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Not sure what the deal is - but I have a problem. I've suffered from the debilitating, cyclical symptoms for years. I can't seem to find a cure. What is the problem?
I have a serious case of "one-day-wonder-itis."
The main symptom is that I am great - a real wonder - - for ONE day. I accomplish lots of good things; cleaning the house, playing and having fun with the kids, making good meals, being aware of the needs of others, doing service, and having a general overall feeling of enjoyment my life.
Then... almost as certain as day follows night, the next day I can't get anything done, I can't clean, I'm easily irritated with everyone, I don't want to do anything at all...
Believe me, my children easily undo EVERYTHING I accomplish on the good day in a few hours; give them 24 hours... let's just say that I will never ever ever catch up!
I'm telling you - it is a PAIN!
I WANT to have a clean home. I want to be a kind, loving, and patient mother. I want to be a happy and productive person. and I would really like to be able to do it at least 2 days in a row - for crying out loud!!! I can already hear people saying "Don't over do it all the first day" - "spread it out" - "pace yourself," blah blah blah. IT DOESN'T WORK!!!!! Maybe it's just me, but I just can't seem to find a happy medium - 2 day pace.
Just had to get out of the closet on that one. thanks for letting me get it off my chest.
(the current adventure at my house is sick, throwing up people. I'm thinking that it would be just my luck if we picked up swine flu while we were at Disneyland. Wouldn't that just be the perfect ending of our Murphy's vacation? The good news is that I haven't come down with it yet. Tim was home really sick today and he usually is the one that stays healthy - so I'm a little concerned that I'm next in line... but I've got my fingers and toes crossed that it is my turn to dodge this bullet and that I'll be lucky and not get it. Wish me luck with that, Eh?)
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
making progress...
Are you sure this is Memorial Day weekend? It sure feels like LABOR day weekend to me!!!
We have been working our tails off all weekend and I am pretty worn out, but I am sure feeling great about the progress we are making!
First off - I have to have a bragging moment. Look at this picture. No, I'm not bragging about an organized garage, although it IS better than it was, but there's still much for improvement. What you are looking at are the 3 - 50 gallon water drums. (plus if you look really closely you can see two clear 5 gallon water containers too.) I am so excited to have my recommended amount of water storage!!! GO ME!!!! We have about 100 gallons of "drinking water" (there's some stored in the house and in the back shed too) and another 100 gallons of washing, cleaning, flushing etc... water. I'll tell you what... it really feels great to have that done!
Other things we accomplished this weekend:
*Saturday morning was taken up with piano lessons and gymnastic make up class. The afternoon was spent rearranging things in the garage to accommodate the new water barrels. In the process, we cleaned the garage. (We didn't go through and organize all the shelves, but just the fact that everything is back on a shelf is great!)
* Sunday was of course church (we played "music-land" in Singing time. My own knock off of Candy-land. I'll try to take a picture of it and post it later - another bragging thing... Anyway, the kids loved it, and we only got 1/2 way through the game, so we will finish playing this week.) Tim did a bunch of home teaching, we played games as a family... I think that is about all I can think of for that day.
* Today we tackled our room downstairs (it will eventually be the family room, but I get so hot during the summer that we have our bedroom down there right now - I sleep so much better when it's cooler... Anyway - that room has been the house DUMPING ground for the past year. There was basically a path into the room and around the bed. STUFF piled up everywhere else. It took about 3 hours, but we cleaned it up and rearranged it so it's a more usable space. It looks a million times better now! I've been meaning to tackle it for a long time now, but it was simply too overwhelming... Having Tim to help made it doable. Just barely, but DO-able.
* Also today I helped Bryan and Katrina get their rooms cleaned, including taking out all the winter clothes and organizing their drawers.
Unfortunately, all the cleaning means that I have a mountain of laundry to do, but the good news is that I'm 4 loads into the mountain. Well, 4 loads into washing and drying. I haven't started folding yet... And the other good news is that by removing most of the clothes from their rooms, the laundry pile will be much more manageable during the summer. (nothing being knocked out of drawers during the "searching" and then being thrown CLEAN into the dirty laundry basket. (not that that ever happens, but just in case...)
I supposed I need to get started on dinner. Maybe I'll try to talk Tim into taking me out to eat - since we all worked so hard...
We have been working our tails off all weekend and I am pretty worn out, but I am sure feeling great about the progress we are making!
First off - I have to have a bragging moment. Look at this picture. No, I'm not bragging about an organized garage, although it IS better than it was, but there's still much for improvement. What you are looking at are the 3 - 50 gallon water drums. (plus if you look really closely you can see two clear 5 gallon water containers too.) I am so excited to have my recommended amount of water storage!!! GO ME!!!! We have about 100 gallons of "drinking water" (there's some stored in the house and in the back shed too) and another 100 gallons of washing, cleaning, flushing etc... water. I'll tell you what... it really feels great to have that done!
Other things we accomplished this weekend:
*Saturday morning was taken up with piano lessons and gymnastic make up class. The afternoon was spent rearranging things in the garage to accommodate the new water barrels. In the process, we cleaned the garage. (We didn't go through and organize all the shelves, but just the fact that everything is back on a shelf is great!)
* Sunday was of course church (we played "music-land" in Singing time. My own knock off of Candy-land. I'll try to take a picture of it and post it later - another bragging thing... Anyway, the kids loved it, and we only got 1/2 way through the game, so we will finish playing this week.) Tim did a bunch of home teaching, we played games as a family... I think that is about all I can think of for that day.
* Today we tackled our room downstairs (it will eventually be the family room, but I get so hot during the summer that we have our bedroom down there right now - I sleep so much better when it's cooler... Anyway - that room has been the house DUMPING ground for the past year. There was basically a path into the room and around the bed. STUFF piled up everywhere else. It took about 3 hours, but we cleaned it up and rearranged it so it's a more usable space. It looks a million times better now! I've been meaning to tackle it for a long time now, but it was simply too overwhelming... Having Tim to help made it doable. Just barely, but DO-able.
* Also today I helped Bryan and Katrina get their rooms cleaned, including taking out all the winter clothes and organizing their drawers.
Unfortunately, all the cleaning means that I have a mountain of laundry to do, but the good news is that I'm 4 loads into the mountain. Well, 4 loads into washing and drying. I haven't started folding yet... And the other good news is that by removing most of the clothes from their rooms, the laundry pile will be much more manageable during the summer. (nothing being knocked out of drawers during the "searching" and then being thrown CLEAN into the dirty laundry basket. (not that that ever happens, but just in case...)
I supposed I need to get started on dinner. Maybe I'll try to talk Tim into taking me out to eat - since we all worked so hard...
Friday, May 22, 2009
Wheat - the staff of life
Our ward recently started a Self-reliance enrichment group. Each month, someone is assigned a specific storage item. They shop around for the best deals and pass along the info to everyone else. We just spear headed a bulk wheat order, (we got a GREAT price on 45lb buckets from Wheatland seed) which culminated in the purchase of about 1000 buckets of wheat. (about 370 for our neighborhood) The truck arrived yesterday at noon, and because we don't have a fork lift - we got to unload all of the buckets by hand. It was a lot of WORK!
Since many people were hesitant to buy wheat, and many people voiced the concern, "what would I do with it?" we decided to have last night's enrichment focus on a few quick and easy ways to use wheat in everyday cooking.
First we displayed and demonstrated several ways to crack and grind the wheat. WE had on display several electric grinders, a hand grinder, a coffee grinder, a regular run of the mill blender (won't grind but will crack the wheat), and a super duty vita-mill which will crack and grind into flour.
Then we had one sister do a bread making demonstration.
After that, I demonstrated making blender wheat pancakes. (they are good, you should try them). I shared that cooked cracked wheat is great for stretching your meat budget. They each got to taste sloppy joes, spaghetti sauce, and tuna that I made of a mix (about 1/2 and 1/2) of meat & wheat. Time and time again people kept saying, "wow! I could eat this;" or "this is good. I can't even tell there's wheat in it." We had a "cracked wheat casserole, super delicious "whole wheat pecan cookies," and oatmeal cinnamon wheat pancakes. We also had some "Morning Moo" powdered milk mixed up so that people could sample that.
It all went over really well. Tenille (head of the self-reliance group) has been hearing repeatedly that people just don't feel it is important to invest in a good grinder. After last night, I would say that the majority (if not all) of the sisters left with a desire to get a grinder and a lot of easy and delicious ways to begin incorporating wheat in their diets. There were so many positive responses, and people were genuinely surprise that they liked the food. After we finally got the kitchen cleaned back up and I finally FINALLY got home at 9:30, I got the best surprise of the day. Running in and out trying to help with the wheat project, trying to get all the food prepared, etc... I left the kitchen in a WRECK! I was THRILLED to come home to find it cleaned up. Not only that - Tim had all the kids pick up their rooms too. It was amazing! and a very welcome surprise!
Since many people were hesitant to buy wheat, and many people voiced the concern, "what would I do with it?" we decided to have last night's enrichment focus on a few quick and easy ways to use wheat in everyday cooking.
First we displayed and demonstrated several ways to crack and grind the wheat. WE had on display several electric grinders, a hand grinder, a coffee grinder, a regular run of the mill blender (won't grind but will crack the wheat), and a super duty vita-mill which will crack and grind into flour.Then we had one sister do a bread making demonstration.
After that, I demonstrated making blender wheat pancakes. (they are good, you should try them). I shared that cooked cracked wheat is great for stretching your meat budget. They each got to taste sloppy joes, spaghetti sauce, and tuna that I made of a mix (about 1/2 and 1/2) of meat & wheat. Time and time again people kept saying, "wow! I could eat this;" or "this is good. I can't even tell there's wheat in it." We had a "cracked wheat casserole, super delicious "whole wheat pecan cookies," and oatmeal cinnamon wheat pancakes. We also had some "Morning Moo" powdered milk mixed up so that people could sample that.
It all went over really well. Tenille (head of the self-reliance group) has been hearing repeatedly that people just don't feel it is important to invest in a good grinder. After last night, I would say that the majority (if not all) of the sisters left with a desire to get a grinder and a lot of easy and delicious ways to begin incorporating wheat in their diets. There were so many positive responses, and people were genuinely surprise that they liked the food. After we finally got the kitchen cleaned back up and I finally FINALLY got home at 9:30, I got the best surprise of the day. Running in and out trying to help with the wheat project, trying to get all the food prepared, etc... I left the kitchen in a WRECK! I was THRILLED to come home to find it cleaned up. Not only that - Tim had all the kids pick up their rooms too. It was amazing! and a very welcome surprise!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
A new look - and a sweet Katrina
So - all you google reader people(like me), who read every post but rarely click on over to the original - feel free to pop on over and check out my blog's new look. After 2 full years, I decided to give it a face lift. It's been a couple days, and I still like it, so I believe it's a keeper.
After blogging all about our vacation (with emphasis on many of the the Murphy moments) I just wanted to do one last post about the vacation to let you know that we had a great vacation. (I can honestly say that - now that we are home and I am looking back.) I am really so thankful that we won the trip and were able to make some great family memories. The Murph'isms just added to the memory.
I thought I'd share one of the more touching moments. It actually took place on the WORST day - the lost ticket Tuesday. Tim and Aaron were in the park, and I was back in the hotel room getting the other 3 ready to go swimming. I finally lost it and started crying about the whole disaster. Now I should tell you, I don't cry easily or often. Books and movies are exceptions of course. I can cry easily for the pain and sadness of others - just not for myself. I'm slightly impaired in that area. Anyway, I digress. back to the story.
I was crying and having a tough time getting it together. Katrina was concerned and asked what was wrong. I expressed how sad I was that the Disneyland part of the trip (the whole reason we even went) was now ruined. She looked at me and in all seriousness said, "Mom, you don't need to cry. I don't care about it. Disneyland is fun, but my family is more important to me than Disneyland."
She is a sweet girl and I am so grateful that she is so loving, caring, and has a great eternal perspective on things. Don't be deceived, she still fights with her siblings at times, still cops an attitude that really gets me worried about the teenage years, and she is still a normal drama filled little girl, but I love her and can see so much faith and goodness in her.
Time to get moving, I need to get ready for church, and I'm still not prepared fully for my primary singing time. (I've got Sr. singing time planned, but not settled in my mind about Jr.) I'm supposed to be at church early too, since the choir is singing today and needs to do a pre-church run thorough. I'm not certain I should even go, since I have never practiced this particular song with them, however, our choir very small, and I am one of 3 altos (usually 1 - 2 at any given practice) and this week Tenille (one of the altos) is out of town, so I feel like I really need to go, learn the song quickly, and sing. So - here I go.
Hope you all have a beautiful Sabbath!
After blogging all about our vacation (with emphasis on many of the the Murphy moments) I just wanted to do one last post about the vacation to let you know that we had a great vacation. (I can honestly say that - now that we are home and I am looking back.) I am really so thankful that we won the trip and were able to make some great family memories. The Murph'isms just added to the memory.
I thought I'd share one of the more touching moments. It actually took place on the WORST day - the lost ticket Tuesday. Tim and Aaron were in the park, and I was back in the hotel room getting the other 3 ready to go swimming. I finally lost it and started crying about the whole disaster. Now I should tell you, I don't cry easily or often. Books and movies are exceptions of course. I can cry easily for the pain and sadness of others - just not for myself. I'm slightly impaired in that area. Anyway, I digress. back to the story.
I was crying and having a tough time getting it together. Katrina was concerned and asked what was wrong. I expressed how sad I was that the Disneyland part of the trip (the whole reason we even went) was now ruined. She looked at me and in all seriousness said, "Mom, you don't need to cry. I don't care about it. Disneyland is fun, but my family is more important to me than Disneyland."
She is a sweet girl and I am so grateful that she is so loving, caring, and has a great eternal perspective on things. Don't be deceived, she still fights with her siblings at times, still cops an attitude that really gets me worried about the teenage years, and she is still a normal drama filled little girl, but I love her and can see so much faith and goodness in her.
Time to get moving, I need to get ready for church, and I'm still not prepared fully for my primary singing time. (I've got Sr. singing time planned, but not settled in my mind about Jr.) I'm supposed to be at church early too, since the choir is singing today and needs to do a pre-church run thorough. I'm not certain I should even go, since I have never practiced this particular song with them, however, our choir very small, and I am one of 3 altos (usually 1 - 2 at any given practice) and this week Tenille (one of the altos) is out of town, so I feel like I really need to go, learn the song quickly, and sing. So - here I go.
Hope you all have a beautiful Sabbath!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
vacation - day 7 (home at last)
We slept in, ate breakfast, then headed out to the pool for a swim., The plan was to swim for an hour or so to wear the kids out, then hopefully they'd sleep a little more while we drove the rest of the way home. We got out to the pool, only to find that Murphy had gotten there before us and posted a POOL CLOSED sign! Unbelievable! The nerve of that guy! We swam anyway. (what a rebel I've turned into, eh?) The water was ICY cold, so the kids went between the pool and the hot tub. We let them play until the security guy came and told us that we couldn't swim. When asked why, the answer was that the hotel hadn't been able to hire a lifeguard, so the pool was closed until the found one - for liability reasons. HELLO!!! have they never been to any other motel. NONE of them have lifeguards. Instead they have signs posted that say "no lifeguard on duty. swim at own risk!" I was a little put out.
We had a fun family scavenger hunt. The park had this sign hung up, and each of the bugs were posted individually throughout the park. We divided up into two team and each team had to locate all the bugs on their 1/2 of the sign. Tim and Bryan won, but only because we never did locate the "luna moth head" I think it must have fallen off, since even after they won, Tim tried to find it too and we never did find it. Oh well, it was lots of fun looking.
The "closed pool"
We got everyone out and ready to go. Tim had mentioned a couple days before this that "everything that can go wrong on this vacation has gone wrong." we both noted that the exception to this was that the van hadn't broken down. This was very much on my mind as we filled the gas tank before leaving town. A man walked up to me and said, "My car ran out of gas and I need to get to San Bernadino (or some other San something or other city in Cali.) Can you help me out?" While my knee jerk reaction was to say no, my next thought was, "if I don't give this guy money, my van is going to break down on the way home." I gave him some money, wished him good luck with a smile, and when I got back in the van I said a little prayer that went something like, "I just helped that guy out; please, please let us get home safely and without any more trouble."
Everything went great on the way home. The kids traveled better than ever - without watching even one movie! We drove straight through until we got to Cedar City, then stopped at a great park there - "Park Discovery." We ate dinner there and let the kids play for about and hour and a half. They loved it. Then we loaded back up, and drove the rest of the way home. We got in at about 8:00 pm - tired and so glad to be home.
We had a fun family scavenger hunt. The park had this sign hung up, and each of the bugs were posted individually throughout the park. We divided up into two team and each team had to locate all the bugs on their 1/2 of the sign. Tim and Bryan won, but only because we never did locate the "luna moth head" I think it must have fallen off, since even after they won, Tim tried to find it too and we never did find it. Oh well, it was lots of fun looking.
These last couple pictures were take during the last 30 minutes. WE ARE ALMOST HOME!!!
(yes, he is really asleep, not just pretending)
(yes, he is really asleep, not just pretending)
vacation - day 6
Wednesday was a pretty good day. (heck, anything had to be an improvement from Tuesday, eh?) Tim went out in the morning to buy some breakfast and pick up some chocolate to give the sweet lady who helped us get new tickets. After he had left, Holly called to let me know that we could actually get into the park 1/2 hour early! Too late for that - Tim didn't get back until almost 9:30 and we still needed to get everything packed up since we had to check out by 11:00.
After getting everything loaded into the van, we headed back to the parks. We spend 1/2 a day in California Adventure riding missed rides and any repeats the kids wanted. This was actually the first day that our entire family went together on a ride. (the monsters inc ride)
Aaron said his WHOLE vacation would be "RUINED" if I didn't go on the "screamer" (major roller coaster) with him. So I sucked it up and went. OH MY HECK! It wasn't very fun for me. But I did it, and Aaron was thrilled.
At 3:30 we met up with Aaron and Holly again. They were done with the parks and were ready to hit the road. Before they left, the volunteered to take the 3 little kids for a while so I could go on some "big kid" rides with Tim. We took them up on the offer. They love it, since they got lucky and were able to see (and get pcitures with) Pooh bear, Tigger and Eyeore.
Tim, Aaron, and I took off running, hoping to get in as many rides as we could before 5:00. We did pretty well. We were able to pretty much walk right onto Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones. We got to Splash Mountain and found that there was a 50 minute wait time. We got fast passes for that, and then went over to ride the Matterhorn. That pretty much took up all of our time, and we met back up with the others at 5. We said goodbye to Aaron and Holly (I cannot even imagine what a NIGHTMARE this vacation would have been without them there to help out! - THANK YOU!!!!) Then we went back over to ride Splash Mountain. Amazingly enough, Bryan said he wanted to go on it with me and Aaron. (he changed his mind very soon after the ride started however, and he pretty much was terrified the whole time. Oh well.)
We continued to ride "family rides" until the park closed at 8. We were on the Nemo submarine ride (and waiting in line for it) until 8:30, then we had to hike out of the park, swing by Rain forest Cafe to buy Katrina's souvenir (we had convinced the kids to keep a running list of the things they wanted to buy until the last day, then they could pick their very favorite thing...), took the kids to go to the bathroom, and FINALLY at about 9:30 we were in the car and on our way.
We had decided to drive at least a couple hours that night, so we we would have a little jump on the LONG drive home. We looked at prices on motels in Barstow. The best price for a place with a pool was about $70. We found a place in Primm, Nevada for $25. Tim was confident we could drive the extra hour +, so we had booked that one. I wasn't sure we were going to make it. I was so exhausted that I was having a seriously hard time keeping my eyes open. AT LAST - at 1:00am we arrived at the hotel and checked in.
Here are more Disney pictures:
There were a few "murphy" moments during the day, my favorite being when everyone else was in line for Dumbo, and I realized Caleb needed to be changed. I took off the messy diaper, cleaned him all up, then reached into the bag for a new diaper. NO DIAPERS! Um, that is a problem - since now's he's a naked bum boy!!! I looked around until I saw a mother with a child that looked about the same size and bummed a diaper from her.
After getting everything loaded into the van, we headed back to the parks. We spend 1/2 a day in California Adventure riding missed rides and any repeats the kids wanted. This was actually the first day that our entire family went together on a ride. (the monsters inc ride)
Aaron said his WHOLE vacation would be "RUINED" if I didn't go on the "screamer" (major roller coaster) with him. So I sucked it up and went. OH MY HECK! It wasn't very fun for me. But I did it, and Aaron was thrilled.
At 3:30 we met up with Aaron and Holly again. They were done with the parks and were ready to hit the road. Before they left, the volunteered to take the 3 little kids for a while so I could go on some "big kid" rides with Tim. We took them up on the offer. They love it, since they got lucky and were able to see (and get pcitures with) Pooh bear, Tigger and Eyeore.
Tim, Aaron, and I took off running, hoping to get in as many rides as we could before 5:00. We did pretty well. We were able to pretty much walk right onto Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones. We got to Splash Mountain and found that there was a 50 minute wait time. We got fast passes for that, and then went over to ride the Matterhorn. That pretty much took up all of our time, and we met back up with the others at 5. We said goodbye to Aaron and Holly (I cannot even imagine what a NIGHTMARE this vacation would have been without them there to help out! - THANK YOU!!!!) Then we went back over to ride Splash Mountain. Amazingly enough, Bryan said he wanted to go on it with me and Aaron. (he changed his mind very soon after the ride started however, and he pretty much was terrified the whole time. Oh well.)
We continued to ride "family rides" until the park closed at 8. We were on the Nemo submarine ride (and waiting in line for it) until 8:30, then we had to hike out of the park, swing by Rain forest Cafe to buy Katrina's souvenir (we had convinced the kids to keep a running list of the things they wanted to buy until the last day, then they could pick their very favorite thing...), took the kids to go to the bathroom, and FINALLY at about 9:30 we were in the car and on our way.
We had decided to drive at least a couple hours that night, so we we would have a little jump on the LONG drive home. We looked at prices on motels in Barstow. The best price for a place with a pool was about $70. We found a place in Primm, Nevada for $25. Tim was confident we could drive the extra hour +, so we had booked that one. I wasn't sure we were going to make it. I was so exhausted that I was having a seriously hard time keeping my eyes open. AT LAST - at 1:00am we arrived at the hotel and checked in.
Here are more Disney pictures:
There were a few "murphy" moments during the day, my favorite being when everyone else was in line for Dumbo, and I realized Caleb needed to be changed. I took off the messy diaper, cleaned him all up, then reached into the bag for a new diaper. NO DIAPERS! Um, that is a problem - since now's he's a naked bum boy!!! I looked around until I saw a mother with a child that looked about the same size and bummed a diaper from her.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
vacation - day 5
(aka "Murphy's revenge")
Tuesday morning we gave the kids their Disney shirts and plush figures that we had pre-purchased. (we got them at a disney store sale for a fraction of what we would have paid to buy the same thing in the park...) The kids LOVED their stuff!
Tuesday was also the day we could get into the park an hour early because we were staying the Disney Grand California Hotel. (it really was a fabulous hotel, in case you are wondering... If you have the $$$, I highly recommend it) We met Aaron and Holly down in the lobby at 8:30 - excited and ready to hit the parks. I said to Tim, "You have the tickets, right?" He checked his pockets. then his wallet. No tickets. No worries, he ran upstairs to get them.
He came back down. NO tickets. He ran out to the van to see if maybe he left them in there when he had gone out the night before looking to buy a recharger for his phone. (we left his charger in San Diego.) He came back in. NO Tickets. I went up stairs and started tearing the room apart. NO TICKETS!! After about 20 minutes, we bid farewell to the Burgies and continued the frantic search. We explained to the kids what was happening, went back up to the room and continued looking every where. We called the front desk, "sorry, tickets are considered cash and cannot be replaced if lost." We called the hotel lost and found. We dumped out all the suitcases, stroller basket, trash cans, and everything - hoping to find them. We said many prayers - which appeared to go unanswered.
The last place we knew we had them was going back into the park after dinner the night before. Then we split up. Tim and Aaron went to Grizzly Rapids and as an after thought he said, "wait, I'll get wet, take this stuff, " and handed me all the stuff in his pockets. I took the stack of stuff - looked like park maps and other stuff, and I just threw them into the bottom of the stroller. Our best guess is that the tickets were in that stack, and they got knocked out at some point. Maybe while getting a drink, or maybe a kid grabbed a map and the tickets fell out??? who knows. Any way you looked at it - the tickets were gone. We looked online to find out what it would cost to replace the 3 day park hoppers that had been part of our prize. $600!!!! (So much for our "free trip" eh?)
Tim went down to the park to check their lost and found. No luck. After talking with Aaron and Holly (via cell phone) we got their extra ticket (they also won tickets for 4. Bryan had already been using one of theirs, but they had one more) and Tim purchased a $60, one day, one park, child's ticket. OUCH! He came back to the room and we determined that he would take Aaron into the park until 4pm, then come back and I would take Katrina in. I obviously wasn't thinking clearly, because soon after Tim left, I realize this plan wouldn't work - what about BRYAN??? I tried calling Tim, but because his phone battery was 90% dead, he had the phone turned off.
It was HORRIBLE!
I had a little cry, then got the kids ready to go down for a swim. Just before we left, Holly called me. They had figured that we could use the tickets we did still have (theirs...) and get everyone into the park by doing a little tricky ticket maneuvering. I realize that this is technically WRONG, and I DO have integrity and would never do it under usual circumstances - however I did it anyway and didn't feel too badly about it since I knew we DID in fact have tickets, they were just lost. Aaron and Holly met me and the kids at the front gate and we got everyone in. (I was a nervous wreck, just waiting for the Disney police to come arrest us...) After we got in, Aaron and Holly had to go since they had reservations for lunch at the Blue Bayou, and off I went with the kids.
Imagine if you will, a lone mother, with a 5 year old, 3 year old and a 1 1/2 year old, trying to enjoy Disneyland. IT WAS INSANE! There were lots of rides that Katrina and Bryan could ride, but not alone. However, some of those same ride wouldn't allow a lap rider. SO - many rides were eliminated that way. Any time Caleb managed to fall asleep, I would have to wake him up to go on the rides. We didn't get ANY pictures since Tim and Aaron had taken the camera. We never did hook up with Tim. Katrina and Bryan both freaked out on LOTS of rides. It was crazy! Mr Toad's wild ride was too dark and scary. Pinocchio and Snow White were both dark and loud and scary, you get the idea... It a Small World had water. I finally talked them into going on It's a Small World, and thank heavens, after they tried it once, they liked it and wanted to go again. We were in line for Snow White, had been waiting about 15 minutes, and had just made the last switch back turn, when Katrina announces, "I have to go to the bathroom. NOW!" (why is it that kids NEVER have to go to the bathroom at the same time??? you get the general idea... Suffice it to say, it was a LONG day. Since I had no idea if we'd be coming back to the park or not, I didn't dare leave until the park closed, so from 11:30 - 8:30 I did the solo mom thing. Aaron and Holly did come find me later in the day and stayed for a couple rides, but I didn't make them stay with me. - I already felt like we had disrupted their vacation enough...
I finally got back to the hotel at about 8:30/8:40 and COLLAPSED! (Tim and Aaron were on their way down to go swimming. I sent them down and I put everyone else to bed and I think I was asleep before they got back.
I found out that Tim had gone back to the hotel at 4:00 to switch kids, found us gone and had called Holly to see where we were. Then he went back to the Disneyland lost and found, talked with a manager for over an hour, and finally got them to issue 4 more tickets for us. "I really like chocolate" she said. So the next morning before going back into the park, Tim went shopping and bought a bunch of yummy chocolate for her. I guess our prayers were answered, in a very round about drawn out way. We were able to get back into the park and the kids were able to have a fun time, and a very kind park supervisor reissued us tickets.
I'm sure you can imagine that at this point I was pretty sure this had been the WORST VACATION EVER! and that I would NEVER come back to Disneyland until all the kids were old enough to go on the rides and were less timid.
As I said, no pictures of the other kids since I had no camera, but here a slide show of Aaron's adventures.
Tuesday morning we gave the kids their Disney shirts and plush figures that we had pre-purchased. (we got them at a disney store sale for a fraction of what we would have paid to buy the same thing in the park...) The kids LOVED their stuff!
Tuesday was also the day we could get into the park an hour early because we were staying the Disney Grand California Hotel. (it really was a fabulous hotel, in case you are wondering... If you have the $$$, I highly recommend it) We met Aaron and Holly down in the lobby at 8:30 - excited and ready to hit the parks. I said to Tim, "You have the tickets, right?" He checked his pockets. then his wallet. No tickets. No worries, he ran upstairs to get them.He came back down. NO tickets. He ran out to the van to see if maybe he left them in there when he had gone out the night before looking to buy a recharger for his phone. (we left his charger in San Diego.) He came back in. NO Tickets. I went up stairs and started tearing the room apart. NO TICKETS!! After about 20 minutes, we bid farewell to the Burgies and continued the frantic search. We explained to the kids what was happening, went back up to the room and continued looking every where. We called the front desk, "sorry, tickets are considered cash and cannot be replaced if lost." We called the hotel lost and found. We dumped out all the suitcases, stroller basket, trash cans, and everything - hoping to find them. We said many prayers - which appeared to go unanswered.
The last place we knew we had them was going back into the park after dinner the night before. Then we split up. Tim and Aaron went to Grizzly Rapids and as an after thought he said, "wait, I'll get wet, take this stuff, " and handed me all the stuff in his pockets. I took the stack of stuff - looked like park maps and other stuff, and I just threw them into the bottom of the stroller. Our best guess is that the tickets were in that stack, and they got knocked out at some point. Maybe while getting a drink, or maybe a kid grabbed a map and the tickets fell out??? who knows. Any way you looked at it - the tickets were gone. We looked online to find out what it would cost to replace the 3 day park hoppers that had been part of our prize. $600!!!! (So much for our "free trip" eh?)
Tim went down to the park to check their lost and found. No luck. After talking with Aaron and Holly (via cell phone) we got their extra ticket (they also won tickets for 4. Bryan had already been using one of theirs, but they had one more) and Tim purchased a $60, one day, one park, child's ticket. OUCH! He came back to the room and we determined that he would take Aaron into the park until 4pm, then come back and I would take Katrina in. I obviously wasn't thinking clearly, because soon after Tim left, I realize this plan wouldn't work - what about BRYAN??? I tried calling Tim, but because his phone battery was 90% dead, he had the phone turned off.
It was HORRIBLE!
I had a little cry, then got the kids ready to go down for a swim. Just before we left, Holly called me. They had figured that we could use the tickets we did still have (theirs...) and get everyone into the park by doing a little tricky ticket maneuvering. I realize that this is technically WRONG, and I DO have integrity and would never do it under usual circumstances - however I did it anyway and didn't feel too badly about it since I knew we DID in fact have tickets, they were just lost. Aaron and Holly met me and the kids at the front gate and we got everyone in. (I was a nervous wreck, just waiting for the Disney police to come arrest us...) After we got in, Aaron and Holly had to go since they had reservations for lunch at the Blue Bayou, and off I went with the kids.
Imagine if you will, a lone mother, with a 5 year old, 3 year old and a 1 1/2 year old, trying to enjoy Disneyland. IT WAS INSANE! There were lots of rides that Katrina and Bryan could ride, but not alone. However, some of those same ride wouldn't allow a lap rider. SO - many rides were eliminated that way. Any time Caleb managed to fall asleep, I would have to wake him up to go on the rides. We didn't get ANY pictures since Tim and Aaron had taken the camera. We never did hook up with Tim. Katrina and Bryan both freaked out on LOTS of rides. It was crazy! Mr Toad's wild ride was too dark and scary. Pinocchio and Snow White were both dark and loud and scary, you get the idea... It a Small World had water. I finally talked them into going on It's a Small World, and thank heavens, after they tried it once, they liked it and wanted to go again. We were in line for Snow White, had been waiting about 15 minutes, and had just made the last switch back turn, when Katrina announces, "I have to go to the bathroom. NOW!" (why is it that kids NEVER have to go to the bathroom at the same time??? you get the general idea... Suffice it to say, it was a LONG day. Since I had no idea if we'd be coming back to the park or not, I didn't dare leave until the park closed, so from 11:30 - 8:30 I did the solo mom thing. Aaron and Holly did come find me later in the day and stayed for a couple rides, but I didn't make them stay with me. - I already felt like we had disrupted their vacation enough...
I finally got back to the hotel at about 8:30/8:40 and COLLAPSED! (Tim and Aaron were on their way down to go swimming. I sent them down and I put everyone else to bed and I think I was asleep before they got back.
I found out that Tim had gone back to the hotel at 4:00 to switch kids, found us gone and had called Holly to see where we were. Then he went back to the Disneyland lost and found, talked with a manager for over an hour, and finally got them to issue 4 more tickets for us. "I really like chocolate" she said. So the next morning before going back into the park, Tim went shopping and bought a bunch of yummy chocolate for her. I guess our prayers were answered, in a very round about drawn out way. We were able to get back into the park and the kids were able to have a fun time, and a very kind park supervisor reissued us tickets.
I'm sure you can imagine that at this point I was pretty sure this had been the WORST VACATION EVER! and that I would NEVER come back to Disneyland until all the kids were old enough to go on the rides and were less timid.
As I said, no pictures of the other kids since I had no camera, but here a slide show of Aaron's adventures.
vacation - day 4
At this point of our vacation, we picked up an extra member of the family. His name is MURPHY, and apparently he has his own set of laws we had to play by.
Monday morning we got up early and finished loading the van. The plan was to be on the road by 7, so we could be at Disneyland by 9am to meet our friends, Aaron and Holly Burgie ...
(Insert Murphy)
We had all the kids in the van, had said goodbye to everyone, then Tim (luckily) noticed that Bryan was missing one shoe. We searched and searched - for 40 minutes. Finally Tim found the missing shoe, we said goodbye all over again, and off we went. We then hit the San Diego, Monday morning, 8:00 rush hour traffic. I called ahead to let Holly know we were going to be an hour later than planned, and we set the GPS (new toy for this trip) to take us to "Disneyland Resort." Because I still didn't really trust the GPS, I had out my "old fashioned" map and I determined that I thought we would get off on Katella Ave. Instead of doing that, we followed the GPS. It took us one exit PAST Katella, then we got off. We could see Disneyland over to the left, but the GPS sent us right. then left, then left again - - BACK ONTO THE FREEWAY!!! What in the world.....????? Then right there in the middle of the freeway, the good ole GPS says, "you have reached your destination." Um, I don't think so!
We got off the next exit and took a few more wrong turns before finally finding our way to the intersection of KATELLA (you can probably hear the "I told you so" clear from there, eh?) and Disney Way. We arrived at the hotel, and we were actually able to check in early. That was nice, but I felt bad because Aaron and Holly had already been waiting for a long time, and moving us and all our gear is no small task. (Not to mention that Caleb had thrown up during the drive so I had to take the time to clean up the car seat and change his clothes...)
FINALLY - I would guess 10:30 or 11:00 - we headed to the park. We went to California Adventure first. Things were going okay, until I think it was Katrina's 4th ride... Grizzly Rapids. (for you Utahans, it is very similar to Rattlesnake rapids at Lagoon) Aaron wanted to go, so the Burgie's and I took Aaron and Katrina. (Bryan was just a hair too short...) Katrina was excited for about 2 seconds, then she was terrified. She cried and clutched onto me the ENTIRE ride - and for the new few days she remained terrified of any and every ride that had water!
We decided to go to eat dinner early, since Holly had read online that the park clears out just a bit during while everyone goes to eat. (between 5 - 7 I think, or maybe it was 4 - 6...) We figured if we ate early, we'd get the benefit of shorter lines while everyone else went to eat. We went to the Rain Forest Cafe in Downtown Disney. My family had never been to a Rain Forest Cafe ande we had been pretty excited about it. Tim, Aaron, Aaron, and I thought the "rain forest ambiance" was great, but it made Caleb, Bryan, and Katrina very nervous. There were some animated monkeys above our table that would come to life and swing. Every time they did, Bryan would freak out. Caleb started crying before I could even start eating, and he wouldn't calm down. I took him outside and after a few minutes he finally calmed down .
Aaron B. finished eating and he came out to find me and volunteered to stay with Caleb so I could go eat. I was about to take him up on the offer but decided to try Caleb inside once more. He did better this time and ate a little bit. The other kids went with the Burgies to explore the rest of the cafe while I ate. Katrina only made it a little way away before she came running back. An animated gorilla had scared her... Oh brother~
Back to the park we went, and we split up. Aaron and Holly went over to do Tower of Terror, Tim and Aaron went to Grizzly Rapids, and I took the little kids to bug land. Tim and Aaron met us in bug land after they were done and went on a couple rides, then at about 6 we decided to head over to the Toy Story ride that we had wanted to ride before we went to dinner. We got there, only to find out that the park closed at 6! No new people allowed in line. If we had known that... we wouldn't have gone to early dinner. we would have stayed in the park! Oh well. by this time we were EXHAUSTED, so we decided to call it a day and go swimming back at the hotel. We got changed and went down to the pool. The kids had been so excited because the pool had a little water slide they could go on. We got to the pool, and almost immediately, the life guard announces "the water slide will be closed in 10 minutes! For crying out loud! what is up with this day? Katrina was still too shaken up from Grizzly rapids and wouldn't go down the slide. (I expect that with more time she would have warmed up to it, but we didn't even bother trying with only 10 minutes.) Aaron went down as many times as he could in the 10 minutes, then that was the end of that. We stayed in the water for a while, then went up to bed. The kids were just beat and feel asleep almost instantly.
Here's some more pictures: ( I know it looks like a lot, but I promise, it's really just a small sampling...)
Monday morning we got up early and finished loading the van. The plan was to be on the road by 7, so we could be at Disneyland by 9am to meet our friends, Aaron and Holly Burgie ...
(Insert Murphy)
We had all the kids in the van, had said goodbye to everyone, then Tim (luckily) noticed that Bryan was missing one shoe. We searched and searched - for 40 minutes. Finally Tim found the missing shoe, we said goodbye all over again, and off we went. We then hit the San Diego, Monday morning, 8:00 rush hour traffic. I called ahead to let Holly know we were going to be an hour later than planned, and we set the GPS (new toy for this trip) to take us to "Disneyland Resort." Because I still didn't really trust the GPS, I had out my "old fashioned" map and I determined that I thought we would get off on Katella Ave. Instead of doing that, we followed the GPS. It took us one exit PAST Katella, then we got off. We could see Disneyland over to the left, but the GPS sent us right. then left, then left again - - BACK ONTO THE FREEWAY!!! What in the world.....????? Then right there in the middle of the freeway, the good ole GPS says, "you have reached your destination." Um, I don't think so!
We got off the next exit and took a few more wrong turns before finally finding our way to the intersection of KATELLA (you can probably hear the "I told you so" clear from there, eh?) and Disney Way. We arrived at the hotel, and we were actually able to check in early. That was nice, but I felt bad because Aaron and Holly had already been waiting for a long time, and moving us and all our gear is no small task. (Not to mention that Caleb had thrown up during the drive so I had to take the time to clean up the car seat and change his clothes...)
FINALLY - I would guess 10:30 or 11:00 - we headed to the park. We went to California Adventure first. Things were going okay, until I think it was Katrina's 4th ride... Grizzly Rapids. (for you Utahans, it is very similar to Rattlesnake rapids at Lagoon) Aaron wanted to go, so the Burgie's and I took Aaron and Katrina. (Bryan was just a hair too short...) Katrina was excited for about 2 seconds, then she was terrified. She cried and clutched onto me the ENTIRE ride - and for the new few days she remained terrified of any and every ride that had water!
We decided to go to eat dinner early, since Holly had read online that the park clears out just a bit during while everyone goes to eat. (between 5 - 7 I think, or maybe it was 4 - 6...) We figured if we ate early, we'd get the benefit of shorter lines while everyone else went to eat. We went to the Rain Forest Cafe in Downtown Disney. My family had never been to a Rain Forest Cafe ande we had been pretty excited about it. Tim, Aaron, Aaron, and I thought the "rain forest ambiance" was great, but it made Caleb, Bryan, and Katrina very nervous. There were some animated monkeys above our table that would come to life and swing. Every time they did, Bryan would freak out. Caleb started crying before I could even start eating, and he wouldn't calm down. I took him outside and after a few minutes he finally calmed down .
Aaron B. finished eating and he came out to find me and volunteered to stay with Caleb so I could go eat. I was about to take him up on the offer but decided to try Caleb inside once more. He did better this time and ate a little bit. The other kids went with the Burgies to explore the rest of the cafe while I ate. Katrina only made it a little way away before she came running back. An animated gorilla had scared her... Oh brother~
Back to the park we went, and we split up. Aaron and Holly went over to do Tower of Terror, Tim and Aaron went to Grizzly Rapids, and I took the little kids to bug land. Tim and Aaron met us in bug land after they were done and went on a couple rides, then at about 6 we decided to head over to the Toy Story ride that we had wanted to ride before we went to dinner. We got there, only to find out that the park closed at 6! No new people allowed in line. If we had known that... we wouldn't have gone to early dinner. we would have stayed in the park! Oh well. by this time we were EXHAUSTED, so we decided to call it a day and go swimming back at the hotel. We got changed and went down to the pool. The kids had been so excited because the pool had a little water slide they could go on. We got to the pool, and almost immediately, the life guard announces "the water slide will be closed in 10 minutes! For crying out loud! what is up with this day? Katrina was still too shaken up from Grizzly rapids and wouldn't go down the slide. (I expect that with more time she would have warmed up to it, but we didn't even bother trying with only 10 minutes.) Aaron went down as many times as he could in the 10 minutes, then that was the end of that. We stayed in the water for a while, then went up to bed. The kids were just beat and feel asleep almost instantly.
Here's some more pictures: ( I know it looks like a lot, but I promise, it's really just a small sampling...)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
vacation - day 3
Sunday was a calm and relaxing day. We went to church in the morning. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to attend a Relief Society lesson and I especially enjoyed sitting through an adult Sunday school class with Tim. It has been a really LONG time since I've been able to do that. (3+ years) (I must confess however, that I stood in the doorway of the primary room a little longer than necessary. Under the guise of making sure my kids were okay in their classes, I stood for a while, checking out the primary set up, and especially watching the chorister. I really do love primary, the music, and the spirit of the children.)
We enjoyed a laid back Sunday afternoon - then went to watch the San Diego cousins at a rehearsal for their sign language classes upcoming performance. It was so fun to watch. I tell you what - if I lived in the area, I would be in that class for sure! Then we drove over to the San Diego temple. unfortunately we got there too late and the gates were closed, but we still got some pictures.
My sister in law Kathy had been out of town, teaching a seminar in Portland, and she got back Sunday night. Tim and I had taken over their bedroom while she was out of town, so while Richard and the kids went to pick her up at the airport, we packed up all our gear so we'd be ready to leave early the next morning, changed the bedding etc... and did our best to get the room back ready for her. I was glad I got to visit with her for at least a short time before we left the next morning. (Richard and Kathy are just amazing people. I am always so impressed and inspired after spending time with them. I always come away wanting to improve my life in so many ways.) THANK YOU Richard and Kathy for a great visit!!! We sure do love you!
We enjoyed a laid back Sunday afternoon - then went to watch the San Diego cousins at a rehearsal for their sign language classes upcoming performance. It was so fun to watch. I tell you what - if I lived in the area, I would be in that class for sure! Then we drove over to the San Diego temple. unfortunately we got there too late and the gates were closed, but we still got some pictures.
My sister in law Kathy had been out of town, teaching a seminar in Portland, and she got back Sunday night. Tim and I had taken over their bedroom while she was out of town, so while Richard and the kids went to pick her up at the airport, we packed up all our gear so we'd be ready to leave early the next morning, changed the bedding etc... and did our best to get the room back ready for her. I was glad I got to visit with her for at least a short time before we left the next morning. (Richard and Kathy are just amazing people. I am always so impressed and inspired after spending time with them. I always come away wanting to improve my life in so many ways.) THANK YOU Richard and Kathy for a great visit!!! We sure do love you!
vacation - day 2
Aaron spent Saturday morning taking pictures of the "San Diego" flowers, chasing the chickens and gathering eggs, jumping on the trampoline, learning all about gopher traps (even got to see a gopher that got caught...) hiking up the hill, and running around being generally crazy, with his cousins. Katrina and Bryan were much calmer, and were very content to hang around with the younger cousins in the yard, jumping on the tramp and swinging. They loved picking grapefruit and lemons from Richard's trees. they (and I) though that was totally cool~! SO fresh!
The main attraction of the day was going to La Jolla beach. It was a slightly cool day, (mostly a cool breeze that was the problem) which damped the experience a bit for me (if you haven't noticed yet, I don't do COLD very well.)
Richard ran into his boss from work while we were there. They had come to the beach and for the afternoon and had brought their kayak. They offered it to us to take out. This was a great opportunity for us that we didn't want to pass up.
Up until this time, I had kept my clothes on over my suit and stayed warm and dry. I was afraid that Tim would get me out there into the ocean and then tip the kayak - as a joke - to get me all wet. After he had promised that he wouldn't tip it, I agreed and off we went. I sat in the front, and Tim proceeded to push it out into the water. Having never done this before - we had no idea what to expect, but EVERY wave came right up over the front of the kayak and in very short order, I WAS COMPLETELY DRENCHED! Tim was laughing SO hard. It was a little better once Tim actually got into the boat, so it wasn't so front heavy, but I still got a good dousing with every wave until we finally paddled out beyond the breaking waves. After a short time we rode the waves back into shore. I was glad I did it, but I was really wishing I had taken off my shorts and shirt so that I had warm DRY clothes to put on after wards - oh well.
After we got back to shore, Tim took Aaron out, then Richard took Tina and Lydia for a turn. It really was fun!
Here are more pictures (get used to it... we took TONS of pictures).
(I would do a slide show, but since I'll be printing out my blog into book form, I like to put in individual pictures because those print out. I will probably do a slide show of Disneyland, in addition to posting individual pictures, since we have far too many pictures to post them all...)
Tim, Charlotte, and Bryan
(L to R) Tim, Aaron, Jonathon, Tina, Lydia, and Richard
Tim and Aaron in the Kayak
Richard and Tina's turn
It was a great day!!!
The main attraction of the day was going to La Jolla beach. It was a slightly cool day, (mostly a cool breeze that was the problem) which damped the experience a bit for me (if you haven't noticed yet, I don't do COLD very well.)Richard ran into his boss from work while we were there. They had come to the beach and for the afternoon and had brought their kayak. They offered it to us to take out. This was a great opportunity for us that we didn't want to pass up.
Up until this time, I had kept my clothes on over my suit and stayed warm and dry. I was afraid that Tim would get me out there into the ocean and then tip the kayak - as a joke - to get me all wet. After he had promised that he wouldn't tip it, I agreed and off we went. I sat in the front, and Tim proceeded to push it out into the water. Having never done this before - we had no idea what to expect, but EVERY wave came right up over the front of the kayak and in very short order, I WAS COMPLETELY DRENCHED! Tim was laughing SO hard. It was a little better once Tim actually got into the boat, so it wasn't so front heavy, but I still got a good dousing with every wave until we finally paddled out beyond the breaking waves. After a short time we rode the waves back into shore. I was glad I did it, but I was really wishing I had taken off my shorts and shirt so that I had warm DRY clothes to put on after wards - oh well.
After we got back to shore, Tim took Aaron out, then Richard took Tina and Lydia for a turn. It really was fun!
Here are more pictures (get used to it... we took TONS of pictures).
(I would do a slide show, but since I'll be printing out my blog into book form, I like to put in individual pictures because those print out. I will probably do a slide show of Disneyland, in addition to posting individual pictures, since we have far too many pictures to post them all...)
Tim swinging Bryan
Tim, Charlotte, and Bryan
Caleb
Tim and Caleb (Bryan and Aaron in the background)
Katrina, Charlotte and Stephanie
Aaron - wanted to be buried to keep warm...
Caleb "driving his sand car"
Richard, Stephanie, Charlotte, and Katrina
Bryan and Caleb
Tim and Caleb (Bryan and Aaron in the background)
Katrina, Charlotte and Stephanie
Aaron - wanted to be buried to keep warm...
Caleb "driving his sand car"
Richard, Stephanie, Charlotte, and Katrina
Bryan and Caleb
(L to R) Tim, Aaron, Jonathon, Tina, Lydia, and Richard
Tim and Aaron in the Kayak
Richard and Tina's turn
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