how many

• How many people were in our party? 26 adults, kids and infants
• How many people were we missing yesterday? Three -- Brent's family who flew in last night.
• How many steps can one do in Disneyland in a day? 25,000 or 11 1/2 miles
• How many runners to get 24 passes? Two (Amy and Jake were super fast at working the machines and meeting us at rides. We got 5 fast passes that day because of them.)
• How many people can fit in a boat at the Pirates of the Carribbean? A group of 24.
• How many people can fit into a honey pot at the Winnie the Pooh ride? 11 including 4 adults, 4 infants and 3 kids. (Which was a good way to kill time while one group went to Splash Mountain and then we swapped groups).
• How many happy meals make grandkids happy? One per kid (10 were ordered), especially because the boys all got Pokemon toys and all the girls got doll toys. 
• How many times did I go on Indiana Jones? Two. Abby wasn't tall enough to go and since we had an extra fast pass I used it.
• How many minutes did we wait in line for Roger Rabbit? One.
• How many people were in line for the new Star Tours? Lots! There was over an hour wait all day. Luckily with a fast pass we got on in about 20 minutes. The new ride is definitely better. It's got a better movie, but I still not a big simulator fan.
• How many babies did Grandma and Grandpa Tucker babysit? 5 infants. They stayed home after dinner with the sleeping babies while the rest of us could return to the park to do more rides.
• How many times did we get caught in the parade crowd? Unfortunately, two.
• How many infants are sick? Jane and Emma have full-blown colds and Christian has pink eye.
• How many washcloths help with an accident on the Nemo ride? Three. I probably could have used another one.
• How many couples were constantly holding hands? Two -- Allen and Sydney (a cousin) and Amy and Jake.
• How many people experience their first time (they can remember at Disneyland)? Two -- Jake and Caleb.
• How many rides did Abby not like? Three -- Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain
• How many people does it take to hold the twins? Many. People's arm muscles aren't as strong as mine or Ross so they get passed around more.
• How many lunches did I pack yesterday and today? Six per day.
• How many strollers does our family have? Two double ones.
• How many times did we wait in line before entering the park in the morning? Three -- bag check, ticket check, rope drop. As Ross says, it's like going to the doctor. You go, you wait, you move and then you wait again somewhere new.

Today we're mostly experiencing California Adventure.

a blessing in disguise

Just as I was boarding the plane, the most expensive thing I own died at the Phoenix airport: my insulin pump. I could tell that something was REALLY wrong when none of the alarms were clearing and none of the buttons were working. It was stuck! I took the battery out and put it back in... same thing. As we sat on the plan I debated about calling the company because I knew they would have to send me a replacement pump. We were told to turn off cell phones, but people were still boarding from a flight that just came in. I finally just decided to at least try. The worst thing would be to not get through the whole call. So I gave Ross both babies to hold (and they were both freaking out at the time I might add, plus the plane was full to capacity) while I called customer service. I tried to hide the fact that I was talking on the phone because it was an emergency, but since Abby had her tray table down it was a signal to the flight attendant to stop at our row. She told me to turn off my phone. I was only half way through... right in the middle of giving the agent my address of where to send the replacement. She saved about half the information until I could call again. Once we landed at Orange County airport I called back. I will be receiving a replacement pump this morning and I just found my account online with all the pump settings (since it will come with factory settings). Does this add MUCH stress to a vacation? Yes. But the beauty of it is that my pump's warranty ends today which means this is a free replacement. I had no idea it was still under warranty. I had lost track of when I got the last one.  So it's a really good thing it died now so I don't have to pay a percentage for a brand new pump, which run around 4,000 dollars.

Other tidbits:

• The kids were very excited to take a taxi from the airport to the hotel. We needed a LARGE van due to the passengers and stuff (2 strollers, 4 car seats, 3 bags, 2 backpacks, 6 people)
• The babies did fairly well on the plane. For seating arrangement Allen, Abby and the adult with Emma sat in a row and the person with Jane sat in the aisle across (because Jane is much harder than Emma). Both babies slept a little, even Jane. She battled it for hours, but I finally won.
• We saw lots of family last night. It was good to meet Amy's boyfriend Jake. More family will be coming in today. 
• We went swimming after a pizza dinner.
• We watched the Disneyland fireworks off of our hotels' balcony. We are right across the street from the entrance to both parks.
• We are meeting very early at the gate to conquer the plan that was designed by Amy and Darren. They did a combo plan using the  book and Ridemax, a computer program. According to their plan we won't wait more than 15 minutes for any ride, but it's sure going to be interesting to see them herd 29 people around the park. We all have copies of their plan, the order, instructions of where slower families go (which is the category I fall in now), times for parades/shows. It's pretty funny how detailed it is, but I think it just might work. Time to go get ready!

let's talk about ... the trip.

*SING: "I'm going to Disneyland. I'm going to Disneyland. Sing with me now. (Repeat again and again)*

Does anyone else remember that song from a commercial years back? We used to sing it all the time as kids when we talked about "the trip" to Disneyland. It will be so good to see everyone. Plus, only two of my siblings (out of 5) have met the babies and Amy is bringing a boyfriend. So there will be lots of introductions in order.

Not sure how much time I'll have to blog. You might now hear from me in a few days.

two missing teeth

• Allen lost another tooth. Now the two teeth he is missing are the only two teeth that Jane and Emma have.
• Today we're going to scramble and do errands, run the babies to the doctor to check ears (for peace of mind because their sleeping and eating have not been good lately), pick up books at the library, do regular laundry, give Allen a haircut, buy a few thingsstart preparing primary lessons, finish packing...
• Ross is going to work today. He'll check in and see how his cases are before we leave town again. We fly out to California tomorrow.

A few pictures to entertain in the meantime...

The kids on Allen's top bunk

Comparing the difference between a tooth (left) and a popcorn kernel.
His tooth is pretty small.

This is bored Ross.
He was waiting for me to stop taking pictures so we could have family prayer.

The kids are laughing at their silly dad.

We our Family Home Evening lesson last night, Allen and Abby picked the activity.
They wanted to be mummies.
We've done that for Halloween, but never in June.

Then the kids couldn't wait long enough to get a picture.

They were tearing out of the paper pretty quick.

I failed to post this picture during the Branson trip.
This is a portrait of Ross's mother that his brother Seth made.
He presented it for his talent at the family talent show.

primary piano player

• I like playing the piano in primary and I loved to get asked to play. Today, while playing the piano I learned two things: primary piano playing is a coveted responsibility and people aren't very good at communicating. To make a long story short, I accepted the job because the pianist was in a bind, but then three different people approached me and said they were "supposed" to be playing. Luckily I got to play through junior primary until I got kicked off during senior primary. As I left the person "relieving" me asked what page "I Am a Child of God" was on. I told her it was the first song in the book. (Don't pianists know those songbooks by heart? Especially when they request to play? Yes, I was a little annoyed).
• It's really fun to watch Allen and Abby sit with their classes during primary. It was fun to be in there and hear opening exercises, sharing time and singing time.
• The babies wore pink jumpers. Jane's has polka dots on it and Emma's has a turtle on the front. Emma has started crawling and Jane's crawling is becoming further and further. Lately she likes to hang out in our closet. 
• Ross took both babies to Priesthood (because I was planning on playing the piano for the rest of primary) so I went to Relief Society and enjoyed the lesson without any kids in tow. But without a baby, my mind kept wandering to what I should present at a primary training class that I will be teaching in two weeks. I'm up for the challenge and I got my outline written.
• I shared during Relief Society's good news minute: I'm going to Disneyland this week for a family reunion!
• When I picked up Allen from class he recited a scripture they had memorized. Abby told me that she learned about families.
• Ross and I got a short nap during the kids' quiet time.
• Amazing Catherine S. is bringing dinner over tonight (Chicken Enchiladas, she told me) and Ross will be teaching our Family Home Evening lesson.

bye bye to Branson

The building we stayed in

The outdoor pool
Many of those swimmers are part of the Tucker Family.

Abby at our front door

Ross just inside our apartment

The living room.
Off that hallway are two bedrooms and two bathrooms

22 Tuckers at the Buckets N Boards show.
Well, it's not all 22 in the photo. There was a large group that went to the restroom.
Ross and I ended up passing Jane back and forth during the show

These guys drummed, tap danced, sang, played recorders with their noses, squeaked plastic turtles...
At one break in a song, Jane gave a BIG grunt and the guys on stage stopped, stared and then kept going.
Yep, Jane had a solo.

My favorite part during this black light portion was the dancing skeleton -- which we don't have pictures of.

Ross and I with one of the singers of Six

Lea with the singer. I think his name was Kevin.
He has some interesting performing hair.

One of the many water towers in Branson.
I should have taken pictures of some of the crazy billboard ads.

We saw some great shows -- Buckets N Boards and Six. Six is actually an acapella group six brothers who happen to be Mormon. One of the singer's wives actually taught the Relief Society lesson in the Branson ward we attended. Both were fun shows!

We enjoyed our time in Branson. And, as each family left, we all headed in different directions. If you could picture a U.S. map and add blinking dots to the directions we were all traveling, you'd see north, southwest, east and northeast. Mentioning all the directions seems more fitting that I just read The Westing Game... Anyway, Ross's dad was discharged from the hospital on the day of check-out so he was able to drive home with the group going to Virginia.

The ride home wasn't as pleasant as the ride there because our kids were already tired from being off schedule, traveling, and (for the babies) being restrained for a large part of the day. We watched some more movies and I wrote a list for our Disneyland trip because my mind was racing with ideas for the next trip... which is in two days. But I had a great idea: do all the laundry I could in Branson and arrive home with plenty of clean clothes to pack again. (I had planned on doing a little laundry. There are washer/dryer units in the suite so I put the laundry soup and dryer sheets I brought to good use. I packed up two large duffel bags of clean clothes and then last night while unpacking, I repacked what we needed for California. I gathered enough outfits, swimwear, accessories... and I'm halfway done.)
We crossed through Arkansas, Oklahoma and then into Texas. When we got to Allen, Texas we found a brand new In-and-Out Burger. We stopped there for dinner (and so did everyone else) and waited in the extremely long drive through line (which wrapped around the building and through the parking lot and was isolated from the regular parking area by all the large orange cones) and enjoyed burgers and fries on our way home.

We had plans to attend a 13-stake youth performance at a big arena, but we arrived home too late to go. Catherine S. was thoughtful enough to pick us up some groceries at the store, and help us get four very cranky kids ready and in bed. (Catherine, you are awesome!). And since we didn't attend the Jubilee I had time to start packing up for the California trip. I'm more than halfway through!!

two Branson shows

This morning we made another trip to Krispie Kreme for free donut samples, stopped at Walmart, played shuffleboard (on a giant mat) at the resort (and I won twice!), ate some lunch and now the babies are napping and Ross has taken the other two back to the activity center in the clubhouse.

This afternoon we (the whole family) are going to a show called Bucket and Boards. It's a comedy music show and we are leaving plenty early to get 22 seats together. This evening, after we put our kids in bed and some older nieces come over to babysit, Ross and I are going to go see a men's acapella group called Six. I remember reading about them several months ago in the MormonTimes.

I posted some pictures from different activities from the last few days...

family hike
They found a lot of caves.
Ross is with his three sisters: Lea, Gina and Beth

Part of the steep hike through the Ozark Mountains

Enjoying the shade near a small stream
I pulled out the bibs and fed the babies some carrots soon after taking this picture.

Me with my Pippi Longstocking braids

Since our waterpark wasn't open yet, we improvised and found a park and stream.
I think Allen and Abby had just as much fun in the little stream.

Gina found a crawdad

We found a nice lookout point to Table Rock Lake.

heart attack

So the big news here ... Ross's dad had a heart attack last night. We got a phone call from him at about 12:30 because he was having pain in his arm and chest and a shortness of breath. Ross went over to his place and I went back to sleep. I got a call about 15 minutes later about where the nearest hospital was (which is interesting because I made a mental note when I saw the hospital on Sunday on our way to church), but the GPS wasn't pulling up the correct location and our Internet was down. I tried to explain what I could remember and finally Ross went into a gas station for better directions. Then I fell back asleep. When Jane woke up extra early to eat at 4am I called Ross to see how things were going (they had done surgery) and then Ross returned home at about 5am. His dad is okay. He is recovering and will stay in the hospital for the next few days for extra monitoring.

 

This morning Dana's family, Gina's family, Beth's family and our family arrived at a city water park and found out they weren't open for families for another two hours. Our large group went to a nearby park and found a stream to play in (which was perfect because all of us had swimwear on... some kids even swam in the small deeper pockets of the stream... and others found some frogs and crawdads). After the stream and a little bit of playground fun, our group headed to Culvers for lunch, curious about the cheese curds that Ross and I had raved about. After Culvers we headed back to Branson's RecPlex to play in the water. Applying sunscreen is my least favorite thing about swimming, but it's fun to play with the babies in the water. I've noticed that pools here just aren't as warm as they are in Texas.

below par

Today --
Krispie Kreme tour and free sample (and this morning a group of about 17 of us went), souvenirs at Walmart (a magnet, some batteries, some food, and we each bought a t-shirt), nap for the babies (while the kids and I watched a little TV and Ross went with Lea on a tour), lunch, miniature golf (the total par was 54 and I scored 52. I must have been the practice from Monday when I golfed solo with four kids to keep an eye on. It was much easier to have Ross there to help), horseshoes (I need to look up the official rules of scoring again because it's been a while), watching Dana and boys play shuffleboard (which we'll attempt tomorrow), swimming in the indoor pool (BRRR! Very cold water!), warm baths for four kids, babies went to bed while older two got out of tub and got pajamas on, Ross left to go hiking with most of the family (and took the camera), pizza dinner with Allen and Abby followed by dessert/scriptures, story time (two new books about friends and another chapter of Winnie the Pooh), prayers, kids in bed (while listening to a book on CD), and I'm enjoying the quiet and am about to finish to rest of The Westing Game and perhaps start another book.

a planner

The Tucker Family Reunion only happens every three years. It's been fun to be together since we are all spread out. In Relief Society they asked where we were all visiting from. Let's see... Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, Iowa (and Illinois if Michele had been there).

On a family gathering on Sunday I was designated one of the planners of this trip. Planner? Me? See, the extended family wants to do things together; they just need someone to say when and where to meet. With Ross's help, we've kept the group moving along having fun. It's so opposite of my family where everyone wants to plan and people get offended... so in that case, Ross and I just go-with-the-flow and are happy with whatever happens. (That peacemaker skill must come from being a middle child.) But this family has labeled me as a family planner. Sweet. Okay? Ummm... what should we do tomorrow...? Anyone for a game of horseshoes? I'll have to discuss with Ross when he gets home. I say that if the kids get up early again tomorrow, (which is typically 2 or 3 hours ahead of when the rest of the family is ready to do anything), we do Krispie Kreme again and stop at Walmart for some souvenirs. That will kill a few hours :)

hot now!

... I'm referring to lit-up Krispie Kreme sign.

Today has been fun. Since all the kids got up normal time (even though they go to bed at 9:30pm, they still get up by 7am and were ready to go!) we went to Krispie Kreme for the "Hot Now" tour and free sample. The kids liked watching the different parts of donut making, especially the "frosting waterfall". After donuts, we headed back the the main building's lobby for an men's acapella show. Then played a few games in the activity center, took a tour of the fish hatchery, drove over to get information on visiting Table Rock Lake Park, went to lunch (I can't remember the name of the place, but there was a gigantic cow on the sign), had quiet time, hosted an afternoon game party (we played Bohnanza), took the kids over to the activity center where we played games (Allen and I played his version of chess) and did large puzzles on the floor.

Jane is more interested in the toy that Emma has rather than what I just put on her head.

Ross and Keira playing checkers

Allen (wearing his K Kreme hat) played Wii with Sidney and Lucas

Look at all the trout

Table Rock Dam
Reminds me of when Tommy Lee Jones's character in The Fugitive, after watching Richard Kimball jump off, says, "he did a Peter Pan right here off this dam"

We watched them load up 1,000 pounds of fish to move them to a new place.
It reminded us of Finding Nemo when the fish all swim down. These fish didn't put up much of a fight.

Fall Creek -- that's the name.
They really did come out and toss rolls to you. They were hot and every catch I made (many were one-handed because I was holding my BBQ sandwich or a baby) crushed the roll, but they were still yummy.

Our party of 20+ including cousins, Grandpa, siblings, spouses...

Our group from the other angle

There was a dinner show tonight at the clubhouse that Ross went to with some of his family. I took the kids home and the kids had a pool party in our jetted tub, the babies had bananas and oatmeal for dinner followed by a bath in their Bumbos (and I found out that Jane knows how to get out of a Bumbo -- that crazy girl! -- luckily the tub was completely drained when she did), dinner, dessert/scriptures and bed. Ross went to play tennis with some of the guys. I'm enjoying an evening blogging, eating some chocolates (from a bag that Beth left for grabs), talking on the phone, and reading in peace and quiet. Ahhh!

crazy weird

Branson, Missouri is an interesting place. On the way to church (stop-and-go-traffic for 6 miles straight through all the tourist stuff) I took pictures of all these random stops that people were visiting. Good thing I had a camera in the car.

Titanic exhibit.
I like how the water sprays on the front tip to give the illusion that the boat is moving.

barn gift shop

Hollywood faces

King Kong on top of the Wax Museum

some chicken/steak place

An interesting thing to make out of an old gas station -- a popcorn theme for a ticket booth

cool pool

Today was full of fun including putt-putt, two sessions of swimming in the outdoor pool (which included some sunburn even with all the applied sunscreen), and a family talent show. For our talent our family sang "Deep In the Heart of Texas" and "Music Master" which both included audience participation. We even all wore matching t-shirts and got a family photo.

Sitting in the stroller (and moving to a new shady spot after every hole) as we played mini golf.

Allen and Abby like using their floatie rings.
We got the babies their own floatie boats.

Me and Emma

Jane

There are leg cut-outs in the boat for the baby but I wanted to see if they in the same boat.
Jane is "eating" Emma's toes. Emma doesn't mind..

Abby liked pulling Jane around.
It was a hot day so it felt nice to be in the cool water.

And Allen is pulling Emma around.
It was a nice feeling of having four young children pretty independent in the water and not clinging to me.

Here are the babies again during our next session in the pool.
They are getting adored by all their older cousins.

The Tucker Family
(We are missing Grandma Tucker, two Lippolis members and three Kirtners)

Grandpa is holding both babies.