Disneyland, day 3

Day 3 started with Toontown.


Sometimes I think this is where the kids belong. (Notice Breein posing in the background. She started posing for almost every picture, and most of them are funny and a little too exaggerated.)



They loved the houses of the characters.










Got to see Pluto.

We chased Goofy around for a few minutes and stood in a couple of makeshift lines , but he kept moving before we could snap a picture. Finally, I got tired of following him around and just took this one. That is obviously not my child, but at least maybe the kids will remember that I tried?



I don't like this picture. Why did I have to have my eyes closed? But, it is the only one of all of us in the same picture the entire trip. And the only one with Mickey.
We do have this cute one of the kids with him.Don't ask me who Brock is smiling at.

Cierra and Breein in front of Chip and Dale's treehouse.
And driving a toon car.


Hopefully this was a wishing well.I am not sure what Brock is doing.
I like this statue.



Cierra liked this enlarged artist's sketch.







The last thing that we did Wednesday was see the Pixar Play Parade, which was a lot of fun. Brock says this is his favorite picture.

Disneyland day 2

Our second day at Disneyland started with a Magic Morning. We were let into the park an hour before it opened, and we were the first ones to get on Snow White. I think we were also the first ones on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. The kids definitely loved Fantasyland, especially Dumbo the Flying Elephant, which I can't stand, so I took pictures.

The carousel too.
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride; the kids really liked steering the cars. I think Breein actually thought she was controlling her adventure.

Yes, I went on the teacups. It's a classic, you have to go on it at least once. Of course, Brant emphasized the nauseousness by spinning it as fast as it would go. Making me dizzy just thinking about it. But, the kids thought it was great!









Next up were the princesses. Need I say more? (Look closely at Brock's face. I am almost sure he enjoyed Cinderella and Belle more than the girls.)

Cierra and Breein got to be our navigators and watch for alligators on the Story Book Canal Boats.



With Mary Poppins, Bert, and the Penguin (note the my favorite movies list)

Cierra is lucky enough to sneak a hug from Mickey Mouse as he was leaving the area.

Breein posing for us on the train.






Brock's favorite ride: Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. It was actually pretty fun.



By Splash Mountain, my favorite ride (besides It's a Small World, which was closed)









At the end of the day we went back to the hotel to eat dinner in the restaraunt there. This is what happened to Breein.

SURPRISE!

Ok, Brant and I had planned on taking the kids to Oregon or something like that this year for our family vacation (and hopefully we still will), but about 6 weeks ago we decided to take them to Disneyland instead. So, we planned it, and amazingly I made it without telling them. I was so excited. We left on Saturday the 12, and drove to Vegas. Then we finished the drive Monday morning, and were in Disneyland by about noon. We just kept telling them we were going to Anaheim. They were quite excited about that, even though they didn't know what exactly that meant. Then, we got into the parking structure, and just as the man was taking our money, Cierra looked around and asked, "Mom, why does that sign say Disneyland?" It was great. I think it took a minute for the idea to sink in, because the initial response wasn't as enthusiastic as I had expected, but by the time we got out of the car, they were dancing and chanting and as excited as could be. The only "problem", if it is one, is that we took somewhere around 260 pictures, so I am going to divide posts up and download as many as I can, by day. So, here is day 1.

This picture of the girls dancing was taken in Barstow while we waited for the boys. They still didn't know where we were headed, but it was great to see them so happy.

First picture on the tram from the parking lot to the gate.

Our first disney encounter was the Tiki Room. The kids really enjoyed the show, but they also liked watching the totems outside in the waiting area.


We saw a ton of characters, and the first one just happened to be Jasmine. The boys didn't want to be in this one.




The kids really enjoyed Tarzan's Treehouse.

Pooh Corner was definitely a hit with all of them.

We also played on Tom Sawyer's Island, but I didn't have any good pics from that. Stay tuned for day number 2.

Arches Field Trip

Two other moms and I decided to start taking the kids on long-distance field trips. We feel that there is not much better of a way to learn about something than to experience it. So, for our first go-round and trial run, we took the kids to Arches National Park to discover deserts and erosion. We ended up getting rained out 2 days early, and it was cold, but here are some pictures of the day we did do some hiking. The right picture is of all of the kids at Broken Arch. The bottom two are of Tapestry Arch.

Brock's "Team Geotrax Birthday"

Brock's birthday isn't until next month, but my mom promised him a geotrax set when he got potty trained. Well, that happened about 1 1/2 months ago (Yeah!) I told my mom that instead of giving them to him just for being toilet trained, we should go in on a set for his birthday present. That would be all he would want, anyway. So, I exlained to him that he would get the set for his birthday, and ever since he has been talking about his "team geotrax birthday party" and telling me who he wants to have come and that he wants Aero and Eric on his cake, and asking his dad "You gonna come to my team geotrax birthday party?" Well, Rodney got married last week, and so we had a family dinner and birthday party with everyone on Sunday to celebrate March and April birthdays. Since we don't give birthday parties for the kids until they are 5, we decided to make this the party he had been talking about. I made the cake, and put Aero and Eric on a track around it, and he was so excited. He blew out the candles and we cut him a piece of cake, and didn't take one bite. The problem was, I don't think he was feeling well and instead of enjoying this long-awaited and even-a-month-early-birthday-party, this is what happened after the candles got blown out. Poor guy.

Brant Gets Older

Would you look at that cloud of smoke? Yes, you count 31 candles. I can't believe I have celebrated 9 birthdays with him. But what a wonderful thing it has been! I have loved watching him "grow up" as much as I have the kids, and I wouldn't trade those 9 pineapple upside-down cakes for the world. And, you know he loves me when all he wanted for his birthday was to take a half day off of work to go skiing with his wife. And his not very good wife (some of you may know that). I do think his main reason in insisting that I be the one to go with him and not one of his friends that actually enjoys the sport is so that he can get a good laugh. His skill level far surpasses mine, and he delights in watching me attempt moguls. The key word there is attempt. This time I didn't notice that we were heading into some, and ended up in some trees with my skies buried by 6 inches of powder. I think the people on the lift above me enjoyed watching that too. But, we had an enjoyable afternoon together. Sorry I forgot to take the camera, so you can't see any pictures. Anyway, happy birthday Brant, we love you!

Here is update on our family. The girls are coming along in their school work. Brock has finally decided that toilets are useful, and is only in diapers at night. YEAH! Brant has been busy, and we haven't seen much of him in the last couple of weeks, but I think that he is doing alright. Only 2 more months until winter is over, and then he won't be as busy. I am very much looking forward to that. I am still freezing but very excited that we got to see the sun once or twice this week (I think we actually hit 40 degreees once)before the projected 1-3 inch storm that dumped almost a foot in our driveway. This year has made me extremely grateful for our 4-wheel drive car.
Cierra and Breein have been learning about
Ancient Egypt, and here is a picture of them donning their homemade pharoah's crowns.Yes, they can actually tell you why they are red and white.

On Valentine's Day, we took the kids sledding with this awesome sled called a hammerhead that Brant checked out from backcountry. They are lots of fun. If you ever get the chance to try one, do!