Riding away

So the other reason to go to Disneyland (other than to see characters) is to go on the fun rides! We were able to wait in very short rides for most of our visit (Fridays are probably always chaos), so the kids got to go on rides a lot! I think they got to ride Star Tours six times (different each time!), Indiana Jones 4-5 times, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 times, Grizzly River Run 4-5 times, Splash Mountain 3 times, Thunder Mountain 5-6 times, Space Mountain 2 times, California Screamin' 3-4 times, Toy Story 2 times, etc.

We started out on quiet rides so Austin and Shayla could "break in" to the experience. Peter Pan was our first ride, and they both loved it! :) Then we did It's a Small World (so different than last time I rode it -- loved it!) and the tea cups. Austin LOVED the tea cups -- especially when it was spinning, much to our surprise. He wasn't very smiley because he was teething (getting in all four canines!), but he sure smiled on this ride. It was adorable:

I've gotta say that California Screamin' is the best roller coaster I've EVER been on. It is awesome!!! Mind you, my stomach isn't the same as it was when I was growing up, but I still went on this a couple of times. And we were able to get a couple of good pictures. It starts off SO FAST, as you can see from the girl's hair in the front. Paul, Tyler and Becca are a couple of rows back:

Shayla's favorite ride was the new Ariel ride in California Adventures. We went on it four or five times -- I lost track:

You know how they say girls are better drivers than boys? I totally believe it! I rode on Autopia with both Tyler and Shayla (another one we hit 3-4 times), and Shayla was a much better driver. She got a little annoyed when I made her take her eyes off of the road for a picture:

Austin loved the 3-D glasses he got to wear for Toy Story and Captain EO. In fact, while we were waiting he tried on a few pairs:

Last time we were at California Adventures the huge ferris wheel was closed. However, this time we got to ride on it. We definitely did not go on one of the swinging gondolas!

While we were up there we had a great view into the new Cars land that will open next month. They're building it to look just like Radiator Springs. It looks like it will be VERY cool:

Austin loved the Jungle Cruise -- can you tell?

We also went on it again at night. Who knew it could totally feel like a real jungle in the dark? It was so cool! The only light was from the boat -- he had a spotlight he'd shine when he wanted to show us something. It really was kind of eery. Austin didn't like that version nearly as much. However, he did like a mechanical bird in the rafters while we were waiting in line and kept turning my head to look at it. Oops -- maybe we shouldn't have skipped the Tiki Room. :)

Shayla was my hands-up girl this time. I got a couple of cute pictures of her bravery:

(Pardon me, but isn't this picture-perfect like it's an ad for California Adventures?)

Last time we went we were totally excited to get good pics of Splash Mountain with our new camera. Of course, our camera definitely is no longer new, but it still gets cool pictures on Splash Mountain. Poor Zachary and Shayla look soooooo scared! Turns out Shayla really was, and Zachary loved it. (You've gotta click on the picture to see it bigger so you can see Shayla's face.)

 

We didn't make it to the canal story boats until our last day there, and Shayla was so excited to go in the whale's mouth. She actually started clapping. Cutie:

Oh, Becca's favorite ride was the Grizzly River Run. I'm not gonna lie -- it's on my top 5 list as well. It is funny, though, that you don't know from time to time how wet you'll get. (There is a sign that says, "You will get wet. You may get soaked.) Shayla loved it the first time, even though she got splashed. However, on her second run she got soaked. She wasn't a fan after that:

BTW it took her hours to dry off

Becca, Tyler & Zach with Shayla and Paul (backs to camera)

Zachary got drenched! His pants are not dark blue, just totally wet.

They both got decently wet ... and are posing like the Mickey on their shirts

Becca and I got it pretty good, too.

 In California Adventures we got to go on several rides we missed last visit, including Soarin' Over California (cool, but I don't get the hype), Tower of Terror (I accidentally grabbed the leg of the man next to me when we first dropped -- oops!), and Monsters, Inc. Monsters is in an out-of-the way place a California Adventures, but it was so cute:

And while you're waiting in line they have awesome props, such as a Monsters, Inc. vending machine:

I think I'll have some Sugar, Salt and Fat. Or should I have Blort?

And last, but definitely not least, Austin LOVED the trains. He could hear the Disney Railroad several times a day. He saw the Casey Jr. train while we were in Fantasyland. And from anywhere in the park he would notice the monorail. Every time he saw or heard a train, he said, "Choo, choo!" So we definitely had to ride those a couple of times, too:

The kids loved that we were in the monkey cage since Austin's "leash" was a monkey ...

And sadly, the Matterhorn was closed for repair. That seems to be the Palmer curse. My kids LOVED it last time (it was Tyler's favorite ride), so hopefully it will be open next time we go. Too bad our next visit has to be so many years down the road. (Then again, the Harry Potter world at Universal will be open in 2014, so maybe we'd wait until then anyway to catch that, too. :)

Disney Character Fun!

So meeting characters was a fun highlight of our Disney vacation. They do such a great job getting the kids excited and signing their autographs. I LOVE the autographs -- Ariel's has bubbles; Pluto's has a paw print; Peter Pan's has an arrow through it; Eeyore's has a rain cloud above it; Minnie's has hearts; etc.

This trip we were fortunate enough to MEET 28 characters! On top of that, we saw (outside of the parade) more than 10 others. My kids were in heaven. (Warning: This post is photo heavy. And I could have included oh, so many more!)

First and foremost, we got to meet Ariel as the first princess!!! Yes! We didn't know she was there, so as soon as Shayla saw her she had to put on her Ariel costume. Ariel said, "We look like twins!" Shayla could not have been happier for Ariel to say that:

 

Who knew Disney had so many red-headed characters? I didn't realize Peter Pan was a red-head:

He was hilarious! He said, "I know big sisters are bossy. Wendy taught me that." When Zachary handed him the autograph book with his name on the cover, he said, "I'm going to guess that your name is Zachary." When Zachary responded affirmatively, he said, "I knew that because I'm very good at guessing." Then he said to Becca, "I like the pixie dust on your shirt!"

Another red-head who got excited about Shayla was Jessie the cow girl -- she touched her own hair; touched Shayla's; and then did her "yee-haw" punch into the air. It was awesome:

One of the kids' favorite characters to meet were Chip and Dale. They were HILARIOUS! Unfortunately (makes me so sad) our videotape ran out and Paul had to change right during the funniest part. Oh well ...

They read Zachary's shirt (The Force is Strong with This One) and kept pointing to it. Then when they saw Tyler's shirt (Midi-Chlorian Count >20,000), they gave him a high five. Then Tyler started dueling with fake light sabers with Chip. Then Tyler pushed his hand out like he was using the force, and Chip flew backwards. Check it out:

 

 

When Chip came in for a hug (they were very huggy), Tyler did the force thing again forcing him back, so he turned his back on Tyler to give his autograph. Then Dale tapped him on the shoulder as if Tyler did it:

 

They did so many other things I can't even remember. But they were hilarious and the kids loved 'em:

 

Tigger was also full of energy and fun. That's the joy of waiting in line before characters are there -- when you're one of the first visitors they have lots of energy. Austin had enjoyed looking at the characters before Tigger, but Tigger did the kissing sound twice fast and made Austin laugh. I LOVED it! Austin was giddy to be playing with Tigger:

Tigger also liked Zachary's shirt (X-wing Pilot) and acted like he was flying a plane and shooting guns. It was funny. Then he was just funny signing autographs and taking pictures:

 

 

The longest line we waited in for a character was about 35 minutes to see Rapunzel. Becca really wanted to see her. Well, she was really hoping Flynn Rider would be there, but apparently he was out with Maximus. Oh well -- Rapunzel was pretty. :)

Becca also wanted to see Belle pretty bad. We had waited in line for the princesses twice already and hoped we'd catch her with a short line. Becca found a short line, and I asked the lady who was there. Belle was one of the three there! But she was getting off in 5 minutes, which meant we'd miss her again. The employee told us which way she leaves so we could catch a glimpse of her, even if she couldn't sign autographs and take pictures. I was hoping this would suffice for Becca. So when we'd been waiting about five minutes, I asked the employee if she could unofficially tell me which princesses would start the day the next morning if we came back. She said she didn't know, but that she had arranged with Belle to see just one last set of people before she left for the day. So she took us in the back and the girls met Belle! That was soooooo incredibly awesome of that employee.

Oh, and Belle asked Shayla, "Are you Ariel's sister? You look like her." Shayla LOVED that and told her she was, in fact, Ariel's sister. :)

Let's see ... this character was so animated and hilarious, too. And after we met him and got his autograph (which includes a hat), the kids said, "Who was that?!"

Other characters we met:

Dug from Up

Mulan and a teething Austin (hands in mouth at Disneyland - yuck!)

Tinkerbell

Ariel's autograph with bubbles

Buzz -- who can't sign autographs due to his space gloves

Cruella Devil

Eeyore

Goofy being, well, goofy

Goofy

Pooh

Austin <3 Pooh!

As we were leaving Pooh, he came and stopped me. I wondered why since we had already taken a lot of time having four kids get autographs, pictures with all of us, and an individual with Austin. However, he patted my stomach and I realized I was wearing my Pooh shirt. Once I realized, Pooh put his hands over his heart like he was so happy about it. It was cute:

Sleeping Beauty (Aurora)

We figured Austin would be soooo happy to meet Mickey and Minnie since he loves Mickey Mouse's clubhouse. He did stare at Minnie until she tried to eat him:

Okay, I think it was a kiss, but it sure looked like she was trying to eat him.

He did like Mickey, although instead of being all happy he seemed more in awe:

Other characters we met:
Snow White
Woody
Pinocchio
Gepetto
Princess Tiana (princess & the frog)

Pluto
Goofy's son Max

We saw Cinderella and her fairy godmother, but we didn't meet them. Same with Donald Duck, whose line was cut off both times we saw him before we got there. Oh well ... maybe next time! :)

Egg drop

This is the last catch-up post ... for now, anyway. The last day of school before we left for Disneyland was the kindergarten egg drop. Shayla and I had bought cute duct tape earlier in the week, and she was thrilled to use it to package up her egg. We just surrounded her egg with styrofoam. (That worked for both Tyler's and Zachary's eggs, so why not? :)

Then she insisted it have a parachute, so we added that at the last minute. Here she is showing off her container:

I guess I never said what they do once they have the egg all ready to be dropped. The custodian at the school takes all of the containers and drops them off the roof of the school. They then take them back and see which containers protected the raw egg. I've had some teachers chart broken vs. unbroken eggs, etc. It is so interesting to see people's ideas. One this year packaged his on peanut butter, which splattered all over the asphalt below. One in Tyler's grade put it in the middle of jell-o, which was also all over the asphalt. (This reminds me that I was thinking we should make cookies for the custodian who has to clean it all up! :)

Anyway, here is Shayla's after being dropped:

Hey, that parachute is working more than I ever imagined it would ...

And here is her teacher pulling out her egg to find out if it's broken:

That's right -- the Brown kids are 3 for 3 in unbroken eggs. Happy day! :)

Zachary turns 9!

My sweet Zachary got a little ripped off this year as far as birthdays are concerned. We were leaving for Disneyland the next day, so he got no party or cake. Becca had prom, so he watched as we ironed her dress and got her hair and make-up ready. However, he got to leave for Disneyland the next day, so he sure didn't complain. :)

Here he is with his gifts:

Happy birthday, sweet boy!

Becca's fun

Disneyland was a blast! But you'll have to wait for those pictures since I have thousands to go through to pick the best ones. I love pictures! :) And it looks like blogger has changed, so hopefully I'm doing this right! (It took me a little to figure out how to even post. Love it! :)

So for Becca's birthday she wanted to go to Trafalga. Unfortunately it was spring break and insanely crazy. If she hadn't invited several friends who were there I would have left. Oh well. Here she is climbing the wall and barely beating out her boyfriend ... although in fairness to him I will let you know he passed her right after the picture. :)

And the best part of her birthday was that Kyle asked her to prom. She was GIDDY! He wasn't going to ask her (his parents said they had to pick homecoming or prom, and Becca picked homecoming ... which, of course, she regretted later). But they decided to let him ask her, and he kept it secret until her birthday. He brought a dozen roses and a candy-bar poster to ask her. She said it was the best birthday she's ever had ...

Anyway, good thing we planned our Disneyland trip around prom! Here are pictures of the big day:

I only got one picture at promenade, because a girl ran right in front of me as I snapped the next one. Oh well. They thought about not even going to promenade, but the couple they were doubling with really wanted to. I think it ended up being fun for them. I saw all the beautiful dresses and wished we could afford a really nice one. But then again, I'm happy to have a daughter who is content with plain and simple (and cheap) and who is just excited to go, even if she's not dressed in the fanciest dress. She had a blast, and that's what matters the most. I can't believe her high school dance-dates are over. Graduation is this month and then her high school years are done. Next year I go back to having kids going only to elementary school (other than the one who won't live with us, of course). It will be so different!

More Easter

My kids are literally steps in height. Glad I finally remembered to do this:

And I totally forgot to mention my kids' favorite part of Easter -- they got gifts this year! Generally we get them a chocolate bunny and that's it. (We're not into the whole Easter basket thing -- they get enough candy on the egg hunts, and we don't need to be buying presents ...) Anyway, this year they had pillow pet knock-offs for $5 at our grocery store, and my kids have been dying to get them. They love 'em (even though they got no chocolate bunny with it):

Then again, I'm not so sure it was a good idea to buy the cheapies, because I've already had to sew up three holes ... Oh well!