Disneyland

WARNING:  This post has a lot of pictures.  But, I figure if I spent $750 on Disneyland tickets, I better chronicle our trip well.  It's part of getting your money's worth!

Our first day we had ideal Disneyland weather.  It was 70 and overcast all day!  Here we are with our little princess outside Sleeping Beauty's castle.  

Ella was asleep in the stroller for this picture.  I loved Disneyland all decorated for Halloween.  Disney goes all out, and it looked amazing.  Here's one happy boy with his huge lollypop.  He called it lollypop moon for some reason and he had it for most of the trip.  I left it in a ziploc bag in the glove compartment of the car so it ended up being a multi-use sucker.  

This was Ella's first character experience.  She wasn't so sure about him.  Jack didn't know who he was either.  We'll have to go back in a few years after Jack has watched Star Wars and knows what a storm trooper is.  Jack's first major Disneyland ride was Space Mountain.  I guess I didn't remember what it was, and Steve hadn't been on it before, but needless to say it was a bad choice!  It's basically a real roller coaster in the pitch dark, that had scary ghosts screaming at you since it was Halloween ghost edition.  He was traumatized!  After he said that he felt like he wanted to scream, yell, and throw up!  We later saw a warning sign that said it was scary and not for young children.  Disneyland tip:  just because your child is tall enough to ride the ride, doesn't mean they should!

My kids loved petting the goats.  It felt a little funny to go see farm animals that they've seen a dozen times with our precious Disney time, but we tried to let the kids do and see what they wanted to, with our forced agenda every now and then.

Ella in the goat pen.  She loved petting the goats!  I love how clean Disneyland is, even in the goat pen.  They had a sweeper in the pen following the goats around waiting for any imminent droppings. 

Our first day at Disneyland was Friday, so it was open late.  We took an afternoon break and then went back for some night fun.  Steve and the kids road the Astro Orbiter, which after Jack's earlier scary ride experience, he had to be bribed to ride.  He had his eye on a mickey light up sword, and the promise of it was enough to get him on the ride.  We were going to watch Fanstasmic, but it seemed to hard with the kids, so we settled for watching the fireworks and going on a few more rides.  

We spend day 2 at California Adventure.  We loved it over there.  Disneyland is great, but I think some of the rides are there because they are nostalgic.  Since Steve and I don't remember going on Alice in Wonderland or Peter Pan as kids, they just seem like outdated rides with cardboard cutouts to us.  But California Adventure is new, and high tech, and amazing.  That, and the fact that Jack was more into the Pixar characters, and since Ella was too little for a vote, we mostly did what he wanted.  I definitely want to go back when Ella is older and into princesses.  Then I'm sure we will spend more time over at Disneyland.  I love this picture of Steve and Jack at Paradise Pier.

Ella meeting her one princess for the trip, Princess Sophia.  She was wearing a Sophia shirt which made it extra cool to her.  She wasn't sure about any of the characters while we were there.  She wanted to look at them and touch them, but not hug them or anything crazy like that.  Now that we're home, she absolutely loves looking at the pictures with herself and the characters.  Just seeing them makes her laugh.

The girls with Sophia.  I just couldn't bring myself to wait in line for 75 minutes to see the princesses at the Royal Hall.  Not with my 21 month old that doesn't even care if we see them, hence our only princess shot.  One of my kids very favorite things we saw was Disney Junior live on stage.  It was so fun for them, and had the characters they really know like Jake, Sophia, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Doc McStuffins.  Jack loved singing along with the show.  He also loved the things falling from the sky like the snow, and the gold doubloons.  It was too cute to watch, and a nice air conditioned break for the kids.

Cars land was our favorite.  Radiator Springs is so much fun.  You can barely see Jack in the back middle.  He liked/disliked this ride.  He loved the slow part at the beginning with all of the cool "Cars" references, and he like the fact that you were racing another car, but he did not like the fast part.  

 

He said he felt like he was going to fall out.  Despite being nervous, he was a good sport and rode it 4 times total (the last two took a little bribing).  Watching this video makes me feel a little guilty.  He was genuinely scared.  Good thing he trusts his Daddy.

Jack wanted to meet Buzz Lightyear above any other character.  Some of the characters had pretty long lines and we would skip over meeting them, so that made Jack a little nervous.  I told him when we saw Buzz I would wait in the longest line ever so we could meet him.  Jack kept reminding me through the day, "remember your promise, Mom?"  Luckily, when we tracked Buzz down, the line wasn't even long.  He was a little nervous to meet his life sized hero in person, but still talks about when he met the real Buzz Lightyear.  He's assured me that his toy Buzz can't fly, but the real Buzz can.  The Disney magic was alive for Jack.

Jack playing with his new Buzz toy after the Pixar Parade (it was the bribe to get him on Radiator Springs again).  He has loved that toy and it was worth every penny.  We watched the Pixar parade both days we were in DCA.  It was one of my kids favorite things.  It was so well done with the music and the bubbles.  It was a good chance to see all their favorite characters up close.  The dancers were so fun and interactive.  My kids got at least 5 "high fives" from the performers during the parade which made them feel like a million bucks. Another thing Jack loved was the Phineus and Ferb dance party.  He loves that theme song so it was fun to see him watch it.  I didn't get a picture of it, but at the end of our DCA day we went to World of Color.  It was amazing and we all really enjoyed it.  Jack could name almost every movie that the video clips were from, which surprised me.  It was super hard with the kids, though.  We had to wait in a crowded spot, standing for 45 minutes.  About half way through the show Jack said he needed to go potty.  About 5 seconds after that he said, "I'm going".  I can count on one hand the number of potty accidents he's had since he's been potty trained, so the poor kid must have really had to go.  Steve was holding him, so his world of color experience was less than he had hoped!!

Ella got a new toy too, a Rapunzel doll.  Here she is loving her new toy and jumping on the bed at the hotel.  The kids were such troopers.  The Disney days were long with tons of walking and no naps.  At the end of the day Steve and I were exhausted, so I know the kids had to be too.

Day 3 we spent at DCA with a couple of hours back at Disneyland.  Jack loved this bumper car ride in Bugs Land.  There's something so fun about being able to drive a car by yourself when you're a kid!

Dad and Ella riding Ella's favorite ride, The Little Mermaid.  She lost her shoe on this ride, but an employee was able to retrieve it for us.  She loved all the music and the colorful scenes.  This ride never had a wait so we went on it 5 or 6 times.  By the end she could sing the song where Ariel looses her voice (the ahh ahh ahh one).

Jack and Ella getting ready to ride Toy Story Mania.  They did awesome with the waiting in lines.  It's a hard thing for young kids to wait in line for 30 minutes.  Steve and I decided that if either of us ever has a minor foot injury requiring a walking boot, that would be the perfect time to go to Disneyland.  You can rent a "Jazzy" and go to the front of all the lines.  I'm just saying :)

Toy Story Mania was Jack's favorite ride.  It had one of the longer wait times, but we went on it a couple of times for Jack Jack.  He loved trying to shoot the targets and score a lot of points.  It was one of Steve's favorites too.  He was proud of his high score.

We went back to Disneyland to make a visit to Toon Town.  We hadn't met Mickey yet and that's just a must do at Disneyland.  My friend told me about Photo Pass Plus before we went, and I would definitely do it again.  You can buy it before you go and then at Disneyland they give you a lanyard with a pass.  Anytime you see a Disney photographer they will take your picture and you get all of them on a CD after your trip.  You also get all your ride photos and any character experiences.  I loved it since they took lots of pics of my kids with the different characters.  They would take close ups of their expressions and it was just nice to not have the stress of trying to get a good shot.

I love this picture of Jack and Mickey!  I know that he may not remember too much about our trip, and Ella definitely won't, but we made so many fun memories with our kids!

This girl loves here Daddy.  I love this picture of the two of them together.  Steve is so fun to travel with.  He's easy going and super helpful.  It was his idea to go on this trip and I'm so glad we did!

Our final Disney picture.  We had such a great time.  We will definitely be back!  We're already saving our pennies and hoping to go again in a couple of years!

Beach

In September we took a family vacation to California.  We had so much fun seeing the sights and spending time together.  There's some good opportunity for bonding when your family of four spends six nights in the same hotel room!!  I'm so glad we took the trip and made so many fun memories.  Here's some highlights from the beach.  We decided to go in September in hopes that we could catch some off season Disneyland crowds and still have warm enough weather to enjoy the beach.  We succeeded and enjoyed some 70 degree weather at the beach.

We took them to Huntington Beach for their first ocean experience.  It was a beautiful day and not crowded at all.  A bonus was that they had a paddle boarding competition by the pier that we had some fun watching.

Ella enjoying some beach snacks.  She was super mad when a seagull finished off her goldfish crackers.

These two are cute little buddies.  They loved putting their feet in the water, but didn't want to get in too much further.  The waves were a little scary.  They were some pretty impressive waves.  This is Huntington Pier in the background.  We took a walk on it before leaving, but it didn't have kid safe guard rails, so it made me pretty nervous.  Oh yeah, and a seagull pooped on me.  Not a highlight!

Jack spotting the big waves and running away from them.  This was his favorite water game to play.

 Dad showing Ella the water.  She was mostly into the food and digging, but she did like getting her feet wet too.

Oh yeah, and lets not forget throwing sand.  That was high up on the list!

Jack thought it was a blast jumping over the waves with dad.  I have a memory of doing this very thing when I was pretty young.  There's something about the ocean that's just so fun!

Jack collected all of these sea shells himself.  He loved doing it and was very interested in what used to live in them.  He got his Aloha tattoo from a tent at the paddle boarding competition.  It stayed on for at least two weeks and was starting to get embarrassing, so I finally scrubbed it off in the bath.  It was obviously not the same kind you get from the coin machine at the grocery store.

No beach day is complete without burying someone.  Ella and Jack both took a turn getting buried.  Here's Ella trying to dig Jack out like the good sister she is.

A highlight of our trip was spending a day down in San Diego with my Uncle Al and Aunt Linda.  They showed us a great time and gave the kids some fun new experiences.  We went to an authentic Mexican Restaurant where Ella got serenaded to the point of tears.  I guess Malaguena de la Rosa is not her song, but the rest of us enjoyed it and got a good laugh.  We then went and spent a few hours at Ocean Beach.  We walked along the pier and watched the pelicans diving in the water for fish.  It was pretty amazing to watch!

Here we are, minus Linda who was taking the picture.  Jack is being his usual uncooperative picture taking self.  We tried Jack out on the boogie board to give him a little taste for the water, but his first try he put too much weight in front and took a nose dive to the bottom.  Steve had to pick him up off the ocean floor and after the scary experience mixed with the salt water in his eyes and nose, he did not want to try again.

Ella and I walking out on the rocks to see the tide pools.  She didn't really know what we were looking for, but was a good sport none the less.

You can't see Jack in this picture, but I wanted to document it since it was his favorite part of the ocean.  He loved looking in the tide pools.  He was able to spot quite a few crabs, and they were not easy to find.  We saw some pretty good sized ones hiding in the corners or up under ledges.  He was a little disappointed that we didn't see any "sea stars" (star fish), but there's always next time.  A big thanks to Al and Linda for showing us such a great time!

Baby Love

This is a common occurrence at our home as of late.  Ella is obsessed with babies.  I had to grab the camera and take a quick shot of her in action.  She takes very good care of her babies.  She swaddles them, talks to them, and gives them lots of kisses.  When we're getting ready to go somewhere in the car she usually comes to me and asks, "baby come?".  She then grabs an armful of dolls and carries them to the car.  I love watching her nurturing side. 

Jack saw me take the picture of Ella and wanted me to take one of him holding dolls too.  This is a glimpse into the world of raising two children who are very different from each other.  They are at opposite ends of the spectrum in most areas, but they love each other like crazy.  It definitely makes parenting them a work in progress!  Jack is behind me playing right now and I just heard him say, "I have a force field."  He is such a boy!  I love how he talks right now.  He puts together some complex sentences that make me laugh.  I have been writing some down so I don't forget.  Here are a couple of examples.  The other night I was putting Ella to bed and reading her a book when Jack walked in.  He said, "sorry for disturbing your book, but do you know where my comfy (his blanket) is?"  Then the next day out of the blue he said, "I'm going to start wearing my hat backward like on rescue bots" (his favorite show).  He is and always has been such a talker! 

Summer Rain

It's been a particularly hot, dry summer, so my kids could not have been more excited about a recent rain storm.  It was a down pour and they did not hesitate to go play in the rain!  They are always partners in crime these days.  Love them!

Zoo Day With Ella

Steve recently had to take some lawn equipment up the the Eastern Idaho State Fair.  It was going to be a quick overnight trip, so he offered to take Jack with him.  I jumped at the opportunity for both of us to have some one on one time with our kids and we sent him on his way.  While the boys were gone I decided I should make the most of the day and enjoy some Ella time.  We have a zoo pass but haven't been all summer so Ella and I went to check it out.  School was in session so the zoo was a ghost town, but it's still nice weather so they had a lot of the shows going on.  It was a great day to visit the zoo.

Ella watching the seals eat.

The polar bear put on a great show for us

She was intrigued by the giraffes.

And to top it all off, a ride on an ostrich.

1st day of Preschool

 Jack had his first day of "official" preschool.  This year we're not doing mom switching preschool, it's the real deal.  His teacher is Miss Amber.  She lives in our neighborhood and I've heard great things about her teaching.  She had an assessment a week before we started to let Jack see her preschool room and to see what he already knows.  It was cute to watch him.  He knows all of his colors and shapes.  He can write his name (it's almost legible).  He recognized 2/3rd of his letters.  I know he knows them all, but the flash cards and quick thinking were a little much for him.  He counted to 16 (he threw in his favorite number "eleventeen" which is not to be confused with 11.  It's an entirely different number).   He could make a pattern, cut a straight line, sort things into appropriately colored cups.  I was so proud watching him.  It was one of those mom paydays where I felt like trying to teach him instead of letting him watch TV all day was paying off.  I'm excited to see all the things he learns this year and know he's going to have a great preschool experience!  Also, I just took him to his 4 year well check and here are his stats:  Weight 35.8 pounds (45th percentile), Height 39.76 inches (43rd percentile).  This is good news since we're heading to Disneyland in a couple of weeks and you have to be 40 inches to ride a lot of the rides.  I think he'll just make it with shoes on.

Bear Lake

Bear Lake is one of our very favorite places to visit during the summer.  We had been excited for months for our trip there with the Crawford family.  It was kind of a reunion.  A chance to catch up together with our recently returned missionary Grandparents.  We stayed in some fun condos right near the beach and rented a boat.  Steve reserved the boat in March, and it was a nice one.  We both love boating and were excited to get out on the water.  Bear Lake didn't cooperate as well as we had hoped.  We had some bad weather two out of the three days, but we still managed to have a great time.

5 of the 9 Crawford cousins that made it to Bear Lake

Jack thought the best part of boating was holding up the flag.  That was before he tired tubing.

These two are inseparable these days!

This is the best family shot we could manage

Jack and Kynzie.  She's not only his cousin, but also his favorite babysitter!

Ella catching a cat nap on the boat.  She was a good sport like always.

We had to talk him into trying the tube, but once he got on he did not want to get off.  He kept yelling faster, faster!

Our handsome boat driver!  Steve was nice enough to drive us around most of the 3 days.

The boat we rented was great for wake surfing.  Steve could tell you all the specs, but all I know is it had two tanks that you could fill up to make either side of the boat heavier, and thus, make a nice wave.  Steve has wake surfed before and got right up and showed us how it was done.  I gave it a try and got up the first time.  Not too bad for a 30 year old.  I love trying new things and liked wake surfing quite a bit.  I didn't get it figured out too much in my few attempts, but liked trying.  Steve and I have said since we got married that we would be boat owners one day.  We've had a boat fund and everything.  We know they're not practical, but think that they're a lot of fun and good family time.  I think this trip changed our mind.  The wind picked up one day in the afternoon out on the lake.  We anchored the boat and let it sit while we waited for the wind to calm down.  It's not unusual for the wind to pick up in the afternoon, but it always seems to calm down in the evening.  A few hours later it was blowing harder than ever.  It was getting dark and we had to take the boat off of the water.  The lake was so choppy with white caps everywhere.  We had 5 men and two teenage boys, so we thought they could do it with our man power.  Steve drove the boat over to the dock and said that water was coming in over the bow every time he hit a wave.  Long story short, we're super lucky they got it out of the water safely.  The boat almost got blown into the rocks.  The waves were so strong that they were pushing Steve's truck sideways while it was backed into the water to load the boat on the trailer.  Not a highlight of the trip.  It did turn out ok though.  There were no casualties other than a few people with bumps and scratches.  The saddest part is that our boat dream is over.  The water can be so dangerous and unpredictable.  If we hadn't had so much help there's no way we would have had such a positive result.  So, now we need a new dream.  Any ideas???