Disneyland vs. Chuck E. Cheese

For years our girls have been hearing about Disneyland from all of their cousins and friends, so last year we (meaning I) told the girls that 2010 was our year. "We will go to Disneyland in 2010!!!!!." And amazingly, we did. A few weeks ago, we packed up our car and drove to Vegas, staying the night with my sweet cousin and her family (Thanks Jen, it was great to see you!). The next morning we woke up really, REALLY early and finished driving to Disneyland. We spent the first day in Fantasy Land, seeing the princesses and riding Dumbo and the teacups mostly.






The second day we tried to go to all the other rides that sounded like fun. It is pretty amazing how tiring it is to stand in line all day. (And the lines weren't really all that long either).



At the end of two days, we asked the girls about their favorite rides. Brooklyn's was the Haunted Mansion. Savannah's was Dumbo. Madison said that she like Snow White's Scary Adventure. Jeff and I were confused, because when we tried to ride that ride, something broke and we were told to exit the line. We never did ride the ride. So, we asked her what she liked about it so much. She said she liked it because it was so short. LOL. What a funny kid. Her second favorite was the teacups. (She loves those Sit-and-spin toys). Charlotte maybe didn't have a favorite ride, but she did not like any ride that was too scary. And a lot of rides were too scary for her, even though they weren't made to be scary at all. We went on the Pinocchio ride, and she was crying the whole time. Finally the blue fairy turns Pinocchio into a real boy, and so I really played that up as a happy ending for her. Even two weeks later when asked about Disneyland, she retells how "Nokio was scary, but then he got turned into a real boy." It's pretty cute, especially because she seems so little to be talking so much.

After our vacation was all over, we asked the girls what their favorite part of the vacation was. Brooklyn liked riding in the car. Savannah liked playing with Cookie, the dog at Jeff's Uncle and Aunt's house. (Thanks Sam and Marty for letting us stay with you!). Madison liked eating Pizza. Charlotte liked the hotel rooms. Notice how none of them even mentioned Disneyland??? When we asked them on a scale of 1 to 10 how much fun Disneyland was, they all gave it a FIVE. When asked what they would rate Chuck E. Cheese, they said they would give it a SEVEN.

Next year, we will be taking a family vacation to Chuck E. Cheese.

Trick or Treat?

Brooklyn wanted to be a Jaguar this year for Halloween. We found the jacket and pants for a great price when we were school shopping earlier in the year. Then she sewed on the ears and the tail ALL ON HER OWN. That was an easy costume this year.



Savannah's costume was a much trickier costume. She wanted to be a Scarlet Macaw. No one had anything even remotely close to that, so out came the sewing machine. After working on her costume for two days (and thinking that I was finished), she asked me when we were going to add the feathers. Feathers? That wasn't part of my plan. I think that the wings turned out pretty good, but the face paint made her look more like a clown. I guess I should have done a practice run on the makeup sometime before the time we were already running late for school.


Madison asked to be a frog. I guess the girls all decided to be their favorite animal, and again there weren't many frog costumes to choose from. Luckily I found a Kermit hat on clearance at Wal-Mart (what, no one wants to wear that around the town? I can't figure out why they were going for so cheap ;) It worked out great for my purposes though! She was pretty darn cute, going around saying "ribbit" all the time.



Charlotte has been looking forward to Halloween for a very VERY long time. I've been hearing "I be Cinderella for Halloween" everyday for at least a month. She was Cinderella for the school parade, and then she was a unicorn for the outdoor activities since the Cinderella costume would have been too cold. Luckily she was easily convinced that she already had been Cinderella, and now she got to be something else. Whew, because at two and a half, she is not easily convinced about much of anything!


Jeff decided to go to work as his former self. He put on his suit from a year or two ago, from before he lost all the weight. It was hard to believe that the suit used to fit him nicely. He has our largest, fluffiest pillow inside of his shirt and suit. He amazes me with his will power to lose all that weight. Once he sets his mind to something, he never looks back ... well except to dress up for Halloween I guess.



It was a trick to get all those costumes ready in time, and now the real treat is that I have an entire year before starting on some new ones.

Happy Halloween!