Andi's 6th Birthday Interview

How old are you? 6
What's your favorite color? Pink and purple
What's your favorite food? Pizza. I really enjoy pizza.
What's your favorite drink? Water. I would have picked soda, but it's not healthy.
What's your favorite toy? Make-up
What's your favorite thing to play? Princesses and Barbies
What's your favorite song? Book of Mormon Stories
What's your favorite game? Just Dance
What's your favorite movie? Barbie and the Pink Shoes
What do you want to be when you grow up? Beautician
What's your favorite thing to do? Do make-up
Who are some of your favorite friends? Marley, Arianna, Adelynn, Brooklynn
What's your favorite animal? A puppy.
What does Dad do? Dad, goes to work. He adjusts people and gets a lot of money.
What does Mom do? You watch kids all the time!
What's your favorite part about school? Math.

Disney Day 3

Day 3:
We used our magic morning hours and got into the park an hour early. A little over rated since they don't have all the lands open so the fewer people are funneled into the same area making it as crowded as a normal day. Okay, so it wasn't as crowded and we managed all the Fantasyland rides anybody could ever want to go on in that one hour; Dumbo, Alice, Tea cups, Mr Toad's Wild Ride, Snow White....all at least one time. My kids all loved Alice in Wonderland, especially Taytum with her new found obsession with all things Alice in Wonderland just weeks before we went to Disneyland.

 

 

Jefferson and I got to enjoy a few rides all by our lonesome. It was lovely. 

The rest of the morning and afternoon we made our way around the rest of the rides at Disneyland. We were disappointed that our kids did not love Indiana Jones near as much as we did, but at least we got to enjoy some delicious skewers right outside the ride, followed by the Dole pineapple soft serve ice cream. It was amazing. 

 

Then we made our way over to Tomorrowland. Carter went on Star Tours with my parents the first time and when he came off it was so fun to hear him recount every detail to Andi in preparation of their "flight".

 

  

Bentley caught a power nap in there somewhere...

 

 

After going on a ton of rides all morning/afternoon we caught the monorail to Downtown Disney. We were lucky enough to snag the front of the monorail.

 

We enjoyed a little browsing at the Lego Store and then ate an early dinner at Rainforest Cafe. 

 

  

  

  

  

 

After hopping back into Disneyland for a bit we made our way back to the hotel. Let me tell you, we were pros at loading five kids a double stroller, four adults, and bags on these little trams. It was a work of art.

Disney Day 2

Day 2
We started the day off in California Adventure. First stop was the new Cars Land and we were not disappointed. It is seriously amazing. You feel like you have just walked into the movie. I stood in line for a fast pass, which was the longest line in length by far of any of the rides we went on, but super fast to get through. The trick, use a fast pass and get a rider swap when using your fast pass and it got us through the ride three times, taking turns between the adults.
Me and B-Boy waiting in line. I took about five pictures and he looked like this in all of them. Must have been bright. :)

A better picture of Beckett. This is him unedited. His eyes really are that big and bright all.the.time.

Carter and Andi experienced California Screamin' for the first time and loved it!

 

We enjoyed the Corn Dog Castle for lunch.

And Flo's V8 cafe for dinner.

And plenty  more rides in between. Everybody's favorite was Toy Story Mania. That ride never gets old! And the new Cars ride did not disappoint! It was so much fun! We were so glad not to have to wait in the 60-90  minute stand-by line. Fast pass/rider swap is where it's at.
Saw Phineas and Ferb on parade.

Enjoyed a little down time in the afternoon at the Muppet Movie. It was hilarious to watch Bentley jump at all the 3D effects.

(Beckett peed all over Jefferson during the show. I laughed. Jefferson did not.)
 While we rotated riders around for Tower of Terror, we enjoyed some time in Bugs Land. Not a favorite of any adult, but the kids loved it and Taytum could ride all the rides without fear!

We made it back to the hotel at a decent time.

Disney Days Part 1

Our Disneyland trip has come and gone and it's like the let down after Christmas is over. You anticipate it for so long, and countdown, and prep and pack and plan, and then it flies by in a whirlwind and is over. Sigh. It was another successful, near perfect Disney trip. We hit wonderful weather, small crowds, and saw and did everything we wanted to.
I was so excited to go that I forgot to dread the 12 hour drive down to Anaheim, but come to find out, I didn't need to. It was a breeze! My kids were amazing in the car. There was a two hour stretch where Bentley made constant noise, albeit happy noise, but noise none the less. Just moaning/singing/talking/babbling. I thought I would lose my mind once or twice during those two hours. We were down to our final binky and it was lost for that entire car ride. Luckily she wasn't crying or screaming. The kids watched movies, played on their tablets, did homework, read books, and went through their little backpacks of craft/coloring/snacks/surprises that I packed for each of them. I crocheted, read, and enjoyed chatting with my hubby.
When we got in to our hotel we grabbed a bite to eat and hit the pool. I forgot how much all my kids love to swim. It was Beckett's first time in a pool. He wasn't impressed. Then we unpacked and settled in and got ready for our first day at Disneyland.

Day1:
We decided to spend the whole day at Disneyland. We thought for sure it would be crowded since it was a weekend day, but the crowds were so small! The longest line we waited on was probably 15 minutes. We started with Pirates of the Caribbean as per our family tradition and it did not set Taytum off on the right foot. I thought maybe being a couple years older she would enjoy rides more, but she is just not a ride lover... yet. I am still bound and determined for her to enjoy rides some day. I think of all the rides we made Andi go on the last time (which she mostly loved) when she was the same age as Taytum this time, and there is no way in heaven I would even think about Tay going on any of those rides.

 We did find a ride that Taytum finally loved. It's a Small World. We found that we didn't mind this ride as much as we thought. Not only did my kids find it fascinating and loved to look for different characters throughout it (Lilo and Stitch, Ariel, Peter Pan, etc), but it was nice and cool when we hit some super high heat at the end of the week. And did I mention there was never a line for it?

We saw about ten different characters that first day and managed to hit every "line" right when the characters appeared, so really didn't have to wait if we wanted to see them. Mickey came out right as we entered the park and we were probably third in line to see him. It was the perfect start to the day. At one point we ran into the Fairy Godmother and she insisted on walking my girls to the castle. She didn't grant any wishes, but they still thought they were pretty special.

 While we were juggling kids and switching riders for different "bigger" rides, the girls and I made a stop into Pixie Hollow.

First we ran into Fawn, who would be the fairy Taytum would be if she could be one; the animal fairy.
Then on to Tinkerbell.

Bentley was good with just looking at Tinkerbell. 









Enough with the fairies and princesses, Carter wanted to see something manly! We went and checked out the display of all the Ironman suits in Tomorrowland. They were really cool to see.

Lunch at the Cantina was delicious and not so "park food" tasting.

 

 We went on pretty much every ride in Disneyland that first day, at least once. Carter and Andi went on Splash Mountain more times than I can count. Lucky for us it was right next to Winnie the Pooh, which Taytum loved. We went on over 20 rides and managed to catch a piece of Fantasmic and the fireworks. We debated and debated on staying for fireworks since it would be the only day to watch them of our trip. They were a little late after a long first day and the kids were sopping wet from going on Splash Mountain about five times and it was getting a little cool (to be wet). But we timed it perfectly and ended up walking into the perfect spot to see the fireworks from, so we decided to sit and enjoy the show. I have seen the show from our hotel before, but I don't ever remember watching them from Main Street with the music. It was really magical. I wish I had a picture of Andi's face when Tinkerbell came flying out of the Matterhorn. She loved it. It was so magical. Taytum panicked when the music from "Pirate's of the Caribbean" came on and we had to assure her that we were not going on the ride.We headed down Main Street to leave the park a few minutes before the fireworks were over and Jefferson was carrying Taytum. I  was walking behind them and I absolutely loved seeing Taytum's face lit up by the fireworks and see her "ooh" and "aaah" over them. It was so sweet and she was so happy. I wish I could have captured that moment on camera.

It was the perfect first day and I could have left happy after that day... but I'm glad that we didn't.