Back in the zone

It's summertime! I love having the kids home, and not just so I can give them more chores (although that is helpful). Monday and Tuesday we went to Disneyland for the last two days we could use our passes - I have to admit, I'm actually kind of glad they have now expired - we do really enjoy it there (Happiest Place on Earth and all) but I feel like there is so much pressure to find days that we can go and, of course, when we go, then we want to stay all day and hit every spot that we love, and it's just so much fun that it's actually really tiring!  Robie's mom and sister joined us for Monday and then Robie came up on Tuesday.  I'm actually a little sad I didn't get any pictures of the sweet total dive place we stayed.  The girls were looking at me like I was crazy when we first drove up, but when they saw the room was totally fine and they had doughnuts for breakfast they were good to go.

 I mean, come on, look at that face - who can resist riding the carousel 4 times, especially when he starts screaming bloody murder when it is time to get off?

We rode Toy Story Mania a few times since it is a family favorite.  The last time we went on it, I took Fox with me and didn't realize Robie had been holding him on his lap (this was day 2, so Fox was all about sitting by himself and feeling like a big kid), so anyway, I went to set him down next to me and the worker informs me he has to be sitting on my lap under the lap bar.. say what?  So I go to pick him up from the seat and he starts SCREAMING and WRITHING as the ride starts moving.  um, hello.  As we twirl away from the front section I set him down next to me and he wiggles himself under the lap bar that is pulled all the way down since there wasn't supposed to be anyone sitting there.  He happily sat there the rest of the ride moving the gun back and forth thinking he was playing the game just like everyone else (also, I was really close to Robie's high score that round... almost had it)

 This picture with the Three Pigs was actually Brooke's idea as a gag gift for their dad, since he is always calling them "little piggies" for their messy room :)

 The slide - no waiting in line, immediate gratification = love

 Another one of the "since we're not coming back for a while" things - we actually waited to meet Tinkerbell.  Halfway through the line I was thinking about how I sort of wished that I would have had even an ounce of input into Lauren's outfit choice of the day - too big running shorts with a too small t-shirt was not exactly a winner.  Oh well, she pulls any outfit off!

 It's a Small World fun - Brooke and Lauren were actually overcompensating for Ashley's irrationally negative behavior in line.  She basically just complained the entire time about how ridiculous it was to wait in line for the stupidest ride ever (which was similar to both Ashley and Brooke while we were waiting in line for the new Ariel ride - ah, the sweet joy of family time - learning new words, like, "berate" as in, "why do you guys continue to berate me?" ) Until we got on and she loved every minute of it.  weirdo.

Since we waited in line for It's a Small World, we did miss our window to ride Peter Pan before they shut it down for the fireworks.  Of course, I had promised Lauren we would go on it "later".   Oopsey. So since we had two cars, Ashley, Lauren and I stayed until after the fireworks to ride just a few more rides while the rest of the whimpy family went home.  Great time to teach Lauren the meaning of the term, "diehards".