D.I.S.N.E.Y.L.A.N.D.!!!

So we're back and I have to say Disneyland was AMAZING! Here's a recap:

Saturday: We planned to leave as early as possible, but ended up leaving around 9:00 so Mom and Will got tired of waiting for us and left before us. We met up in Beaver for our first break. We found a place (The Creamery) to stop that ended up being SO clean and had lots for the kids to do while we waited for them to catch up to us. We got some food and let the kids pick out some ice cream flavors (we picked superman, pirates booty, cotton candy, strawberry cheesecake, and mint chocolate chip), which they loved. Unfortunately, it started to rain right as they showed up so we didn't have time to visit. Our next stop was set for the Vegas area. Things were going smoothly, but then Mom text me before she got to the stop to say their truck was breaking down. Once they got to the stop and we met back up with them (after playing at a playground for a, literal, hot minute) they revealed the truck was DOA and they had to buy another one. This definitely put a big damper on the start of the trip. We had to leave them while they waited to get the new truck and ended up stopping in Primm for dinner. I had hoped to do Subway (our road trip tradition), but the Subway was closed so we did Denny's. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that was in the casino and we were kind of stressed out at this point so instead of trying to find something else, we just stuck with that. It was disgusting. We were able to fill up and just power through to our rental and set up for the night. It was late (10 PM), but we made it (Mom and Will didn't even get their truck till about 6 or so and didn't get to their RV park until 2 AM). We still had to get groceries ordered (couldn't be delivered until the next night though...buggar!). While the day started good, it ended up more annoying than anything towards the end, but we made it safe and sound so that's what matters.

Sunday: We started our first (early) day at Goofy's Kitchen for the character breakfast. I was so glad I put out outfits and needed items the night before, that made it a much smoother morning! Mom decided they'd get a few hours sleep, meet us there, and then head back for a nap before coming to the parks. I was SO happy we decided to do this. The kids went wild with the characters and the food (buffets are great for kids!). 

While it put a delay on our first day, I knew I was just going to take slow and do what we can without freaking out, so it was fine. We got to the park and our first ride at 11 AM so it was quite the delay (it didn't help that we decided to skip the shuttle...big mistake!), but we started with the Astro Orbiter ride and, while Lucy was nervous at the start of it, she (and Pierce) ended up loving it and wanted to ride more haha. We rode about 3 rides and then took a snack/bathroom break and waited for Mom and Will to show up (with a late night and early morning, the kids were antsy for this break).

We rode a few more rides (Cara was begging for The Matterhorn so we did a rider switch on that one. Mom and Will took her and Gwen while we did the Teacups and Dumbo with Lucy and Pierce) and got pictures with a couple characters (with autographs). The kids handled the wait times pretty well and seemed to love every ride we did. We went to Mom's for dinner that night (bbq burgers and hot dogs...so yum!) and then headed out to Wal Mart to get our groceries (their shopper person was AWFUL so we canceled that and did it ourselves). We headed back to our rental, wanting to do baths, but the kids were completely ZONKED, so we just went to bed. It was an exhausting day, but a good start. Luckily, the park helped me change our "rest day". It was going to be our last day (in case we needed an extra day at the park), but we decided to change it to the middle of our trip, plus we knew 4 days should be enough for us. We didn't need 5!

Monday: Today was a day that we had planned to get as much crossed off the list as we could. We left the AirBNB by 7:30, but didn't get to the park till 9 (we were only 20 minutes away from the parking too! The traffic was AWFUL and slow). It was our day in California Adventures and I was glad that park was the smaller of the two. I was also excited to finally do the Guardians of the Galaxy ride! (Tower of Terror was my favorite so I was upset when they changed it...luckily it's still a great ride!).

Larry, Cara, Gwen, and I then did the Cars ride while Mom and Will took Pierce and Lucy to do the smaller Cars rides. They did the rider switch and we did a snack break. Gwen mentioned on the Cars ride that it gave her butterflies and "now they are hungry!" (haha). 

Mom and Will then took their "dog check" break while we did the Little Mermaid and some character meetings. Luckily, we got a good system down of just snacking throughout the day instead of getting lunch, this saved a bunch of money (but we did get treats every day). When Mom and Will came back and we did the Incredicoaster while they took the kids on Midway Mania (both had incredibly long lines), and then we did the Ferris Wheel (Boomer stood that out). 

On the Ferris Wheel I finally got the "this is the best day ever" comment from Lucy (I kept joking that I'd get that all the time for simple things before this trip so I was waiting for it). The kids also kept squealing on the Ferris Wheel (we got the swinging one) so that made it an awesome ride!

This night was our turn for dinner. We wanted to do pizzas, but our AirBNB didn't have an oven so we switched it to tortellini (which everyone liked). We finally had a night we could do a bath for the kids (well, shower, but the one in the rental was HUGE so Larry could wash the kids without taking his clothes off). Unfortunately, the kids and Larry were starting to get sick this day so we loaded up on oranges, medicine, and immune vitamins. I was glad the next day was our "reset" day so we could catch up on sleep this night.

Tuesday: Tuesday was honestly my favorite day of this whole trip (which is kind of sad since it had almost nothing to do with Disneyland haha. Cara ended up having another loose tooth (I thought she was lying at first because she "discovered" it right after I wondered when she'd get her next one, but it is legit!). We woke up feeling so refreshed and well rested. We started the day at Ponderosa Park. I saw this on our drive each day and it looked fun. It had some swings, a splash pad area (too cold for us though), and a little workout area. Unfortunately, the longer we were there the more sketchy the park became. Complete with a bathroom druggie, a homeless man digging through trash nearby, and another dad telling us not to play with the water in the splash pad (because it was so dirty) and to watch out for needles. We ended up moving to a much nicer park in a condo neighborhood. It had better equipment and LOTS of kids. The only problem is there were no bathrooms and the kids ended up needing to go so I had to go to a gas station on the corner (which was disgustingly dirty). We got to play tag and other games with the kids and Cara crossed the monkey bars all by herself!

We met Mom and Will at Subway for lunch and then dropped Larry and Pierce at the rental for nap time while Mom and me and the girls did LOTS of shopping at Downtown Disney (so many fun things we found!). Also, how cute are all the purple trees here? I LOVE them! We then got Larry and Pierce and came back to the RV Park for swimming. Pierce started jumping into the pool all by himself (no one to catch him) and loved it. He kept doing it over and over again. Lucy even swam on her own, instead of needing to be held the whole time. We ended up going to this pizza place next to the RV Park for dinner. We did have to do another quick Wal Mart trip for some lotion (poor Lucy's skin) and a blanket we planned to use for the fireworks. We got back to the rental for bath and early bed again. Everyone seemed to be so happy and content today!

Wednesday: Today was the day we learned our lessons. We got up early, left early, and got to the parking and shuttles early. We got to California Adventures and rode LOTS of rides. It was our longest day at the parks so far. Gwen was so sweet and was so concerned about people knowing they needed to secure their stuff on the Goofy's Sky School ride. We also got to ride the Spider Man ride twice! We saw lots of characters and got lots of pictures and autographs. 

We got so much done we were able to head over to Disney to cross off more things. We finally got to meet Mickey and attempted to do the Runaway Railroad (the line took SO long and the ride ended up breaking so we gave up...SO annoying!). Mom and Will did dinner (sloppy joes, which we all loved). Pierce got so sick of not having regular naps by this point and wanted to be held ALL day long (Larry was SO sore after today). We stayed at the RV Park to watch the fireworks. The kids were pretty ornery and ready to sleep, but they ended up loving the show and were excited they got to see it. Lucy talked the WHOLE way home about the fireworks haha. We, of course, didn't have time for baths this night, but it was fine. We had a lot of fun!

Thursday: Today was a great last day (we FINALLY had our morning timing down). We were at the park (Disney) early enough to cross off Indiana Jones, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, and Thunder Mountain within 2 hours! We then headed over to the Star Wars area (which was really cool!). I finally got to try the blue milk (pretty yum) and we rode the Smuggler's Run ride so that the three girls could ride. It had a shorter wait (which was nice because I ended up having to pee, like, super bad while in line). We did the rider switch, but by the time I got off I realized I lost my phone (GRRR!). Mom and Will were still able to get on quickly doing the single rider. Good thing was we found my phone in the lost in found while they rode so I got it back quickly. Mom and Will then took Gwen and Cara on the Rise of the Resistance ride while we waited for the Rider Switch with Pierce and Lucy (which was cute because a duck came by that we got to feed). When we finally got to go on the ride, it broke down (like enough they closed it down and we had to leave). We got the lightning lane for later, so that was good. 

Mom and Will took their break at this point and so we rode some of the smaller rides (Small Word so Pierce could see it, he fell asleep the first time, he LOVED it. Pinocchio, and Teacups). I tried to get real snacks at this point, but the dang parade blocked me and so I ended up losing it on a couple workers. Mom and Will came back and we finally did the Rise of the Resistance ride (super fun one!) and they took the kids on the Wild Toad ride and then decided the kids needed real food (they learned quickly that the kids just waste food and there's a reason we only did snacks). 

On our way back to them we found a place that sold Tigger Tails (my must have snack!) with some cookies and a cake pop. The cake pops are NOT the greatest, I gotta admit. At this point we noticed the parade should be coming around soon so we should find a place to park it and watch that. I didn't intend to do the parade, but I'm SO glad we did. I got the kids some balloons (because I didn't realize they were $20 EACH!) and we enjoyed the whole show. It was really magical!

We did some last shopping and went back to the rental with our Christmas 2.0 toys (we did BLT Quesadilla's for dinner). We ate, mom and Will left, and then we did baths and and got the kids down. We packed up and got things ready to go. We are definitely SO sore, so happy, and so glad we're done and heading home!

Friday: By this day I was starting to get sick so this was a bit more rough, but I was so happy we got things set the night before. We got everyone up and ready, packed the car up, and headed out around 8:30 AM. We only had to stop once...kind of. We stopped near Vegas at McDonald's (I had hoped it had a play place. It was too hot to find a playground) and let the kids eat and we filled up on gas. We left and about 20 minutes later Gwen threw up all over the back seat (GROSS!). So we stopped to clean that up (luckily none was on her clothes, so everything that was puked on we cleaned off as best as we could and then shoved it in a garbage bag for the rest of the drive). We left and I mentioned to Larry I should've had her try and use the bathroom since she didn't go at McD's and that's when Lucy mentioned she needed to go to the bathroom so we stopped and made EVERYONE go. We ended up straight shotting it straight home after that stop and made it all the way without stopping! We got home in time (around 7:30 PM) just in time to get the car unpacked, get the kids ready for bed, and then we got to relax for a couple hours (like a usual Friday). 

Overall, I'm SO glad we went, I'm glad we were able to get as many rides done as we did, and the kids had so much fun! That's all that we can ask for and we got lots of fun souvenirs! It was one of the best family vacations and I'm so glad Mom and Will came with us to help us out and make all sorts of memories!!

Disney Prep

Well Disney is coming and we've done a lot to prepare for our trip. This includes:

- Making a paper countdown chain. This started with like 52 rings. I really love the colors we chose and the kids looked forward to cutting a ring off each morning!

- Making a list of all the movies that have a ride or experience in Disneyland and decided we'd watch one each weekend up until our trip. While this did give us way too many movies in a weekend, it really got the kids excited. Also, watching some I never really cared for (like Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, etc.) through their eyes made it so much more fun for me as well.

- About a month ago, we got Pierce into the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He'd start to ask for it each morning. I knew that meant he'd really like to get to meet Mickey and I really look forward to that moment at the park!

- I knew I wanted to make our reveal to the kids exciting, so I bought the girls some mini backpacks, autograph books, ear scrunchies, and comfy shoes. I knew I wanted them to have backpacks for flash cards, snacks, and water bottles. The backpacks were big enough to hold those and I didn't think it would make them too heavy so it was great! I also plan to have our water and sunscreen with extra snacks in our bags so none should be too heavy for any of us.

- We got our AirBNB and tickets booked/bought pretty quickly. Then I decided I really wanted to book a character breakfast as well. I booked it for breakfast on our first day. I'm REALLY looking forward to this with the kids!

-Originally when I planned this trip, I was going to do it over Spring Break. After seeing that the school systems in the area have the same Spring Break time, but are in school about a week longer, I decided to book our trip for the end of May instead of April. I then spent Spring Break checking ride wait times to see what rides have LONG lines and will be best to start with. 

-I also typed up our itineraries for each day and made our "what to do in each area" lists:

Now all that's left is to pack up and hit the road (my favorite part)!

Mother's Day 2024

Mother's Day Weekend was so nice! It was more nice in the beginning and kind of got more frustrating by this afternoon, but I still enjoyed it. 

I took Friday off work and spent the day with Mom and Rachel at Vintage Market Days up in Logan. I found quite a bit of fun things for the kids (toy bath bombs, coloring sheets, a cute Happy Birthday banner to put on the birthday table) and some things for me (also bath bombs and some bird feed balls). I actually kept it very tame and didn't spend a whole bunch of money, but I had SO much fun! We even ran into family and talked Boston and Salem as well as Disney and weddings. 

Saturday we did Costco and got lots of good samples. While we were there, Cara lost her first tooth (exciting post coming about that)!!! I decided to get Village  Baker for lunch (AMAZING!! I'm so happy we have one closer to us!). After nap time, we went to Mom's to hang for a bit (we exchanged gifts as well. I got books and chocolate. Mom got bird stuff and personalized gloves). I think the best part was playing in the front yard where the kids did a lot of spinning games in the front yard. We then played and "chilled" more in the back yard. It was so relaxing and such nice weather.

This morning, I got to sleep in (I actually ended up waking up early, but I stayed in bed and just took my time going downstairs), I got my "candy bouquet" that I totally forgot I mentioned I wanted and my fun questionnaires I look forward to each year. I ended up deciding to go grocery shopping on my own (which was nice, but not as nice as I thought...I kind of missed my family haha). I started laundry (I actually like having it to do at the end of the night with a movie, snacks, and a mask), we relaxed a bit, and did whatever until lunch. 

I decided to watch Ghostbusters Afterlife during nap time (but could only make it halfway before I needed a nap, despite actually liking the movie). Afterwards we went for a walk around the neighborhood, the same path that I drive Cara to school so I could take my time looking at the yards (that the kids complained SO much during). I got sick of that quickly and we decided to drive to Texas Roadhouse (I wanted to try the pork chops) and waited at Teton Toys (where I'm most definitely doing my Christmas shopping for the kids at this year!). Cara immediately spent her tooth fairy money on Yu-Gi-Oh cards haha. Texas Roadhouse was super busy, they ran out of crayons and service was quite slow. But our food was good (the kids was very disappointing). 

Overall, the weekend was SO much fun...until today. The later it went on the more annoyed I got. I was hoping for a nice, peaceful walk. I was hoping for a nice dinner. Instead I got a LOT of complaining. It was a rough end to the weekend, but at least I had a fun first half. The kids have done a lot this month with letting me know they love me and why they love me and how much so I do appreciate when they are sweet. It just would've been nice to have that on the day.

But now I get to go finish laundry (I actually like doing it) and finish my Ghostbusters movie with my candy and a mask. My most favorite way to end a Sunday! I'll take what I can get :)

Cara's First Lost Tooth

One of the most exciting milestones has hit! The funniest part about this is on Cara's birthday I kept talking about how much was going to change now that she's seven: maybe she'll eat potatoes or tomatoes? She might lose teeth or her hair! So many fun changes.

Then the weekend after her birthday (so the 4th) we were watching a movie and Cara shouts out "I have a loose tooth!" and so Larry felt it and confirmed she had her first loose tooth. We were laughing about how we told her now that she's 7 she'd lost her teeth and now it's happening. She wiggled that thing so much I was surprised every day when it was still in her mouth. 

Then, we were walking around Costco this weekend, trying all the yummy samples they had. We had grabbed some donut samples when she told me her tooth could bend all the way forward (the whole wiggly tooth thing really gives me the creeps, by the way, so as excited as I was, I kept wanting to walk/look away haha). Then I hear her gasp and had her hand out in front of her face. I shouted out "did your tooth just fall out?" and she said yeah. I went and grabbed a napkin for her (because of the blood) and cursed myself for not remembering my phone. I quickly took a "moment in time" photo for her (she looks so freaked out haha). and we celebrated her first lost tooth.

Gwen and Lucy immediately kept talking about wanting to lose a tooth now haha. We pocketed the tooth, continued shopping, and talked about how exciting this was. I even choked up a bit over it haha.

Tonight we put her tooth, in a sandwich bag, under her pillow. I typed up a cute congratulations note from the Tooth Fairy, and then we made the exchange. We decided a first tooth is exciting and we gave her $5 for it. We'll probably just do $1 for the rest of the teeth. I'm sure she'll be SO excited to find the money in the morning. I'm so excited for this next part of her life, though I'm not excited it's the last of her baby things she has left. 

Summer Goals

We decided to make some fun summer goals for us this year

-Larry and I have garden and decorating our walls. I'd love to get our front yard super pretty. If we can include our back yard, I'd like to, but the front takes priority this year. I'd also like to finally get our decorations out of the basement and get them put up.

-All kids have a swimming goal. Cara finished the first level of swim lessons this week. I plan to enroll Gwen and Lucy into level one and enroll Cara in level 2 at the same time at some point this summer (the soonest I can get them in). I would love it if I felt comfortable with them not NEEDING floaties by the end of the Summer. Pierce, we just want him to have more fun in the pool, be okay with having his floaties, and being on his own more. So far he's doing good (Larry took them swimming while Cara had her final lesson and he was the only one willing to go down the water slide...and multiple times!). I plan on us going to our pool at least twice a week, but hopefully more. And maybe going to Cowabunga Bay once they are done with their lessons to celebrate (if they all pass).

-They also have a "wheels" goal. I'd like to have Cara definitely riding a training wheel bike, but if we can up her to just two wheels that would be ideal. Gwen I'd like her to be comfortable on a training wheel bike (but also, if she can go without them, that would be great!). Lucy and Pierce I'd like to have on the balance bike so they can move on quickly too. I'd also like to see if we can include roller skating in this as well. We'll see if that's not too ambitious

-Cara has two additional goals: one of learning to tie shoes (I think this would be good and she's ready to learn this skill). The second is a reading "challenge" (not necessarily goal), if she can read 500 pages she gets to pick a treat, but she has to tell us about what she read so we know she's working on comprehension skills as well.

-Gwen has an additional goal of learning to pump on a swing. She claims she can do it, but never does and asks us to push her all the time.

-Lucy has an additional goal of lessening her bug phobia. She's WAY too scared of bugs (like won't walk on the grass and screams and cries for us to carry her everywhere outside, because that's where all the bugs go). So my plan is to get bug books from the library, find a bug museum, and expose her to as many good bugs in our yard (potato bugs, lady bugs, grasshoppers, ants, etc.)

-I also have a plan to pick a day each week (I'm debating between Wednesdays or Fridays) and take a longer break to take the kids to a playground during nap time. I want to try to do a different one each week. Just something to really spend time together and get outside the house more.

I think we're about to have an excellent Summer. Now if the weather would cooperate!

Cara is SEVEN!

I absolutely cannot wrap my head around my oldest being seven years old already! Cara is such a great big sister and, as always, it's so fun to celebrate her!

We had such a fun week celebrating her. We had to do her dinner on Wednesday night (since Thursday nights are gymnastics and they always do a special birthday shout out so I know she'll want to be part of that). Originally she mentioned wanting to go to McDonald's, but changed her mind to Leatherby's after Pierce's birthday dinner there. She was so excited to get bubble gum ice cream with marshmallow topping (Larry shared with her and he said luckily that didn't take away from the bubble gum yummy-ness). We made a big deal about it being her last day of being six.

On her birthday, I made sure to have her streamers up and her table all set up. All with a Pokemon theme (her favorite). We also got an email from her teacher about coming to do a spotlight for her day where we share her favorite toys, some pictures, and a story she likes. I was a bit nervous to go, but I knew she'd positively love having that on her day.

We had her party today, at the gymnastics place, it was her first friends party and a Pokemon theme, of course. I made some goodie bags, we had Pokemon decorations, a Pokemon cake, and pizza and ice cream. It was a great party (and close by, a win-win)!

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Dear Cara,

Oh my gosh are you just the sweetest, greatest kid out there! You have been the absolute best first born in the world. I read a thing that said "you raise your younger kids, but you grow with your oldest kid" and man is that true. You have taught me so much in life and I hope I've made you proud and I hope you feel loved and as special as you truly are!

I love watching you play games with Daddy and talk about all things Pokemon. I love how creative you still are and how quickly you learn things. I love bragging to everyone about how smart you are. You read SO much above your level and I love seeing you get excited about reading and always ask to keep reading. I hate to tell you no too often, but it's only because I want to hear the stories as you read them. You seem to love doing math problems all the time. You are always writing down notes and you ace your spelling tests.

When I decided to bring stuff to your class to show them who you are, it was so hard to pick only a few things. You are so much more than your toys and you are all around amazing. You are so sweet to everyone, everyone is your friend. You include as many people as you can. You never have a bad word to say about anyone. You find everything exciting and fun. You might get nervous when trying new things, but you always go in with a positive attitude and you always say "this is the best day ever!" haha.

I'm so SO so excited to take you to Disneyland because I'm sure you are at an age where you'll remember enough about it. I think about taking you on the rides I used to love as a kid and I genuinely look forward to seeing your reaction to them! 

You are still one of my most favorite human beings and one of my best friends. I look forward to telling you things that happen while you are away. I get bummed when you want to do your own thing while we're all playing (even though I know independence is a good thing). And I get so excited when you want to cuddle with me or show me something you made/did. I sure hope we stay as close as we are because I always want to know about your life and all the big moments, I want to help you through the sad or hard moments, and I want to celebrate all your successful moments. 

Love,

Mom (and Dad, too)