Kiersten’s Blog

A couple of weeks ago London had a day off of school.  This always calls for an outing.  The outing of the day: Disneyland.  We went with Melissa and her kids.  Both of our husbands had to work, so we borrowed my in-laws van and the two of us and our four combined kids had a mini vacation.  Since they have a time share that they can use in Anaheim, we went up the night before and stayed in the hotel so that we could get to the park early.  For London, staying in the hotel is almost better than going to Disneyland itself.  And to stay in a hotel with friends and then go to Disneyland with friends, well, it can’t get much better than that.  We really did have a good time and the kids were all really well-behaved (except for the stint of screaming that Ashton had in the middle of the night where I had to get up and walk him around the halls of the hotel until he fell back to sleep).

The bad news was that Murray had a hurt leg.  The day before we left, he had fallen and he wouldn’t/couldn’t walk on it.  The good news was that since Murray couldn’t walk, we were able to get a front-of-the-line pass, which was definitely a good thing because the place was packed.  While Melissa was waiting in line to get the pass with Murray and I was lathering the rest of the kids up with sunscreen, London noticed Goofy.

Then Minnie showed up.  We were able to see both of them, just at the right time.

We saw Mickey later on in California Adventure.

Of course, Lightening McQueen and Mater had to be seen when we were in California Adventure too (have I mentioned that Ashton watches Cars every day?).

My kids love the characters.  Okay, London loves the characters.  Ashton was excited about the cars, but he was a little nervous around the others and he didn’t want to see Goofy at all.  But Gwyn and London made up for his lack of enthusiasm.  These girls were so happy to dance around with Goofy.

We had a great time.  Hopefully Krystal will let us squeeze in another trip or two before Ashton turns 3 and isn’t free anymore!

We’ve been having so much fun lately that I haven’t had time to blog!  Now I feel like I’m so far behind I don’t know where to start.  I’ll give a brief synopsis of what we’ve been up to and you can go check out more details over at sandiegoforfamilies.wordpress.com.  But don’t expect much to be up tonight.  I’m still in recovery mode.

Anyway, last Friday was dress-like-a-cow-day at Chick-fil-A.  By doing so, they hook you up with a free meal.

We found out about this day last year and London thinks it’s a national holiday.  She asks me probably monthly when the next dress-like-a-cow-day will be.  When I found out about it this year, I knew we had to go.  The kids thought it was great and I’m not one to ever turn down free food, especially from Chick-fil-A so I’ll say the evening was a success.  It was followed by a nice evening with the Porters/Orlandos/Bakers where we celebrated Derek and Courtney’s engagement!  Again, a successful evening.  On Saturday we were able to be in the temple with Holli as she received her endowments.  What a wonderful experience!  I love the temple.

On Monday we took our first post-broken elbow beach trip.  London still wore her splint, but that didn’t keep her out of the water or the sand.  She’s healing nicely and hopefully in a week she’ll be back to normal.  For now, she has to take the splint off every day and move her elbow around.  Then she sleeps without the splint.  So we’re making progress.  But back to the beach.  I’m excited that we can actually start going again.  London had a great time playing in the sand, even with our sad, sad collection of sand toys (which included a shovel and a pail and a watering can).

"Look, Mom! I have a mermaid tail!"

Ashton wanted nothing to do with the sand, but everything to do with the water.

We even saw a nasty looking beached jelly fish.  Yuk.

Tuesday was our preparation day for Disneyland on Wednesday.  We had a great time!  Taylor’s whole family (minus Denver who’s in India on a mission) was there.

I told London that we would spend time seeing the characters rather than riding rides since, at the time, I didn’t really know what her elbow situation would be.  She was fine with that.  Sure, we went on a few rides, but the lines we stood in the longest were for the characters.

Ashton was so excited to see Micky and Flynn Rider.  FYI, the Rapunzel/Flynn Rider line was 90 minutes.  And we stood in it.  I think we deserve a medal.

Please don't tell Ashton to smile in a picture. This is what you get.

Anyway, we left around 10 (after World of Color) and stayed in a hotel in Anaheim (thanks to a good friend and a hook-up).  What a fun little trip!

Today I took the kids on our weekly zoo trip.  In case you’re wondering, I’m pretty tired.  We’ve had a great week!

As mentioned in my last post, we took a last minute trip to the happiest place on earth today.

I always love going with people who don’t go often.  It makes things more magical.  We love it there and love being able to go often, but there’s something about it being a once-in-a-lifetime experience that just makes the place more magical.  We got to experience that again today.  We were there with someone extra super special.  They call him Bugg.  (Check out his blog here.)

He’s five.  He can’t walk.  He can’t talk.  He has a lot of limitations, but he is the cutest, happiest thing ever!  It was so fun to experience Disneyland with him.  The Bugg was joined by his parents (Brianne and Brian) and his two sisters and a couple of cousins and their parents.  Because of his limitations, we had some royal treatment.  Did you know that you can get a special car on the Buzz Lightyear ride for a wheelchair?  The back folds down, forming a ramp, and the wheelchair can be pushed right into the car!

There are similar modifications on other rides, including Small World.

I think it’s safe to say that we all had a great time.  For us (me and my kids) it was one of our better trips.  We got there early, left before the crowds settled, the weather was gorgeous, and the lines were minimal.  And most of all, it was fun to spend with great friends.

It was definitely worth the hassle we had to put Krystal through to get us in!

Stay tuned to The Bugg’s Special Life for more tips on doing Disneyland with special needs (and for inspiration).

Yesterday on our way to pick up Taylor from work, London and I had the following conversation:

London:  Mom, I want to go to Disneyland tomorrow.

Me:  You have a dance recital tomorrow.

London:  We can go after dance.

Me:  It will be too late.

London:  Okay, we can go before dance.

Me:  You have school.

London:  Mrs. Bradshaw and Danica are both going to Disneyland tomorrow.  I really want to go!

Me:  Are they going after school?  Because remember, you have a dance recital after school.

London:  I don’t know if they’ll be at school tomorrow.  But they’re going to California Adventure to watch World of Color and have a picnic with the princesses.

Me:  World of Color is at night and you have a dance recital at night.

London:  Maybe we can go during the day.

Me:  You have school.

London:  We can miss school.  I really want to go to Disneyland tomorrow.  Please can we go to Disneyland tomorrow?

Me:  (Laughing)

London:  Don’t make fun of me!

Me:  I’m not making fun of you.  I just think you’re cute, that’s all.

London:  But Mom, you didn’t answer my question.  Can we please go to Disneyland tomorrow?

Me:  Okay.

London:  REALLY?!  YAY!!!

What London didn’t know (and why I thought the conversation was so funny) is that I had just decided that morning that I would take the kids to Disneyland today.  She had no clue I was even considering it, but Bree (my BFF from high school) called me last week and told me that they were planning a last minute trip to Disneyland this weekend and wanted to know if we could join them.  I didn’t think we would be able to, but that was before I knew that they opened at 8:00 this morning.  Getting there early gave us time to play and make it home in time for dance.  So we went and had a great time!

We spent yesterday at California Adventure. We didn’t tell the kids we were going. They thought we were just driving home from Taylor’s family Christmas party that we went to on Sunday night. We spent the night in the San Fernando valley with his aunt and uncle so the kids thought we were just driving home Monday morning. When we were just a few miles away from Anaheim, I told London that we were going to go to California Adventure. She was in disbelief. Her whiny mood immediately changed. “Today?!” she said. “Right now?!” She could hardly contain herself, she was so excited. We were expecting crowds (but hopefully not as bad as Disneyland last month). What we weren’t expecting, until the week before, was rain. With rain comes no crowds. I think I would rather have the rain. We had a lovely day together. Taylor got to come with us this time. It’s not often that he’s able. It was just us and our two kids and Krystal. I think we all had a really good time. I thought with the rain that we might not stay as long as we did, but we were probably there for a good six hours and were able to do everything that we wanted. Krystal took the kids on the carousel first thing so Taylor and I could get pelted by rain on the roller coaster.

Toy Story Mania was the longest wait (40 minutes)

The lines, for the most part, were short. We were generally wet and cold all day, but I think it was the most fun I’ve had with Ashton there. He was really excited about everything and just enjoyed himself. I even caught him laughing a few times in the Muppets 3-D show. I felt bad dragging my kids around in the rain, but I think that made the experience all the better for them. They love the rain. The only (okay, not only) downside was that I forgot to bring their rain boots so of course, before we even got into the park, London stepped right into a puddle and soaked her canvas shoes, so wet feet all day. But she didn’t care. It was a good day.

Waiting for "Turtle Talk with Crush." London said she's Ariel and Ashton is King Triton. This is the look you get from him when you tell him to smile.

The day ended with a stinky diaper. That face was not for a picture. It really stunk that bad.

Oh, and did you know that the stroller rental spot right outside the entrance to Disneyland is also a stroller repair? I don’t know all of what they do, but if you (like we did) have a flat tire on your stroller and need a bit of air, you can take it to them and the’ll pump it up for you while you wait. For free. That’s really good to know.

Yesterday we spent the day at the happiest, I mean busiest, place on earth.  I’ve been to Disneyland quite a few times and have never seen it as crowded as it was yesterday.  Still, we had a good time.  I got a nice little break in the late afternoon when London was with my parents and Ashton was with Brittany.  It was my turn to take a quick jaunt on Indiana Jones.  I haven’t been on that ride in probably 15 years.  Brittany went first while I watched William and Ashton.  Then when it was my turn, the ride broke down and I got to sit and relax in the car, sans screaming kids, for about 10 minutes.  Besides the fact that I was a little worried about Brittany having to be alone with two cranky boys, it was a nice little break in a comfy chair!  We had a good time together, went on some fun rides,

For Brittany's first time on Dumbo, she had to take Ashton, since William chose sleep over rides, for which we were all grateful.

enjoyed the parade with friends who also happened to be there,

So happy together...

London and her good friend, Gwyn. They were so excited to see each other at Disneyland.

Waiting for the parade with "It's a Small World" lit up behind

and saw some of the characters.

William didn't want to stay away from the big mouse, but Ashton didn't want to get anywhere near him. He loved him from a distance, though!

The highlight of the day is always It’s a Small World.

One happy girl

I love that ride.  I have definitely been converted.  I just love the calming effect it has on the kids and right now it’s all dressed up for the holidays so it’s extra magical.  It was well worth the wait.

The little guy didn't like the big mouse so much. I was kind of surprised because while we were standing in line to see Mickey, Ashton was so excited to tell me all about the "ma." But he was quite of most of the characters.

We go to Disneyland a lot.  Probably too much.  In fact, London told me yesterday that we need to move into the hotel by Disneyland so we can go there even more often.  I asked her what we would do about school and dance and Daddy’s work.  She assured me that we could find another school, another dance studio, and Daddy could find another job.  And the house?  She doesn’t like it anyway.  It’s scary.  The Grand Californian Hotel would be a much nicer place to live, according to her.  Okay, who am I kidding?  She’s right.  That place is amazing.  And I’m sure we’ll never stay there again, but that’s beside the point.  My intention today is to give you (who are planning trips to Disneyland with kids) a couple of tips.  These are a few little tricks that I have learned.

Stroller Switches: These are really a life saver with little ones.  You and whatever other adult you are with can still hit up the big rides and not have to stand in line twice.  The way it works is, part of your party waits in line for the ride.  When they get near the front, there will be a worker from whom they can ask for a stroller switch.  On some rides (like Space Mountain) it’s at the beginning of the line.  While they’re waiting in line, you can keep the kids occupied with other things.  Then when you meet up again, take the stroller switch to the front of the line and you’re on!  The stroller switch is only good for 2 people.  Also, they only work on rides that kids can’t go on.  For example, since you can take a baby on Buzz Lightyear, you can’t use a stroller switch.

Fast Passes: Some rides have fast pass distribution.  They are usually the ones that have long lines.  You swipe your ticket and a ticket is printed for you, telling you when you can come back to get right on the ride.  Sometimes you still have to wait in a bit of a line, but it’s nothing compared to the line that you would have to wait in normally.  I think you can only get 1 or 2 fast passes at a time.

Make Small World your last ride: The last time we went to Disneyland (a couple of weeks ago) the kids were getting cranky and ready to go home.  Usually, though, when it’s time to leave, they don’t want to get back into the stroller and actually leave the park.  This time was different.  It just so happened that the last ride we rode was “Small World.”  They were both completely mesmerized and were so calm by the end of it, that getting into the stroller was easy and we left the park with no fits.  I don’t think that’s ever happened before.

Baby Center: Both Disneyland and California Adventure have a baby center.  You can find it on the map.  This place is a must use for anybody with small children.  There are nice changing tables, small toilets, rocking chairs to nurse or pump, high chairs, purified water, and a number of other helps that a mother can use.  Of course for normal diaper changes I just use the closest restroom, but it’s nice to go into the baby center to cool off and relax for a minute.  It’s quiet and calm there.  I’ve pumped and/or nursed there many times.

I’m sure I’ll think of more things as time passes (or the next time I haul my kids to Disneyland) and as I do, I’ll add to the list.

I have a cousin (Rachel) and her husband (Steve) and their cute daughter (Annika) who just moved to Hawaii just because.  Since their car shipped out of San Diego, we got to have a slumber party with them at our house!  We have stayed at their house plenty of times and we were long overdue to return the favor.  Anneka (Rachel’s sister) also stayed.  She drove down from Santa Monica to pick them up since they were flying out of LA.  In the mean time, we decided to take a trip to the happiest place on earth.  Of course we had been there before, but Annika never had, so it was fun for the two little girls to go together.  None of our husbands came, and I left Ashton home with Taylor.  It was nice to go without a baby and just have fun.

You can't even see London in the back because she's so small!

We took the two little girls on the Hollywood Tower of Terror in California Adventure.  I was a little nervous for them, but we tried to keep them excited and not scared, although it is a pretty scary ride.  That’s one of the rides I have never taken London on.  She has asked me about it before, but I’ve always thought she would get kind of freaked out.  Not so.  She loved it.  I can’t believe what a thrill seeker this girl is!  As soon as it was over, she asked if we could go again!  That’s more than I can say for my mom!  I guess there’s no holding London back.  I think it was a great time had by all and we’re excited to go back on Tuesday for more fun with different cousins!  We’re so spoiled.