June 8, 2012

  Today was spent driving from Southern California to Northern California, to Grandma and Grandpa Foster's house.  We left the hotel at 6 AM to try to beat the morning traffic in Los Angeles.  Once we were through the city a ways, we stopped from breakfast. 

Erik is all business, "working" on Jeff's phone with a crayon behind his ear.

June 7, 2012

    Disneyland, part 2.  Jeff and I decided that today would be our "smart day" at Disneyland.  After trial and error the day before, we learned a few things that would make it easier today.  Like getting
Fastpasses (sort of like ride reservations) early, and finding a place to eat lunch/dinner before the kids are starving and have melt-downs. 

Splash Mountain.  Despite the terrified look on Ryan's face the first time, he rode it again with me with the Rider Switch pass.  He's hidden behind the guy with the red shirt.

Lunch at 11:30, before the crowds.  See? Smart Day.

???

Tower of Terror.  Not a great picture, but it is a great ride.  Basically you're in an elevator riding to the top of "The Hollywood Hotel" while a movie screen tells a story of a group of hotel guests that disappeared one night in the elevator.  Suddenly the elevator doors open and you can see you're at the top of the tower and can see the whole park. Then it free falls to the bottom and up and down a few times more.  The outside of the ride is quite impressive.  It huge, like a hotel would be, but they've designed it to look old and run-down, as if it were abandoned years ago.  Most of the kids loved this ride.  Erik did not.  He was not prepared for the free fall.  Upon exiting the ride, he said, "I'm never, never, never going on that ride again."  I told him to wait until he's Shelbi's age, and he'll probably have changed his mind.  He smiled a little bit at the idea of being old, like Shelbi.  Also, Ryan proclaimed he "had to go potty!" just as they were stepping on to the ride.  See what I mean about their timing?

A welcomed splash pad for the kids while Syd and I rode the Tower of Terror.  The boys are "fighting" the water sprays.  Of course.

The carousel, Bailey's one ride of the day.

With Buzz Lightyear

By mid-afternoon, Ryan was D-O-N-E done.  We were sitting in the shade waiting for Jeff and Shelbi to finish their ride, when I looked over at Ryan.  He was crying for no one's sake, just because that's all that was left for him to do.  I went over to comfort him, and within seconds he layed his head on my knee and was asleep.  He spent the next two hours asleep in the stroller while Bailey was allowed to walk (Free at last!!).   We decided that we were Disneyed out, so we picked up a few souveniers and left to grab dinner at a real restaurant.  As were we walking to the exit gate, we ran into this guy:

June 6, 2012

  Disneyland!  We have never been there as a family, so this was a great chance to go since we were going to California anyway.  I always wanted to take my girls when they were so into the Disney princesses, but now that the kids are older, they're all tall enough (except Bailey, of course) to go on all the big rides.  So Jeff and I weren't stuck going on the kiddie rides all day.  And Disneyland has a brilliant way for families with stroller babies to be able to ride all the rides.  One adult and the kids go on the ride and get a "Rider Switch" pass. When they're done riding, the other parent (who was with the stroller baby) plus one child take the pass and go to the front of the line.  No waiting twice and everyone gets to ride!

     As we came into Disneyland, there were Disney photographers who take your picture in front of the big flower Mickey and give you a card that you can scan later to retrieve your pictures.  Of course, I can't find that card for the life of me. So imagine a super good-looking family of seven, all smiling and happy to be at Disneyland.  Unfortunately the rest of our pictures were just taken on our phones, so the quality isn't great.  But hey, we were at Disneyland. Who has time for fantastic pictures anyway?

  To start off, Jeff decided he couldn't wear this shirt because it's "too backy," meaning the patches on the back might be too hot.  The waredrobe must be just right.

Space Mountain

Erik and a Storm Trooper (is that what they're called?)

Syd and I on Autopia in the dark blue car.  It's nice when Jeff takes a picture to prove that I was actually on this vacation too.

No trip to Disneyland is complete without a ride on "It's A Small World."

Always posing

Jeff was the "lucky" one who got to go on the Teacups with the kids while I stayed with a sleeping Bailey.

This is where Bailey spent her day. 

We spent the whole day at Disneyland and California Adventure.  The kids really wanted to see the fireworks at night.  They were exhausted and cold, but the fireworks didn't dissappoint.  (Of course, Erik had to go to the bathroom just as the fireworks were starting, so he and Jeff missed most of them.  Our kids' bladders don't have very good timing.)

June 5, 2012

    I'm pretty sure flying is way more fun as a kid than an adult.  I really don't like it.  But the kids wanted to experience every part of it, from the free "magazines" in the seat backs and the complimentary drinks and pretzels, to the tray tables and reclining seats.  And once the novelty of these things wore off, there were always games to play on my and Jeff's phones.

June 4, 2012

  I'm pretty sure I've already used a very similar picture to this.  But this is what today consisted of--packing.  We're off to California!

June 3, 2012

"Miss MaChris" turned 8 today.  (It's a long story how she got that odd nickname, but it fits her.)  She had a slumber birthday party a couple of weeks ago, and will be baptized later this month, so it's going to be weeks of celebration.  This girl is sweet to the bones.  While her emotions sometimes get the best of her, I think it makes her even more aware of others' feelings.  I've noticed lately how old she seems.  And sassy too, but in a good way.

June 2, 2012

9:00 PM

The boys are in bed.

These girls are going to bed.

This girl's vegging in front of the tv.

Jeff's at work, and I'm considering ice cream.