Seriously wordy post…

The drive to California for our vacation we have been planning since the beginning of the year went as smoothly as I could have hoped. It was a long car trip for Neil, but he found my camera to be an amusing diversion from asking "Are we there yet" to which I would reply. "We are never going to get there; we are going to be in the car forever, so stop asking." I had about 2 dozen pictures of his face and feet in various degrees of focus and lots of pictures of the dessert Adele slept most of the way, waking only to be fed when we stopped to eat lunch, and again about 45 minutes before we reached the beach. Ruth captured that last 45 minutes in about 50 pictures when it was her turn with the camera. She was probably just crying because Ruth wouldn’t stop flashing the camera in her face. Amid all the crying I also kept hearing a maniacal giggling coming from the far back...I'm assuming its because of this picture(and about 5 other equally grotesquely silly ones):
I was glad to finally get to the beach; it was a beautiful day for it. I'm kind of bummed I didn’t get a picture of Adele in her swim suit, but it was pretty windy and she kept gasping when the blanket came off. The wind actually blew down the pop up canopy and bent the legs. :( Ruth loved the water and spent most of her time frolicking in the surf tempting the sharks with her delectable little toes. (I'm mostly joking, but I was a bit worried) I didn’t get many individual pictures of her, she was always moving so fast or out in the water so they were blurry.
wait, go back up... what are those kids looking at? Aren't you just a little curious to see what uncle Reddin found?


It was a live star fish, pretty cool huh?
Liam would get wet, get cold from the wind, and roll in the warm sand. He was always covered in it, looking much like walking sand paper. This trip was the first time in my recollection that I have seen my mom go out in the water. I know she loves the beach, and I have many memories of feeding the seagulls with her special bread she would make just for them, building sand castles, having weenie roasts, and just walking up the coast, but I have never seen her in the water that I can recall. She was so silly with Hillarie and kept trying to get me to come in the water. I was juuuust a little afraid all the splashing and noise would attract sharks though, just kidding, it was too cold and if you get in to your knees, that one sneaky wave will come and knock you down. It’s inevitable. Once she was having a hard time getting up, the waves kept coming and pushing her down, but as it turns out, every time she would stand up, her shorts would go down around her knees! She had to sit back down each time to preserve her modesty. :) I'm also glad I made the effort to go to 6 different stores trying to find a beach chair, it came in handy. (Thanks K-mart)
We stayed at the Embassy Suites where Marcus’ Aunt got us a discounted rate on some great rooms. It was set up like the hotel I stayed at in France with an atrium in the middle. It wasn’t open to the elements like the one in France, but it had skylights. It also had a stuffed Lion that roared on the ½ hour, a koi pond that included a footbridge and turtles and this is all where you eat a cooked to order breakfast. The kids loved it, and we loved the hearty meal before traipsing all over Disneyland. We caught the shuttle right outside the front door and it dropped us off right at the entrance to the Magical Kingdom.(on our last day, Liam said the shuttle ride was his favorite, when asked) Our first day, Thursday, was perfect aside from it being a little too hot. We hardly waited in lines, and the kids were enchanted. Ruth got to meet Minnie right off the bat, I got pictures and realized right after why all my beach pictures were hazy; Neil had touched the lens of my camera with his greasy fingers. :P We rode the Nemo submarine, Buzz Lightyear, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Space mountain, small world and Rodger Rabbit first.
This is Neil in line at the Rodger Rabbit ride. What a difference 4 years makes! (He would not smile for this picture)He was just a month shy of a year old when we went to Disneyland last time. After Toon Town we took the train over to splash mountain and Pooh Bear, We ended the day at Fantasy land and it was HOT by then. Poor Adele kept getting water poured on her clothes and her hair to keep her cool, she was so good though. We had Buca di Bepo for dinner *Yumm* (side note, Liam is running around my house with NOTHING but a batman cape on...)
Friday was mine and Neil’s Birthdays so we had to get our buttons and gift cards (for the price of our admission) before entering the park. It was fun and a little weird to see all the Happy Birthday buttons everyone was wearing. You usually think of your birthday as your own and all the ‘happy birthday!’ exchanges were a little reminiscent of my VW days when my fellow slug bug drivers and I would flash a peace sign at each other while driving by each other. Friendly exchanges between complete strangers always makes people feel good, right? Neil opened his birthday present from Mom and Dad before we left the hotel that morning so he was wearing his new Star Wars underwear and T-shirt, perfect for going on the ride and then attending the Jedi training academy while the girls went and met Jasmine, Ariel and Belle at the Princess Fantasy Faire . Love this headband I found with a matching tiara for Ruth, it was perfect, and i didnt even know I was going to need it 2 years ago! My little princesses were the quite lovely as well in their matching dresses and I love this picture of them with both Grandmas.
Unluckily Neil didn’t get chosen and was a bit bummed, (so was dad). Marcus said Liam got real upset when the Storm Troopers came in with their guns followed closely by Darth Vader. Poor little guy, he got over it though. We spent the rest of the day at California Adventure riding: Soaring, Toy Story, the Ferris wheel Grizzly River run, and a few others in the Bug’s Life area. (Neil Hitching a ride with Grandpa, Love his face in this picture! What a cute 5 year old! Liam also got to meet Lightning McQueen, which he thought was totally cool. He kept saying "Lightning Queen?!?!" in an incredulous little voice This is the ferris wheel, Neil was very concerned about the sun on Adele. Love Liams smile.
Neil almost fell asleep, he was pretty exhausted! We went back to the hotel during the hottest part of the day and came back around seven to watch fireworks, which I totally loved, who doesn't love fireworks on their birthday? Especially at Disneyland. We rode a few rides and got back to the hotel (with three sleeping kids!) around 11pm. Oh we rode Tower of Terror, I went with Ruth, Neil, Paula, Karen and Payton. I was for sure both Ruth and Neil would hate it, I was right about Neil, but Ruth loved it.
Saturday everyone kind of did their own thing, we started out at Pixie Hollow, which was really fun! Love HER face in this picture (my her, not the fairy, who was named Iridessa by the way) The boys and Hillarie did some rides in fantasy land, and Neil wanted to ride the “bobbin” ride again (The ‘bobsled’ ride or Matterhorn) We met up with Reddin and Karen on the teacups and went together to ride splash mountain but split up after that while Neil attended the Jedi training academy again to see if he could get picked. (we put his Jedi shirt and Birthday button on him again) Luckily he did get picked and was very serious about his training. He did very well against Darth Vader, I was so proud; not quite as proud as Dad though, I think he was as delighted as Neil. I was a bit bummed that my pictures were mediocre and both Marcus and Hillarie took video of him fighting instead of a picture. Then I was bummed that Marcus didn’t get the photo pass from the professionals and when I sent him back to get it, they told him to tell the people down at the photo place the time and event and he could look at the pictures down there, but we never made it over. :( Oh well we spent the rest of the day again at California Adventure. We made a stop at the Mission Tortilla factory again, yesterday both Neil and I got a bag of 3 tortillas because it was our birthday, so I put Neils button on Liam and had him go through the line (hey disneyland food is expensive!) Hillarie said when he was given the bag he lit up and said "MY FIRST PRESENT!" He wouldnt share them either. I sent Neil back through the line, then Marcus went back through so we had enough without taking Liams "First present". Ruth requested riding tower of Terror, Grizzly river run and Soaring again. I lost my hat on the river run, but we saw Reddin and Karen while we were on the ride and yelled to them. We spent a lot of time doing rides in the Bug’s life area for Liam and made it back to the hotel around 8pm. Hillarie and Grandma Holly watched our kids while Marcus and I went back to the park with Reddin and Karen to ride some rides and do some shopping without kids. Ruth lost her first front tooth earlier after Neil became a Padalan :)(this was right after it was pulled and right before it magically turned into a huge grin when I asked if we should go get some Icecream. We never did though, way too expensive, luckily she got distracted by something else) Tinkerbelle was going to be coming that night instead of the Tooth fairy. That’s what happens when you’re at Disneyland and you lose a tooth, right? Other than the mass of humanity making traversing the park a bit clumsy, we had a good time, thought I kept looking for my kids. Neil especially kept having close calls with getting lost the whole time, though we never actually lost him thank goodness.
Sunday we went to church and I had my first experience nursing in a ‘crying room’. I guess that’s what they used before they had Mother’s lounges. It was a bit disconcerting to be nursing while being able to see the bishop talking through the dark window. Everyone met up at PoFolks for lunch and then we spent the afternoon playing games in our room. Later that night we went to Downtown Disney to get our shopping out of the way so we wouldn’t feel rushed in the morning. Neil chose a storm trooper gun, Liam chose a remote controlled Lightning McQueen car, and Ruth got a coloring book a Keychain with her name and Tinkerbelle on it and an art supply bag. I could NOT decide what I wanted, Adele was fussy, Liam was having a melt down because he wanted the SMALL Lightning McQueen and Neil was running around shooting everyone. NOT to mention it was sooooo crowded I was feeling a little claustrophobic. So we left. I had to use my gift card before we left though so I made plans to go back in the morning. (Marcus said we were being punnished for shopping on the Sabbath:)

Monday morning we got all packed up, Marcus took the stroller loaded up with some stuff out to the car. I came down a few minutes later with 2 suitcases, 3 bags of stuff and my purse. Not to mention Neil pulling a suitcase, and Ruth pulling a suitcase that Liam was supposed to be riding on. Riding on the suitcase was supposed to be making him happy, but he was throwing the most fabulous tantrum I have ever seen. Neither Ruth nor Neil threw one this great. Im pretty sure I was bit, kicked and hit multiple times, his screams were reverberating throughout the atrium and nothing I could say, beg, plead or threaten would shut him up so I ignored him. I didn’t know what to do, he had never acted this way before and neither had my other two. He was mad that it wasn’t ME pulling his ride on suitcase instead of Ruth. *sigh* I think he had just had too much vacation and it was a bit of a continuation of the tantrum he had thrown earlier about not having a storm trooper gun as well. (Even though that was the original thing Marcus had tried to talk him into getting instead of a Lightning McQueen car.) *whew*
After we got to Downtown Disney, I walked right into the Disney store and knew exactly what I wanted. I got a statue of a Santa Mickey which you will see in a few months time festively bedecking some surface of my house. (Liam got his storm trooper gun because he stopped having fits and he is spoiled rotten) and we headed off for home. We made it to the McDonald’s just past the outlet mall and then got a call from Reddin and Karen saying their tire had shredded so Wayne and Marcus set out to find a tire store that was open late on Labor Day. Our 20 minute stop turned into 3 hours, but it wasn’t so bad, (I wont tell you about what a grouch Liam was for the first hour until I FINALLY got him to eat something, I swear sometimes I look at him and think “who are you?”) but the kids were hugely entertained in the play area, and I got 3 ice creams. (Because I had to eat mine and help Liam and Neil eat theirs to catch the drips.) We made it home just as the clock struck midnight and now im brainstorming for our next family vacation. Any good ideas?

PS. I am disgusted with my pictures from this past week. Most of them are not in focus and the ones that were are obscured by fingerprints on the lens *%#@&! I really want a new camera reallyreally.