Our Disneyland Trip

I am going to go ahead and quote Maria Von Trapp on this one. "Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good." Sing with me people.

This trip, it was a dream. I mean, as much as a dream it can be with 3 tiny children and all. There were normal stresses, but the kids were absolutely fantastic: well-behaved, Oscar hung out in the stroller for 10 hours straight, the girls lit up with each ride or character sighting, better than I dreamed. And the girls did some major bonding or something, because ever since we've been home, they've been playing pretend and always coming up with new ideas and rarely fighting. Miracles happen.

So are you ready for 80 pictures? Sure, why not.

Juan dressed all suave because we stopped in at church once we got to Anaheim.

Maya- her first time flying with her own seat.

No squirms that licorice doesn't solve.

Snuggles with brother. On the flight home Maya said to me when I sat Oscar by her, "Mo-om, I'm not the mom yet." As in, stop trying to get me to take care of him for you.

 Sweaty, sleeping baby. It was H O T. Really hot. But it didn't stop us.

 Oh you know, when he poops all up his back and I'm not a prepared mom so we have to wash out the shirt on-the-go and let it dry in the sun.

 We started the trip with Ariel's Grotto where they had breakfast and met Ariel, Belle, Tiana, Rapunzel, and Cinderella. It was the greatest start to the trip!

 Oscar and my crazy eyes were there too.

 Toy Story Mania! This was one of 4 rides that we waited about 30-40 minutes for. That was it, otherwise the lines were short or we did fast passes.

 I love Amelia's face in this one. And my mom in the background with Maya (not pictured). Juan doesn't love to go on these teacup-like rides. He gets queasy. 

 "Okay I'll smile now mom" After the rest of the family has moved on.

 Inside THE castle. Sleeping Beauty's castle so a lot of Maleficent and scary images. But they did love actually being inside a castle. And Amelia, she's fearless.

 Dumbo! Oscar is thrilled.

 Waiting for the parade.

 My mom and dad got scooters that they were on and off all day. We didn't get to cut lines because my parents could park and come and stand in the lines. So we were honest :) Besides, we really didn't do much waiting.

 Sweaty people at the parade.

 Our first Mickey sighting! They were so thrilled. I wish I got video of Maya's big wide-stretched arms as she ran in for a hug with each character. This was so much fun for her. 

 Oscar was out for the night.

 Train

 Winnie the Pooh

 Oscar got to go on a lot of rides, at least a dozen. And I always wondered if he was sad or scared, because I couldn't see him or hear really! So I snapped this picture with a flash to check out his face.

 This happened. We waited 50 min just to get the reservation for later in the day, and then came back and waited 15 more min until we got in to see them. Not so bad. I wouldn't have done it, but Amelia just kept talking about how she was going to meet Elsa so we just had to put in the time. And it was all worth it.

 Milk face.

 We used the parent pass on a few rides so I was singing Slippery Fish to them as we waited outside Radiator Springs Racing. Let me just say, they were troopers. They were so good. I am amazed.

 Classic picture with the grandparents.

 On Pirates all together!

 Minnie's House. I loved Minnie's house, and Mickey's. It is the cutest thing to walk through.

 I love Minnie Mouse cuteness.

 Oscar waving hi from Mickey's window!

 And Mickey again, who doesn't love Mickey? Today we watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Amelia and Maya were talking about the characters like they were old friends. They've met them now afterall.

  Goofy was the most fun character to meet. He was tickling them and they were just delighted by him.

 I snuck in to meet Woody. They cut off the line and so we just waited until he was done meeting everyone in line and then the girls ambushed him! And of course he was so happy (the smile is painted on, can't lose there).

 Mike!

 Oscar clapped through the whole parade.

 Buzz Lightyear!!!

 Woody and Jessie!

 Amelia was fearless. She did Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain (twice), Matterhorn, Thunder Mountain Railroad. She was game for anything. I looked over at her during Tower of Terror and there was 100% terror in her eyes, but afterward she would always say, that was fun! She'd tell us her stomach was doing flips and after each ride she'd show us how her legs were still shaking.

 Maya was our sensitive one. She didn't like the darkness in the rides. While we were waiting in line for Peter Pan, she begged for us to leave, in fact she tried to escape from us and leave the line by herself! Once we got on, she loved it, and just hid her face into my shoulder on the dark parts. 

What wonderful memories. It was worth putting off a van and not painting our house and Juan working 2 jobs for a bit and every other sacrifice we made to get there. 

Disney, you were good to us.

Three days 'til Disney!

I have been to Disneyland 3 times in my life. Once when I was 3 years old, and therefore have no memory of it. Once when I was 17 for my Senior Choir trip. I know I loved it, but my memory really only has room for the rain and how cold we were and how we road Mr Toad's Wild Ride over and over just so we could be inside and out of the rain.

And then Juan and I went after we'd been married a couple years, before we had kids. And that trip, it was a dream. Juan and I had been to Vegas, DC, New York, Hollywood, and Disneyland to us- it was the only thing that was better than we had imagined, better than tv or any pictures made it look. It was magical. We attended the parade and Mickey and Minnie came out on a float at the end, and it was as if they were the hugest celebrities that you could even imagine. They were royalty. And we were walking around Toon Town and out walks Minnie and I tell you what, I could not control myself. I screamed, Minnie! and I ran to her and seriously her security guy almost blocked me. I was a lunatic. It was so wonderful. Link to my 2008 blog post, if you want a blast from the past.

Juan and I, circa 2008.

And now, six years later, I have a 4 year old, a 2 year old, a 10 month old. We get to take them to Disneyland. I am emotional as I write this. Last time we went, we didn't know that we'd have kids. We could imagine our children, but at that point we'd been trying for a baby for quite a while and had a miscarriage or two under our belts and we just didn't know. We dreamed of this day that we'd be able to take our family to Disney, and now it is happening. I expect chaos and sweaty, red cheeks and tired legs and hungry, thirsty children. But I also know there will be eyes lighting up at the sight of Disney Princesses and dancing at the parade and Sleeping Beauty's castle and the ferris wheel with Mickey's face (that's all Amelia is talking about right now).

We made a Disney countdown about a month ago so each day we have been doing Disney activities. Sometimes it is as simple as Reading a story and Singing a Disney song together. Yesterday we played princess bowling, which was Juan's brilliant idea. But then Amelia knew how to peek ahead and anticipate the day we got to the link that had a present drawn on it. There were only 2 present days, they got small, plush princess dolls, and then just last week they each got a new princess dress that they will wear to our breakfast with Ariel. Is this really going to happen? Squee!

I'm ready to go now.

A, M, and O

My children. They amaze and exhaust us every day. Just a few snippets about each one:

Amelia

When picking out shoes the other day, "I just love the pink ones. Pink is my favorite color. I just can't take my eyes off of them!"

Same shopping trip, I held up an Elsa dress and she exclaimed, "I just love it. It would go fabulous with my Elsa cape!"

I think my shopaholic genes are getting passed onto her.

She is obsessed with friends right now. She is constantly asking to play with friends or if we are headed somewhere, she asks if friends will be there.

 She starts preschool next week. Two days a week. In a home-based preschool with only 4 students in the class. I am so excited for her to learn and play and grow in her personality.

When we paint her nails, she asks for a different color for each toe.

She often wears mis-matched shoes and calls it her "silly shoes".

We picked out Disney shirts yesterday for our upcoming trip, she picked a pink Sleeping Beauty. She came home, matched it with pink shorts and put on her new pink shoes. And she wore the outfit again today and told me she's going to wear it every day.

 Maya

We love her. She is 2 1/2 and I often just lump her with Amelia and treat her like she is much older.

She cries and screams a lot. And gets highly offended at any little thing Amelia does.

That said, she is great at playing on her own. She loves all her toys and when she wakes up in the morning, she exits her room with an arm full of toys that she can't bear to part with.

She is so talkative and sweet. Every night at dinner she will enthusiastically say, "Thanks mom for making me this dinner!" Music to my ears. 

She really is our sensitive girl and loves to snuggle and have "talks" and is delighted anytime we pay her any attention.

The girls together, they are rough right now. Maya is really standing up for herself and the fighting is every 3 minutes, literally. But they really do love each other. When they are apart, Amelia will grab extra stickers for her or ask if we can pick out a book for Maya. And when they reunite, they hug and Maya says, "I really really missed you Millie" and life is just bliss. Until the 3 minutes pass and another fight erupts.

Oscar

He is almost 10 months old. Which is just incredible.

He is standing up on anything he can, and almost always to look out a window.

He is eating everything we eat and is basically done with baby food.

He takes a drink from his sippy and when he is done, he has to throw the sippy cup off of his tray. I always try to launch and save it, but he is so quick!

He has recently become obsessed with playing catch and the best part is Amelia plays with him while I cook dinner at night.

He got his first tooth this month!

 These three kiddos, they are my loves.

Cutest Oscar doing Patty Cake

Family Swim Day

We went swimming this weekend after Amelia had been begging to show Juan how she can jump in now! It was Saturday afternoon and we had the pool all to ourselves. I especially loved not being alone with the 3 kids at the pool and I actually got to pull out the camera.

 

 

Glimpse into Our Morning

Our morning today started precisely at 6:20 am. Miss Maya wandered out of her room saying she was all wet. I went to change her diaper and turns out Juan had put a swim diaper on her the night before instead of an overnight diaper! Ha! Partly my bad since I organized the diapers yesterday and threw a single swim diaper on top of the overnight diapers box. So I got Maya cleaned up, sheets in the washer, carpet spot cleaned, nursed Oscar. And then it was time to go on my run. I am on week 11, and run the whole route consistently now! I am really proud of myself and I look forward to my 30 minutes of solitude 4x a week. 

I got back and then fed Oscar solids, got him changed and ready for his morning nap. Then got the girls some milk and colorful cheerios (separate, they don't do spoon fed cereal yet, I'm not ready for the mess!) and then I jumped in the shower. We had Oscar's 9 month doctor's appointment today. Juan was kind enough to work from home and stay with the girls while I interrupted Oscar's morning nap (he got 30 min) and headed to the doctor. It's basically a vacation being able to go somewhere with just one baby in tow.

Oscar weighs in at 18.1 lbs and 28.25 inches tall, right in line with the girls at his age. He had to get his blood drawn this appointment to check for low iron, through a vein in his arm! It was so sad, but the ladies at the lab just loved him and his cheeks and his big eyes. He just cried for a second and then we were back home.

Juan tag teamed me out and headed into work. And it was time to get ready for swimming! I nursed Oscar, got 3 kids in swimsuits, then got dressed myself. Then sunblock on all four of us. Then sandwiches made and packed up, pool toys, floaties, towels, everyone loaded in the stroller and we were off. Thank goodness the pool is just right across the street because I am always exhausted at this point already.

We met up with good friends and it was so fun to watch Amelia with her friends Addy and Lily as they would run and jump into the pool together. Amelia has really gotten brave and she will put her face under water for a few seconds as she swims even. She is really motivated by watching what her friends can do, and wanting to match it. Maya roamed the pool on her own (in her floatie) and I chatted with friends while carrying Oscar around and doing a constant scan of the pool to keep my eyes on the girls. And then it was home, Amelia dresses herself, Maya sits on the potty while I change Oscar. This conversation happened: "Mommy there's no peepies coming out" "Maya did you go peepie in the pool?" "No." "Did you go peepie while you were standing outside the pool?" "Yeah." Classy. And how did she know how to evade the first question? Then naptime for all three!

I sit down to finally eat lunch myself and get a call from Maya upstairs. She couldn't find her milk, which it was just right on the mini dresser right in front of her eyes. And then it turns out she has a poopy diaper. So I took care of that, peeked into Amelia's room to see her perfectly working in her workbook and it just made me smile.

These three kids have just thrown me through a loop. They are a lot of work. A LOT of work. But today I caught myself in a pleasant mood, and I wasn't frustrated at being woken up to a wet with pee Maya, and I wasn't frustrated when I was interrupted the second I sat down after all the chaos. And it feels good not to be upset and instead to soak it in and realize how beautiful they are and just wonderful kids. Oscar skipped his morning nap basically and was still a champ through the festivities of the morning. And Amelia, she gives us a lot of pushback sometimes, but there she was, sitting in her room, tracing letters. And Juan, how amazing is it that Juan does the overnight diaper every night to begin with, and works from home when I need him, and that the girls are reasonably great while he is working and can play by themselves? I have so much to be thankful for, and it feels good to work hard.

And now, I need a nap.