We spent the week of Thanksgiving in California with my parents, my sister Brooke and her family, my sister Karren, and Karren's boyfriend, Nick. We did 3 days at Disneyland while we were out there. I can happily report that we had an awesome vacation. Yes, we had a few bumps, but overall it was totally awesome. I loved not having to worry about house cleaning. I loved getting a break from cooking. I loved not having to pick up toys. I loved having my husband around all the time. I loved going to Disneyland with family members.
Levi was an angel on this trip. He loved being held all the time. He loved all the attention from Grandma and Brooke's kids. And he loved seeing so many different things at Disneyland. At Disneyland Kyle and I took turns wearing Levi in the Moby wrap, both while he was awake and asleep. That left our double stroller free for Jason and Noah. Normally I don't have Jason ride in a stroller, but is was super nice to have all our kids contained while walking around the park. Nobody got lost! I was a little worried about how it would be having a nursing baby at the park, but between the Childcare center and my new nursing cover, it worked out just fine.
We had fun starting off each Disneyland day with mom, dad, Karren, and Brooke's family. We took turns being runners to get fast passes and did a lot of the big rides together and took turns sitting out with my two littlest. By afternoon we'd split off from Brooke's family and do more rides that Noah was interested in. Although the park was ridiculously packed, we had a good system worked out and avoided waiting in long lines. The longest wait we ever had was 30 minutes for one ride. Everything else was 15 minutes or less.
Poor Noah was our hardest child. He started off car sick and with a cold. Then he got a stomach bug on Wednesday. Then he started coughing with another cold on Friday. Plus, he was prime age for being scared of lots of rides. It was a roller coaster of emotions with that guy. We were just grateful that the throw ups happened on the day we spent around the condo for Thanksgiving at not at Disneyland. To my knowledge, no one else got sick from him, but mom confessed to me that she let Noah use his bare, unwashed hands to put ice cubes in 4 cups (dad, Ava, Karren, and Nick sat at them) right before he complained about his stomach hurting. Whoops!
Noah's favorite rides were Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and Heimlich Chew Chew Train. He absolutely loved the Bugs Life Land; he probably would have been happy to spend all day wandering around Bugs Life, letting his imagination come to life. Noah was afraid to go on several rides, and no amount of bribing could change his mind. Everyone was happier once we learned to just let Noah do what he wanted to do.
Jason enjoyed being tall enough to ride the big rides. His favorite ride this year was Space Mountain. He also loved picking out a different kind of ice cream each day at the park.
We did visit the beach, but since it was too cold to get in the water, we just enjoyed looking at the tide pools.
I am very grateful to my parents for the many ways in which they helped us on this vacation. We will treasure these memories for years to come.
Lastly, Levi's (7 months old) first tooth arrived while we were on this vacation (bottom left). It didn't seem to bother him too much. He seemed to have a hard time nursing a couple times, but that was all.
