April 17th--Day Five, Our Final Day!

Sadly, our last day.......well kind of sad but I think we were all ready to go home. We only were here today till 3:00 pm and then it was time to hit the road to make it to Las Vegas to spend the night. We decided to pick our favorite rides in Disneyland and make them the last. Elise insisted on riding "Indiana Jones" one last time. She rode it a total of 5 times! Then off to "Haunted Mansion". While waiting in line we were happy to get a phone call from a friend who was in the park with her family. Tiffany, Mark, Rebecca and Thor had just got there that day and wanted to hang out with us till we left. We met up with them after "Haunted Mansion". From there we decided to break from Tiffany and her family so they could ride "Splash Mountain" and Nate and Elise could ride "Space Mountain". Brady and I would wait near the "Jedi Training" show so we could eat lunch and then participate in the show once everyone met up again. The show was awesome! Unfortunately, Elise, Brady, Rebecca and Thor did not get picked to be a Jedi and be able to fight Darth Vader or Darth Maul. Perhaps, next time. After lunch we all went to ride the "Matterhorn". Nate and the kids must have rode this 5 times as well! Since I get sick on dip-type rides I stay off and wait and that's what I did this time too. They all had a great time and, by looking at the watch, it was just about time to go. We said good-bye to Tiffany and her family so they could go on more rides. For our last ride we chose "Storybook Canal Boats". We love this ride a lot! On our way out we stopped in a few shops to get some yummy Disneyland treats to take on the road and a few coloring books to give the kids something to do on the long drive home. So ends another fun-filled Disneyland vacation. Will we go again next year? We don't know yet but we're always open to the option. The magic and wonder never seems to disappoint!

April 16th--Day Four

We started the day out in California Adventure. It was getting warmer today--blech! We started out riding "Monsters Inc." and then did the Muppet 3-D show. Then we got on one of our favorite rides, "Soarin' Over California". This is an awesome ride! From there we headed over to Paradise Pier to watch a great film on the history of California. It was time for lunch after the film and so we found a nice, shaded place along the pier to eat our sandwiches. Along the way, I found a fruit and veggies stand that was also selling these adorable loaves of Mickey Mouse-shaped sourdough bread. I had to get it! Almost too cute to eat! There is a sourdough bread factory just next to the pier that makes these loaves.
After lunch we headed back to Disneyland where we enjoyed Frontierland. The kids and Nate went on "Thunder Mountain Railroad" and then we headed over to "Thunder Mountain Ranch" where they had a petting area filled with goats. The kids loved that! By then it was getting late so we found a spot by "Small World" to watch the parade. I love this parade! The kids were happy to get a bucket of popcorn while they enjoyed the parade as well. A very long day and I think we were all happy that the next day was the last day too.

April 15th--Day Three

Today we started out in Fantasyland again. We love the Peter Pan ride and so we started out there. The morning was a little chilly and overcast. We were pretty happy about that! The line for "Peter Pan" takes a while but it's so worth it. After a few rides in Fantasyland we went over to "Minnie and Friends Character Breakfast". This is a family tradition of ours. We pick one morning of our trip and go there. The food is so yummy (Even down to the Mickey Mouse shaped waffles!) and there are several characters that come up to your table for photos and autographs. It beats standing in long lines around the park to do the same thing! The weather seemed to get cooler and cooler. I didn't bring my jacket, thinking it would warm up, so I was freezing! Instead of going back to the hotel for my jacket I bought one. It's so cute! It's brown with a kind of tropical pattern with hidden Minnie Mouse's and tiki's throughout. And of course, shortly after I paid for the expensive jacket (everything in Disneyland is expensive!) it started warming up. After our yummy breakfast we went over to Toontown. Nate took the kids on the roller coaster and we walked around looking at the sights. Never to far from our minds is always Brady's diabetes care and we were quite impressed with his glucose levels on this trip. After Toontown we took the Monorail to Downtown Disney to look at all the fun shops. We had never done this before and I enjoyed it--Nate, not so much. We went to the Lego store, Build-A-Bear, a super-yummy bakery called Marceline's Confectionary, and World of Disney store. I bought the kids our traditional year shirts for 2008 and they put them on after our naps to be worn the rest of the day. By the end of this day Brady was getting kind of cranky and wanting to go home.

Day Two at Disneyland

April 14th--Hooray, a little cooler today and still not too busy. We started the day in Disneyland--mostly Fantasyland and Torrowland. Elise and Brady stand in the doorway of the rabbits house, from "Alice in Wonderland". Even though it's not very convincing, by the look on his face, Brady loved the carousel. Elise LOVED riding Space Mountain with dad. We ate lunch at my favorite place, Pizza Port. They have the best chicken alfredo! After we came back to the park, from a much-needed nap time, we headed over to California Adventure to catch the "Disney Pixar Parade". Shortly before the parade we walked over to the Hollywood Backlot to do the "Turtle Talk With Crush" show. Crush is the sea turtle from "Finding Nemo". He appears on a screen that looks like the bottom of the ocean and he talks to the audience and asks questions. He just happened to pick me and I got to ask him a question. Before he picked me he was talking about how he has 65 children. I decided to be a little sarcastic and ask him the names of all of his children. His eyes got big and he said, "All of them?" and I said, "You betcha!" So he started going into several different popular, famous names and the audience laughed and laughed. He then asked me how many children we have and their names. I told him we have two and he said, "Oh, just startin' out, eh?" It was a great time! So back to the parade, I stood and saved our spot while Nate took both the kids on Grizzly River Rapids. A little while later they all came back soaking wet. Luckily, I always bring extra change of clothes so Nate took the kids to the bathroom to get them all nice and dry. By the time they got back to me it was time for the parade. Quite a fancy parade!

Disneyland, 2008--April 13-17--Day One

April 13th--Our first day at Disneyland. We drove down to Anaheim the day before. Today was HOT! Surprisingly though, it didn't seem too crowded, which is always nice. Our very first photo is of Nate depositing our tax forms into one of the Disneyland mail boxes. We owed a big chunk of money this year so he decided to mail the stuff at the last minute and what better place to send it from, but Disneyland!
We got some pleasant surprises in characters today too. Piglet and Dopey are rarely seen in either of the parks and we just happened to see them today. They kids both bought autograph books and pens and got each of them to autograph and then take photos. So cute!
Today, Elise also decided to brave the Indiana Jones ride for the first time. She went with mom and LOVED it! I was surprised, I thought for sure she would hate it and end up crying. While she and I were on the ride, Nate and Brady waited for us and Nate got a pic of Brady by the waterfall outside the ride. Brady is still a little too short for Indiana Jones.

A New Haircut

I actually got this cut in the middle of March but didn't take a pic of it till April. I went over to my sis-in-law, Marissa's, house for a trim and some color. ***I hate to rub it in, but it is SO VERY NICE to have a hairdresser in the family!*** I decided I might want to see how an "A-frame" would look on me. She thought it would look great so we went for it. The final finish was a little overwhelming, at first. (It has never been this short, at least since I was a kid.) But I went home and played with it and discovered I really like it. And I know it would look even tons better if I get rid of this double-chin! I realize the up-keep of this new hair-do is a little more frequent, since my hair grows fast, but I like it enough that I will do so. Times are-a-changin'!

YES! Brady is potty-trained!!!!!!

April 9th----WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!! Brady is finally potty-trained! What a victory! He's a pro at going #1 (yes, I'm going to say #1 and #2 instead of the other--cheesy, I know) and has even been standing up to do so since October, 2007, but he just wasn't interested in going #2. The only time he did #2 it freaked him out so he refused. Well we got a suggestion from one of our neighbors, it seemed a little harsh but we were told it had a high success rate. We were told to use the "cold shower method". Basically, when he went #2 in his Pull-Up we take him in the bathroom clean him up and then put him under a cold shower for 5-10 seconds. We only had to do the cold shower twice and then he was good to go. I hated doing it but we're part of the high success rate now and he seems to remember the cold shower enough that he has no desire to have an accident in his underwear.
Brady got to pick out some underwear and he chose "Diego". He loves them! He also has "Superman" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" underwear.