Disney Days

We took a Disney "staycation" recently and had a mixture of a time. Here are the magical things that happened:

-our fun hotel was super close to the parks (and connected to California Adventure)

-napping in our cool hotel room in the middle of a really hot day
-our fun view of Downtown Disney from our hotel room (look closely to see Peter and Claire)

-our perfect view of the nightly fireworks from our room (complete with the music from our TV)

-bunk beds
-character greetings

-swimming as a family for hours each day
-going on rides

-celebrating Daddy's birthday

-Claire getting to do meet and greets with a majority of the princesses

-the tire swings in California adventure

-running around and hiding in the Redwood Creek play area

-running up and down the hotel halls

-playing fair games for hours at the California Adventure Boardwalk. Claire was a pro at the fishing game and Dallin was awesome at the water shooting game. We seriously walked away with 15 stuffed animals... one being a HUGE pink monkey.

-Snow White coming over and having a long conversation with Claire

-using birthday money to make a Build-a-Bear (Dallin and Claire said this was their favorite part of the whole trip... why did we come to Disneyland?!)

-Dallin getting chosen to participate in "Turtle Talk with Crush" show
-randomly seeing and visiting with my cousin Patty, her husband Tuggy and their 2 boys
-finding a perfect, secret picnic table to eat lunch at everyday
-having "A Bugs Land" in California Adventure all to ourselves in the middle of the night (thanks to a long nap that afternoon)

Here are the not-so-magical things that happened (Just for the record, I'm not whining... just recording actual facts worth remembering. We really did have a great time):

-worst weather of the summer arrived at Disneyland that same time we did

-It was crowded
-the constant fights over who got to push the elevator button :)
-not realizing that the cost of blockout tickets had gone up quite dramatically
-getting the large wooden Splash Mountain door slammed in our face after we had run with 3 little kids to get on it before it closed. It was the only ride Dallin wanted the entire trip and it was dashed to pieces right before his eyes. Mama Bear Waldron was mad.
-long lines for rides

-Claire setting off a door alarm and having to listen to it the entire time we ate lunch
-buying lunch and then realizing that there was absolutely nowhere available to sit. Walking around with trays of food in the 100 degree heat and 3 kids is miserable... even in the happiest place on earth. We finally found a table in direct sunlight... it was HOT!
-Spencer realizing that the ground was the coolest place and lying down all over the place on the nasty floors

-our last morning, we woke up to the loud hotel fire alarm going off with the fire captain recording telling us to evacuate the building over and over again. Dallin and I went down to see what was going on and there were tons of us outside, sitting on the Downtown Disney ground in our pajamas and robes. We waited for awhile before they finally let us back up. Some kid had pulled the fire alarm. Not a pleasant way to start the day.

Although the not-so-magical moments were miserable, we had a super-fun and memorable mini trip together as a family. The magical moments are what keep us going back... except next time it will be in cool of the fall ;).

Chocolate Chica

If the Coppertone girl ever needs a stunt double, Claire is ready. She's my blonde hair, blue-eyed beauty who tans like no one I've ever seen. Her tan lines would put this little Coppertone girl to shame. It's like chocolate and vanilla, light and dark, Caucasian and Mexican. We're not sure where she came from, but one day at the pool or beach turns her a perfect shade of summer tan. Lucky, lucky little Coppertone girl!

Seatbelt Suffocation

I was driving to the beach with Dallin, Claire and Spencer to attend a friend's birthday party the other day when all of a sudden... disaster hit. Spencer was screaming because his blanket had fallen on the ground. What was a lone mother to do? Ask one of her child servants to assist, of course. Dallin was the lucky chosen one.

He normally unbuckles his seatbelt, grabs the fallen object, hands it to the screamer and then buckles back up. This time, however, disaster hit again. He sucessfully unbuckled, but the seatbelt locked. I told him to pull on it (thinking it would release), but it kept getting tighter and tighter. He was panicky and scared and said that it was way too tight. We were almost to the beach, and I had him hold on for a few minutes (I know, horrible mom). I found a parking spot, raced to the back to find a nervous boy with an incredibly tight seatbelt wound around his body. It was worse than I thought. I quickly checked the owners manual, but I found nothing.

At this point, Dallin was extra-panicky so I called over our friend Jake who happened to have an army knife with him. Dallin's seatbelt was mutilated by a life-saving army knife within a matter of seconds. Disaster solved. We're still not sure what went down with that seatbelt, but the right side of our back seat is currently under construction... and my child servant is feeling great and back to work ;). What would I do without my Dallin?!

Peter Party

My husband turned 35 on the 13th and we had a fun month-long celebration.

On Pete's actual birthday, we went out to dinner in San Diego with Nick and Rachel Cunnington (two of our most favorite people in the world) and spent the entire evening on the patio of that Italian restaurant chatting and enjoying. It was perfect.
On the way home from SD, I gave Peter his birthday present... tickets to go see Joel McHale live! He is one of our favorite comedians and we were both stoked to go see him later on in the month.

Two days after Peter's birthday, we went on a little family staycation to Disneyland for the weekend and had a memorable trip (blog post coming soon). We celebrated Daddy's birthday there as a family.
Tonight, we drove back to San Diego with the Johnsons (two more fabulous friends) to partake of the Joel McHale show. We grabbed some quick In n Out and got to Humphreys by the Bay just in time to catch the opening comedy act (pretty funny) and then Joel McHale (unbelievable). He was hilarious... even better than The Soup.After the show, we grabbed some dessert at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate both Peter and Gale's July birthdays and had a great evening with some great friends.
A fun and wonderful "birthday month" for the most fun and wonderful man I know.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETER!

Legoland Liberty

Wow, I am way behind. I guess that's what happens when we celebrate our freedoms at the beginning of the month and then I use that freedom to not do anything :). Speaking of the 4th of July, here is what we did:

On Saturday (the 3rd), we were planning on going bike riding through Coronado Island until we realized how cold and overcast it was going to be. After the kids swim lessons, we quickly changed our plans and headed off to Legoland. These photos will tell the story of our exciting 3rd of July (and an extended 5th of July) at Legoland:

There was lots of...
DISCOVERING-

SPINNING-

SLIDING- (Claire wasn't a fan)

CLIMBING-

POSING-

RUNNING-

FLYING-

GALLOPING-

BUILDING-

ADMIRING-

IMPERSONATING-

DRIVING-

CONCENTRATING-

LAUGHING-

PLAYING-

RIDING-

TORTURING-

FREE FALLING-

OVERINDULGING-

BOAT RIDING -

On the 3rd, we finished our day with some fabulous fireworks that made us all happy. Hooray for a country that allows us to do so much and have so many amazing freedoms... like enjoying a safe and happy day with my family.

Happy 4th of July!