Disneyland: March 2013

Sam’s annual pass expires March 15th so we had to sneak in one more trip. 

We did the usual – leave at 6am on Monday and drive home on Tuesday after Day 2 at the park.

Here are a few highlights:

- New things we did with the boys: Tiki Room, Pirates Ship by Tom Sawyer Island, Shot the guns by Thunder Mountain, Talking with Crush show, Sorcerers Workshop, Steamboat Willie Cinema to watch black & white Mickey Mouse movies and they met Jake.

- Nate rode Space Mountain for the first time & he decided he does in fact like the River Ride.

- In the Sorcerer’s Workshop, they ask you a bunch of questions and they tell you what Disney character you’re most like.  Nate was Mufasa.  Ryan was Scar.  We thought that was fitting – especially because they’re brothers in Lion King, too!

- Ryan was so brave on our last trip – he loved Splash Mountain, Toon Town Rollercoaster, Pirates, etc.  He went on them this trip but didn’t like any of the above.  That was a bummer.

- We ate quite a few pretzels with cheese.  Ryan was proud he stole the last piece of Aunt Sam’s.

- It’s a good thing Aunt Sam was there to take Nate on the bigger rides.  Ryan was my little buddy.

- Nate has perfected his Autopia driving skills.

- When we were at the cabin, Sam promised Nate she would take him to the grocery store to buy one of those ridiculous toys in the quarter machines.  But then Nate saw that you could get a flattened Toy Story penny and asked her if they could get that instead.  So they did.  And we warned him he was going to lose his Zurg penny but he didn’t listen.  And of course he lost it.  Sam was nice enough to get him one more and then he lost it in the car on our drive home.  He did manage to talk me in to a key chain that says “Nathan” so at least he left with something.

- Ryan was about to get a key chain that said “Ryan” until he found a Mickey ice cream scoop.  He really wanted that thing to “be like his dad” so I caved and got it.

- On Monday, Nate & Ryan didn’t get along all day.  We had to separate them in line, etc.  Then at 6pm, while we were in line for Dumbo, Nate completely switched personalities and decided he wanted to be overly nice to Ryan.  He was thinking up games to play in line, holding him when he was tired . . . it was fabulous and baffling all at the same time!

- The fireworks show was great.  Ryan is afraid of fireworks so I had to watch it from inside a restaurant window but still fabulous.  The music was from the rides – loved it!

Disney was a little too crowded for my liking this go around.  Monday wasn’t too bad but Tuesday afternoon was rather nuts.  We’ll wait until all of the spring breakers are done before we go for one final trip! 

the cabin: march 2013

Wes has been itching to go to the cabin for two reasons: 1). to finally go snowmobiling. 2). to take his truck on an adventure.

He’s not usually the impulsive trip planner in our family but he said it was time to go and away we went!  My parents & Sam were able to join us which always makes it fun.

We picked up Sam Friday morning and since my head was pounding with a sinus infection/migraine she was so nice to sit in between my boys in the back and entertain them for our 4 hour journey.  They love Aunt Sam and she was the perfect person to help them with the electronics.  We did manage to stop for a delicious lunch at Pizza Factory.

The weekend at the cabin was perfect.  The weather was wonderful – low 40’s but the sun was shining so we never got cold.  In fact, I was often outside in a short sleeve shirt and snow pants!  There was plenty of snow to snowmobile and sled but not so much that it was a pain to navigate.  The best part was the amount of snow right outside the cabin.  The driveway made for the perfect hill for the boys to go up and down with their sleds.  When that wasn’t daring enough, they started going off a steeper hill with a large drop at the end.  Or Ryan would take a running start and dive on to the sled and go down the hill. They loved it.

Nate has turned in to quite a brave kid & Ryan has always been that way.  I have to say that I love that they aren’t super reserved & are up for trying a lot of new things without much hesitation.  It makes life fun!

On Saturday we rented snowmobiles.  It was a first for me, Sam, Nate & Ryan.  I think it will take Sam and I a few times to feel super comfortable on those things but the boys LOVED it.  Of course Wes just took off on them – the faster the better for Wes, Nate & Ryan.  After riding around in the meadow for a while my dad, Wes & Nate took off on a snowmobile trail adventure that turned out to be super fun.  Ryan came back for a little sledding and much needed nap.

And as always, the 4 wheelers got a ride or two. 

Another great weekend at the cabin.  One moment that was pretty funny was when we were sitting around the dinner table and Nate is talking about a Franklin Pierce.  Somehow the rest of us didn’t know who in the world he was talking about.  Oh, just the 14th President of the United States.  Nate was the only person who knew that.  And later that night Sam proclaimed that she is rather disappointed that she never had a career on Broadway.  That was equally as funny at the time.

Ryan’s 3rd BirthDAY

Ryan’s birthday fell on President’s Day.  It was great to have it be a holiday!

We did his “out to eat” holiday celebration over the weekend at Metro Pizza.  He grinned from ear-to-ear as they sang happy birthday to him and brought him a birthday sundae.  He wasn’t leaving until he drank every last drop.

Wes finally got to golf so while he was out doing that the boys and I joined some friends at Sunset Park.  It was our first time there feeding the ducks and playing on their new fabulous playground.  It was a great birthday morning for Ryan {even if he did have a serious meltdown at the park!}  He took a 3.5 hour nap that afternoon which was apparently much needed {and extremely rare!}.

We got Ryan a bike for his birthday and it was the PERFECT gift for him.  He constantly wants to ride it and has gotten quite good at it.

We had a little family gathering on his birthday for dessert.  We also did a last minute Café Rio run – it was fun that everyone could come!  Ryan had a great 3rd birthday.  Every day since then he has asked “am I still three?”

Happy birthday, wild man.

The Color Run

Back in October, it was my friend Jamie’s birthday.  She asked a few of us if we’d run the Color Run with her in February!  A group of us said yes.  I hate running but I had every intent of actually training for a 5K with the goal to run the entire thing.  I asked Sam if she’d do it, too because she was at my same running level and we could train together without holding anyone back.

Lets just say we didn’t train and Sam bailed at the last minute {she was recovering from bronchial issues} but my dear friend Kiley stepped in at the last minute and it was perfect!  I never see Kiley – especially without kiddos – so we had a nice leisurely walk/jog to catch up as we got blasted with color.

I was the designated driver in the mini-van.  It was quite smelly and full of color after I dropped everyone off but it was a really fun race.  Thanks Jamie for the invite!

Naters

On our way to Café Rio for Ryan’s birthday dinner, Nate was sitting in the way back of the van.  Out of the blue he panics and says “I just peed my pants.”  We didn’t know what he was talking about because this kid never pees his pants.  He says “I know I did – it feels wet.  Hurry!  I have to pee again!”  It was one of those really funny moments where Wes, Sam & I had a good laugh.

Later that night after tucking the kids in bed, I was following up on some work emails on the computer.  Nate comes in after a while and with watery eyes he says: “Mom – I can’t sleep.  I tooted and it smells so bad in there I can’t breathe.”  He was right – it was awful.

Love life with Naters.

Ryan’s 3rd birthday party

A birthday comes once a year and I think it’s fun to make it a big deal.  So we invited a few of Ryan’s buddies to come celebrate with us at Chuck E. Cheese!  I did not get a group photo nor a picture of every kid, unfortunately! But fun was still had by all.

It was a fun morning & a great way to do a party.  No more at-home parties for me!

Happy Birthday, Ryan.  Can’t believe you’re THREE.

Disneyland: kid-free in February 2013

Back to Disney we go.  Sam’s pass expires on March 15th so we had to squeeze in one more kid-free day at Disney! 

Sam picked me up around 8pm on Monday night, right after she got off work.  We hit the road and drove to Anaheim.  When we got to Barstow, I went to grab my credit card to pay for gas and that’s when I realized my purse was still in Las Vegas.  The hotel was in my name but luckily they were sympathetic and didn’t need a matching credit card or ID!  And it’s a good thing Sam actually had a credit card on her.

We stayed at The Sheraton for the first time {thank you, Priceline} and it was nice.  We got a full night sleep before heading to Disneyland!

Our main objective was to just have an easy day at Disney.  It’s always fun with the boys but it’s also exhausting.  We tried all kinds of new food that we’ve been wanting to sample & found a few new favorites: baked potato soup, garlic fries, chili con queso cone, cinnamon roll, fried pickles, etc.  The only thing I was not a fan of was The Monte Cristo sandwich. 

There was a celebration in New Orleans Square which was fun.  Lots of live performances with Princess and the Frog.

We took a few minutes for a Disneyland first – “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.”  Walt Disney had an admiration for Mr. Lincoln and the entire thing is wonderful.  I love seeing/riding things at Disney that were envisioned directly from Walt.  The “Voices of Liberty“ singers were also there – that was quite a treat.  Extremely talented people but a little cheesy for Sam and I.

We saw a few new characters.  Nate & Ryan would have loved to meet Jake.  Maybe he’ll be there on our final trip!

I’m never very good at the shooting rides – but this time I had an extremely high score and I thought it needed to be documented.

Every time the day is done and we’re headed to the parking garage, we always have to guess where we parked.  We usually guess right but it’s always an adventure finding the car!

Thanks to Sam for a great trip!