Family Disneyland Vacation

We have been planning our Disneyland vacation since December, well I at least announced that we were going in December.  I bought the tickets in March, told the kids in July and I've been planning it ever since.  In fact I think I was more excited to just be together as a family.  We have so much fun when we are together and the kids are at such fun ages.

Last week mom and I sent the kids a letter from Mickey letting them know how excited him and his crew were for them to come to Disneyland.  They were all so excited to get their letters.

Mom and I spent a few days making Mickey Mouse rice crispy treats, fudge, cookies and gathering all the food, which really didn't cost too much considering there was 21 of us.

Saturday mom and I finally left Phoenix around 1:30, while the Idaho kids left at 7am.  Dad flew into LA and met us at our hotel.  Tyler and Danielle did as well as they drove all the way in 1 day.

Sunday afternoon after picking Tristens girls up from the airport while they picked up Tanner, Tony and Tristen up at another airport, we headed to our house for the week.  The owner was there putting final touches on the house including goody bags for the kids and stocking the fridge for the adults.  We loved the house.  It had 6 rooms, 2 kitchens, 3 1/2 bathrooms, 2 laundry rooms and 2 living rooms and all for only $3050 for the entire week.  It might sound like a lot, but split between 12 adults it was only $250 each for the entire week, which would have been what we would have paid for a hotel room for just one night.

Sunday was a relaxing day for us all, we had a little cook out and the kids had a blast just being together.  We assembled sandwiches and breakfast burritos, which made Monday morning easy, even though we didn't get to Disneyland until 10am.  It's a lot of work getting 21 people into cars and out the door.  Sunday when I went to get our tickets the lady asked me if we were celebrating anything.  I told her that I had cancer and we were celebrating life.  She told me to go to Disneyland City Hall and tell them I had cancer.  So Monday morning I did and they gave me a pass for 6 people to ride any ride every 30 minutes.  It was the best, even better than the fast past line.  Even when the fast passes were all handed out for the awesome Cars ride, I was still able to get disability tickets.  Oh, the perks of being a cancer patient.

I brought a treasure box that the kids were able to pick different things from each night if they didn't throw temper tantrums.  We did have an occasional melt down, but for the most part the kids did great (and so did the adults.)  Tenielle made the coolest autograph books for all the kids.  The kids loved them.

We spent Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at Disneyland and California Adventure.  I'll be honest it was too hot for my liking.  I had hoped to have had 70's, but it was at least 90.  We still had a lot of fun though.  I loved seeing the reactions of all the kids when they would ride a fun ride or a scary one.  When we were getting ready to go on Space Mountain Bridget said, "This is going to be so exciting."  When she came off of it she said, "That was scary."  She was squeezing my arm and hand through the entire ride and I was laughing.  I was even a little scared because it is so dark on that ride.

I think one of the best things we did was to take sandwiches for lunch.  It brought us all together and was cheap and easy.  Dinner was on our own.  We had so many delicious treats that we shared.  I'm a fan of trying everything and sharing calories.  My favorite was the Frozen Apple Slush at California Adventure.  It tasted like Martinellis Apple Juice and caramel.  The pear drink that Tristen got was also yummy.  We actually got an apple drink 2 days in a row because they were so good.

I will admit, my feet didn't hold up too well and Tuesday I went home a little early with Troy and Becky's family.  Mom kept threatening to get me a wheel chair, but I really did just fine.  When I got tired or hot I would sit down and drink my free glass of ice water that they will give you at any restaurant.

Wednesday we went to the Character Breakfast.  It was fun for the kids and the food was pretty good.  I can't say I would do it again, but it was a fun experience. 

That afternoon some of the guys went to a baseball game.  We did a Costco run and then made caramel apples.  Each night we watched the fireworks from Disneyland from our backyard.  It was one of my favorite things about where we stayed.

Our last day at Disneyland we were there from 8:45 in the morning until 10 at night.  We had such a great day.  We watched one of the shows and Tony was picked to do some acting and made us laugh.

Friday we went to Huntington Beach.  It was a perfect beach day.  The kids had a hay day, as most had never been to the beach.  Even though we were only out for 3 hours, we all came away with sunburns.  One of the doctors I worked with in Charlotte now lives in San Diego.  It was so fun that she met me at the beach.  I loved catching up with her.

Tristen, Tenielle, and Tanner left Friday night.  And the rest of us left this morning.  I think this was one of the best vacations we have ever had as a family.  It was so relaxing and only 1 child got lost but only while we rode another ride, because we didn't realize he was lost until we got off the ride.  Thank goodness for a quick answered prayer and nice Disneyland workers.

I kept track of the funny things I heard my siblings say several times to their children this week.  I'm sure I'd never have to tell these things to my kids if I had them..."Get out of the garbage."  "Why are you crying? (when there wasn't a reason to be crying)"  "Get your finger out of your nose."  "Did you really just put that in your mouth?"  "Do it one more time and I'll climb back there and slap you." "Get that out of your mouth."  And my favorite, "Quit licking the fence."  Kids are so gross, good thing they are cute!