Disneyland x 24!

We went to Disneyland 24 times on our annual passes! Twenty-four!  That's just amazing! Especially since the passes are limited, we are blocked out on holidays, weekends and all summer.

Each and every trip to Disneyland was a complete success. We had so much fun! That place is magical, I truly believe in the Disney magic. How can I doubt it when my kids have such magical experiences?  Gracie got to sing with the Dapper Dans, Libby skipped with Merida, Gracie was chosen to be a Padowan in the Jedi Training show - twice!, Libby made Mulan light up with happiness, Gracie played with Pluto, Henry was amazed in Cars Land, Charlie snuggled with Pooh and Ariel, Gracie fired a canon and shot a hole in the clouds.  I could go on and on. They had the times of their lives. Lucky lucky kids! And I'm so lucky to have been a witness and a part of the most magical memories of their childhoods.

Our passes this year were a wonderful gift from "The Grandmas"(my mom and her mom). The girls always knew that the grandmas gave us the tickets and I appreciate that they always gave the grandmas credit for our fun days at Disneyland. It makes me feel like my children are feeling a connection to their grandmas even though we only get to see them in person a couple of times each year.

To end our year of Disneyland, we went three times in our last week. Tuesday, I took all three kids: Gracie, Libby and Charlie. Thursday, I only took Gracie. And on Friday, I took Gracie and Libby.  What a week! We did everything we love the most and found some new things in our last week. It was awesome!

After each day at Disneyland, I suffer from a Disney hangover. I always need a day to recover. It's so odd, but I feel run down and exhausted, and just yucky in general after a day at the Happiest Place on Earth. I really had to take it easy to recover from three days in one week, but it was totally worth the hangover to end our year with so much magic. It was nothing that lots of caffeine and advil couldn't cure. Luckily, the kids needed a day of rest so it was easy enough to declare a lazy day. Nobody argued.

The only thing we didn't do that we would have loved, was to stay late and see the night time shows. It is hard to stay late because, well, it's late.  We never did get to see the World of Color water fountain show, but we did see Goofy's daytime fountain orchestra show, which was amazing with all of the fountains and water dancing. I'm sure the World of Color show is the same thing, with a light show on top. We only saw the fireworks once, but that was the day I lost my purse and validated the fact that I should leave before I'm too tired to remember to keep my purse with me. Goodness! We did well and we only missed a few things by not staying late.

I think we'll go again in another decade or so. When the girls are teenagers and they want to try all the big stuff and reminisce about their childhoods spent on the resort. Plus, by then we should be able to stay in a hotel on the resort and catch the night time shows.

I think if we do everything and see it all, we wouldn't leave anything to anticipate in their teen years. Some of the best moments are those "first" moments. I'm happy to leave some things undone so we can enjoy more firsts some other day.

Right now, we don't want to renew. Aside from the astronomical pass prices, it's just harder to get there and spend a good amount of time at Disneyland. With both girls in school now, we don't have as much time to play. Plus, that level of happiness is exhausting.

Now, I just need to organize all of my photos and figure out how to arrange them in photo books. Chronologically? By land?  A book of character photos? Hmmm...

Princess Mulan's Matchmaker Hanfu

Made It!!!

The girls have been wishing for Princess Mulan dresses for quite some time. I finally found time to get to the fabric store and while I was there, I actually remembered to grab up some pretty blue fabric for the waist band. Really, that's what the big wait was all about. I've had the pink satin and the red trim for quite some time.

I only made one dress because my older girl is growing out of the dress up stage and she would rather wear something normal but themed. I haven't figured out what to do for her yet, but I did buy some Star Wars fabric for when I figure something out. In the meantime, only one hanfu is in order. Which works because Libby's 5th birthday was quickly approaching so the dress could be a gift. 

It only took me a couple of days to make the dress, which would equate to a couple of hours in normal person time. It's been proven many times that I am not functioning in any level of normal, sewing or otherwise. But it should be noted that it was a quick project.

I used a normal looking dress pattern, mainly for the measurements of the shoulders and sleeves and bodice width. The hanfu does not at all resemble the pattern I used, but I am growing out of a need for much of a pattern; I just need the major cutting points and then I can wing the rest of it.

I made the hanfu just like a dress in that it has a top bodice section and a bottom skirt with a zipper up the back. I'm not so sure that is the proper way but I wanted it to have some flair at the bottom and I wasn't so sure a shift or A line cut would have the same effect. Besides, the gathered waistline would be covered by the waist band so it didn't really matter. I also made the skirt ankle length (or so I thought until my kid put it on and I discovered her legs are a lot longer than they used to be!)

I cut the sleeves the right length and then added "bat wings" to the wrist. I also made the tip of the wings longer than the top of the wrist so that it resembled Mulan's long sleeve tips without going overboard. Just a bit of effect for authenticity but not enough that it would be annoying to wear.

The bodice top gave me some pause. I had to think about how to make it overlap like a robe. I ended up cutting four bodice pieces and then folding them and ironing them down the way I wanted them, trimming off the unwanted half at the diagonal and stitching the two pieces of bodice together at the waist. It has a lining of the same satin, which is why I needed four pieces. Two outer and two for lining. There is probably a hundred easier and more conservative ways to cut the bodice out, but to keep it straight in my mind, that's how I did it. I will have to practice or draw up a little pattern piece.

I used some of the leftover cheap red stuff that I used for the Captain Hook Halloween costume last year to trim the bodice and make the red waist belt. The embroidered blue piece was easy to make into a waistband. I measure the child around the middle and made a rectangle to match. I sewed the red band to the middle of the blue rectangle and added apron ties.

Now I had the pink satin underdress with the red trim on the bodice and the separate blue and red waist band. Done!

There were just a couple of problems. I forgot the red upper skirt and the waist band slid straight down that satin covered kid. It wouldn't stay up.

I added a piece of gathered red to the bottom of the blue waist band and that fixed that issue. Then I tacked the waist band to the dress in the back, front and under the arms to keep it from sliding down. We don't need to spend all day yanking the waist piece up over and over again. Now, it's done!

Princess Mulan's pink hanfu was an awesome birthday gift for my little birthday girl! We hauled it around all day at Disneyland on her big day, but it was too hot to wear satin. Also, Mulan wasn't "home" when we went to the Princess Fantasy Faire. In the evening when it cooled down, she put her hanfu on over her clothes in lieu of a jacket.  It was so cute!  We sure heard a lot of compliments in the couple of hours that she wore it and her little friend instructed me to make one for her and her sister.

Happy Birthday to my little princess!

*** UPDATE ***
11/8/2013

My little Mulan met the real Mulan at Disneyland. Mulan saw her and gasped with excitement! She was like a little princess on Christmas morning when she saw Libby in her Mulan hanfu! Very exciting! Here are the princess twins together:

Last Trip to Disneyland before the Summer Blockout

Gracie and I went to Disneyland, just the two of us! She's becoming more and more grown up lately, and I love spending some one-on-one time with her. We didn't take a stroller!

She wanted to wear her Merida dress and I was instructed to wear my Merida Tshirt, which I did. But, she changed her mind and wore "normal clothes". We both made poor shoe choices and paid dearly the next day, but it was so much fun to have a Mom & Gracie day! 

We reminisced about our first trip to Disneyland just before her 3rd birthday and we did the math to see how many years she's been coming to Disneyland. She's 7 now. That makes 4 years of Disneyland for her! That's a lot!

She gave me her verbal list of things she wants to do together, without little kids holding us back. Gracie wanted to ride Soaring Over California, Ariel, Star Tours and Indiana Jones. She wasn't interested in seeing any characters and she didn't want to do any "baby" rides. Well, we'll see. I had one thing on my list of things to do; I wanted to see the new show "Mickey's Magical Map". There was an AP showing today (annual passholders only show) with limited seating.

We went to California Adventure first and grabbed up a fast-pass for the Souring ride. We saw Goofy's water fountain orchestra show, and then the Army men performance. The Army men appeared right in front of us and they are very entertaining with all of their drumming. Gracie volunteered to be a part of their army training crew; she was soon trained to be a toy Army soldier.

We walked along to go ride the Jumping Jellyfish or the airplane swing thing, but when we got right up to those rides and Gracie looked up at them, she quickly changed her mind. She shook her head when I led her to Goofy's Sky School too.  Heights aren't her thing.

We rode Ariel; it's a favorite! This time we got to see how the handicapped carriage works. All of the people load into clamshells and ride around, the loading takes place on a conveyer belt so that the ride doesn't have to stop. There is one handicap vessel (or maybe there are two, and we only see one at a time) and it's always empty when we have seen it. This time the handicap carriage was right in front of our clamshell and when the ride ended, we got to see the Ariel cast members load a wheelchair on. It was really cool! They made it look effortless and easy, no big deal at all.

Gracie wanted to stop and play in the Redwood Creek wilderness area. We've done this before, but I don't enjoy it when I have more than one child to keep tabs on. The play area is big and has multiple levels, if one kid goes down a slide, I suddenly lost one. And in this play area, they run! I almost always avoid this place unless I convince them that we are doing one thing and then we leave the area right away. Since I only had one kid to wrangle, we stopped in for a good rowdy play.  Gracie rode the tire swing and then she looked at a few of the nature signs. We read about animal footprints and identified a few of them in the concrete path, and we looked at a section of a tree and noted the rings. She wanted to go down the slide, but it was blocked off. We looked over the ledge and saw that it was broken at the bottom. While she was on the tire slide, I saw Russel off in the distance but he was gone by the time her turn on the swing was over so we missed seeing him.

Next we rode Soaring Over California. It's such a nice ride! We've only ridden it once before so we were excited to ride again. You sit on bench seats that rise up and sway while the huge movie screen in front of you shows ariel views of various California locations. There are three rows of bench seating and the first row rises up pretty high, the middle row rises above the 3rd row. We were lucky enough to be seated in the third row so we weren't flying quite as high as those in the first row.

When we came out of the ride, we saw Minnie Mouse and her flygirls perform. We always like the shows at Disneyland, this is a fun one too. The ladies sing Disney flying songs. It is amazing that there are so many!

We also saw the Five and Dime performance. This show must play several performances every day because we always see it when we happen to walk by the area where they perform. It's good though, and Gracie appreciates the live music.

We checked the information booth where the wait times for each ride are posted. 120 minute wait for the Radiator Springs Racers ride. I didn't have to convince Gracie to skip that ride, she wasn't going to stand in line for 2 hours! We then headed out of California Adventure and went to Disneyland.

We went to the Indiana Jones ride and the girl did not want to grab a fast-pass and come back later. She wanted to wait in line. The wait time said 45 minutes, so I said ok. After 30 minutes, we made it about 15 feet of zig zagging waiting in line and we had miles to go (it seems). I made an executive decision and said we were done standing here, we need a fast-pass. I really hoped they were still giving them out by this time! Luckily they were and we got our appointment time of 6:40pm.

Off we went to the Tiki Room, they have a nice hidden bathroom and our feet hurt so we wanted to sit down for a bit. Perfect place to rest tired feet. Plus, the Tiki Room is awesome! On cue, Gracie clung to me just before the lightning strike and pretended she was frightened. I love that.

We grabbed some delicious burritos at Rancho Del Zocalo Restaurante. It's our favorite place to eat in Disneyland.  We left stuffed. I noticed that the prices were raised, no surprise since ticket prices were raised the other day, but the food is great and centrally located so it is convenient. After our horrible hamburger experience at the Villiage Haus Restaurant on a previous trip, I am willing to pay and extra $2 for a meal that I know will be good.

It was time to go to the Fantasyland Theater and line up for the show. I wanted to get there a little early since everything I saw said "limited seating" and this was a special showing. We arrived shortly after 5:00 for the 5:40 show and saw that the line was forming already. We went to what we thought was the end of the line. No, that was the end of that section of the line, they had a cast member controlling a gap in the line for traffic. The line went from the Fantasyland Theater into Toon Town. Into Toon Town? Seriously? My heart sank because I just knew that was too many people to be seated in the theater. We walked and walked looking for the end of the line and we finally found it in front of Goofy's House. I asked the cast member at the end of the line if we even had a chance of being seated. She said, "Oh, sure!"  She seemed confident, but I doubted her anyway.  I let Gracie go play in Goofy's back yard playground while I stood in line on the other side of the Goofy fence. This was crazy.

The line started moving and true to her word, Gracie listened for me to yell for her and she came a running. By this time, the line was piled up behind me farther than I could see. Whoa.

We actually got in! The theater had been expanded and there was a lot more seating than there was before. They used up the space that used to be the Princess line-up area. That space is now bleacher seats. Also, they expanded into the gift shop area and the restaurant seating was turned into bleacher space. It looks as if bleacher seats were installed into the open space in front too, where it was close to the stage. The theater now seats 1800 people and with all those people in line, there was still empty space. It also looks as if they'll be performing this show several times a day, every day. That's 1800 people they take out of the park and occupy in a seated area. Nice. That'll help with crowd control, wait times in lines, etc. We only had to wait a short time in the seats before the show began. While we waited, I pulled out our gigantic autograph book and let Gracie read it while we sat. A little girl next to us was peering over her shoulder, so Gracie began reading out loud to her. It was fun to see her sharing her awesome reading skills.

Mickey's Magical Map show was fantastic! I loved it! It is a singing and dancing show that is very well done. Characters appear and perform. We loved every one of them. The show was just great. Can't wait to see it again! After the show, one of the producers came on stage to talk about how the show was created. I was  hoping that there would be a meet and greet with the performing characters and we could get Pocahontas to autograph our book, but that didn't happen. Gracie didn't want to sit through the lecture, but it was interesting. We ducked out and headed to the Indiana Jones ride. We decided to ride the train to New Orleans Square and save ourselves from walking and lugging our backpack the whole way, plus, the train is fun!

We hopped on board and for the first time that I can remember, I thought they sure need a cleaning crew to stop by. The park, rides, restaurants, rest rooms, everywhere is always very clean. But we saw lots of trash on the floor of the traincar, spilled ice cream glopped around and it just looked like it hadn't been wiped down in a while. I do not understand why people can't hold onto their empty soft drink and water bottles for a bit, there are trash cans everywhere. But spilled ice cream I can understand. This was  a bit much though, and highly unusual. Sure made me realize how clean the park is that one dirty place stuck out like that. The train is in constant motion too, so I don't know how and when they clean the traincars, but I've never noticed them to be dirty before. Food for thought.

When the train stopped at Main Street, the parade was just starting and we could see and hear it from our bench on the train. We decided to hop off and watch the parade. Gracie just loves Disneyland parades!  This was the Soundsational Parade. Such a good one! We had a great view from the Train Station, so we just stayed up there on the platform and watched from above. It was really fun to see it from up here! Of course, Ariel and Cinderella made eye contact with her and waved to her! After the parade, we hopped back on the train.

We got off at New Orleans Square and made our way to the Indiana Jones ride. We got right in with our fast-passes! The line to get in still said 45 minutes and it was a lot shorter than it was earlier in the day. We were able to bypass everyone and walk right in. Gracie feigned bravery and courage, I truthfully admitted fright and nervousness. We rode that crazy ride and screamed the whole way. When it was over, she was delighted! I am just glad we survived.

Our day was done. We only had one more thing we wanted to do together and we skipped it earlier: Enjoy a Dole Whip!  We stopped into the Tiki Room waiting area and we each got a Dole Whip Float. Such a treat! They were so super delicious and sweet! Gracie couldn't find the bottom of her cup and I couldn't either, so we will have to try those again when we aren't so stuffed full of burritos. They are rich and delicious. It was the first time for both of us having the float; maybe next time we can finish them off.

The parking lot tram was our next ride. We didn't get to ride Star Tours, but we had a great day together.

Charlie goes to Disneyland

Finally! The day came to take Charlie to Disneyland! Our annual passes block us out for the summer months and we won't be allowed back in until after Charlie's 3rd birthday. We had to go now! After he's three years old, he would need a ticket of his own. Luckily, it all worked out so that we could go for the day. Exciting!

We left Gracie at home to have a Daddy & Gracie day. They had a blast and didn't miss us.

 I also took along a wonderful babysitter to help with these two kids. Libby is a clingy one and Charlie is a runner. Bringing the babysitter was probably the best idea I've ever had. I had two strollers but I wasn't sure if we really needed both, so we took both out of the trunk and decided that we would use them to the gates to keep the kids contained in the parking structure and through the gate crowd, then park one and go from there. I also brought my toddler-leash for Charlie. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to use it but I might need to show him that I have it and its an option.

Libby promised to wear her Rapunzel dress, but she changed her mind and wore an outfit that her cousin handed down to her, a Bambi shirt and cute little skirt. I stuffed that dress in my bag anyway. Charlie wore a handed down shirt too. He had a Mater shirt and he looked adorable.

Charlie was very happy to go to Disneyland. He fell asleep on the way there and got in a good carseat nap. Luckily, he woke up  happy! We were in the parking structure and he said "Where is Disneyland?"

The babysitter, Brit, and I made a gameplan for the day. We decided to hit up California Adventure first because Charlie can relate more to the modern Disney and Pixar attractions. We agreed to do what he would find most interesting and exciting first and then call the rest of the day a bonus. We would just leave whenever Charlie was done. Charlie immediately started asking to see Woody, so we made that the number one priority and were happy with anything else that happened.

We also decided to use two strollers in parking structure and to at least get us through the gate. We could always park one and come back to it later. My strollers are aging and they have a lot of miles on them, so I'm not too concerned about stroller theft. Especially since the kids are outgrowing the stroller phase. At this point, if the stroller disappears, then someone must need it more than I do. We ended up using both strollers all day. Both kids rode happily in the strollers and they were easy to manage this way, so we just went with that.

We entered California Adventure and made our way down Buena Vista Street. At the end, we found Mickey Mouse waiting for us! Charlie had a big hug for Mickey. Mickey was equally excited to see Charlie! Like a couple of long lost buddies, they hugged and hugged. What a great way to start the day!

Next, we saw Goofy dancing with the Five and Dime group. Charlie wanted to stop and watch Goofy. Once Goofy left the group, we went on our way. There wasn't any appeal to the live entertainment without the big dog.

We strolled down the way and came upon another street performance: Phineas and Ferb's Dance Party. Charlie loved it! He hopped out of the stroller and gave Phineas a fist-bump. Then he joined the Fireside Girls and danced with them and other children from the audience as well. Libby wouldn't leave her stroller, but she enjoyed watching Charlie. His dance moves were subtle; he was more in awe than anything. But he has a great time! Again, we only stayed for a short portion of the performance, just until the interest in it waned. On to the next.

Charlie was happy to see the other characters so far, but he kept asking "Where's Woody?" We went down to Paradise Pier to see if we could find Woody in his usual meet and greet spot. We got there and Jessie was there! Charlie was excited to see any Toy Story character, so he was pretty excited to see Jessie. We hopped in line right away, only to get halfway through and Buzz Lightyear took her place. Buzz! Libby was a little disappointed, but both were excited to see Buzz.

Because Brit is super awesome, she offered to get right back in the same line and wait for the next character. She is a Disneyland super hero and knows her stuff. Every 20 minutes Buzz, Woody and Jessie take turns in this meet and greet spot. By the time Brit would get to the front of the line again, it should be Woody's turn. Smart move! While she stood in line with Libby, I took Charlie across the way to King Tritan's Carrousel. The wait time on this ride is always minimal and it's fun. Charlie rode a lovely colored fish and he really enjoyed it. While we rode, I saw that Woody came and took Buzz's place. Awesome!

Sure enough, Brit had a place in line and she was more than halfway through so we joined her and the kids got to see Woody! Charlie and Woody really had a great visit. He asked Woody if he had a snake in his boot. They hugged, they compared boots, and Woody signed our autograph book too. It was the best Woody encounter!

Brit and I celebrated a little with some high fiving and congratulating each other with excited "Mission Accomplished" chatter. It felt great to fulfill the one and only wish that Charlie had for the day. The rest of the day is cake!  Brit took a picture of Charlie and me to document the moment.

We decided to head to the Ariel ride for Libby's enjoyment since she was being such a good girl and tagging along so nicely on Charlie's Disneyland Day without any complaints so far. She was happy to let Charlie choose what he wanted to do. Along the way, we happened upon another Toy Story experience: The Army Men performance. They drummed and chanted and entertained Charlie for a bit.

Off we went to the Little Mermaid ride. We decided to separate here. I'm sure Charlie would have enjoyed it quite a bit, but he and I walked over to Cars Land while Brit and Libby went under the sea. I thought he would enjoy extra time in Cars Land more than in Ariel's world. Brit said they would catch up with us.

Since Charlie was enjoying the characters so much, I thought our first stop should be a visit with a car rather than a ride. But first, we stopped to see one of Mater's tractors. So cute!

Down the street we went to visit with Lightning McQueen! Another of Charlie's favorite Disney characters!

If you are wondering why he isn't smiling, it's because he was too busy enjoying his visit with Lightning McQueen to be bothered with turning around for me to take a picture. He finally turned to face me for a split second and then spun back around to enjoy his time with Lightning. Lighting revved his engines, rocked back and forth a bit, and talked to Charlie. What an exciting visit!

I walked him over to see the Radiator Springs Racer ride and enjoy the stroll down the Main Street of Radiator Springs. He loved it! It's just like you plopped right into the movie, so he was loving being there and just seeing the sights. While we were viewing Ornament Valley, a cast member thought we were waiting to line up for the RSR ride and he offered to measure Charlie to see if he was tall enough to ride. I wasn't going to force the kid into a line that had a 120 minute wait, and I didn't think he was tall enough, but I let the guy measure him. He was closer to the mark than I thought! Must be the boots. I know he would love the ride but I also know that he has no idea what he's missing and we are on toddler time.

Cars Land was very cool and exciting! But, Charlie was ready for a snack. I treated him to a Lightning McQueen cookie, which he only nibbled at. It wasn't as tasty as it was fun. He ate almost half of it and then I gave him healthy snacks from our lunch tote that we brought from home. The red frosting stuck around all day though!

Brit and Libby found us. They had a great time riding the Ariel ride and Brit said the air conditioning was especially refreshing. Lucky Duck! Since Charlie had seen most everything in Cars Land and he was still going strong, we decided to walk through Bugs Land. But, wait! We found Red!

In Bugs Land we rode a couple of rides. We've seen a lot of wonderful characters but hadn't taken him on any rides yet. First stop was a favorite of ours: Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. It's just adorable.

When that ride was over, he was hooked. He wanted to ride something else too! We moved on to the spinning ladybug ride. I do not enjoy spinning, but Charlie wanted to ride. Brit and I had a little stare-down to see who had to go with him, she's as big a fan of spinning as I am. I lost. I had to spin. Libby wasn't even having any of that nonsense. Aside from the nauseating spinning, it was great! He was so excited and happy on that ride! He just loved it! What fun!

He was doing great, so we kept going. We decided to hit another attraction of one of his favorite movies: Monsters, Inc. He'll love that!  Along the way, we ran into Mr. Frozone from The Incredibles. Freeze!

Charlie then tried to find his way into Monsters University, but he couldn't get the door open. Apparently, he's too young for college. This was a photo spot and I'm anxious to see the movie with the kids. I think they'll love it! Again, Libby was stuck like glue to her stroller. She was just enjoying the ride. I'm so glad I brought Brit along to push her around while I was having fun with Charlie.

We went to the Monsters, Inc ride and Charlie was super excited. He wanted to ride in the cars and Libby kept telling him they were taxis and we will be riding in them! She was pretty happy to be telling him what to expect all day long. She's such a pro.

He loved the Monsters, Inc ride! That's no surprise since he loves the movie so much. He thought Randall was scary, but he was brave enough to handle it and in the end, Randall wasn't a threat to anyone, just like the movie.

We came out of the ride and guess who we saw in front of the Monsters University set? Mike!

We didn't wait in line to hug him. Charlie didn't want to, and I don't blame him. Mike's arms are creepy.  We waved and yelled hello to him from a bit of a distance, which was fun enough.

Charlie was having such a fun day! Brit and I reevaluated our plan. The plan at this point was merely: Stay for more or go home.  We've seen Woody, and really anything else is not important to Charlie. We decided to feed them (and us) and then decide. Food. Always a good idea!

All day long I had been fielding calls and texts from my local mommy friends who were also at Disneyland that day. It seemed like we could all go on the same day and they all wanted to get together while we were all there. I wanted to, but everyone was scattered and I really wanted to focus on Charlie.

I met up for about two minutes with my friend, Kristin and her two lovely girls. They just ate and we needed to grab a bite, so our schedules didn't sync up very well, but we promised to find each other again in an hour or so. Unfortunately, that never happened.

Like their dresses? Look familiar? They look so lovely in them! I was thrilled to see them! I whipped Libby's Rapunzel dress out of the bag under the stroller and tried to shove it on over her head so the three of them would match, but Libby wasn't having it. She claims that she grew and it no longer fits. Darn. Charlie was very excited to see the girls. He knows them well and always loves to see them, but to see them at Disneyland was very cool!

Onward. We went to Downtown Disney to find the taco place that I love. Brit loves that type of food too and Charlie is always a good eater no matter what you give him. Libby only likes churros.  We got our delicious food and Libby threw a crying fit. I was hoping that she would be hungry enough to eat, but no, she only wanted a churro and she was not happy about watching us eat while she waited. This kid!  She wants what she wants when it comes to eating. She was born stubborn like that. We inhaled our food, laughed about that, and Libby fell asleep.

We decided to ride the monorail, or as the kids call it: The Bullet Train. The monorail drops you into Disneyland at Tomorrowland, which means we don't have to go through the crowd at the front gate.

Since Libby was asleep we decided to swap strollers and move Libby to the bigger more comfortable one and Brit walked her into Disneyland while I took Charlie to the Lego store for fun. He loved it. And, he remembered it from a year ago when he went there with his Mom. Up until now, he really didn't have many memories to share of his trip to Disneyland with Lexie, but she didn't take him into California Adventure and that's where we spent our day so far. He loved looking around the Lego Store.

After a quick tour of the Lego store, I took Charlie to the restroom to change a very smelly diaper. But, I quickly discovered that I left the diaper bag in the larger stroller and I didn't have a diaper or wipes with me! Eww, oh no! I couldn't change him. I had to take a super stinky boy on the Bullet Train.

When we got to the Bullet Train, we were put in the first car with the driver. Cool!  Well, it was cool until she blew the horn. I'm sure she appreciated when we got to Tomorrow Land and vacated her little space. I'm betting the smell lingered on.

We saw the Star Wars Jedi Training show as we started our short walk to meet up with Brit and the diaper bag. Charlie was very excited to see Darth Vader!

We found Brit and Libby, who was happily eating a churro. Once we got Charlie changed and happy again, we tried to figure out what to do next. It seemed that he was just about done and we had accomplished a lot. We weren't sure if a train ride would put him over the edge or just be more fun for him. Deciding against the risk of a full on two-year old temper tantrum on a train, we strolled down Main Street toward the exit.

Our tour of Disneyland was brief, but good enough. It was actually too crowded to be enjoyable anyway. Once we left Main Street and entered the front entryway between the ticket gates and the train station, we were happy to discover Ariel the Little Mermaid turned princess!  How exciting!

Libby wanted to see her and Charlie did too. Libby didn't get to go to the Princess Fantasy Faire like she wanted to, so this was a special treat to have Ariel right there. We stood in line to see her, but by the time it was our turn, Libby changed her mind and hid in the stroller. Charlie was ready for a princess hug though. He ran right to her and hugged her like they were long lost friends. Such a sweet hug! She loved him right back and it was beyond adorable!

I think we made the right decision to leave at this point. We were at the resort for over 6 hours, the kids were good but getting tired. They smiled their little faces off and they were done. Brit and I were done too, we both felt great about the day. A person can't do everything in one day but we did the best we could and we did pretty well. Its best to leave on a high note rather than leave with a crying screaming kid, so we did just that. Back to the parking lot tram for our last ride of the day.

It was such a wonderful feeling to take my grandson to Disneyland and enjoy this special day with him. I'm very happy that Libby and Brit came along to make it more fun! I think bringing Babysitter Brit along was the ideal way to spend the day. Thank you, Brit!

The Many Adventures of Flat Tyler

We hosted a Flat Stanley these past couple of weeks. He is in transit back to his classroom in Colorado now, but we sure had fun with while we had him. 

We kept him busy and made sure he wrote in his travel log daily. He was very good about posing for pictures and gathering local brochures.

Here is a copy of Flat Tyler's journal:

Flat Tyler’s Travel Log

I arrived safely into the mailbox of my cousins, The Schumacher Family, in California.

Uncle Keith (who is actually my grandma’s cousin) is a middle school teacher and he teaches college. Aunt Mary is the mom of the family and the kids are my cousins, Gracie and Libby. Gracie is 7 years old and in the first grade. Libby is 4 ½ years old and will be in Kindergarten next year. Gracie goes to school part-time and does homeschool part-time.

 They also have a dog named Sandy. She’s 12 years old and very sweet.  

While I was visiting, The Schumachers had company. I met Uncle Ed from Las Vegas, Grandma Helen from Wyoming, Aunt Patty from Montana and cousin Jennifer also from Montana. They drove to California to spend a weekend with me and the Schumachers. Mostly, they wanted to meet Baby Alfred, my newest cousin.

The Schumachers took me to lots of places to see the local sites and experience California culture.  Gracie and Libby taught me to say “Chaw” and “Dude” like a Californian. I never needed my jacket or hat because it’s nice and warm there.  I told them about Colorado; they’ve never been there. The girls didn’t know what skiing is, but they have seen snow and pine trees when they took a winter vacation to Wyoming and South Dakota last year.  

Western Science Center -  Hemet, CA:  Gracie, Libby, Henry and I went to a dinosaur museum. It was a lot of fun! We saw the bones from a mammoth and a sloth. We got to see a short movie about dinosaurs in the Inland Empire (that’s what they call this area of California) and we got to make a fossil out of clay .

Busker Festival at Seaport Village:  We went to San Diego to the Busker Festival. A Busker is a street performer. Seaport Village is a shopping and eatery center along the edge of the San Diego Bay. We saw lots of different street performers and artists. There were musicians, dancers, acrobats and magicians. We also saw an escape artist and a couple of unicycle riding jugglers. 

Duck Pond – Temecula, CA:  One day we went to a city park called the Duck Pond. All it has is a pond and a walking path around it.  It was nice and there were a lot of ducks!  I had to be careful not to flutter in the wind or I’d end up swimming with the ducks.  

San Diego Air and Space Museum: We set out for an adventurous day at the San Diego Zoo. When we got there, the parking lot was packed solid and so was the overflow parking and every parking lot in the area. Aunt Mary finally found a parking spot but it was pretty far from the zoo. Conveniently, she discovered that we parked close to the Air and Space Museum. Gracie and I thought that was a better idea anyway!

The Air and Space Museum has a special Ripley’s Believe It or Not exhibit and we were able to see the museum and the Ripley’s exhibit too.  It was a lot of fun. We came home with coloring pages and paper airplane origami pages for fun at home. I got to see Bumblebee there!

Cabrillo National Monument:  We drove out to Point Loma which is a Navel Base at the tippy end of a peninsula. It was really cool!  From the point, you can see the San Diego Bay, the harbor, and the Pacific Ocean in the other direction.

Cabrillo was a European explorer and he is the first European to set foot on the west coast of what is now the United States.  This monument recognizes his adventures. He’s just like me: an adventurer discovering amazing places!  Cha!  (I’m really getting a hang of the California language).

There is also an old lighthouse at the National Park and you can go down to the shore to the tidepools and caves. There are small caves in the sides of the cliffs that were made by erosion. The land is very interesting and goes from shrub covered hills on one side of the peninsula to sand covered eroded cliffs on the other. 

Coronado Island, San Diego:  We drove across a huge bridge over the San Diego Bay to Coronado Island.  We played in the sand on the beach by the Ferry landing where I met a friend, another Flat Stanley! He didn't speak English, but we played and had a good time anyway.

Balboa Park:  Balboa Park is in the middle of San Diego. It houses the San Diego Zoo, a couple of playgrounds, numerous museums and gardens. The day we went, we just strolled on the walkways and enjoyed the local artists, played in the fountains, and admired the architecture.  Luckily, the bird rescue group was at Balboa Park so we got to see the birds again. We saw them at the Busker Festival too! They save abandoned pet parrots and exotic birds and readopt them to new homes. We didn’t adopt a bird, but we did get to hold a few. Libby doesn’t like to hold them because she thinks they will poop on her. She finally decided to try it and it was a lot of fun.

 

Easter:  I celebrated Easter with the Schumacher family. We went to an Easter Egg Hunt party at a friend’s house. He name is Justin and he’s 5 years old like me. His back yard is landscaped with natural California grasses and plants, so it was a lot of fun. They have the best back yard for an egg hunt! 

On Easter Sunday we went to a friend’s house for dinner. We had lots of great food. The Sanchez family had two dogs and two tortoises. They were really neat! They had an area of the back yard underneath the tree house that was their home. They live outside in the yard. One tortoise lost a leg so the family glued on a wheel from a toy car so she could get around. They both crawled faster than I thought they would. They love to eat dandelions. 

Science Center:  This is a museum in Balboa Park. The girls love this place. When we entered the museum the employee who greeted us at the entrance said, “Have fun and touch everything.”  Awesome!  We had a great time playing with all of the science center exhibits. There is a part of the museum that looks like a city and we played there for a while too.

Montessori School: One day I went to school with Gracie. She is in Ms. Andria’s class. Gracie is in a mixed class of 1^st – 3^rd grade. They have lunch outside on picnic tables. Their parking lot is also the playground and the gym. Most elementary schools have a playground but they do not have a cafeteria or a gym. They eat and play outside every day. Gracie and her classmates have never had a snow day.

Disneyland and Cars Land:  On my last day in California, I went with the Schumacher girls to Disneyland and California Adventure.  Gracie and Libby go to Disneyland often because it isn’t very far away. We left after school and got home a little after bedtime.

First we went into Disneyland. It was very exciting! We saw Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Goofy right away. Our first stop was the first aid station because Gracie’s tooth was falling out and she wanted an envelope or something to put it in when it fell out. They were very nice and gave her a little container. We walked up Main Street. Gracie’s favorite part of Main Street is the Magic Shop. It was amazing! Libby wanted to go to the Princess Fantasy Faire. We saw Ariel, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. I was made an honorary citizen of Disneyland and I got a button to wear for the rest of the day. Then we rode the Small World. We then went into Fantasyland and rode Alice in Wonderland’s Teacups.

Next we went to California Adventure, which is where Cars Land is. Cars Land is amazing! It is just like you step into the Cars movie! I got to meet Mater and Lightning McQueen! I also got to see the main street of Radiator Springs and see Ornament Valley. When it got dark, all the neon lights came on and it was just like it was in the movie. We rode on Mater’s Tractor ride which was more fun than anything!