We just got back yesterday, and we had a BLAST! My whole family went to celebrate my Dad's big 6-0 in style! Actually, we've been discussing a trip like this for a long time, and decided about a year and a half ago that we'd do it for Dad's 60th, since he'd never been. We spent 3 fun filled (exhausting) days at the California Disney parks with my parents, brother, sister-in-law and their kids. In all... 6 adults and 5 kids. Everyone behaved themselves very nicely, and there were minimal melt-downs by the 5 very tired kids. Experiencing Disney through a child's eyes was an interesting experience. I realized that most rides are way scarier for a small child (although for ours the scariest parts were dark and loud...not fast and curvy!), and for the "Happiest Place on Earth", there sure were a lot of crying kids around! (Not ours so much, thank goodness) We are actually very proud of Kai and how he conducted himself there. He was totally mellow and had a great laid back attitude (at home he can tend to be a bit stubborn). He was in "cousin heaven", and loved spending time with his family.
I could probably fill a whole website with all the gory details of our journey, but I won't bore you with all that. Lucky for you, I'm short on time. :-) So, I'll just give you the highlights.
1. Kai LOVED meeting the characters. I'm not sure why I thought my friendly, outgoing son might be frightened by them. He was NOT! He ran up to each one and hugged the heck out of 'em! Here is just one example:
2. Joe and I got stuck on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This is my absolute favorite ride, and I can't imagine going to Disneyland without going on this one. Thanks to the rest of the fam taking our little guy for a while, we got to go on it not once, but twice...well three times, I guess. Our second time through, the ride came to a screeching halt as we were ascending a large hill. There we sat, and sat, and sat. Finally the announcement was made that the ride was being suspended, and we would all be evacuated. The ride lost it's magic as the mood lighting was turned off and the service lights went on. Not to worry, we were all evacuated safely. More importantly, the ride resumed operations later that evening and we were able to complete our ride, while watching the fireworks. It was great!
3. Kai did not freak out about any rides, and we pressed our luck with some pretty crazy ones. The most roller-coastery one he went on was the Matterhorn. He covered his eyes with my hand the whole time, but gave it two thumbs up at the end. I think his favorites were the Astro Orbitor (the only one he asked to go on again), Pirates of the Carribean, and the Toy Story rides.
4. It was way hotter and busier than we expected. Apparently, Halloween is a big deal there. It was decorated amazingly, but did draw the crowds. We could not imagine going there in the height of vacation season, when both would have been worse.
5. Last time we went to Disneyland, we were deep in the throws of the infertility battle. Just being there with our miraculous child was more magical than I could have ever imagined. I kept telling him how happy I was to be at Disneyland with him. His response was, "Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho... a pirate's life for me!!"
As you can probably imagine, we took way more photos than I've displayed here. Sorry...the rest will have to wait. I hope to get some on FB soon, but as for here... it'll probably have to wait until Joe completes his Disney slideshow. :-)
We had lots of Halloween fun this year. So much fun that by the time the day arrived, we were pretty partied out! It started last Thursday with Kai's daycare party. It was so fun to see him and all his little friends in their costumes! Friday night we attended our church party. Kai was much more into the games (and subsequent candy distribution) than he was last year. He also visited both of our offices in costume and was greeted by many people offering candy. On *the big day* we pretty much just stayed at home, after his Saturday morning gymnastics class and BUNGEES!! We decorated cookies and watched the big football game on TV. No trick or treating for us, and we turned out our lights too. I know, we're such Halloween humbugs, aren't we? We really did consider handing out candy this year; we thought Kai would enjoy greeting people at the door. Then we discussed the logical side of it: a 2 year old with a large bowl of candy, a howl-happy dog... you know where this is going... We'll probably start in with the trick or treating next year. It just really freaks me out, especially this year when there's no telling if your candy is laced with H1N1. I know... we're horrible.
We planted (laid) new grass in our backyard about a month ago. As you can tell, it's growing beautifully. When we went out to play this morning, I mentioned how it needs to be mowed. K promptly grabbed his bubble mower and went to town; even using the same pattern that Daddy uses to mow! 
This is huge from the kid who HATES to lay back in the tub! He did this all himself, not even a nag from me to lay back and rinse his hair. Doesn't he look angelic?
When he decided it was not moving fast enough, he gave it a little nudge. :-) He couldn't wait for Grandma and Grandpa to get there!
What kind of mother am I? This is the only picture we have from this week. I meant to take one of his new haircut he got today, but it didn't happen before bed. Maybe next week...
