Disneyland

It seems like I’ve been waiting forever to take Lily to Disneyland! Having gone there many times growing up it is a very special place to me and I couldn’t wait to take Lily, especially since she’s at an age where everything is magical and the characters are real to her. We decided to wait until Clark graduated and we were driving halfway across country on our move to Texas, so poor Lil asked Clark every day if he was done with school yet so we could go. (Ask Clark and he will refer to the trip as his punishment for graduating ).

We got up early and it was great to finally tell Lil that, yes, we were going to Disneyland today.

We arrived when the park opened at 9:00 am and headed off to our character breakfast reservation. I’ve never done this before but we figured we could save time and not stand in line later in the day to meet different characters. Miles was terrified of either Chip or Dale (how are you supposed to tell which is which?) but was comforted by the Fairy God Mother until I returned from getting my food.

After that Miles warmed up considerably and he especially loved Minnie Mouse.

Now I had made the mistake of telling Lil about the most important attraction of all prior to our visit which was, of course, meeting Anna and Elsa from Frozen. We headed over that way right after breakfast but I figured that we could get away with skipping it once I saw the line (which I already knew would be horrendous). Clark, being the great dad that he is, said he would sacrifice himself and would wait in line with Miles while Lil and I went on a few rides. I gave him an out but he wanted to do it for Lily. So off we girls went to ride some rides. Lily loved it and luckily we got on quite a few during that time, including the Tea Cups 3 times in a row… Though I know Clark was happy he wasn’t with us for that one!

After a few more rides I grabbed Miles from Clark and the kids and I occupied ourselves while Clark continued to wait in line. Miles especially loved riding the train.

Finally, after 2 and 1/2 hours of waiting in line it was our turn to go meet Anna and Elsa. I can’t even tell you how excited Lily was! We got a quick photo with Olaf (up on the roof) before going in but Lily was sad that he didn’t come down so meet her too

We finally got to go in and Lil was awe struck. She was so excited she just clammed right up and barely said a word to them. It was unfortunate that after all that time in line she didn’t end up talking with them for long (she could have stayed longer if she would have been more chatty) but I could tell that she was over the moon and I can’t thank Clark enough for making sure she got in to see them. It really was one of Lily’s dreams come true!

After that we headed out for more rides and seeing the sights of the park. I must admit I was jealous of Clark since, due to me being almost 8 months pregnant, he got to go on the more “fun” rides with Lil. He even braved Thunder Mountain Railroad since she insisted on riding it (he had a bad experience on it last time we were there) and she ended up loving it. We ate the mandatory churros and expensive frozen lemonades while taking breaks from the walking and lines.

Mid way through the day we watched a parade and the kids were so excited to see some of their favorite characters including Mickey and friends, most of the traditional princesses, Tinkerbell/Peter Pan, Lion King favorites, and the Little Mermaid, among others.

Lily was in heaven!

Here’s our obligatory family picture in front of the castle. **

**As a side note, can I just say that I hate all of these women who, near the end of a day at Disney, still look like they just stepped out of the shower with their perfect hair and make up still in place and not a drop of sweat on them. I, on the other hand, look like I ran every one of the 7 and 1/2 miles my wrist band said we walked that day, sweaty and deflated. And that was just within the first few hours… but I guess there are more important things to worry about.** 

I wanted to give Lil the full experience so we stayed late to watch the fireworks and they did not disappoint! They were almost cancelled due to wind but we got lucky and were able to see them.

In order to catch both the fireworks and Fantasmic (another night show) we chose to watch the second showing of Fantasmic but that didn’t start until 10:30 so we had to try every trick in the book to keep Lily awake. She barely made it but once it started she was hooked.

At 11:00 pm it was finally time to go home and we felt every one of the 14 hours that we were there as we walked back to our car.

It was such a great day and I am so happy I got to share that with Lil. Just watching her face light up with every new thing was worth the money and sore feet. Nothing is more precious to me than that.

Lil and I at the end of the day

Clark and Miles at the end of the day.

You can probably gather from these 2 photos who enjoyed it more

Back at our car it literally took about 10 seconds from the time I buckled her car seat until she passed out.

Such a great day!

Cal Academy of Sciences

Today I took the kids up to the California Academy of Sciences for the first time. We had a free pass and I love any excuse to get up to San Francisco, especially on a sunny day! I admit it was a little smaller than I expected but we had a blast anyway. I have learned that it is better to let Lily lead the way and go at her pace instead of trying to see everything or stay on a certain schedule. Lily loved the aquarium and her favorite thing was the three-story indoor rainforest. It is this huge geo-dome that is very warm and humid inside with a ramp spiraling around the outside instead of stairs and all Lil wanted to was run up and down it. Of course. When we were nearly finished seeing everything in the museum Lily told me in no uncertain terms she was ready to go home. We went outside and I let them run around near some fountains and benches for a while, which I think they loved even more than the museum itself. Miles enjoyed chasing birds and they both liked climbing on the benches.Silly kids…

  

Dance Class

Today was Lil’s first day of her Tap/Ballet combo class and the parents were able to sit in and watch so, of course, I took pictures. The lighting was horrible so forgive the fuzziness. Lil did great and loved every minute of it. She has to work on staying on her spot like her teacher asks but I’m sure after a few more classes she’ll get the hang of it. I could tell she was really concentrating and trying hard because her little tongue was hanging out of her mouth for half of the class, a habit she gets from her dad :). I think what she loved most of all was jumping around and making noise in her tap shoes. I love watching my little girl try new things and work hard.

Kids and their dirt…

We don’t have anything close to a backyard at the moment but our (currently empty) planter box still provides the kids with plenty of entertainment. It’s like a magnet for them whenever they go out back and I usually will only unleash the kids out there if I know I’m giving them a bath later. I love hearing their little giggles through the screen door as they play together and would probably tell Lily to stop throwing dirt on Miles more if he didn’t enjoy it so much…

 

Gratitude

Most of the time things run pretty smooth. While there is the occasional hiccup, our daily life usually plays out the way we expect. Being very spiritual people we always try to thank God for making our life “uneventful” in that way and view it as a blessing. In the same vein, we also always pray for safety and a safe arrival on any trips that we take, even though we’ve never really run into any major problems before.

This Christmas, however, we had a much different experience.

I’ll spare you some of the extra details and just say that coming home from Christmas in Utah (with Clark’s family) our car died out in the middle of nowhere in Nevada. Like, it needed a whole new engine and we no longer have it. Kind of my biggest fear whenever we take a road trip out that way. We were a little shocked that this had actually happened but tried to maintain our composure as we figured out what we were going to do. At some point a department of transportation worker finally drove by and took Clark to find cell reception and I was left alone with the kids in the car. I’ll admit, my first thought was, jokingly, “Well, I guess that’s the last time I’m the one who says the prayer before we leave on a trip.” I know that it’s unrealistic to believe that nothing bad will ever happen to us, but this seemed like a little much.

The day went on and my stress level rose but I focused really hard on staying calm and not letting the situation make me angry or (too) overwhelmed or snap at Clark and the kids. After all, it wasn’t their fault and it certainly wouldn’t help the situation. Through out the day I think this was the key to helping me see something really important.

I forget exactly when, but at some point I remember thinking “We are so lucky that we only had to wait about 10 minutes before someone came by to help us call a tow truck.” The thought was mostly pushed aside in my stress but as the day went on these thoughts came through clearer and clearer….

I am so glad I made sure to pack extra blankets and food in the car (I think it’s common knowledge that you should if you’re driving anywhere cold). We’re so lucky the car broke down so close to Wendover. I’m so grateful we have emergency roadside assistance for situations like this. How great that Wendover is just big enough to have a rental car to get us back to Salt Lake. How amazing that (the day after Christmas) there are tickets on a late evening flight home (even if they were ridiculously expensive). How helpful that my parents were willing to help with the plane tickets. How nice of Clark’s family to be willing to spend some of their vacation to drive our rental car back to Wendover the next day, and also to lend us suitcases so we could get the contents of our car home on the plane with us. How great that the lady at the airport didn’t charge us for Miles plane ticket even though we didn’t have his birth certificate to prove he is under 2. How awesome that we were flying Southwest and we got to check all 7 of our bags plus 2 car seats for free. How fortunate that the TSA agent in the security line kept telling us to wait just a minute more since he knew a new line was about to open up and we got to be the first ones through. How nice that as a result, just as we got our shoes and coats back on we heard the final boarding call for our flight and after running through the terminal barely made our flight. How lucky that there was a seat left in the first row of the plane with the two nicest people in the world who didn’t care that a crazy looking mom with a baby strapped to her chest came huffing and puffing to sit in between them. Nor did they seem to care that in our rush to make the plane I literally didn’t have time to change Miles, who had about 3 inches of (very fragrant) poop up the back of his shirt and I had to wait until we were up in the air cruising safely to put on a fresh diaper. How great that our layover was long enough to actually sit and eat something and let the kids roam for a few minutes between flights. How wonderful that about 12 hours after our car died our friend was willing to pick us up at the airport near midnight and, just as wonderfully, this friend had a van already equipped with the right sized car seats so we didn’t have to spend extra time hooking ours up when we got there. And I think most importantly of all, how absolutely, completely glorious that our kids were happy throughout this whole experience. I mean, they were literally angels. Other than some fussing from Miles that he was stuck in his car seat for a bit too long they were happy and calm. Lily didn’t run away at the airport. They both flew very happily. Miles didn’t care about his exploding diaper. I don’t know how I would have gotten through the day if my kids were a mess.

Obviously, we didn’t make it home without incident like we asked for. Even so, by trying to stay calm I was able to see how very blessed we were throughout the day. It was a day for the record books, that’s for sure, but so many things worked out just right. So many things could have been slightly different and dramatically altered our day in a horrible way. Even though our car died we made it home safely.

It’s a double edged sword. You always hope that nothing bad will happen to you. Unfortunately if you never go through trials it’s a lot harder to see just how much the Lord takes care of you. Like me, you do have to actively look for the positive during these trials or you’ll surely miss it. Most of the time that is a very hard thing to do, but if you can manage to do so it can change everything.

It’s amazing what a difference a change of perspective can make.

Lil’s first run

This year I have been trying to get into running and have been enjoying it much more than anticipated (surprisingly!). It is still one of those things where I don’t ever want to go run, but once I do I feel great and enjoy the alone time. I have done a few short runs with friends and Lily is always jealous, so my friend and I decided we should do a run with our girls so they could be a part of the action and be proud of their accomplishment. Lily was waiting, and waiting, and waiting for her color run and was too thrilled when it finally came. The morning of the race we had to get up extra early to pick up our gear before we started running and when I woke Lily up she told me “No, mommy. It’s still dark, we’ll go when the sun is up.” Oh, how many times have I had that same thought! We spent a chilly December morning getting ready for the race and meeting up with our friends and had a blast. Lily and her friend Parker were troopers but a few times during the run Lily flat out refused to move because she was tired. We started almost near the end of the runners so for a little bit we were dead last (not that we really cared). It was a 5k but we ended up cutting a few corners since the girls were having a harder time with it. The nice thing, though, about being almost last was that at each “color” station the people had a ton of left over color and we got to throw as much as we wanted on each other. Lil just loved getting to throw colored powder on me and it definitely gave her a little boost each time we stopped to play. Near the end she stopped and said “Mommy, you carry me, and when we get to the end with the flags just put me down and then I’ll run and beat you, ok?” This kid knows how to work the system . After we finished the girls got medals that I made and they felt on top of the world (while simultaneously being very pouty since they were pretty wiped out). I don’t know when Lil will want to do another one but I hope she realized how much fun it can be to be active and do silly things together.

 

(oh, by the way, we put paint on each other’s faces before the race, if you’re wondering about my fabulous make up)