Sunday, September 21, 2014

My Life with Crazy Christian

I just wanted to write a quick post about the crazy life of Christian. Now that the kids are in school full time Christian and I spend a lot of time together. We fill most of our time with errands, puzzles, legos, and reading books.




But since we got back from Disneyland he has really been into dressing up and pretend play. He went through a few days when he was really into dressing up in a Spider-man costume with a Hulk hand and a sword. But he also likes dressing up in "party dresses" with Lizzy. I have been trying to sway him towards the more "guy friendly" costumes but he is 2 and having fun so I don't have the heart to stop him.






 On Friday we all dressed up like pirates for national Talk Like a Pirate day and received a free dozen of crispy creme doughnuts. Since then he has been wearing his pirate costume around and singing yo ho yo ho. He is such a fun kid, I love his playful attitude and search for adventure.

Flooding in the desert

While we were off in sunny California a major storm raged through the state of Arizona. Apparently there was major flooding for several days. The city of Mesa received over 4 feet of rain alone.
 

Luckily there was no damage to our house or yard but when we got back the rain had not stopped and we took the opportunity to enjoy some later summer showers. The kids love it when it rains here because the rain is so warm we never get cold.










Most of the city had flood damage or other issues but we are safe and sound. Thank you for our blessings and the rain to help our grass turn nice and green.

A Birthday in the Happiest Place on Earth-Disneyland 2014 Day 4-5

As our trip was winding down I could tell the kids were starting to get a little Disneyland sickness. Kids become overwhelmed with too much excitement and fun. Another one of the perks to staying at the resort was the easy access to the parks. We could walk right into the parks everyday and leave when we were tired. Plus it was getting really hot in California and muggy. So we spent a large part of day 4 hanging at the hotel and enjoying the facilities.


When we did get to the park we changed it up a bit and headed to the lands we hadn't seen including Tomorrow Land and Adventure Land. I actually talked Jackson into going on Indiana Jones and he LOVED it. "A little scary but so much fun" were his exact words. We visited the Tiki Room, Tarzan's tree house (mom got a heck of a leg workout from carrying the baby my her belly, Christian, and diaper bag, whooo my legs were burning), Pirate's of the Caribbean (Elizabeth loved this one because of the dips), and even met Princess Tiana herself. Unfortunately it was hot and some of the rides were closed so we didn't spend much time there.




Tomorrow land was better. Nobody wanted to be a Jedi in training but they enjoyed watching the trainees fight off Darth Vader and the dark side. Then we went on a ride on the cars. Let me just say I am glad it will be another 11 years before Elizabeth actually starts driving. Jackson picked out a new light saber to make, he was really proud of his product and could not wait to show it off to everyone.



When we went back to the park that night we had a special meeting with the Frozen princesses Elsa and Anna. Elizabeth was so excited she made sure she was wearing her Elsa dress for the special encounter. Christian just loved waving to Olaf on the roof of the building.






I could tell at the end of the day that we were all getting a little tired of our trip. Even though we hadn't done everything in the parks it was time to head home.

So the next morning we checked out of the hotel and headed the the park for one more day! Liz finally got up the nerve to go on the Tower of Terror. She came off with a smile from ear to ear. She is such a thrill seeker. We spent some time on the pier riding the rides and playing the games (which I think was the highlight of Jackson's trip). He is a very reward driven person and was proud of his accomplishments. Then we went on the Wilderness Explorers adventure where mom got another workout and the kids earned their senior wilderness explorer badges. Again this was definitely a Jackson activity. If it wasn't so hot I would have stayed for the whole day but by 1pm it was almost 100 degrees outside. CRAZY! Brandon does not do well with heat and humidity so we headed out of the park and back home.






















 It was an amazing vacation and I am so glad we did it. After all the excitement, crying, money spending, "I wanna go homing", "I don't want to leaving", "that was the best day of my life experience," I know it is a trip we will always remember. And since we have season passes I am already planning our trip back in the spring.

 
My TOP 5 FAVORITES from our trip:
-Aladdin, every time I go I want to see it but never go. We went, we saw, we had a BLAST
-Wilderness Explorer Training. I could have spent an hour in there exploring and investigating all the activities
-corn dogs. They are the BEST!
-riding the swings and Soaring over California with Elizabeth. Her arms out the the side, the wind blowing in her face, and her sweet little voice shouting "wooohooo" in pure joy.
-staying at a Disneyland resort. The perks and experience are unmatched and worth the extra cost in the end.