We Lost Monday

Psyche! I said Hong Kong was next, but I wanted to talk about the airplane ride, of course.

My pictures got all out of order. It sucks, but I don't care enough to fix it.

We got to the LA airport around 10pm. It was a long day. Everyone was ready to sleep for about 14 hours straight, right? Well, it didn't happen like that, but it wasn't too bad. We all got our own TV, which was so nice. Everyone was in heaven except for G.

He is used to watching movies with people. I don't think he wanted to watch his own. So here he is, listening to his own, while watching Mads'.

Everyone slept pretty good. I'm not including myself in that statement, but I didn't expect much. It was alright. No tears. No fits. No throw up. What more could you ask for? I brought a million things for the kids to do if they got bored, and they did NONE of it. I'll know for next time that if they have a TV, they are good. It was dark most of the time though. Maybe if they had light they would have done some other activities.

This was before we got on the plane. We had the best meal of teriyaki chicken ever. I'm not sure what made it taste so good. Maybe because we were starving, and we had only had Disneyland food for the last 4 days? Either way, it was the best meal of my life. And everyone thought so. We liked it so much that we would go to LA just to eat at the rice bowl place.

The kids were mesmerized by this um... thingy. I don't know what to call it. But the marbles would go around and around along different paths. Brilliant idea to put it in an airport.

Another plane picture. I didn't hear from the girls almost the whole trip! They were perfectly content to manage things for themselves.

All in all, it seemed pretty easy for an international flight. We'll see how it goes next time when it's old news.

After All

We finally went on the ride no one wanted to go on but me. I had to wait until all the family left. I forced my family to go with me. Yeah, you know what it is. I won't sing the song, because then it will be in your head the rest of the day. I'll just say, it's a small small world.

I guess they were looking into the sun. It's G's face priceless? Man, I love that kid.

Mads hated the ride. It cracks me up. Even when he just saw the pictures I posted, he said, "I hated that ride. Why was it so long?" Not the family favorite. I guess they expected the puppets to start on fire like they did in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I'll admit, that would have been pretty awesome.

Then we made some massive pixie sticks. It was fun.

It's not that much sugar, so we had more cotton candy to even it out.

Not really, but I would have eaten cotton candy.

I made them eat them right away because I didn't want them to take them on the plane that we had to catch that night.

So pretty.

We did a lot of sitting around that morning. Disneyland was C R A Z Y. There was a lot of left over crowds from the movie premier (Pirates of the Caribbean) the night before. And there was some kind of wacky goth convention. There were strangely dressed people everywhere. So we left. We sat around on the benches outside of Disneyland, ate our sugar, and enjoyed each other's company.

Then we decided to try California Adventure.

The boys rode on the Carousel while Nate and I took turns with the girls on California Screamin'. That's a cool roller coaster!

They look happy. Happy they aren't on the carousel that is.

I think that was the first of 96 carousel rides.

It was Mother's Day! So I had Nate take a picture of me with the kids. They are cool dudes. I'm glad they are mine.

And I'm glad I got to see my mom for Mother's Day. I haven't been able to tell her I loved her in person on Mother's Day for quite some time. And Nate's mom too! I'm so glad she came. Even though I didn't actually see either of them on Mother's Day, I saw them the day before, so I'm counting it.

We had so much fun on this trip. We are so happy we got to stay in LA for a few days. And that was just the beginning! Next up... Hong Kong!

I Hate Long Goodbyes

The fam who came to see me in California. Minus my oldest sister, her husband, and D. Don't know where they were.

Grammy and Poppy with the grandkids.

This gun was a gift from Aunt S. Loved it. He would point it at you, say, "Say cheese," and then after you said cheese, he would shoot you. It doesn't make much sense but it made him happy. And made us laugh.

Rock. Paper. Scissors.

Will play it with anyone, anywhere. Have I ever mentioned how much Mads likes games?

Waiting in line for Pirates. Does it look like we've been waiting a while? We did! Pirates broke down too. We decided to stay in line to see if it would start again.

Not feeling the "happiest place on earth" vibe.

It did start again! We got a whole boat to ourselves.

That's my bright, shiny forehead.

Waiting for lunch.

Hungry.

Plotting.

Just before we got on the Tower of Terror. I didn't realize everyone was so scared.

More scared people.

More rock, paper, scissors. Notice I only took pictures of Mads winning?

Aunt K, Aunt S, and Jordan. The boys loved Jordan. We're glad we got to meet him.

I think this was Ryann's favorite ride.

Oh look! It was Jaren's favorite ride too!

I'm so glad the big kids took the little kids on the lame rides. How cool are they?

Yup, this ride was lame too, but G loved it.

Disneyland day the 3rd = Success

Seeking Rapunzel

I forced my kids to get a picture with somebody! But, as you can see, I didn't get B.A to go up there. I think Mary Poppins and Bert were a good choice. They didn't try to hug anyone.

On Thunder Mountain Railroad again...

So glad Uncle and Aunt J came. They almost didn't.

Some more fam.

R and G...

This is where G spent a lot of his day. He was R's buddy. It was great for me. He hardly paid attention to me at all. And of course he wouldn't smile for me.

Winnie the Pooh...

New hats...

Grammy bought all the kids hats. Which I loved because they are the perfect souvenir.

They also got Mickey ears hats from Uncle R and Aunt K. Which I love also!

Rhon and R...

She got the same hat.

Tinker Bell's little area...

I was a little annoyed that we waited in line for this.

Space Mountain...

Yes. We got stuck on another ride. And I don't even think this was the second one. It was like fourth or fifth. It was kind of cool to see Space Mountain with the lights on. We got to ride it like this, and then they let us just stay on for another ride. So that was cool. Mads wasn't too thrilled about it. He was sitting next to me, and he wanted to get off. Too bad for him that I was stoked to go again. I talked him into riding again.

Dare's quote of the day, "If you want to get stuck on a ride, go to Disneyland."

Jungle Tour...

I think that's what it's called. Love this picture.

Disneyland Day #2 = Success

They Go Where They Want

This is why I am happy I bought the boys a carry-on with 4 wheels. And it's not because G fell, it's because they had so much fun pushing those things around.

This is back tracking a bit, but I couldn't get the video on the other day. This was taken at the Dulles Airport.

Happy Doesn't Even Begin to Describe It

Disneyland!

Since Nate had to "work" in Los Angeles for 2 days on our way to Jakarta, we decided to stick those 2 days next to a weekend and buy some tickets to Disneyland. It was one of the best choices we have made. Probably THE best choice. Probably in our whole life.

Waiting in line for our first ride...

Then we met up with my family who came to California to see us! Yes, they got to go to Disneyland too, but I like to think they only came to see us.

Why are my kids so short?

Thunder Mountain Railroad...

I think this ride won for the greatest number of rides. Probably because the line was always short. Adults, don't sit on a small child's right side. You will squish the heck out of them. Always sit on the left.

Then we met up with Nate's family too! They came to see us too, Disneyland was just the venue.

Loey!

Mads was so excited to climb a rope...

How do you find things like this for kids to do in the real world? He would have climbed that rope all day.

Teacups...

I had to focus on the boys so I didn't get too sick. But I realized if you don't look around, the ride is pretty lame. At least I didn't puke.

Toon Town...

I love this picture because it looks like B.A. just told Uncle J the most hilarious joke ever.

This must have been after Uncle J got out of 'time-out'. He lost his ticket on the walk from the car to the entrance, and spent hours trying to figure out how to get in.

Jet lag?..

He only took a nap the first day, so I'm pretty sure he got used to the time change quickly.

Thunder Mountain Railroad again...

This time with Dad! He joined us after lunchtime.

This time the ride stopped, and we had to walk out. You'll see that this happened to us a lot at Disneyland. The whole park is falling apart.

More lines...

First of many cotton candy cones...

He ate this whole thing 100% by himself. I let him because I was doing the same thing. You could see the sugar take effect right away. He was wired!

Disneyland Day One = Success