Disney World 2013

Let’s just get this out of the way—I LOVE Disney World. For some people, it’s not their cup of tea. But it’s mine. Every last drop. Love love love it. We were not planning on going to Disney World last year. We actually had a different family trip planned. However, my dad called one day and said that he had a conference to attend on Disney property in October. Were we interested in coming with them? Ummm…yes! It worked out amazingly well. We found a five-bedroom house that was cheaper than my dad’s hotel room, so the company agreed to pay for that instead. Free lodging for everyone! And because he’s super generous, my dad was able to help us out with plane tickets—flying six people anywhere is not cheap. So it was an incredible opportunity that we definitely were not going to pass up. We decided not to tell the kids until my parents could be there. Since they were coming for the baptism, we decided to do the Disney reveal as a joint birthday present for all the kids. My dad came up with the idea of Camp Gottawanna—You gotta wanna have fun, you gotta wanna play hard, you gotta wanna follow the rules…He wants to have regular sessions of Camp Gottawanna with his grandkids. Basically, it’s just a fine time with Grandma and Grandpa. It’s a very my dad sort of thing. So first the kids received invitations for Camp Gottawanna from my parents. They were a little confused by that, but they knew something more was coming. Then Aaron and I gave them fake plane tickets to Orlando. They were excited, but apparently geography is not their thing because they didn’t realize why we were going to Orlando (still hung up on the Camp Gottawanna thing). Then we gave them a card saying they were going to Disney World. I have to say, I was quite underwhelmed by their reactions. Sure, they were excited, but I expected YouTube worthy reactions, or at least a few tears of joy. Nope. Surprise fail. Oh well. It won’t stop me from trying again. Day 1: Magic Kingdom We spent our first full day in Orlando at Magic Kingdom. I think you’re missing out on some of the magic if you don’t start your Disney trip there. Seeing the castle across the lake and entering on Main Street is just such an amazing feeling. Right off the bat we saw Mary Poppins with hardly anyone in line. When I was little, I was obsessed with Mary Poppins, so we had to stop and chat with her. Kiera was going to be dressing up that evening as Mary Poppins, so she was excited to see her too. She was delightful—practically perfect in every way!   Obligatory castle picture. One of the very first things we did was head over to the Winnie-the-Pooh ride. That’s Bridget’s obsession, and it’s been going strong for half a year now. I knew that she would just eat it up. After the ride, Grandpa told her she could pick anything at the WTP gift shop. We kept steering her toward the bigger stuffed animals, but she wanted that little Pooh key ring. She loved it. Whenever she had an outfit with belt loops we would clip it on, and then we let her carry it around with her when she wasn’t. On our second day at the Magic Kingdom, Bridget lost that little keychain and was devastated. We immediately retraced our steps, but there was no sign of him. We went to guest services and asked if it had been turned in (fat chance, we knew), and it hadn’t. However, they gave us a gift certificate for any Winnie the Pooh item of our choosing. So incredibly generous! We knew that she wouldn’t want anything else, but we were still blown away by their generosity. That, my friends, is why Disney succeeds. They do everything they can to make the experience magical. Bridget still loves her little Pooh keychain and very frequently sleeps with it at night. Thank you, Grandpa and Disney! We attended Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party that evening. The kids loved being able to dress up, and they had a blast finding the different stations to trick-or-treat at. I do wish we had seen more characters in costume. We only saw a small handful, and I was expecting a lot more. I guess we just weren’t at the right place at the right time.  Day 2: Magic Kingdom Aaron and I spent so much time at the little play area by Splash Mountain, playing with Bridget while the other one took the kids on Splash Mountain. Turns out that my kids love rollercoasters, and could not get enough of them. I was shocked by how much Averi loved the bigger rides. She’s quite the daredevil! One afternoon Katie got a massive bloody nose and had to go to the first aid station. They took good care of her, and gave her a coupon for a free popsicle, since the bleed was heat-induced. When they realized how many siblings she had, they gave each of them coupons as well! Another fine example of Disney hospitality. Eating her first Mickey ears. Awww!    Mom and Dad got Dole Whips while the kids had their free popsicle. We didn’t let on how delicious our treat was. Day 3: Day of Rest! We spent Sunday watching General Conference together (and, let’s be honest, sleeping, since we were so wiped out). I think we’ve figured out that our family does Disney best two days on, one day off. It’s exhausting for both parents and children. We like to be there as early as we can and stay as late as we can, so we get very, very tired. Day 4: Epcot Epcot was definitely the best place to see the big characters. The line was only 5 minutes long. We knew we had to see Mickey, because Bridget had fallen in love with him. She pointed him out everywhere she saw him (which, in Disney World, is a lot of places). She was THRILLED. She did not want to leave his side, even with the promise of Minnie and Goofy just around the corner. Eventually we convinced her that she had to move on. She was a bit afraid of Goofy, but loved Minnie too. My mom took the two youngest girls home for an afternoon nap and left us with Katie, Paul and Kiera. We decided to spend the afternoon over at the World Showcase, sampling the food at the International Food and Wine Festival. In my opinion, Epcot is a bit of a letdown after the other parks. There are only two big rides, and the fastpasses go so quickly that you can only get them for Soarin’ or Test Track, not both. Once the passes are gone, the line skyrockets to two hours or more, even on less busy days. Just not worth it for either of those rides. The park is also a bit dated and has more of a 70’s feel. I think it’s time for a pretty big revamp over there. The Food and Wine Festival, however, was a blast. The food was not that expensive (for Disney food), so we stopped at all of the booths that looked interesting. We got one item from each booth and shared it, so everyone got a little taste. It was a fun way to get lunch and try lots of new things. Day 5: Animal Kingdom Animal Kingdom doesn’t get enough coverage, I think. I love this park. It’s small in scale, so you feel like you really can do everything in one day. But the theming is excellent and everything there is super high quality. We love Expedition Everest. It’s probably the most fun rollercoaster at Disney. Averi, who’s only 5, rode it twice and would have gone more times if we had time. We also love all the shows there. The bird show is fun, especially for the younger kids, and we LOVE the Lion King show. It’s incredibly well done.   Meeting the man of her dreams. She had been waiting five whole days to meet Winnie-the-Pooh. We tried to see him at Epcot, but she was just too tired and had to go home. We knew Animal Kingdom would be our last chance, so we made this a priority. (Anyone else starting to get the feeling that our lives revolve around this cutie pie? They do. We can’t help it.)   She loves Tigg-uh (in Bridget speak) as well.   The Kilimanjaro Safari is so much fun. We love seeing all of the animals wandering around. Some of them get quite close, as evidenced by this rhino. That metal is the picture is the side of our truck. He was only a few feet away. Just a few seconds after this picture, another rhino walked right in front of us and joined him. The kids were thrilled.   Grandma loves are the best. The Festival of the Lion King. The kids got to participate this year as well. I think we’ve figured out where to sit to almost guarantee that they get picked. They had a blast dancing with the characters. Day 6: Hollywood Studios The kids loved Rockin’ Rollercoaster. I was sure it would be too much for them, but they proved me wrong. I definitely learned not to underestimate their thrill seeking tendencies on this trip. Katie even went on Tower of Terror. That ride makes me want to pee my pants, but she was completely unfazed.   Much handclapping was done to pass the time.   Seriously cannot get over how adorable this girl is. Do they come any cuter? Okay, this is cuter. Going through all these pictures makes me so happy. Gretchen Rubin, who wrote the Happiness Project, talked about the role of photos in contributing to our happiness. “One of the best ways to make yourself happy in the present is to recall happy times from the past. Photos are a great memory-prompt, and because we tend to take photos of happy occasions, they weight our memories to the good.” When I look through photos of my family, I realize that my memories are definitely weighted to the good, and I am glad. I love my family so much, and I know we are so blessed to be able to have experiences like this together. Sometimes I can’t believe how good my life is.

New Mexico Getaway

For my birthday, my sweetie whisked me away for a mini-vacation. He decided that we would play tourists in our backyard, and he planned a very fun two day itinerary. Connie and Kerry were willing to come down and stay with the kids, so it truly was a vacation. First we stopped at the Very Large Array. If you’ve seen Contact with Jodi Foster, you’ll be familiar with it. It’s one of the world’s largest arrays of antennas. There are 27 antenna, and each one is 82 feet in diameter. Hence the “very large” part. To say that Aaron was excited to see it is a definite understatement. He was completely geeking out. I thought it was very interesting, but honestly, the best part for me was watching how excited Aaron was.   After that we drove to Pie Town to get…pie. How could we live with ourselves if we left New Mexico (no plans to leave, by the way) without having eaten pie in Pie Town? But, sorrow of sorrows, everything in Pie Town was closed for the winter season, so we were unable to check that off our list. We made a stop on the Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail (yes, that is a real thing) and had burgers at Ella’s in Reserve, New Mexico. It was rather strange eating there. I had the feeling I had invaded someone’s family reunion. Everyone in the restaurant knew everyone else, and the waitress treated them like family members rather than patrons. The burger was very good, though. After that we drove to Silver City to spend the night. I had no idea how beautiful that part of New Mexico is. It’s very mountainous, and full of tall pines. We saw two huge male elk and several wild turkeys on our drive. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in a charming Victorian home in the historical part of the town. It would been delightful—period-style dining room and parlor, lovely wood floors, huge jetted tub in the room—except the room smelled so strongly of cigarette smoke. It was really a shame. Regardless, we had a good night’s sleep and a delicious breakfast in the morning. In the morning we visited the Silver City Museum and learned a bit about the town and New Mexico history. I wish they would have had more detail on Silver City itself, as it seemed to be a very interesting little town. Billy the Kid was raised there, and it had quite a heyday as a mining town. I would really like to go back for a visit and see more of the town and visit some of the other historical sites. After the museum we traveled to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. It was such an interesting place! We arrived right on time (by chance, which is usually the only way we arrive on time for anything) for the only tour that they give each day. It was better preserved than other cliff dwellings we've visited, even though they did see their fair share of looting. I became the tour guide's star pupil. It was a bit disconcerting after a while, because he didn't even bother addressing anyone but me after a few minutes. Guess that's part of why I did well in school—teachers usually loved me. Not sure why, but they did.     Then we drove the longest, most winding road back to I-25. After nearly three hours of that, even my iron stomach had nearly had enough. I'm glad my mom wasn't with us. She would have had to have been completely doped up on Dramamine. We drove to a town called Truth or Consequences. Here's the Wikipedia entry on it: “Originally named Hot Springs, the city changed its name to Truth or Consequences, the title of a popular NBC radio program. In 1950, Ralph Edwards, the host of the radio quiz show Truth or Consequences, announced that he would air the program from the first town that renamed itself after the show. Hot Springs won the honor. Edwards visited the town during the first weekend of May for the next fifty years.” In reality, the place is…somewhat frightening. (Sorry if anyone happens to live there who reads my blog.) The entire city seemed to be a huge trailer park. Aaron has planned for us to visit a hot springs there, and we started to get really nervous. We imagined that someone was going to hit us over the head and sell us into human trafficking...or something like that. However, the hot springs was AMAZING. It was like something you'd find in a top-notch resort. The landscaping was beautiful, and the pools were right on the river. It was incredibly beautiful at night, when you could look out across the river and see the mountains silhouetted by the moon. The weather was also the perfect temperature for being in a 109 degree pool. It was supremely relaxing and the perfect way to cap off our trip. I would go back in a heartbeat. Thanks for a marvelous trip, honey. So glad I get to spend the next 30 years (and more!) with you!

Still woefully behind…

I feel like when I’m writing in a journal. I never know if I should just skip the last two years of my life entirely (which is usually how long it’s been since I’ve written in a journal), or if I should madly try to catch up and mention the million important things that have happened since I last wrote. So, to share pictures from summer in November, or write about the most recent happenings? Oh, and speaking of journals, I got this journal last year, and I’ve been better about writing regularly than I ever have been. I highly recommend it. Since I really do want to document somewhere what happened this summer, I’m going to do a fly-by. Our cute friends the Worthens had an Olympic Opening Ceremony party. The kids loved dressing up in their patriotic finery and playing fun Olympic Games. We enjoyed the beautiful, but slightly odd, Opening Ceremonies. This worked out well for us, since we don’t have a working television and had a lot of difficulty watching the Olympics because viewing access was so restricted. We eventually figured out a work around, but I definitely wasn’t impressed with how it was covered this year. But go Team USA! Our kids especially loved the gymnastics, swimming, and diving, and Aaron and I found out that the rowing was a lot cooler than you’d think it would be. The middle of August found the kids and me in Utah. We drove up to celebrate my Grandma Davis’s 90th birthday. We held a surprise party and had people from all over the country show up. It was really an amazing feeling to be part of such a huge extended family. We’re so grateful for my grandma and her decision to raise her family in the Church. It truly has blessed hundreds of lives. Our time in Utah was filled with Slip ‘N Slides…   and zoos… and swimming… and lots of eating… and Parade of Homes viewing…   (Unfortunately I didn’t have a wider angle lens on my camera, so this doesn’t even come close to how big it actually was.) and celebrating!   We had a photographer at the event, so these were the only photos I took there. But we have so many wonderful family photos that were taken. The only sad thing is that Aaron couldn’t be there. Darn work! I’m so glad that he encouraged me to go, even if it was a LONG drive by myself with the four kids. Fortunately, Ashley drove back with me and hung out for a week here in Albuquerque. I love being with my family!