We did it! We went to Disneyland with twins and a two year old! I have always known that these twins are good babies, but taking them on this trip has really reenforced that for me. Liv was a good baby too, but traveling always rendered her over tired and she never slept well in strange places. I remember a lot of screaming to sleep in hotels and grandparents' homes. These guys were amazing! They stuck to their usual schedule, and no matter where I put them down they just went to sleep as if it was no different than being in their room at home. I wonder if that is a twin thing. Everywhere they went to sleep they were always in pack in plays right next to each other and could see each other through the mesh. I wonder if that made them feel more comfortable. Like if they were being abandoned in some strange place at least they had their usual partner in crime there to go through it with them.
Everyone did so well in the car. Liv, as expected, was thrilled that I allowed her to watch movie after movie after movie. I think it really helped that we broke up the drive. We left Friday after work and drove as far as St. George, stayed with Nick and Sonni, hit up the Swig in the am (nothing like a dirty Dr. Pepper and sugar cookies at 9 am), and were on our way. Saturday we drove to Riverside and stayed Labor Day weekend with Geoff and Aleena. Liv was in heaven with all those girls to play with for days on end. We also visited Derek's Aunt Opal and Uncle George over the weekend. Liv thought she was already at Disneyland when she got to ride Aunt Opal's chair up the stairs.
Monday, we checked into our hotel and hit up the pool and downtown Disney with the biggest Disney store ever--Liv wanted everything.
Tuesday was our first day at Disneyland, and Derek and I surprised ourselves. We got in an hour early and went straight to fantasyland. The whole day was awesome! Hardly anyone was there and we never waited more than 15 minutes for anything. It was a little hot (about 95 degrees every day), but we just packed lots of drinks and spent time in the shade when needed. Our original plan was to just take the boys back to the hotel for naps as needed since we were staying in the Grand Californian right in the park. The boys were so entertained by everything to look at that they happily sat in their stroller. Then when they got tired, they would just sleep in their stroller, and then wake up happy to crowd watch some more. Because they were so good, we honestly spent the entire first day from opening to closing in the park. Liv was so exhausted that she even took a nap every day. Cutest sleeping princess I ever saw!
Wednesday we checked out California Adventure, did Carsland with the new Radiator Springs Racers ride which was awesome!!!
Liv got soaked in Bugsland and that day we had lunch at Ariel's Grotto with everyone and all the princesses came right to our table.
So cool, and the food was fabulous! Snow White called the boys Sleepy and Grumpy.
Thursday we bounced back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure. The highlight of the day was that Liv's Grandpa and Lynn had arranged for her to get a princess make-over at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. That girl was in heaven. They let her pick which princess she wanted to be, and she surprised us all by picking Ariel with this awesome red wig.
They did her hair, and nails, and make-up and had a photo shoot and then you walk around fantasyland and all the disneyland workers would bow down to princess Olivia and she got to cut to the front of the line to see all the princesses at the Fatasy Faire. I was slightly mortified by the display and worried everyone was watching my daughter prance around and thinking she must be spoiled rotten (which she was by her Grandpa), but she honestly loved it and I think my Dad and Lynn loved watching her love it so much, so who really cares.
Liv loved Disneyland. She liked the rides and everything, but what she really loved was all the characters. She was so funny to watch. We'd be waiting to get someone's autograph and the Disneyland workers would try to strike up a conversation with her. Hi! What's your name? NOTHING Are you having fun at Disneyland? NOTHING Do you like ________ (enter whatever character we were waiting to see)? NOTHING...But then she would run up to the character give them the hugest hug, shove her autograph book in their hand for them to sign and become the most chatty little girl you had ever seen. Every picture with the characters she would put on the biggest smile like she could hardly contain herself. I loved watching that over and over again.
She says her favorite rides were Ariel and Peter Pan, but she also seemed to really like Snow White even though it was scary. She screamed appropriately at all the scary parts, but seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. She loved watching the queen from Snow White pop up in the window. Every time she did Liv would scream. The very last thing she did on the very last night at Disneyland was make her Dad wait again for that Queen to appear. She loved it! She still talks about Disneyland all the time and seeing all the princesses and wants to go back (sorry not happening any time soon). I printed off the photos she took with each character and put them in her autograph book next to each signature. She carries that book around all day flipping through it and getting excited about seeing all the characters all over again.Next, this girl honestly had the best and most drawn out birthday.
All her aunts and uncles and grandparents presented her with b-day gifts at Disneyland. She has so many new clothes and toys she didn't know what to do with herself. Then, we came home and Carolyn (my daycare lady) made her a princess castle cake
and all the kids at daycare sang to her while I was at work. Carolyn also gave her 4 Princess Sofia puzzles which I now get to put together every day.
Then, Babi and Papou came out for her birthday weekend. In the midst of all the birthday madness I also got to play bridesmaid with a bunch of my girlfriends in the ward for my dear friend Katie (now Kumer). We had a blast dressing up in her wedding colors and buying red shoes, painting toe nails, and making all sorts of excuses for bridal girls' nights.
I was actually so glad my Mom and George came out because I was gone almost all day on the Saturday of the wedding. I would pretty much to just pop in to feed the boys and then take off again. I think Derek may have died without them there.
What was supposed to be just a simple cake and ice cream party on Sunday turned out pretty big with George's daughter Christine and her boyfriend out and a bunch of neighbors that stopped by with surprises. We had homemade raspberry ice cream with the abundance of raspberries in our yard and I made a chocolate cake and just put some princess figurines on top. That's my way of making a princess cake. Cake decorating is not a skill I possess--sorry Liv.
Then, the next week she had two separate days at school where they celebrated her birthday. One day I went into the class and helped Liv hand out fruit leather and stickers to each of her classmates, then the next day they all sang, and she got to wear a crown for the day, and her teacher gave her a book. I think she is officially satisfied with her birthday celebration weeks! And, I am going nuts trying to find a place for all the new clothes and toys. This is the first year she got toys with teeny tiny pieces that are always getting lost only to be found by Carter and Camden...this may be the death of me or more likely them (ahhh I hope not).
In other news...on the way to the airport we stopped with Babi and Papou at Scheels. That place is a hoot!
Our garden went crazy while we were gone. I came home and had to can more salsa because I was overloaded with tomatoes and peppers. The raspberries were also crazy, so we made raspberry ice cream, and jam and have a freezer full of raspberries. And, everything continues to grow--my neighbors are probably tired of me forcing all my extras on them, but I am done canning and making jam! Camden has become proficient at the army crawl. He learned the day we left for our trip. He also now walks along furniture. I fear the day is soon approaching that he will take off. Carter is still content to just sit and watch which is good because I am learning all the most entertaining things to get into from Camden and will hopefully be more prepared for when Carter does decide to start crawling. So far Camden's favorite things are the dog's water bowl, ripping pages out of my library books, sucking on my cell phone, and basically any other thing he knows he shouldn't be getting into and makes a mess and boy can he throw a tantrum if you take away something he just crawled across a house to obtain. A couple cute pics of the boys for good measure...
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