There and Back Again: A Conlins' Tale, Finally...Disneyland!

I've been to Disneyland many times in my life. With family living in Southern California while I was growing up, I went a handful of times as a child. And every visit I grew to love it a little more. Adam and I have gone together nearly every two years since I was 16 (minus the mission years), but while he was serving I went with two of my best girlfriends for my Senior trip. Those are such sweetly remembered trips. And the joy of our visits only grew as one, then two, then three, then four and now five of our children could become part of the sea of memories that is the Happiest Place on Earth for me. Disneyland has a magical, blissful hold on my heart. It makes me giddy to go there. I feel like a kid again, but the feeling is actually even better because I am old enough to recognize and appreciate how special it is. And that is how I felt riding the tram from the Mickey and Friends Parking Garage (Mickey, 4H) on Wednesday morning. I have to start off the Disneyland posts by stating that the kids were incredible. They didn't complain or whine, they had smiles stretched from ear to ear nearly all day, there was no fighting or stubbornness, no cases of the gimmes, even from the little guys, even when the rain came. The biggest issue we had was getting them to stop their playful wrestling so they wouldn't bump into people when we were all getting bored in the lines. It was probably my favorite visit to Disneyland ever. And that's saying something.

Because my sister is a Southern California resident, we can get a ticket discount when we buy them with her. One of the deals you can get as a So. Cal. res. is $99 for two days at the parks, but you can only go to one park per day. That is what we did last time we came. But this time, we had decided to pay the $10 more per ticket, to make it $109 per person, to get the two-day park hopper passes instead. California Adventure has some great rides, but we didn't think we wanted to spend an entire day there, especially if we could be using the time at Disneyland instead. Maybe on our next visit when the new Cars Land is open we'll go for an entire day, but there just didn't seem to be a lot for the little kids to do and we didn't want the day to be all about them waiting in line but not going on any rides. Plus, as much as we love some of the rides in CA Adv., it's Disneyland that we really want. And the final verdict: best 60 bucks I've ever spent. It made the day at Disneyland feel more relaxed and easygoing, knowing we were coming back for as little or as much more as we wanted the next day.

First stop on EVERY Disneyland vacation must be the Mickey Mouse shaped flower patch right inside the entry gates. How many pictures do I have of our family at its various stages here? I should look back and see!

We went straight to Adventureland to get fast passes for the Indiana Jones ride, Adam and Ben running ahead to get there ASAP. Then, since we were close to New Orleans Square, we chose Pirates of the Caribbean as our first official ride for this trip to Disneyland. This is often our first ride, as it is one of the best and a great start to the adventure. Yo ho, yo ho! A pirate's life for me! I love singing along. Luke was a little unsure of the dark. He loved the skeletons at the beginning, but didn't like when we floated through the pirate vs. colony battle--hmmm, he liked the dead over the living! That's not creepy at all. As always, Pirates didn't disappoint! Love that ride. Next we visited with the spooks of the Haunted Mansion. The boys always say how much they love it, but Ben and Josh were gripping my hands pretty hard. Surprisingly, Luke loved this ride. Again, with the dead! He made sure to tell us many times that the ghosties were his friends. They must have liked him too, because we may have brought home some hitchhiking ghosts! The lines had been pretty short so far, the picture of Luke in front of the Haunted Mansion is at the entry gate...note the lack of other people in the photo. Nice.

Critter Country was closed for renovation, so no Splash Mountain or Winnie the Pooh ride this visit. Darn. So we meandered back towards Indiana Jones. Adam took the boys up into Tarzan's Tree House (does anyone else remember when it was the Swiss family Robinson Tree House?). Although it's not a ride, but more of an explore, the boys always seem to love this part of the park.

It was finally time for our fast pass redemption at Indiana Jones, so Adam went first with the big boys while I waited with Luke and Tommy and then we swapped out. Rider switch is great. Some rides are better, like Space Mountain and Splash Mountain (if I remember correctly), they actually let you right into the front of the line. Indiana Jones just lets you into the fast pass line, kind of lame since technically you've already waited, but I guess that's better than waiting from the end of the line all over again. The picture below I took with my camera phone. It's not blurry because my camera phone takes bad pictures, it's blurry because we were bouncing around on the ride! I love this ride, even if it's short and breaks down a ton.

Continuing on down Adventureland...The Jungle Cruise! Be careful when the hippos wiggle their ears, that means they are about to attack!

And the Enchanted Tiki Room! For a lot of years, as I got older, this was an attraction we skipped on most of our Disneyland trips. But I LOVE seeing it now with my kids! They are fascinated through the whole program. It's so great and classic Disneyland. And yes, the birds were Luke's friends. Are you seeing a theme?

Having exhausted Adventureland attractions, we set off to see the world of Tomorrow.

Adam and Ben were our "runners" for fast passes, and while they were getting the next round of passes for Space Mountain, the little boys and I went to wait in the line for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. This is one of the coolest new rides in Disneyland. A total home run! And I know I said it already, but the lines were fabulously short! 20, 30 minutes tops.

We then went to the Captain EO Tribute show. Oh so cheesy and awesome! I loved it! I remember seeing this epic 3D movie when we went to Disneyland while my mom was pregnant with Jordan. Whenever Michael would do his high pitched "Ow! or Woo!" she'd jump in my mom's belly. I was only 9 and totally fascinated. Tommy got a little antsy at the start of the movie. We had woken up pretty early and he was getting tired, but was having a hard time falling asleep with all the excitement. By the end of the show though, he was out. Not for long, but at least a quick cat nap allowed him to reset a bit.

At the Star Trader souvenir shop next door to the theater we hit the longest line we had had to stand in so far that day. It was for the build-your-own lightsaber souvenir. Not kidding. There weren't a lot of people in it, but the decision making that goes into making the ultimate, perfect lightsaber is painstaking! The {17-year-old} kid in front of Adam and the boys was there for an E.T.E.R.N.I.T.Y. Putting pieces on, trying them out, taking them back off. Ug. I wanted to say, "Hey, big fella, could you move a little more quickly so the kids can build their sabers too?" But who am I to stifle the inner child? So I kept my mouth shut. The 4 older boys were so excited. In one swoop they had exhausted their allotted $20 souvenir money, but they were happy with their choice. Knowing he'd be desperate to play with his brothers' lightsabers, I got a small flashing, light up one for Tommy. He was thrilled!

Adam took the four older boys to Autopia while I went to wait in the line for the Finding Nemo Submarines with Tommy. This was the REAL longest line of our day, 40 minutes, longer than the lightsaber line had been, but not by much! I can't complain. The boys LOVE Autopia. It ranks up among their favorites. Especially this year for Zach, who just barely squeezed in the "tall enough to drive without a grown-up in the car with you" category. This was a big deal because it's the tallest height requirement in both Disney parks: 54 inches. The boys waited in line, drove the course, and got off with one minute before Tommy and I were about to get on a Nemo Sub. They had to come into the ride through the wheelchair entrance. The timing couldn't have been better! Well, maybe a little bit better, because I was starting to think they weren't going to make it.

And then we caught a ride on the Astro Orbiter. A great Disney classic ride. That's when the first raindrops started to fall.By the time we got off and began the walk through Frontierland to Fantasyland, we had decided to purchase the Disneyland ponchos. We weren't leaving, and neither was the rain. It was falling, steady, constant rain. Not drizzle, not mist, not sprinkle but also not downpour, not flood, not sheets. Just straight rain. Everyone was going for the ponchos! Fortunately, Disneyland does not charge exorbitant prices on them (as they do for other items such as the $4 apple or the $3.50 16 oz. bottle of Dasani water): it was $5 for a kids' size, $7 for adult. We bought out one store by purchasing their final four kids' ponchos, then bought two adult ones at another store that had no more kids' sizes, and found a fifth kids' poncho at a third store. And as a perk, we now have ponchos for everyone in our camping gear. Once we were all decked out to take on the rain, our next destination was the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Tommy took his second nap of the day while we waited in that line and while Dad rode with the big boys.

Then it was my turn. I love roller coasters!

The rain was obviously not leaving, but all but the die-hards like us were. We walked right on to Small World. No line. None.

Um, I guess that's a matter of perspective.

The picture below is Adam's very favorite picture of the day. Did I mention that the kids were amazing? No complaining. Not about being damp or cold or anything. We had to tuck the camera away to keep it dry so the day's pictures were over, but our fun was not. After Small World we made a circuit of Fantasyland: Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Peter Pan's Flight, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, and Snow White's Scary Adventures. Some of the rides had closed due to the weather, like Alice in Wonderland, darn! That one always has a huge line on nicer days. The lines in Fantasyland can be extremely long because the rides are older, and even with the rain the lines were not gone, but they were much shorter than normal, none of them extending beyond the basic entry area. It was getting late, Adam and I were pretty wet, since our ponchos didn't cover us nearly as well as they covered the kids. My arms from mid forearm down were soaked and chilled through. The nighttime shows had been canceled because of the rain. It was 7:45 and it had been raining since 2. Our Space Mountain fastpass time had arrived, so we decided to end the day on a high note and make that our last ride. And what a ride! Look at the boys' faces! HAHAHAHAHAHA! They all said it was their favorite ride of the day, but they sure don't look like they are having fun! :)
Like I said earlier, I think the two-day park hopper was so worth the extra money. It allowed us to leave when we felt it was time, rather than trying to squeeze every last drop out of the day (no pun intended, but truly appreciated! Ha!). We even got out of an expensive dinner at the park. We hadn't gotten around to eating before our Space Mountain ride. In the morning we had packed one-and-a-half loaves worth of PB and J's and had been munching on them all day long. Another GREAT idea for this trip. Instead of wasting time waiting in long food lines and spending a lot of money on expensive sub-par food, when we got hungry we would just grab a half sandwich from the bag and gobble it up wherever we happened to be at the time, in line, on a ride, wherever. Because we had been munching all day and we were leaving somewhat earlier than we usually do (8:30! Too early!), we grabbed a pizza for dinner at a little pizza place that we saw open on the drive back. As evidenced in the photo, not all of us made it to dinner, choosing precious sleep over food. Did I mention Tommy loved his lightsaber? MY favorite picture of the day!

There and Back Again: A Conlins' Tale, Round Four

Tuesday proved to be much more promising a day for the beach than our first excursion had been on Sunday and was also a little warmer than our visit on Monday. It's amazing what difference a few degrees can make! Oh, it was still coolish by Southern California standards, and you weren't about to find me in a swimsuit out there, but the kids weren't deterred by the mid-50 degree temperatures in the least and swapped their shorts out for swim trunks for the entire day and ditched the sweatshirts.

It had rained again in the night, but with the air cleaned so that it was almost sparkling and the glorious sunshine and inviting waves calling to us, we headed down the street with Jason and Leah to one of the many beautiful Laguna Beach beaches. Unlike Fisherman's Cove, this beach was one I could see being very crowded on a summer day, but with the weather as it was, sunny but cool, we nearly had the whole stretch of sand to ourselves.

Jason runs a rental business during the summer months: snorkeling gear, boogie boards, things like that, so we brought three boards down with us. He is an absolute pro boogie boarder, and we really enjoyed watching him ride the waves (in a wet suit covered by a dry suit). Our boys, while brave enough to actually enter the freezing water (unlike their coward mother), didn't want to go too deep, so they stuck to the small waves and post-wave wash that was close to shore. It was a wonderful day!

In addition to spending some time playing in the water, Jason showed the boys how to find sand crabs ("NOT sand fleas!") and feed mussels to sea anemones. They built sand castles, dug deep holes, explored up and down and warmed themselves on the rocks. What more could a little boy ask for?! Tommy had his first taste of the beach. He had ditched the beach quickly during the rainstorm, and slept through our adventure to Fisherman's Cove, so he was in wonderland! Everything seemed to thrill him. He was all over the place, but never went too far, too close to the ocean or too fast and would always come back to check in after a bit of exploring--all under the watchful eyes of his auntie, his dad and me.

Jason gave the boys pulls along the shallow water of the shore, it was a riot! He had those boys moving FAST!

I love this picture because even though he's facing away from the camera, you can see Josh has a huge smile from the way the apple of his cheek is bursting.

The water was cold! There were a lot of warm-up breaks.

Scenes from a beach.

The pterodactyls (pelicans, really, but they are a very prehistoric looking bird!) would ride the air currents that moved parallel to the coastline. We would have regular intervals of these giant birds soaring in a huge line, swooping in and out with the curves of the beach without a flutter of wings as the air just carried them out and then back in again. It almost allowed you to see how the air was moving. It was very cool. Luke loved them. Like the seagulls, the pelicans, he-hem, pterodactyls, were his friends.

Sand crabs on Ben's wrinkled fingers. He and Jason had been digging for them for a long time.

Zac continued to love playing with the tennis balls (three total over the two beach days) he found. His favorite game was pass with his dad. I am sure the balls had all once belonged to dogs that had fetched one too many tosses into the ocean and simply refused to get the last one. Eventually the balls made their way back to shore on the waves, long forgotten by the dogs, now treasured by a little boy.

Tommy was pretty fearless when it came to the ocean. He never tried to go in it, but he did walk right up to the wave line without a care in the world.

But then one of the foamy wave washes came up and touched his toes.

Although the pounding serf didn't scare him, the cold water did!

It was eventually time to leave the beach and see a bit of Laguna Beach town. Goodbye beautiful beach! On the way up the hill Jason discovered a little caterpillar on the path. Luke matter-of-factly said, "Yeah, that's my friend. He lives here." As if they had arranged the meeting on the path just to say hello and catch up.

Forget the cute boutiques and art galleries. We hit the best spots in Laguna Beach: the Dryer's Ice Cream Parlor and The Candy Baron!

And for Mom, Casey's Cupcakes. Josh and I love watching the show Cupcake Wars on The Food Network together, and Casey's Cupcakes, whose second store is located in Laguna Beach, won one of the episodes. Being the cupcake fan I am, as well as a fan of the show, I had to have one! Or six. Or a dozen. Casey herself came in while we were there, but I couldn't get myself to take a picture with her. Not because she wouldn't have, I am sure she would have been happy to, but the girl was as SKINNY AS A RAIL! I would have looked like an elephant next to her. So for vanity's sake I just took a picture with her store. It was hard to believe she had ever eaten one of her own cupcakes! But I sure did, it was coconut, and it was DEEEEEEEELICIOUS! Mmmm...every.single.bite.

Tommy had had a long day.

But it wasn't over yet! We had plans to meet up with my cousin Paul, his wife Lisa and their two fabulous kids, Corey and Raeann in Newport Beach at the Crab Cooker. This is a restaurant that has sentimental value to my family, as it was my Aunt Pat's, my mom's middle sister who passed away six years ago, favorite restaurant. As a kid, who didn't like fish, well, who didn't like much of anything, I hated going there. And unfortunately for my picky self, we did every time we visited So. Cal. But as an adult, whose tastes have refined a bit, I love it! I can see why it was her favorite and I love the memories of many past visits that come back to me when I am there. Before dinner we caught sunset on Newport Beach. It was stunning!

Dinner was so enjoyable. Paul and Lisa are such wonderful people. Paul and I were able to spend some time together at my Aunt Barb's last month when she was sick. He buoyed our spirits so much and made the difficult time there much more bearable. It had been years since I had seen his kids, they were as little as our littlest two last time I saw them (although I couldn't believe it). What fantastic teenagers they are! It was a wonderful evening.

The day had been perfect, and the next day we were off to the Happiest Place on Earth! Hooray! But between those days was the night. And Oh! What a night!

We still aren't sure what was up, but about 11:30pm Tommy woke up from sleep crying. And then he proceeded to cry until around 2am, with intermittent wakings to cry between 2am and 4:30am. I had given him some of my crab cakes for dinner and I was afraid he was having an allergic reaction. I kept making sure he was breathing OK, but when your baby is screaming and gasping for breath it's hard to tell if it's the screaming that's making him gasp or if he might actually be having a hard time breathing. It was so unusual! Tommy just doesn't do that. I finally determined that he was breathing OK, but his tummy was obviously hurting him. He would fall asleep on his belly, resting on Adam or me, and then as soon as we put him down or he'd flip to his back (he's a back sleeper) he'd wake up crying again.

About 1:45am I went downstairs to check to see if I could find any children's pain reliever without rummaging too much. I didn't find any in any of the obvious places, so I started back upstairs. Then I stopped to say a little prayer. I had been so stressed about Tommy's crying, worrying that we were keeping the entire house awake and thinking we'd be miserable at Disneyland the next day, exhausted and grumpy, that I hadn't even thought to say a prayer. Seconds after I said "Amen" I remembered that I had some infants' Tylenol in my purse. It was amazing. I said a prayer of thanksgiving as I dashed up the stairs. I dosed Tommy, and I think that was a huge help to getting him to fall into sleep 20 minutes later, he still woke up 3 or 4 times until 4:30am, but at least he was not crying incessantly and falling right back to sleep.

As we drifted off into our first hours/final hours of sleep, I suggested to Adam that we might want to switch our Disneyland days from Wednesday and Thursday to Thursday and Friday, as we had originally planned before I got my new YW calling at church and we had decided to move up the days so we could drive home in time to be at church on Sunday. Adam mumbled, "No, let's still go." OK...I was worried it was going to be a rough day...but I shouldn't have. Because it was impossible to grump in the Happiest Place on Earth.