The Little Things

My anniversary is fast approaching.

Dusty works it.

We don't really make a big deal about things

like

birthdays

anniversaries

etc

but

we think about it

{I think WE think think about it}

9 years

3 babies

countless pets

8 moves

6 cars

and a few renovation projects...

There has been a lot of life lived in 9 years.

Some of it fun to look back on

and

some of it I wish I could forget.

I am thankful for the lessons I have learned

I am thankful for where we are now.

I have enjoyed most of the journey so far

and I have hope that I will find 

Joy In the Journey

that is yet to be.

Cruzin'

Penny and I hang out a lot.

Too much.

We were driving the other day

which also happens a lot

The sun was out.

It was warm.

Shania came on.

We sang.

but

the sun was shining in Penny's eyes.

So then she sang

in sunglasses.

Getting soft

So most of the time the commute doesn't bug me.

It's nice to have 4 days to myself.

Usually I read or watch a movie

sometimes I'll watch TV

(I am getting to the point I promise)

Last night I watched TV

We watch the show Castle 

it was PVR'd 

so I thought I would catch up on a few episodes I missed.

Mistake.

Normally it's not scary

and it wasn't really scary

BUT

between digesting my dad's lasagna and the show

I was up at 2 am

and every creak was menacing.

I had to talk myself out of phoning my parents a few times.

I have lived alone.

I rarely get scared.

Especially of the boogie man

but last night was a doozy

I must be getting younger...

that's what I am going with...

15 minutes

It's Saturday.

We have waffles on Saturday

(usually)

Today we did.

Now Dusty and the girls are gone to get a small tractor

I don't know what we will use it for...

maybe mucking out corals

or plowing snow.

It doesn't really matter

that's Dusty's department.

I mostly think he just wants something to tinker with.

They are gone.

I have 15 minutes to myself

(literally)

I am off to have lunch with a very old friend

(not literally age wise- just long in the sense that we have been friends since the dawn of my time)

I am excited.

nervous a little.

It's been a couple of years since we've seen one another

life gets so busy

I hope nothing has changed

I hope it's still easy

I showered today

(which is not that exciting)

but

I hate when I am getting ready to go

and I look in the mirror

I see the things I don't like about myself

Some days are worse than others.

As dusty left 

he shook his head as I was checking myself in the mirror (again)

I wish I could see what he saw.

or what my kids see

or friends.

Probably anyone other than me

or the kid who picked on me.

This post really wasn't supposed to be so melodramatic.

I love my children to pieces 

and Dusty

and life

but sometimes

it is really nice to have an entire 15 minutes of quiet.

Just to think

Just to be me.

Neglected to mention

Before we left on our little trip

we had a very exciting event.

One of our children ACTUALLY rode a bike.

I remember learning to ride a bike before kindergarten

BUT

there is a significant difference between my kids

and me

My parents actually took the time to teach me how to ride a bike.

Ellie had no interest in learning.

She had training wheels

that was good enough

(until they froze off in the little pond)

 This is Ellie's first attempt solo.

Next attempt...

Dusty giving her a little stability

The send off

(are you seeing the determination on her face... haha)

and she's off.

She was feeling pretty proud of herself

and now there is no stopping her.

Perhaps we should of taught her sooner...

or perhaps this is the easy way to do it....

Either way she actually does know how to ride a bike now

and 

that's all that counts.

weddings, funerals, and apparently kindergarten classes....

Lucy is Star Student this week at school.

For star student she can bring in one thing every day this week.

She can also make a poster

and have her parents as helpers.

Pretty exciting.

SOOO I sit down with her to see what she is taking to school

and to help her with a poster

 and she declairs she doesn't want a poster!!!

nope

she wants a video of her life.

 Her WHOLE life.

What a kid!

This is her life thus far....

The Magic Part 4-5-6-7

I would like to say 

that when we told the kids

we got the most perfect reaction ever...

but

that was not the case.

Ellie shrieked (in a fake-ish I saw it on the movies so I am going to copy it reaction)

(although the tears were genuine)

Lucy was like,

"it's not that big of a surprise"

I feel bad for anyone who wishes to surprise her. 

It will be difficult and even upon success you will be met with 

a reaction not worth the planning. 

(BUT I expected this reaction from her...I was just hoping I was wrong)

and Penny had really no clue what was going on.

She knew it was big.

She had heard of this place

but really

no clue.

We stayed a hotel I would totally recommend.

We stayed at the Stovall's Inn best western.

Its like a 2 block walk.

and it's pretty

(the walk).

The hotel is clean and has some heated pools and a good continental brekkie.

First day we took the camera and the last day.

I didn't want to spend the vacation behind a lens. 

I also didn't want to lug around tons of stuff.

Our original plan was to walk all of Disney then let the kids decide what to do.

That plan didn't work.

The kids were dying to do or see something and when we walked past pixie hollow 

I thought they 

were going to die!

I cannot even count how many times we rode the train around and around.

It was the least busy ride.

My feet were tired and the kids feets were sore.

and there is something very relaxing about the train.

We ate lunch at the hotel with the exception of the first day.

We found that the best routine was get up and get to the park

then about 12-1 when the heat and crowds are peaking

we snuck back the hotel

and ate and swam and napped and then came back about 5.

Even though we were there at Easter break

it was busy

but it was always clean

and always friendly

On our way back for a swim.

We spent a good part of the first morning there walking around-

taking everything in.

Meeting a few people.

Lucy got very hungry.

very hot

very tired

and VERY grumpy.

but like I said

after a little breather she came back a new woman and 

we stayed most nights until after midnight.

The first night we came back and rode ALL the rides.

I am serious.

The kids wanted to go on everything!

It was almost dead in fantasy land so it was great.

The next couple of days

we did some of the bigger rides like splash mountain and space mountain.

pirates of the Caribbean was a huge hit

Ellie rode Indiana Jones.

Lucy was a smidge too little.

 (now I guess we will really have to go back)

We went into California Adventure.

We didn't do a ton of park hopping but the 3rd and 4th days

we made an earnest effort to get into cars land.

A HUGE hit with Dusty.

At night when it's all lit up it actually looks like radiator springs.

Super impressive.

The 4th day was the big day.

We had another surprise for the girls.

We had packed princess dresses for them to wear to the park

(not the surprise but it may as well of been)

They were treated like queens.

People (that didn't even work at Disney)

would bow and curtsy to them as the past.

Poor Ellie was mortified at all the attention but

Penny LAPPED it up.

The people at Disney made even a bigger deal of them.

We went and got our cars tickets first thing and then headed back over to 

TOONTOWN

 we hadn't spent much time there and Ellie really wanted 

to see Mickey's car etc.

At Minnie's make-up table

Checking out Minnie's dishwasher

My kids haven't seen much classic Disney cartoons 

BUT

Minnie captured their little hearts.

She made such a fuss over them.

She had been in a different spot taking pictures but drug them

over to her garden house to have

tea with them.

At the end of her little tea party 

Minnie was TRYING to tell Penny that she liked her bow

but Penny THOUGH Minnie was going to take it.

Penny let Minnie have it!

The lady that was Minnie's helper was laughing so hard she couldn't even translate Minnie's very exasperated pleas to appease Penny.

They did eventually make peace and share a little kiss.

After meeting Minnie 

there was NO WAY

we were skipping Mickey

The girls were dying to see THEIR princesses so we set off to find them.

Walking through Sleeping Beauty's castle to find Snow White's garden.

 I could also do an entire post of Penny hugging princesses.
They ADORED her.
and she LOVED it.

Twirling with Snow White.

I was amazed at how much time and effort was spent on each child.

We never felt pushed through.

The girls each got to talk to them and

they answered questions and

there was always lots of hugs.

Meeting Aurora

and Ariel

and Cinderella

Our Cinder "ellie" was thrilled to meet the real deal.

They even compared footwear tips.

We surprised the girls with Lunch at 

Ariel's Grotto.

The food was so good

(not that they cared about that)

Meeting Belle

and Jasmine

and Mulan

After lunch I checked my Disney app to see who else was hanging around and discovered

COWBOY

We hustled over to frontier land.

Earlier in the week Penny met

Jessie

but

we had not seen Woody.

I wish that you could bottle emotions

I would of bottled this.

We had to make one more stop before we headed back to the hotel.

Penny got to meet Snow White

Ellie met Cinderella

but Lucy 

needed to meet...

She put on Lucy's hat. 

Lucy was enamoured.

That afternoon we went back to the hotel.

I was amazed at how the Disney experience panned out.

I thought we would meet a few characters and mostly focus on the rides

but we met all the princess or at least spotted them

with the exception of Pocahontas.

That night we went back to soak in the last bit of magic.

We caught Fantasmic again.

Ate churros on the the train.

Enjoyed seeing tinker fly over the castle.

and as the clock struck 12 

we found ourselves in the warm California breeze eating corn dogs

by the glowing castle.

There were so very many splendid moments spent there.

I was worried that the crowds or the kids or my up-tightness 

might change the magic

I had felt there before

but

it truly is the most magical place on Earth.

Day 3- Once in a life time

In the morning we thought we would try our hand at a famous Las Vegas Buffet.

BUT

it was just a buffet.

The food was fine.

No one was starving.

So after our one plate of breakfast we thought we would check out what was under the tent.

A huge amusement park for kids.

The kids walked around and they found a few rides they wanted to go on

but 

we were itching to get on the road 

so we promised rides later in the trip.

They didn't believe us.

Next stop was the Las Vegas Temple.

I am taking this opportunity to side note. 

Some

may not understand why we stopped at all the temples

so

We stopped there because they are special to us.

The symbolize the gift of eternal life

and more importantly

that our family

has

forever 

to spend with one another.

There is a joy found  there that can only be compared

to

a moment

when you feel your children's sticky kisses

or chubby fingers grab for your hand.

There is peace.

It is happy.

It is a place to center yourself.

There is an expression I like,

"Be in the world, but not of the world"

I liked that expression before I got to Vegas

but 

now it will forever hold a place.

There are things we cannot control around us

but 

we always have a choice.

This temple is a sanctuary from the world.

The noise

the gluttony

the filth

Beautiful Penny was so happy to get out of her seat after only 20 minutes across town.

The ground are stunning.

I have seen this temple in pictures and it wasn't my fav

BUT

in person 

it is AMAZING.

The grass is lush and there are little gardens and fountains everywhere.

small little nooks to read and sit

The girls just layed

and stomped

and enjoyed

the 

lovely

green

grass

This was Ellie's favorite temple on the trip.

She LOVED it.

I am posting this while she is at school

but in this spot

I am going to get her to type

why she loved this temple.

So come back later tonight and read it

The window go from the ground all the way up.

I imagine the light just floods into the building.

I could have an entire lengthy post about the water features...

This fountain Penny almost went swimming in.

relaxing before getting into the car

There were some rock gardens on the grounds too.

I found some pockets full of rocks when we got to the hotel that night!

I could say an exasperated "kids!"

but

Dusty's pocket was full too!

We loaded up and hit the road.

Again.

I was glad to be getting out of the city.

I think so was Dusty.

When we were parked at a red light, the girls looked out their windows and on the curb was newspaper boxes full of porn.

The girls asked him why there was naked ladies in the newspaper?

BAHAHA

I thought he was going to die.

After composing myself I had to explain the premise of porn to a very confused 5 and 7 year old.

About a block later

there was a big flashy building 

with the sign

"Gentleman's Club" 

Ellie can read.

But just in case you couldn't

there are pictures on the billboard...

I think Dusty could of kissed  the 

"leaving Las Vegas" sign.

It was seriously only moments before we were back out of the city and back into some beautiful country.

The desert mountains are stunning.

I was itching to get a picture with a cactus or a Joshua tree 

or SOMETHING.

But

Dusty was not stopping.

Finally the girls and I pleaded with him to stop when we drove past this

little "old west" town.

Penny must of been the winning plea

with her use of, 

"I am going to PEEEEEE my pants"

and even luckier for me this place had 

Cacti!!

Dusty was so excited to go to 

DEATH VALLEY national park.

It was very desert-y.

The scenes were stunning.

This is lowest place in the world.

and apparently

the hottest.

Lucy complained the whole time she was here.

and after

8 hours

of detour.

I am confidant that I can say this was a 

ONCE in a lifetime trip.

because

I am glad 

i went

am

glad i 

saw

Even more thankful I took pictures.

Knock it off the bucket list

because 

I am not going back!

haha.

When we got out of Death Valley National Park

it was dark

and the girls were exhausted.

So they missed all the Disneyland signs....