We took our trip to Disneyland this week with the Ware family. It has been a little less than a year in the making, and it was very fun.
At about 5 a.m. Sunday morning I was woken up by my phone ringing and hearing Melinda tell me they were here to pick us up. I jumped up, threw on my clothes, gathered all my stuff, woke up Jon, went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, grabbed us some breakfast and we were out the door in about 15-20 minutes. We weren't planning on leaving like this, but the alarm that Jon set ended up being too quiet to rouse us from our slumber. After leaving we realized that we had forgotten a few things like our free Disneyland passes and the battery and plug for the mini dvd player. Luckily Jon had saved the pdf of the passes to his computer, so we didn't have to drive back an hour to get them and one of the other dvd players had a cord that worked for the one we brought. We made it to St. George and met Jennifer and Phil at their hotel for breakfast. The breakfast was delicious pancakes and bacon etc. After breakfast we got back in the car and drove to Anaheim to our hotel that was within walking distance of the parks. The drive was pretty uneventful except for the fact that we had 8 of us all packed into a Honda pilot. Mike drove the whole way down and Melinda, Jon, Kent, Karen, and I shuffled seats a little bit around Cole and Dallin's car-seats. It was full, but I think we all managed to still like each other by the time we made it to California. I guess I can't speak for anyone but myself with my last statement, but there were no major fights to report. To pass the time I read, tried to sleep, and knitted. Karen had made little goodie-bags for the four boys with toys and stuff to open every hour or so and this kept them entertained and happy. I shouldn't forget to mention that the toys and stuff in their bags were all Disney themed and where ever possible the gifts coincided with a specific Disney character for each boy. It was amazing all the work and planning that went into these. That was pretty much the first day. That night we did walk over to the parks and downtown Disney area, so that we could see what the walk would be like. There were also fireworks that I think everyone except me watched from the roof of our hotel that night. I was exhausted from getting up early and not being able to sleep in the car, so I went to bed at like 9.
Monday morning we got up and packed up the kids and walked to the parks. We bought our tickets and then headed into Disneyland. We started out in fantasyland and went on the Peter Pan ride, carousel, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, and probably some other rides that I can't remember.
Fantasyland was great because I was able to go on all the rides that the kids wanted to go on. We then went to toon town and saw a bunch of characters and got pictured and autographs. We also had lunch there. Food is ridiculously expensive in places like Disneyland but Kent was paying for the food, so we actually bought food in the park. It was crazy because I was raised in a family of cheap-os (and am proud to be one myself) so eating in the park was a rare and exciting thing. I just had to try not to think of how expensive things were and just enjoy them. Up until after lunch I had been so good about not going on any rides that would potentially rip my placenta off the wall of my uterus, but after lunch I had a moment of weakness. I went on splash mountain. This was probably really stupid, and I was kind of freaking out as we were going up the hill for the last big drop. Luckily baby, placenta, and uterus all seem to be fine. After that I was pretty wet and more cautious because I realized I would be very distraught if I unintentionally killed my unborn child.
We went around a few other places in the park and went on some rides then we went over to California Adventure to pick up our dinners and tickets for World of Color. My dinner was pretty good, it was a vegetarian wrap thing and had some pasta salad type stuff and slightly lemon flavored strings of veggies that were probably some type of squash. After eating we waited in a clump of people to go stake our claim on a spot for World of Color. World of Color was a water show with lights and music and even Disney animations projected onto walls of water all shooting up out of the little lake thing by the ferris wheel and California Screamin' roller coaster. This was really cool. Before the little show started Jon was joking that it probably wouldn't be as good as the "dancing waters" we saw in Taiwan, but it was dancing waters times 5,000. Even though we weren't in the "wet zone" we still got pretty wet. After the show was over we made our way out of the park and walked back to the hotel. I was quite worn out and not up for the walmart trip to get food and stuff so I went to sleep. Sadly I was woken up at about midnight by my body feeling yucky. I spent the next hour getting whatever my body didn't like out of my system via both ends. After that I felt a bit better and went back to bed.
Tuesday was the day without children in the park.
Kent and Karen entertained the boys for the day while Mike, Melinda, Jennifer, Phil, Jon, and I went to the parks.
We started off over in California Adventure and went on Soarin' over California and grizzly rapids. We went on the rapids twice because we were already wet and figured it wouldn't hurt to get a bit wetter and there was like no line.
Melinda and I got soaked and everyone else got pretty wet too. After that where and when we did everything I can't remember exactly. I know I waited as everyone went on California Screamin' and the Tower of Terror and we went on the ferris wheel with the swinging gondolas. Then I think we went over to Disneyland. I think everyone felt bad that I couldn't go on all the rides, but it really wasn't that bad.
We went on Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted mansion. I also went on the jungle cruise while everyone else went on Indiana Jones. We saw the Captain EO tribute, a 3D movie that originally played at Disneyland from like 1986 to 1997 with Michael Jackson in it. It was very cheesy and kind of gave me a headache with the 3D and bouncing chairs. While in tomorrow land I went on the Buzz Lightyear ride with Jon while everyone else went on space mountain and then went on the Submarine with Phil while everyone did space mountain again. We ate peanut butter and jam sandwiches that we made that morning and had snacks and free tortillas from California Adventure to hold us over so we didn't have to buy the expensive food. We did buy a few things like some dole whip floats and Phil got a cream cheese filled pretzel that he shared with us. I don't think my jeans ever completely dried from the rapids that morning, but I did my best to dry all our stuff by spreading it over the fences and such when I wasn't going on rides.
By the time the day was over we had been from California Adventure to Disneyland and back to California adventure again. We walked a lot and my feet were tired and I was wishing that someone had brought me a stroller so I could sleep while someone pushed by home like the little boys did the previous night. It was a fun and tiring day.
Wednesday we all went to the park again. We started with California Adventure and this time I got to do the kiddie rides with the little boys in Bug's land, which was actually really fun. I think one of my favorite parts of that day was going on the caterpillar ride with Lincoln because he LOVED that ride. He would point out all of the different foods that we were going by and he thought the part where Heimlich burped at the end was so funny. We spent the rest of the day back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure hitting the highlights from the previous days and seeing the Pixar play parade, which was cute and fun. When the park closed at 8 I was again tired and my feet hurt from walking around all day, but I managed to make it back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel our room smelled like nasty burning yucky something, so we opened the windows and tried to air the place out. We never figured out exactly what it was but the smell was outside our room in the hall and could be smelled downstairs in the other room but not as strong. It was yucky, but we survived and managed to sleep despite the stench.
This morning we woke up bright and early and packed up our stuff and headed out around 5:30, so we wouldn't get stuck in any awful California traffic. I didn't notice any bad traffic, but I was actually able to sleep this time so I could have missed it because of that. Again the boys had their goodie bags loaded up with new surprises to open to keep them occupied. This worked for most of the way, I think Dallin thought he wasn't getting enough attention so he kept calling mom every few minutes until Melinda looked back or until we figured out what he wanted from us. Again the ride back was pretty uneventful- no big fights to speak of or any car trouble. I finished one hat that I had started on the way down and I started another. We made it to our place around 6 which was great because I was able to unpack a little, lounge about, check my email, and write this blog post. It was a good trip and I had a lot of fun.
Random pregnancy thoughts:
- I realized while in Disneyland how often I need/feel the need to pee. I noticed mostly on Tuesday because on Monday and Wednesday we at least had children that were randomly needing to pee all the time.
- I would really not like to get hemorrhoids. Pregnancy kinda messes with your normal body stuff, and I only went poop once on the trip and that was when I was up in the middle of the night feeling sick.
- Sometimes I still think I don't look pregnant, but then I see a picture, walk by a mirror, or look down and realize that I definitely do.
- I'm really glad I feel good right now. I'm glad I am not feeling sick all the time and I'm glad that my girth has not yet gotten to the point where I feel like I can't do normal things.
- I realized that a lot of my selfish wants will probably have to take a backseat most of the time because I will have a child that relies on me for practically everything. I noticed this when I was all freaked out because I went on splash mountain and its going to be worse when the baby is on the outside and can cry and stuff.
- Sometimes I feel like a fat old man when I scratch my stomach. I don't know why, but I get this image of some old guy with a pot belly scratching his gut when I scratch my belly. Random- I know.
At about 5 a.m. Sunday morning I was woken up by my phone ringing and hearing Melinda tell me they were here to pick us up. I jumped up, threw on my clothes, gathered all my stuff, woke up Jon, went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, grabbed us some breakfast and we were out the door in about 15-20 minutes. We weren't planning on leaving like this, but the alarm that Jon set ended up being too quiet to rouse us from our slumber. After leaving we realized that we had forgotten a few things like our free Disneyland passes and the battery and plug for the mini dvd player. Luckily Jon had saved the pdf of the passes to his computer, so we didn't have to drive back an hour to get them and one of the other dvd players had a cord that worked for the one we brought. We made it to St. George and met Jennifer and Phil at their hotel for breakfast. The breakfast was delicious pancakes and bacon etc. After breakfast we got back in the car and drove to Anaheim to our hotel that was within walking distance of the parks. The drive was pretty uneventful except for the fact that we had 8 of us all packed into a Honda pilot. Mike drove the whole way down and Melinda, Jon, Kent, Karen, and I shuffled seats a little bit around Cole and Dallin's car-seats. It was full, but I think we all managed to still like each other by the time we made it to California. I guess I can't speak for anyone but myself with my last statement, but there were no major fights to report. To pass the time I read, tried to sleep, and knitted. Karen had made little goodie-bags for the four boys with toys and stuff to open every hour or so and this kept them entertained and happy. I shouldn't forget to mention that the toys and stuff in their bags were all Disney themed and where ever possible the gifts coincided with a specific Disney character for each boy. It was amazing all the work and planning that went into these. That was pretty much the first day. That night we did walk over to the parks and downtown Disney area, so that we could see what the walk would be like. There were also fireworks that I think everyone except me watched from the roof of our hotel that night. I was exhausted from getting up early and not being able to sleep in the car, so I went to bed at like 9.
Monday morning we got up and packed up the kids and walked to the parks. We bought our tickets and then headed into Disneyland. We started out in fantasyland and went on the Peter Pan ride, carousel, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, and probably some other rides that I can't remember.
Fantasyland was great because I was able to go on all the rides that the kids wanted to go on. We then went to toon town and saw a bunch of characters and got pictured and autographs. We also had lunch there. Food is ridiculously expensive in places like Disneyland but Kent was paying for the food, so we actually bought food in the park. It was crazy because I was raised in a family of cheap-os (and am proud to be one myself) so eating in the park was a rare and exciting thing. I just had to try not to think of how expensive things were and just enjoy them. Up until after lunch I had been so good about not going on any rides that would potentially rip my placenta off the wall of my uterus, but after lunch I had a moment of weakness. I went on splash mountain. This was probably really stupid, and I was kind of freaking out as we were going up the hill for the last big drop. Luckily baby, placenta, and uterus all seem to be fine. After that I was pretty wet and more cautious because I realized I would be very distraught if I unintentionally killed my unborn child.
We went around a few other places in the park and went on some rides then we went over to California Adventure to pick up our dinners and tickets for World of Color. My dinner was pretty good, it was a vegetarian wrap thing and had some pasta salad type stuff and slightly lemon flavored strings of veggies that were probably some type of squash. After eating we waited in a clump of people to go stake our claim on a spot for World of Color. World of Color was a water show with lights and music and even Disney animations projected onto walls of water all shooting up out of the little lake thing by the ferris wheel and California Screamin' roller coaster. This was really cool. Before the little show started Jon was joking that it probably wouldn't be as good as the "dancing waters" we saw in Taiwan, but it was dancing waters times 5,000. Even though we weren't in the "wet zone" we still got pretty wet. After the show was over we made our way out of the park and walked back to the hotel. I was quite worn out and not up for the walmart trip to get food and stuff so I went to sleep. Sadly I was woken up at about midnight by my body feeling yucky. I spent the next hour getting whatever my body didn't like out of my system via both ends. After that I felt a bit better and went back to bed.
Tuesday was the day without children in the park.
Kent and Karen entertained the boys for the day while Mike, Melinda, Jennifer, Phil, Jon, and I went to the parks.
We started off over in California Adventure and went on Soarin' over California and grizzly rapids. We went on the rapids twice because we were already wet and figured it wouldn't hurt to get a bit wetter and there was like no line.
Melinda and I got soaked and everyone else got pretty wet too. After that where and when we did everything I can't remember exactly. I know I waited as everyone went on California Screamin' and the Tower of Terror and we went on the ferris wheel with the swinging gondolas. Then I think we went over to Disneyland. I think everyone felt bad that I couldn't go on all the rides, but it really wasn't that bad.
We went on Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted mansion. I also went on the jungle cruise while everyone else went on Indiana Jones. We saw the Captain EO tribute, a 3D movie that originally played at Disneyland from like 1986 to 1997 with Michael Jackson in it. It was very cheesy and kind of gave me a headache with the 3D and bouncing chairs. While in tomorrow land I went on the Buzz Lightyear ride with Jon while everyone else went on space mountain and then went on the Submarine with Phil while everyone did space mountain again. We ate peanut butter and jam sandwiches that we made that morning and had snacks and free tortillas from California Adventure to hold us over so we didn't have to buy the expensive food. We did buy a few things like some dole whip floats and Phil got a cream cheese filled pretzel that he shared with us. I don't think my jeans ever completely dried from the rapids that morning, but I did my best to dry all our stuff by spreading it over the fences and such when I wasn't going on rides.
By the time the day was over we had been from California Adventure to Disneyland and back to California adventure again. We walked a lot and my feet were tired and I was wishing that someone had brought me a stroller so I could sleep while someone pushed by home like the little boys did the previous night. It was a fun and tiring day.
Wednesday we all went to the park again. We started with California Adventure and this time I got to do the kiddie rides with the little boys in Bug's land, which was actually really fun. I think one of my favorite parts of that day was going on the caterpillar ride with Lincoln because he LOVED that ride. He would point out all of the different foods that we were going by and he thought the part where Heimlich burped at the end was so funny. We spent the rest of the day back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure hitting the highlights from the previous days and seeing the Pixar play parade, which was cute and fun. When the park closed at 8 I was again tired and my feet hurt from walking around all day, but I managed to make it back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel our room smelled like nasty burning yucky something, so we opened the windows and tried to air the place out. We never figured out exactly what it was but the smell was outside our room in the hall and could be smelled downstairs in the other room but not as strong. It was yucky, but we survived and managed to sleep despite the stench.
This morning we woke up bright and early and packed up our stuff and headed out around 5:30, so we wouldn't get stuck in any awful California traffic. I didn't notice any bad traffic, but I was actually able to sleep this time so I could have missed it because of that. Again the boys had their goodie bags loaded up with new surprises to open to keep them occupied. This worked for most of the way, I think Dallin thought he wasn't getting enough attention so he kept calling mom every few minutes until Melinda looked back or until we figured out what he wanted from us. Again the ride back was pretty uneventful- no big fights to speak of or any car trouble. I finished one hat that I had started on the way down and I started another. We made it to our place around 6 which was great because I was able to unpack a little, lounge about, check my email, and write this blog post. It was a good trip and I had a lot of fun.
Random pregnancy thoughts:
- I realized while in Disneyland how often I need/feel the need to pee. I noticed mostly on Tuesday because on Monday and Wednesday we at least had children that were randomly needing to pee all the time.
- I would really not like to get hemorrhoids. Pregnancy kinda messes with your normal body stuff, and I only went poop once on the trip and that was when I was up in the middle of the night feeling sick.
- Sometimes I still think I don't look pregnant, but then I see a picture, walk by a mirror, or look down and realize that I definitely do.
- I'm really glad I feel good right now. I'm glad I am not feeling sick all the time and I'm glad that my girth has not yet gotten to the point where I feel like I can't do normal things.
- I realized that a lot of my selfish wants will probably have to take a backseat most of the time because I will have a child that relies on me for practically everything. I noticed this when I was all freaked out because I went on splash mountain and its going to be worse when the baby is on the outside and can cry and stuff.
- Sometimes I feel like a fat old man when I scratch my stomach. I don't know why, but I get this image of some old guy with a pot belly scratching his gut when I scratch my belly. Random- I know.
- I don't think my bellybutton has ever been so clean. I still have an innie, but it is less of a cave than it was so it is nice a squeaky clean now.
- I sometimes imagine the baby breakdancing when I feel weird movements inside that aren't the normal poke here or jab there.
