9 am.  Our first ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  I went on it with the boys and then Pete convinced Shaylee to go on it with him and the boys.  She didn't like it too much, but I was proud of her for giving it a try.  We then went over to Pirates of the Caribbean and rode that.  It was so much fun that everyone could go on it together.  I don't remember the exact order of all of our rides that day, but here are some of the ones we went on and how we felt about them:  Astro Orbiter (Good), Buzz Light year Astro Blasters (Fun), Dumbo (Jaron's favorite), Tea Cups (Shaylee loved), Splash Mountain (LOVED), Space Mountain (I loved), It's a Small World (Classic- Maycee fell asleep and napped for a few hours after this one), Winnie the Pooh (great for little kids), Tom Sawyer Island (OK), Star Tours (Kids loved, Made Pete sick), Tarzan's tree house (Boring), Indiana Jones (FUN), and the Jungle Cruise (liked).  We also saw Captain EO starring Michael Jackson.  My kids love Michael Jackson so they thought it was great.  Shaylee, Kenyon and I all walked through Sleeping Beauty's castle.  That was really fun. I love Sleeping Beauty.

Jaron was sick on this day, so he spent a lot of it curled up in the stroller.  He did go on the rides we could all go on together and Dumbo.  He really liked Dumbo.  He was just tall enough to be able to ride Star Tours and he liked it a lot, too.  He loves Star Wars, so it was right up his alley.  Splash Mountain was a favorite of Brandon, Kenyon, Pete and Mine.  Shaylee went on it, but was not a fan.  The last hill was too much for her.  I really liked Space Mountain and so did Brandon and Kenyon.  But, Shaylee hated it and Pete was still feeling sick from Star Tours, so it wasn't his favorite.  Pirates of the Caribbean was a favorite, too.

On our way from the Tea Cups to Star Tours, Kenyon got lost for about 20 minutes.  It was pretty scary.  We looked for him by ourselves for about ten minutes and then we got security to help.  We FINALLY found him just walking casually towards us like nothing was amiss!  I was so upset when I realized that while we were getting fast passes for Star Tours he decided to go on Astro Blasters by himself.  He didn't go just once either.  He went TWICE!  We had a nice little chat with all of our kids about how we don't go anywhere by ourselves or without telling mom and dad.  Thank heavens it turned out alright, but he probably took ten years off my life by doing that.

We ate dinner at Denny's across the street from D.L. because it is just so much cheaper to go out and eat than to stay in the park.  The food is so expensive!  We stayed until the park closed and then we headed back to our hotel and crashed!  It was full and fun day.

Getting ready to go on our first ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

The boys and me on Thunder Mountain (you can see my blue hoody)

Their second time.  This time with Pete and Shaylee

Shaylee is so excited!  :)  Poor girl was so scared!

Mark Twain river boat

Our family on Tom Sawyer's Island

First time on Splash Mountain and so excited!

Splash Mountain

Pete on Splash Mountain

The kids on Splash Mountain this time with Shaylee and they used the ponchos

Splash Mountain picture

Mommy and Jaron on Dumbo

Brandon and Shaylee on Dumbo

Kenyon on Dumbo

The Mad Hatter Tea Party!

Brandon on the Astro Orbiters

Shaylee and me on Astro Orbiter

Let's Go to Disneyland Part 2 (Las Vegas)

On Monday morning we headed out to California.  We had a great time looking at the gorgeous sites of southern Utah.  When we hit Las Vegas, we decided to drive down the strip, so the kids could see all the cool hotels and casinos.  They were very into it.  We got lunch and then continued on.  About an hour out Vegas, Jaron threw up in the car.  UGH!! I was not happy, but we just stopped the car and I cleaned him up while Pete got out his clothes.  We changed him, and put everything in a plastic bag and got back on the road.  He threw up once more, this time in plastic bag, and then we finally got to our hotel.  Luckily they had a laundry, so I was able to wash his yucky clothes up as soon as we got there.

Brief interruption in DL post

It has been just over a year since I last posted about my weight loss journey.  I am kind of at a stand still right now, so I am hoping that I can get some motivation going to get over this little hump.  In the last year I have lost 22 pounds, my total goal is 40 pounds, so I have 18 more pounds to go.  I have been at a stand still for probably the last four months.  It is SOOO annoying!  So starting Monday, I am going to exercise every day and CUT my calories.  I am also going to drink LOTS of water.  My goal is 5 pounds by Memorial Day.  So doable and the 5 more by mid July when I go to Utah.  I CAN do this!  GO ME!!!!

These pictures are taken about nine months apart and I am 20 pounds lighter. 

Let's Go to DISNEYLAND!!!!! (Part 1)

At the end of January, we decided to make a spur of the moment trip to...DISNEYLAND!  Pete's brother, David's, health has declined in the last few months, so he wanted to go to Utah and spend some time with him.  We decided to all go with him and then on our way home go to DL.  We had about three weeks to plan our trip and so we didn't get any hotels right across from DL, but we were still able to get a hotel around the corner and down the street.  After a lot of searching we booked the hotel, bought our DL tickets, loaded the van and headed to Utah, on February 10th.

Here we are up on a mountain in Eastern Oregon and the clouds are below us.  Such a cool pic.

We stopped at my parents house on Friday night and then went down to eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Salt Lake with Pete's mom.  We dropped Pete off with her, so he could spend time with David and the kids and I headed back to my parents.  I spent Saturday shopping at Target, eating at Costa Vida, chatting, celebrating my nephew and dad's birthday, having a barbeque and enjoying good company.  It was a day packed with fun and bonding.

The birthday pies for my dad and nephew, Matthew

My dad with his banana cream pie

Matthew and his chocolate cream pie

Jaron and Steven playing Angry Birds on Grandma and Grandpa's phones!

Seriously!  Isn't this beyond cute?  Lil buddies!

On Sunday, we spent the morning with my family, packed up, went to sacrament meeting with my mom, dad, sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews and then headed down to Utah County to spend time with Grandma Phelon and the the Phelon cousins.  The kids had a blast with their cousins and Pete enjoyed his time visiting with his brothers and mom.   After a huge and yummy breakfast on Monday morning made by my fabulous sister in law Inger, we headed out of Utah and on to California! 

The kids with Uncle David

Maycee with Grandma

The boys playing games with their cousin Isaac

Shaylee and Jaron are playing an alphabet game with Uncle David

David and Pete!  (#2 and #9)