16 October 2016

More Disneyland Pictures





















Disneyland!

Holy Cow!  Disneyland!!

We'd looked forward to it for so long.  We went to celebrate the return of Elder Petersen from Lithuania and to celebrate the 40 years of marital bliss for Mamma Judy and Boompa Karl.  The kids were so excited.  We'd been counting down.  Yet, once there, we struggled so much.  It was a roller coaster of emotional madness for three days.  I did my best to balance my husband, my kids, and the rest of my family, but whatever . . .  we still had fun.

Highlights:

  • We flew.  The kids were angels in the airports and on the plane.  We saved a substantial amount of money on airfare by flying into LAX.  I don't know if the bus ride from the airport to the rental cars makes it worth it, though.  I like the low-key convenience of Long Beach Airport.
  • My kids love the ocean and the beach.  Their mother doesn't and I was nervous, but they loved it.  We were able to stop Friday night when we got there and then again when we left the park on Sunday.  That may have been Jack's favorite part.
  • My mother is amazing and the most calm, collected, person I know.  She can wrangle my kids (and all of us) when no one else can.
  • Cars Land is my favorite.  It just reminds me of a cool time and place in the world. It makes me happy!
  • My kids cried a lot, but they also giggled a lot!
  • Disneyland is such a family-friendly place.  Disneyland is probably the most organized and smoothly-operated place in the world.
  • We bought extra tickets to do "Mickey's Halloween Party" and that was totally worth it.  The park was not crowded.  Ride lines were short.  Fireworks were super cool.
  • Turtle Talk with Crush was fun because Crush decided to talk to "Carvin' Karl" about his swimming habits.
  • I didn't get a corn dog, but we did eat lots of churros. 











Here Fishy Fishy Fishy

As part of a behavior modification experiment, Molly and Jack earned a fish.  It took all summer to earn enough stickers on the fish chart, but they finally did it.  They each picked a beta fish and we are now pet owners.  

Molly names hers "Princess Sparkle" and Jack named his "James."  

Before the week was up, Princess Sparkle died.  Molly had a rough morning when we found her floating at the top of the fish bowl.  She thought that since her fish died she would have to earn her stickers all over again.  Luckily, that wasn't the case.  Pet Smart has a 2 week guarantee on beta fish.  Molly was able to pick a new fish and this one she named "Princess Bella."

The next installment in the pet saga was that James kept jumping the gate to get to Bella.  We couldn't figure out how he did it, but he did it at least 3 times.  He was totally freaking her out and the last thing we wanted was mating betas.  We finally figured that if we kept the water level below a certain height, he couldn't get to her an things were fine. 

And thus . . . the fish live one.  They even survived a babysitter during our trip to Disneyland.




Family Photos