Disneyland with my crew

Last year we were so graciously given most of our family of five Disneyland passes as a gift...and they expire soon...and the McLendon family will not be re-newing this year...so we've been CRAMMING in Disney like the parks closing it's doors for good!

Most everyone in the state of CA attended Disneyland today, but that didn't stop my crew and I from having a great time despite the crowds.

I love Disneyland with all the Christmas decor. And when we walked in, the band was marching up and down Mainstreet playing Christmas carols. Are you kidding me? I about cried.





Photo op with Minnie


And a chipmunk. Chip or Dale? Can you tell?


It's a Small World all decked out for the Holidays




Then we met up with our good friends the Eks at California Adventure for some fun!


We also ran into Woody and an army man, too.



Carousel shot



And last but not least: Spencer's favorite ride of all time is the big coaster: California Screamin'...and every time we go, he can't ride it because I'm with his siblings who are both too young AND too chicken to ride. Not to mention, I'm the one chicken, as well. I believe the last time I was on that ride, I hadn't given birth to ANY of my children yet. You do the math.

So today I had the idea to ask Spencer if he was okay riding solo, and then check with the Disney folks to see if it was possible that I put him on coaster myself and then wait for him promptly at the exit. And everyone involved here said yes! Score!

So my boy rode the coaster ALL by himself. And had a ball.


Lately I'm just eating up these moments with my kids while they are this young. Not that you have to go to Disneyland to enjoy these moments....you don't. I don't. But I so enjoy living life through their little eyes and I kinda hate to think that one day they might not be this excited to be hanging out with their old Mom all day long. Sigh.

But for now I'll choose to not think about that part.
And cherish the memory the four of us made today.
Oh, and I'll also choose to not think about the tantrum that Leda threw on the way out of the park. I almost had to carry her to the car. That would have been a pretty photo op, eh?

"blinking"

So last night a very interesting looking guy walked into the place where we were eating. (Too ashamed to tell you where---dinner of champions, though)

This guy was mid-20s, about 6'5" or taller, wearing skinny jeans...VERY skinny jeans. One pant leg was gray, the other was black. He had doc martin boots up to mid-calf, a bandana around his head but at the same time his bleached blonde hair was sticking down in his face somehow.

Anyway, he was worth staring at for sure. BUT, that's rude.

So I (many times) said to Leda, "PLEASE turn around, it's not polite to stare!"

Her reply to my last urgent plea?

"Mom, I'm not staring at him, I'm just blinking at him!"

Hmmm. Never thought of it that way!

(Leda's beautiful eyes "blinking" at me. October 2010)

I welcomed the chuckle. I love this sweet, innocent age of 5. Leda has such a fun little personality, I just love her.

Florida 2010

Last month we didn't think we'd have a chance to go again this year. Talk about spoiled. But spoiled mixed in with a WHOLE lotta grateful.



It's just awesome (for lack of a better word) for Aaron to have a chance to return to a place he grew up going to---a place that is filled with so many good family memories. I feel so lucky that I now have an opportunity to jump into these scenes with my incredible in-law family. SO fun.



Last year (click here if you wanna see his cuteness) we took Spencer with us, and I'd be lying if I didn't say I missed him or didn't talk about him all.the.live.long.day while we were there because I kept recalling memories of last year at every turn, but I will fully admit it was relaxing and wonderful to chill with Aaron and his super-cool folks.

There isn't a whole lot to do in Captiva Island, Florida. It's A LOT of down time on this very small island...but we totally made do ;)








I was able to re-visit my "happy place"



The boys had baseball with a view...


and they played ipad games every chance they got


We had SUCH fun playing Dominos with longtime family friends Bob & Jo Carter. A ridiculous amount of fun!


We celebrated Aaron turning another year older



Two "old birds" took in views (his words, not mine! lol)


We layed in the sun so much, my toes actually came back a pale pink compared to neon when I left :)



And of course it was so nice to have down time with Aaron






I have such incredible friends: thank you to Laura, Alissa, Brenna & Andrea for being my "back-ups" for Chase & other kids during the week and of course we couldn't do anything without my parents stepping up to be Mom & Dad #2 and being so willing to provide Aaron and I with a getaway. When we were hesitant to leave, they were basically pushing us out the door. And of course thank you to Aaron's folks. Words can't express how much this meant to us!

Inflatables

Inflatables. Who knew they'd be such a BIG part of our Halloween weekend?!

So it started with the "Boo Bash" at our elementary school Friday night. It's quite the event they have every year, and the proceeds go to the school PTA, so we're all for that. Even though Daddy was MIA in San Francisco for work, I trecked it on over to the school to enjoy some carnival fun with my Obi Wan Kanobe, A Good Witch & GI Joe.

The first stop, I was told, HAD to be the inflatable slide. It was the biggest and baddest thing there and the kids were all for it. All three of them, all for it. I honestly didn't give it much thought, just handed them their tickets and told both Leda & Spencer to "help your brother up, okay?"

Little did I know the "helping him up" was gonna be the easy part.

Once at the top, Chase FREAKED out. He was screaming so hysterically, that most everyone in line was wondering if he'd been hurt. I knew he hadn't...he's just my kid. My very ornery, stubborn and LOUD kid who clearly was being introduced to something (ie: big, scary slide) that he wasn't about to go down. And my heart sunk.




I then watched Leda & Spencer happily abandon their brother to enjoy the ride down.

Niiice.

Once they hit bottom, I then sent Spencer back UP to drag his brother DOWN. I'm not against saving my 4-year old myself, it's just that I was in a DRESS, so you see going UP the slide (and DOWN for that matter) would have been mighty difficult.

So Spencer did his best, even tried pulling Chase by the arms to get him to come down, but he just wasn't gonna budge. With a line a mile long behind me, I knew I had to go up. So I tucked my dress up and through my legs and did what any good mother would do: climbed up, and drug my kid down kicking and screaming and clawing his way out of my arms. Good times. Also good times when you notice that your dress is just about up around high mid-thigh as you slide at light speed towards the bottom. Awesome. I was kinda mortified.

Mothers deserve medals for stunts like this.

We were able to recover and had a decent time. I won't lie, it wasn't the best time, or even a good time. The music was loud, the lines were long and the kids were crabby and hungry. Plus, I spilled shaved ice juice all over my toes---and I was wearing flip flops. Soo, we left after we blew through the rest of our already purchased tickets while I was kinda cursing my husbands name for being MIA during this whole adventure!

Don't we look happy though? ;)



Memory made.

So fast forward to Saturday: Our cute little neighbor Athena turned "one" on Halloween, and our family was invited to "Scooter's Jungle" to help her celebrate.

Aaron and I fully expected to just sit there with the other parents and watch the kiddos (minus Chase of course) have fun on all the inflatable slides...but to our surprise, the parents were invited to participate.

Woop Woop!

Chase warmed up (after seriously being dragged up AND down a few times by us) and we all ended up having THE BEST time.









Athena is cute little Snow White :)




Luckily Ramon (Athena's Daddy) had his camera to help us capture some of our fun. It was so nice to be there with friends & the neighborhood kids to enjoy some GOOD ol' fun on some BIG ol' slides!



And Chase totally redeemed himself ;)