California Trip Day Twelve – Home Again, Home Again

The ride home was pretty uneventful. I thought the kids would complain about being in the car for so long, but they really didn’t. They watched four movies. That helped. The only noteworthy story was our quest for dinner. We decided to do Arby’s Wednesday freebie deal (buy a drink, get a free sandwich). It turned into a project to find a participating Arby’s. If they are attached to a gas station, they don’t count. We finally found one. Nate brought the food out to the car. When he was handing me the drinks I squeezed one a little too hard or something and spilled 20 ounces of ice cold sprite all over myself. And, we almost ran out of gas. Other than that, it was smooth sailing.



It was nice to get home. We are grateful for friends and family who took care of things (lawn, raspberries, garbage cans, UPS deliveries, etc.) while were gone. It was good to see the house was still in one piece . . . and a comfy 92 degrees inside. Tomorrow Nate goes back to work and I get to clean and do laundry and all the other normal stuff. Back to real life.

California Trip Day Eleven – R&R

Today was a fabulously lazy day. We probably would have driven home today, but I got a “five nights for the price of three” deal on our hotel, so we figured we might as well stay an extra day. It was good to have some time to just hang out and relax before we head back to real life. We took the kids swimming for a couple of hours, but basically we just spent the day laying around watching TV. The kids (mostly Ben) have loved having Cartoon Network and I’ve loved watching What Not to Wear. It will be an adjustment to go back to our cable-free home.

California Trip Day Ten – More Disneyland and California Adventure

Today was another full day. We had tons of fun and the kids did really well. I thought we were pushing our luck with expecting the kids to be good for two days of heat and crowds and lots of walking, but we made it through with just a bit of whining and no meltdowns. That is better than I ever imagined. Our best trick of the day was to put a Ziploc bag full of Jolly Ranchers in each of our backpacks. Candy makes kids happy.

Here is the day in review (same DISCLAIMER as last time . . . more information than anyone else in the world wants or needs to know; we just want to be able to remember what we did):

We got an early start and were first in line when the park opened. It was fun to see a completely empty park in front of us and 2,000 people lined up behind us. It pays to get up early.

We spent the morning in Disneyland and then headed over to California Adventure. We had fun trying out all the new rides. We did a little better with the divide and conquer thing so that Elise and Abby could have fun too.

Since we had already seen Aladdin, met the princesses, and gone to Jedi Training, today was all about the rides. We managed to hit quite a few and things worked out so we didn’t have to stand in any super long lines. I kept a little ride tally. It pretty much sums up the day.

Ben: Peter Pan, Matterhorn Bobsleds (3x), Indiana Jones (2x), Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain (2x), Monsters Inc., Toy Story Mania, Soarin’ Over California (2x), Grizzly River Run (2x), California Screamin’ (6x) . . . (this was by far Ben’s favorite ride; his sisters were too short to ride, so they were nice and donated their FASTPASSES so Ben could ride lots of times), Mickey’s Fun Wheel, Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Emily: Peter Pan, Matterhorn Bobsleds (3x), Indiana Jones (2x), Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain (2x) . . . (this was Emily’s favorite ride; she surprised me with how much she loved all the big roller coaster rides), Monsters Inc., Toy Story Mania, Soarin’ Over California (2x), Grizzly River Run (2x), King Triton’s Carousel (3x), Mickey’s Fun Wheel, Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Elise: Peter Pan (2x), Matterhorn Bobsleds, Winnie the Pooh (2x), Jungle Cruise, Monsters Inc., Toy Story Mania, Soarin’ Over California (2x), Grizzly River Run (2x), King Triton’s Carousel (3x), Mickey’s Fun Wheel . . . (she begged to ride this one and then HATED it), Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Abby: Peter Pan (2x), Winnie the Pooh (2x), Jungle Cruise, Monsters Inc., Toy Story Mania, King Triton’s Carousel (8x) . . . (she would have been happy to stay on this one all day), Mickey’s Fun Wheel, Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Nate: Peter Pan, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Winnie the Pooh, Indiana Jones, Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain (2x), Monsters Inc., Toy Story Mania, Soarin’ Over California, California Screamin’ (5x), Mickey’s Fun Wheel, King Triton’s Carousel (7x), Grizzly River Run (Nate loved this ride; same concept as Rattlesnake Rapids, but lots better execution), Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Malinda: Peter Pan (2x), Matterhorn Bobsleds (2x), Indiana Jones, Jungle Cruise, Winnie the Pooh, Monsters Inc., Toy Story Mania (this might have been my favorite ride of the day; it was a really cool ride and I loved that the whole family could go together), Grizzly River Run, California Screamin’, King Triton’s Carousel, Soarin’ Over California, Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

I certainly learned my lesson from the Saturday night Fantasmic debacle. We took a blanket and I sat on the pavement for four hours before the show started to save our spot. I was more than happy to be done with walking for the day. We ate dinner and then Nate took the kids to the shooting gallery. He thought they would love it, but it was a bit too tricky. The girls came back to play cards with me while Nate and Ben ran over to California Adventure for three more rides on California Screamin’.

It was great to have a front row seat. We didn’t really get the plot/point of the show, but the special effects were great and I thought the fireworks were even better from that vantage point (probably just because we could sit down the whole time). We skipped the big exit crowds and got in one more family ride on Buzz Lightyear before heading home. It was a great day!

California Trip Day Nine – Day of Rest

We didn’t exactly keep the Sabbath day holy (as Ben kept reminding us), but we did have a nice, lazy day. We took the kids to Walmart to pick out some souvenirs. They have a quality Disney section and the kids each got to pick a few things to buy. They were happy and we didn’t have to break the bank. The kids watched a movie while Nate and I made our RideMax plan for Monday. Then we went to Denny’s for dinner. We actually went to IHOP first, but apparently if you own an IHOP in close proximity to Disneyland, you think you can double your prices on everything. I just couldn’t bring myself to pay $9 for a kids’ meal. Abby fell asleep on the three minute trip from IHOP to Denny’s and slept all through dinner. She woke up just as we were leaving and threw up all over my shirt. I’m hoping that it was just a combination of waking up and having a little coughing attack and that she isn’t really getting sick.

We discovered the downside of our big hotel room. We spent most of the day just hanging out in our room and when we started to get ready for bed, we noticed that everyone’s feet were completely black on the bottom. Apparently, clean carpets are not a high priority in this place. Nate complained to the manager and then put extra sheets and towels down on the floor to create a buffer between our feet and the not-so-clean carpet.

California Trip Day Eight – Disneyland!

Nate and I had done lots of research on Disneyland before we left home. Partly we wanted to get the most bang for our buck and mostly we wanted to have happy, non-whining kids. I’m happy to say that our research really paid off. We had an absolutely fabulous day! We used RideMax to plan our day and I am a huge fan. We managed to fit in loads of rides and shows with very little time spent waiting in lines.

It was an incredibly long day, but we had an awesome time. The kids were troopers! We had a few episodes of whining and fighting (and of course Abby being her charming, independent, 2-year-old self), but they did much better than I expected.

Here is the day in review (DISCLAIMER - more information than anyone else in the world wants or needs to know; we just want to be able to remember what we did):

5:30 – Wake up time . . . for Nate. I was lucky enough to be up at 3:30. I don’t sleep so well in hotels.

6:30 – We got the kids up and fed and dressed. They weren’t so thrilled about the early wake up, but they were mostly cooperative and we made it out the door by 7:10.

8:00 – By this time we had made it through parking, the tram ride, buying tickets and were through the gates within 2 minutes of opening. It is not so easy to be early birds with four kids in tow. I am still amazed that we managed to pull it off.

8:00 to 11:20 – Rides

Storybook Land Canal Boats

Star Tours for Nate and the big kids; Small World for me and Abby.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – We were ahead of schedule on our RideMax plan and the lines were short, so Nate went once with the three kids and then I took Ben and Emily again (Elise thought it was too scary).

Small World

Indiana Jones – Elise was pretty upset that she wasn’t tall enough for this ride. Luckily she suffered in silence and just looked pathetic and heartbroken. This was our first FASTPASS ride. We love the FASTPASS plan! Nate took the two kids once and then I took them again with a FASTPASS and rider swap card. Nate took Elise and Abby on the teacups and King Arthur carrousel so they could stop being bored. That made them much happier.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Splash Mountain (twice) – Another FASTPASS ride. Nate took the three kids with him and then I took them a second time (the nice guy working the turnstile gave us a second card so I didn’t have to leave one kid behind). Abby had a much needed nap in the stroller.

11:30 – Lunch at Hungry Bear Restaurant.

12:00 – We waited in a LONG line to meet the princesses. Ben was not a fan, but he ended up loving it as much as the girls. I must say that I love standing in by someone else’s really bratty kid. They make my kids seem so much better behaved. The girl in front of us whined/cried/yelled for the whole hour we were in line. Every time she said “I hate you” to her mom, I felt a little better about how great my kids were doing. They were angels by comparison.

2:00 – Jedi Training Academy. This ended up being a highlight of the day. Ben was one of the kids that they picked out of the audience to participate. He got to put on some Jedi garb, learn some fancy lightsaber moves, and then fight Darth Maul. It was great! The look on his face was just priceless. We were at a really lousy angle for taking pictures during his duel, and we were too cheap to pay $15 a shot for the Photo Pass ones, so we just have the thumbnail proofs from their website. Good enough.

3:00 – We headed over to California Adventure for the Aladdin show. The kids got Pluto’s autograph on the way. We were happy that the waiting line for Aladdin was in the shade. We were next to a nice local couple. The guy had a little water mister that he kept misting the kids with. It was HOT, so the combo of the shade and the mist was a good break. The show was amazing. It was really a high quality mini Broadway show. I didn’t know how the kids would do, but they loved it.

5:00 to 8:00 – More Rides

We headed over to Space Mountain and caught Mickey and Minnie for a quick autograph on the way. Nate took the three older kids while I listened to Abby say “I want daddy” 4,000 times. It was bliss. Then I took Ben and Emily a second time. They were loving the whole FASTPASS /rider swap combo. They got lots of rides in with very little waiting.

Buzz Lightyear – Abby just stared at the flashing lights on her gun the whole time, but the rest of us had fun shooting targets.

Star Tours – The kids wanted me to go on this with them so I could see what it was like. Bad idea. I am the queen of motion sickness and this ride almost did me in. I had to close my eyes after the first minute so I wouldn’t puke. Not so much fun for me, but the kids liked it.

Matterhorn Bobsleds – Nate and the three big kids

Buzz Lightyear – We caught this ride one more time before heading over to Fantasmic.

8:00 to 9:30 – Waiting and exhaustion. This is where we experienced our only major learning curve issue. I had read that you should be to Fantasmic at least an hour early for a good seat, but I figured 45 minutes would be fine. WRONG! We ended up in a standing only section and after waiting there for those 45 minutes discovered the kids couldn’t see a thing that was happening on the water. Grr. We bailed and found a decent spot for the fireworks show.

9:30 – Fireworks. The fireworks were amazing and everyone (except me) got over my poor planning. Ben did make me laugh when he looked up at me while we were waiting for the show to start and said “gas cap” with a big grin on his face. The kids all stayed awake for the fireworks, but Abby fell asleep within one minute of getting in the stroller to leave. Elise was asleep 20 seconds after she got in the van.

10:30 – Home. Ben and Emily stayed up to have a little late night snack and talk to us about the day. They were funny and cute and seemed so grown up staying up late with Mom and Dad while the little kids were asleep in the other room. It is fun to see them growing up.

California Trip Day Seven – Surprise #2

Life lesson: If the service engine soon light comes on in your car, the first thing you should do is check to make sure the gas cap is screwed on tightly. It took a lot of phone calls to auto part stores and mechanic uncles, and a visit to a local repair shop (with the nicest owner known to man) to figure that out. The ironic part is that when the light first came on we pulled out the owner’s manual to see what it said. It said that the light may come on if the gas cap is not secured properly, but both Nate and I said, “it couldn’t be that; it’s too simple” (and we had last put gas in three days before the light even came on, so there was no obvious association between them). Neither of us actually spent the ten seconds it would have taken to check it and rule it out as a possibility. We are idiots sometimes. We had a good laugh about it. I laughed even more when I saw that it is printed right on the gas cap. I told the kids that whenever mom or dad do something dumb, they could say “gas cap.”

Nate got the gas cap fiasco straightened out before breakfast. Then he took the kids swimming while I packed and did a couple of loads of laundry. We checked out at noon, and then drove to Anaheim. We just told the kids that we were leaving the hotel, but they assumed that we were headed home. When we drove past Disneyland they were interested in all the signs, but they still didn’t get it. We had to explain to them that we weren’t actually going home yet and that we would be going to Disneyland tomorrow. Once they believed us, they were all very excited and happy that the vacation wasn’t over yet.

I love that I got a sweet deal on our hotel and I love how roomy it is. They called our hotel room in San Diego a kids’ suite. It was really just one room with French doors in the middle to make it into two rooms. Plus we had to walk through the kids’ room to get to the bathroom. This place is loads bigger. It has two queen beds in the main room and then bunk beds in the other room. There is lots more floor space and (the best part) there are two bathrooms. It will be nice to have a bit more space this week.

California Trip Day Six – Sea World Day Two

Today was the last day of Nate’s conference. I can’t even say how much I’m looking forward to being together as a whole family for the rest of the trip.

Elise added some excitement to our morning routine by falling and hitting her head at breakfast. She had a quality goose egg on her forehead. The nice lady at the next table went and made an ice pack. I like been-there done-that moms who are helpful when I am husbandless.

Nate only had to be at the conference until noon, so we headed back to Sea World for the afternoon. We decided that the best plan for such places is to go early, leave in the middle of day, and go back at night. Since that wasn’t really an option today, we were there right in the middle of the day. It was hot and crowded, but we still managed to have some fun. The kids were mostly excited to ride Journey to Atlantis since it had been closed on Monday, so that was our first stop. Abby feel asleep in her stroller while we were waiting for the ride and slept for an hour and a half. I think stroller naps will be a life saver on this trip. The rest of us revisited a few of our favorite things from Monday. We decided that they give you the second day free because you really only need one day to see everything. We did get to see the daytime Shamu show and the dolphin night show, but other than that it was all the same as Monday.




The kids think we are going home tomorrow. We are excited about surprising them again with a new hotel and a couple of days at Disneyland. We’re hoping that we have enough energy for another six days of vacation. We’re also hoping that whatever is causing our “service engine soon” light to come on isn’t serious. It started yesterday. We feel like we should get it worked out before we leave this town.

California Trip Day Five – Conference and Beach Take Two

On the way to breakfast this morning Emily said, “Today is going to be just like yesterday, except we’re going to be good.” That pretty much sums up the day. We did all the same things as yesterday, but the kids were better behaved and I was happier. It was a much better day.

Abby fell asleep on the way to the beach and woke up about ten minutes before we came home. It worked out great. She needed a good nap and I was happy to hang out on a towel next to her and just be lazy. The girls got in the water for a while, but mostly just wanted to play in the sand. Ben and Nate spent a lot of time in the water. Nate even got in some boogie boarding. It was a good fun time. We finished off the night with by watching Wipeout and eating some yummy food from El Pollo Loco.

I’m learning that having four kids is somewhat of an anomaly (outside of Utah). We’ve gotten several comments from strangers about our abnormally large family over the past few days. “How many kids do you have?!?” – “Just these four.” – “Wow, four kids!” It is kind of funny to me. I guess I am skewed by knowing lots of families with 6 or 7 kids. I don’t really see our little family as freakishly large.

California Trip Day Four – Conference and Beach

Today was the first day that Nate had to go to his conference. The plan to combine a business trip with a family vacation works well . . . in theory. It is great that some of our travel expenses are covered and that Nate has to use less vacation time. The only real downside is that I am no good at being a single mom to our kids for eight hours a day in a different state. We did mostly okay today. We spent the day swimming in the hotel pool, watching Cartoon Network, and playing cards. Abby spent most of the day crying and saying “NO!” I was very ready for Nate to get back to share the joy. I feel the same way most days at home, but having less space and fewer options for entertainment made it seem a little worse. In Abby’s defense, she is two and has had an extremely out of the ordinary schedule for the last few days. Still, it is a good thing she has cute moments mixed in with the naughty. My favorite is that she insisted on wearing Emily’s goggles the entire time we were at the pool. She looked so cute sitting high and dry in her floatie tube or lounge chair with those goggles on.

The day got considerably better when Nate got home. The kids and I had everything ready so we could head straight out to the beach. We went to Ocean Beach. It was great . . . five minutes away, close parking, and not crowded. The girls were all about gathering sea shells, Ben figured out how to catch little sand crabs, and Abby mostly just wanted to smash sand castles as quickly as we could make them. It was so fun that we decided to go back again tomorrow. I might even get in past my ankles. I don’t love cold water!

We made it back to the hotel in time to get cleaned up and head to Denny’s for kids eat free Tuesday. It looks like tomorrow will be pretty much a repeat . . . hopefully with less grumpiness from the kids and more patience from me.

California Trip Day Three – Sea World

Nate just had to stop by the convention center for registration this morning, and then it was off to Sea World. This was our first big theme park day and it went remarkably well. I made the mistake of doing my hair and makeup and then riding Shipwreck Rapids with the kids first thing. Other than looking like a drowned rat all day, I had lots of fun. The kids were really good. I actually made it through the whole day without hearing whining. They were kind and whined to Nate instead. We managed to hit pretty much all of the rides, shows, and exhibits. Sea World is cool. We love it. We took a break in the middle of the day to go to lunch and pick up some sandwiches for dinner. Abby fell asleep in the car, so we took a drive to give everyone a chance to take a nap. Elise (who almost fell asleep eating lunch) was the only one who didn’t get some sleep. I think those naps saved our sanity since we were out LATE!