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.

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...)

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!

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 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 KatrinaBryan and Caleb

(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!!!

vacation - day 1

Friday, May 1st, found us waking up at 3am, gathering the last minute stuff, (hygiene bag, cooler, and all the forgotten stuff that I thought of as I tried to sleep Thursday night...) loading the kids into the stuffed to the brim van, and pulling out of town just before 4am. I had worked really hard all week to get everything ready and was slightly disappointed by the fact that I still felt like a "last minute Susie" trying to get out of here, but oh well, such is life.

Friday we drove to Richard (Tim's bro) and Kathy's house in San Diego. It was long drive, but the kids did well. We spent Friday night visiting, swimming in the pool. Truth be told, it was a bit chilly for that, but the kids just "HAD to." (for the record, I didn't even bother putting on my suit. I wasn't getting into that COLD water!)

Here are some pictures of the day:

Welcome to Arizona... we are on our way...

We stopped to eat lunch in Baker, CA. Little did we know that there is NOTHING in Baker. Not a park to be found. we found a patch of grass (more like weeds pretending to be grass...) behind a gas station and there we ate.

Aaron of course found a tree up he went...
Katrina and Caleb eating - Caleb wants to climb like big brother

Aaron found this dog print "fossil" - they were all pretty excited about that... and pretty much devastated when I said we couldn't take it with us. I am such a MEAN mother!Katrina and Bryan taking a quick run through the sprinkler before loading back into the van.When I see this bridge, I get excited 'cause I know we are ALMOST there!!!

Aaron and Bryan ready to dive in.
Tim and Caleb - bbbrrrrrrr

I'm back (almost)

Hiya everyone! did ya miss me?

After our week of being unplugged, I had a couple days to clean the house and get packed and everything so we could leave to go on our Disneyland vacation. I didn't blog then, because I didn't want to announce to the world that my house would be vacant for a whole week - ya know what I mean?

Anyway, we are home. We had a great trip, I had a wonderful mothers day yesterday, and I really don't think I will EVER get "caught up" on my blogging, but I will give it a shot. LATER.

Right now I am going to clean up the kitchen, finish filling my new herb garden containers with the soil and get the seeds planted, start a load of laundry, fold the laundry that has been sitting in the dryer since Saturday, change a diaper that smells pretty ripe, send a note of condolence to my sweet brother and sister in law (his mom died yesterday, rather unexpectedly), plan the menu for the week, and vacuum the house. THEN I will sit down and try to catch up a bit on the blogging.

Hope to post again VERY soon!