California Adventure

We decided on our third day to take a break from Disneyland and see what was at Disney's California Adventure. The park opens at 10am so we were going to sleep in but the boys were still up pretty early. We had to be at the gates at 8:30am to wait in line so we could be in the front to wait in yet another line.
The way it works is the front gait opens at 9:30am and you have to walk (not run, ha ha!) back to the Fast Pass station to get World of Color passes for the show. It's a new show so they've had to use the Fast Pass system to manage the crowds. Then after you get your pass you have to wait in front of a rope until 10am for the rest of the park to open.
We were about 4th in line when the gate opened so I sent Jeff ahead to get us our passes so I didn't have to fight through with a stroller. I thought I'd wait at the rope for him but it turns out he was at the other side at a different rope which was closer to the Toy Story ride which is what we we're planning to ride first. Jeff went up to the rope to ask a Cast member directions to where he was so I could find him and the lady behind him was really rude and verbal about him going to the back since she was obviously very worried about him staying there to be first. That experience sort of set a bad vibe for our whole day there at California Adventure. The whole park just didn't have the same magical, warm feeling Disneyland does, plus we already fought through two mass herds to get Fast Passes and in line at the rope, add in the rude lady...and the park hadn't even opened yet!
The Toy Story shooting gallery was pretty awesome (it's even in 3D!) but after we got out the line was so massive that we only dared ride it once. We went to the Bugs Life kid ride area but they were obviously made for timid, nervous little kids because it was laughable how slow they all went. Harrison was an inch too short for the bumper cars but seeing how slow they went, I would hardly call it bumping- more like tapping! We didn't stay there long.


The really slow "bumper" car ride James did. Most of the time they just stayed in one place since it was hard to make them move very far or fast.

When Jeff was running to get Fast Passes in the morning we stopped to take pictures with Lightning McQueen since no one was there. It was hard to keep Harrison still since he kept running to the back to touch the tires.
James was even brave enough to ride the Tower of Terror and I took a picture of the screen after their ride came through. Jeff is in the green in the front row and James is next to him.

We decided to wait in line for the Aladdin show since we read great things about it. Jeff got in line while I went to park our stroller since they made me take it down the street to a special place. When I got back they had closed the Orchestra section line he was in and wouldn't let me get to him since it was full. They have exact counts so they couldn't let me in but would make Jeff come back to the upper section line. Our kids were both sad and hungry and we were both annoyed so after deciding to leave the Cast member offered us VIP passes for the next show. That gesture sort of made up for the negative experience we had in the park so far.
We had time to eat lunch before the next show so we found an out of the way eating area and got mayo and mustard from a food cart for our sandwiches. After two days of eating the in the park I was so tired of burgers and fries for lunch and dinner. Plus it was costing about $30 each meal. Last night I found an Albertson's and bought sandwich stuff, chips, yogurt and fruit to eat for lunch the rest of the week. Our hotel has a mini fridge and we've been bringing a small cooler in the park every day so it worked out great.
While standing in line for the Aladdin show we talked with the family in front of us who happened to be from Beaverton, Oregon. The woman soon asked if we were LDS and said she could just tell. It turns out her husband is the seminary teacher for the Beaverton area and we passed the time pretty quickly chatting with them. They even gave us tips on where to sit once we got in the theatre so we were right where the cast comes marching in for a big parade with huge elephant and camel puppets.

World of Color was AWESOME!!
I would have to say all the craziness and waiting to see the show was worth it. The show was to start at 9pm so we got there at 7pm thinking we had plenty of time. There was already a huge crowd gathered at the roped off area waiting to get in. They finally let us through at 7:30pm and we rushed to the colored section on our Fast Pass. We read on the internet the best view was in the front dock section so that's where we rushed. Our blue section was roped off so we couldn't go to the center section, just the section to the side of center stage.
We were very discouraged to learn we wouldn't be able to come and go because once they reached their max capacity they wouldn't let anyone in even if you had previously been admitted. I was planning to save places for us while Jeff took the boys around to keep them busy until showtime. On top of that we were told that at 8pm we would all have to stand so they could fit more people. We were dreading the hour and a half wait keeping our tired kids contained and engaged.
We started chatting with a group of guys from Northern California who were standing behind us who had just got out of school and it really made the time go fast. They all had a fun time joking about the pre-show hosts "Steve" and "Sherrie" and the cheesy song they sang. They kept singing the same lyrics "Something, something, something good" and we wondered if they just kept forgetting the words to the song. One cool thing were these giant lighted puppets of characters that were walking around the crowd.
With so many people our boys were confined to a small space and everyone around us thought Harrison was so cute and were calling him by name before the night was over. It wasn't such a miserable wait like I pictured and was actually pretty fun.

When the show finally started it was hard to put into words a description of what we saw. It was like the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas meets a drive in movie in Technicolor being powered by giant fire hoses. I was in awe of the effects they could do in water! These fountains would shoot hundreds of feet in the air in bright colors and somehow water would spray sideways across the top and make it look like waves of glitter. Then scenes from Disney movies were projected on misted screens of water. We were pretty close to the front so we were constantly being misted and sprayed with water. We had been told we'd get wet and they were even selling ponchos during the pre-show but we didn't think we'd get that wet, wrong! After these amazing scenes of water they shot up huge flames of fire out of the water that never seemed to end! It just kept coming and burning and we had to turn away it was so bright and hot.
Here's what was technically happening:
"The story and special effects are created with nearly 1,200 powerful and programmable fountains with heights ranging from 30 feet to 200 feet (50 feet higher than Mickey's Fun Wheel). Each fountain has multiple points of control to direct the lighting, color intensity, water angle and height. Featured is one of the world's largest projected water screens--a wall of water 380 feet wide by 50 feet high for a projection surface of 19,000 square feet. There are nearly 30 high-definition projectors-- 14 of them submersible; synchronized flame projections, lasers and special effects; and a soundtrack performed by more than 100 musicians."
All of this combined to make one breathtaking, amazing show. The boys were actually awake for most of the show but both were asleep before we even left the park. Harrison pulled the sun shade down and leaned his head forward to sleep. You can see from their jackets how wet we were.

Disney- Day 2

With the 5-day park hopper tickets we bought we get one Magical Morning, basically we get in at 7am instead of 8. You can use it Tues, Thurs or Sat so we decided to use ours on Tuesday. This means we had to get up and go even earlier than yesterday. Wouldn't you know it, Harrison actually slept in on the one morning we needed him up at 5:30!
Our morning went something like this:
Jeff and I woke up at 5:45 and got ready. We got the boys up at 6:00. Jeff leaves to go stand in line just after 6am. I take the kids to the continental breakfast at the Captain Kidd restaurant next door at 6:15 and we take Jeff some food. We meet up with Jeff (first in line!) at the gates at 6:45. Jeff had already made friends with the family behind us who is from Salem, Oregon. The gates open and we rush to our first ride, the Nemo Submarines. We hadn't wanted to waste time standing in this line since it is always huge and doesn't move very fast. Besides that, we both had memories of the ride being pretty lame. After power walking with our boys on board the stroller we were first on the Sub ride and there was only one other family on our ride. It turned out to be a really fun ride and Harrison loved it. They have redone the entire ride to be Finding Nemo and they have really cool effects. Since we were at the park an hour early all the rides in Tommorowland were pretty short so we rode all the ones that usually have long lines like Buzz Light Year where you shoot targets with your lazer gun for points, and the Astro Orbiter, kind of like the Dumbo ride but in rocket ships. We actually headed over to Dumbo next since it's typically a long, slow loading line and the boys really had fun.
James loved riding splash mountain so every chance it was available we would swipe our tickets and print off a fast pass for the ride. Jeff is in the orange shirt in the back row with his hand up and James is next to him in green.
We didn't spend much time in Toontown since it was packed with small kids and strollers but they boys did like Roger Rabbits Car Toon Spin since you could spin your car with the steering wheel while you rode.
The classic Tiki room hasn't changed one bit in 10 years since I've been here! They also have all the same lame jokes on the Jungle Cruise in case you were wondering.
After lunch we all headed back to the hotel, cranked up the air conditioning and took 3 hour naps! We were all so worn out from our late night last night and our early morning.
We spent the afternoon riding all our favorites again like Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and Jeff and James did splash mountain and big thunder railroad. Jeff took advantage of the single rider line for Indiana Jones while I kept the boys entertained in the gift shop looking at fake rubber snakes and other overpriced paraphernalia. We heard the parade on Main Street so we found a park bench in the back and watched. Harrison loves to dance whenever he hears music so he was bouncing and jumping all over the place.
We headed out early since we wanted to get the kids in bed at a decent hour since we were planning to stay out late for the World of Color the next night. Here's a picture of our room configuration we made up for James and Harrison.

Disneyland-Day 1

We were up at 5:30am- thanks Harrison- and had eaten our continental breakfast and were at the bag check line outside of Disneyland just after 7am. The RideMax itinerary we printed said to be at the gates at least 45 minutes early to make sure you kept with your schedule.
Basically the software allows you to pick the rides you want to do and it prints out a schedule with the order that best maximizes your wait time. The people who created it figured out exactly what order and where to go to not wait in the super long lines. However, it warns that you have to keep to your schedule or else your whole plan is shot. Our first ride was Peter Pan which they say if you are even 5 minutes late for will put your entire schedule off.
With our new Joovy Caboose doulble stroller loaded with drinks and snacks and our tickets and RideMax schedule in hand we waited at the bag check. That finally opened at 7:20 and we rushed to the actual entrance. We were the very first in our line. At 7:45am they let us in those gates and we rushed down Main Street and were in the front to wait behind the big rope draped across the road. It was all so exciting when we did the countdown and then speedwalked to beat all the other stroller pushing parents to our first ride.
At one point I just started laughing because James saw the carousel and wanted to ride it but we kept saying no and dragging him to the rides we had on our schedule in order to keep on track. Isn't this magical experience supposed to be about him? Well, it turns out that the crowd for the first 2 hours were basically non-existent so we were an hour ahead of what our RideMax schedule said. We were able to slow down and let James ride some of his choosing like the tea cups. James was fearless and Jeff took him on all the big rides like the Matterhorn and Splash Mountain. He kept talking about seeing 2 Yetis on the Matterhorn, not how fast or scary it was.

We decided to do Pirates of the Caribbean early since there was no line. I held Harrison in my lap and thought he was enjoying it since I hadn't heard him fuss. We went to get off and I realized he had fallen asleep! We just carried him and got in line for the Haunted Mansion which he slept the entire ride. James had skinned his knee on the walk there so he was crying in the line. I think people probably thought he was scared to go on the ride but he ended up loving it too. Jeff even took James on Space Mountain and James was again not phased by the intensity. He just kept saying how fast it went and making circular motions while showing me how the ride zoomed.

We decided to slow down a bit in the afternoon and take the monorail which James begged to ride since we got here. We got sidetracked by the attraction "Innoventions" which is basically a hands-on display of innovative technology. One section was a futuristic house and even had a kids bedroom to play in. The bed was shaped like a pirate ship and had a big sail for the headboard and mounted to the end was a big cannon. The windows all looked like you were in a ship and the shelves like you were in the hull of the ship. While we were there a Disney employee came in and did a presentation on the room by reading a bedtime story. He had us all sit along the wall and then asked for a volunteer to steer the ship. James was the lucky one chosen to go sit on the bed. The lights dimmed and a video of Peter Pan was projected on the said of the ship and the bedroom wall. As he told of Peter's adventure different things in the room were interactive. I was chosen to open the dresser drawer to let out Peter Pan's shadow and it rattled around when I touched it and then snapped closed. The funnest part was when the pirates attacked and James got to shoot the cannon. He pulled the rope on the cannon and it shot holes in the clouds on the screen and real smoke came out! Moments like these are what make Disneyland special and magical. James and Harrison were also chosen as "Honorary Sweepers" by the custodial crew and given sticker badges to wear.

I brought Harrison back to the hotel for a nap and updated our blog. Then we headed back to meet up with James and Jeff. We basically did everything we wanted to do in the morning since the lines were so short that we just spent the afternoon riding things again. It ended up being pretty late so we decided to make tonight our late night and stay to watch Fantasmic and the fireworks. We really lucked out because we only got to the waterfront for the night show 20 minutes early (most people camped out there for 3 hours!) and a family scooted over so we got a side seat on the ledge so we were above the crowd. It was really amazing! I kept thinking how fun this day was and how much our kids must be loving the show with the special effects and pyrotechnics and I looked down and James was totally asleep! Harrison was drooping too so we cut out a few minutes early to beat the crowds out but half way there the show ended and it was like mass exodus and we were moving at a snails pace.
We made it back to our room at 10:00 and we were beat! We stayed up making our RideMax plan for the next day and then crashed.

Travel MADNESS!!

So I had this crazy idea that to maximize our sabbatical vacation time we needed to leave for California right after we got home from North Carolina. We were originally going to fly in from NC on Friday night and hang out at home for a few days then make our way leisurely down to California. We wanted to hit Disneyland on a Monday since it would be less crowded. After charting out our trip on a calendar I thought it was a waste to sit around a home for a week so I somehow talked Jeff into going along with my crazy travel plans.

We left the beach on Friday morning and drove 3 hours to Raleigh, NC with no problems since Harrison slept and James watched a movie. Then the first flight Harrison was pretty cranky and after two hours of him fussing and wrangling him he finally gave up and took a second nap. I knew it was bad when the flight attendant came by and asked if there was anything she could do. I told Jeff we had become "that" family! We barely made our connecting flight in Denver and that 3 hour flight went by without incident. We landed in Portland at about 9pm, which felt like midnight since we were still on NC time. The boys both fell asleep on the drive home from the airport and we put them right into bed. Jeff and I made ourselves not try to pack or do anything but go right to bed with the intention of sleeping in good and long to be rested for a full day of driving. I felt so exhausted and had serious doubts about this great plan I had to do back to back trips.
Well, our leisurely morning started at 5:30am when Harrison woke up. It's crazy how that is his magical wake up time despite the time zone! I went through our mail and started a load of laundry before James came down at 6:30. Jeff couldn't sleep either and woke up just before 7. We decided to just get on the road so we finished packing the car and left our house at 9:30am. Getting off went pretty fast thanks to all the prep work I did before we left for the beach. Everything we needed to pack in the car was all set just to load, other than our clothes we took to the beach.
I have to say that we have pretty amazing kids! We drove to Sacramento, CA in 10 hours, stopping twice to eat and about 4 short potty breaks for James. You'd think it would be me needing to go since I'm the pregnant one! They both were fairly pleasant with only a few times of crankiness which food or naps usually cured. We stayed the night at Cami's house- ironic since we just saw them for two weeks at the beach. In fact, we beat them to their house by a few hours.
Sunday morning Harrison woke up at 4am but I got him back to sleep until about 6 but then everyone else woke up. The boys had a lot of fun playing with Owen and Jack's toys. I felt really guilty about skipping church Sunday morning. We were planning to go to sacrament meeting but the thought of making them sit still for an hour and then putting them back in a car for another 7 just seemed like pushing them too far. We made great time to Anaheim and did it in 7 1/2 hours. Again our kids were champs. James lost it when I put in the Little Mermaid DVD instead of Cars which he's seen hundreds of times. A few minutes later he was asleep so I know it was the exhaustion talking. A little after 5pm we checked into our hotel, Best Western Park Place, right across the street from the Disneyland entrance. James immediately wanted to go ride something but we told him we had to get a good nights sleep so they were both bathed and in bed at 7pm. Jeff and I had to do something quiet in the room while they fell asleep so we planned our route for the next day with the RideMax software Jeff subscribed to. We were all asleep by 10pm!
I still can't believe we made it, and in such good time! I thought for sure I would live to regret the decision to do so many travel days in a row. But now we're at Disneyland and it's easy to forget what we went through to get here with the anticipation of the week ahead.

Farewell Beach House

We had such a fun, relaxing vacation. We ate at my all-time favorite restaurant, the Sugar Shack, which is Jamaican food. In fact we ate there twice! Johnny bread, Jamaican style ribs with jerk sauce, coleslaw, beans and rice, and coconut shrimp appetizer with mango sauce. Amazing!!



Our boys played so good with Owen and Jack which made life that much sweeter. I don't know what we're going to do when Jeff and I are their only entertainment! We would often find all four of them huddled around the iPad watching a movie or game. A better question is what are we going to do without an iPad!



We had Jim take some pictures of our family before we left. We happened to take them on the day we built our best sandcastle so it made for a great background.

Beach fun

The second week we were at the beach the tide changed and created small tide pools. The kids loved playing in the shallow water and even caught a few tiny fish.


It was so nice to have the beach house so close (the brown house in the middle). We could put Harrison down for naps in the afternoon and have monitor. Also handy to have a bathroom so close since apparently James' bladder is the size of a pea when he drinks Caprisun.

What do bored kids do?

This is our son Harrison, future janitor. Doesn't he just make a mom proud?! Yep, that's right, he's holding the side of the toilet- GROSS!! We thought we had gotten past the "play in the potty" stage but the toilet brush in the powder room proved too tempting.

Canolo, the latest fashion trend! James is way into making up silly words. In fact, it's almost like he has his own language. He came in with the arm rest covers from the couch and said I needed to wear this "Canolo." I tried to put in on like a hat so you could actually see but he was very specific that it had to be worn as a face covering. And it's not like James forgets what he calls things. For the next few days it was all about Canolos!