Disneyland 2018 Day 1!

In light of our upcoming Disneyland trip, I thought it was about time I recap last years trip! We went toward the end of April 2018 and stayed for four days at the park. This was our first time to take a really early morning flight, which is always a task with small children, but we were in California by 8am! We had a full day to explore downtown Disney and even take a swim at our resort. This was also our first time staying at the Grand Californian. We are not staying there this upcoming trip, but we will be back. The private entrance into California Adventure was such a treat! 

Day 1! 

My parents snapped this early morning picture before we left. Those are some tired faces! 

Once we arrived, the kids settled in for a movie while we got checked in. This was also our first time renting a stroller for the trip and we are doing it again this trip. We used City Stroller Rentals and they delivered it right to our hotel. We weren't sure if Liam would need a stroller by the end of the day, so we ended up renting a double stroller and using our own single stroller. He really didn't use it much during the day, and we mostly used that extra seat to hold our items, but by the end of the night he would usually fall asleep in it on the way back to the hotel. This year we are renting a stroller wagon so he hopefully he will be good to just walk! 

We headed to downtown Disney for lunch and to explore! 

This trip was our first time pin trading, and the kids loved it! I bought them some pins before we left from the Disney outlet store, and they were given gift cards by the grandparents which they immediately used to buy more pins. 

We always hit up the Lego store.

Once our room was ready we changed and headed to the pool! I thought it was a little chilly but of course the kids (and Will) weren't phased one bit. 

And then this little one fell asleep and I was in heaven. 

5pm and it was the big kids' turn to pass out! We headed back to Downtown Disney for dinner. 

While we waited to eat, Elias ran around and we people watched. It was the tail end of Dapper Day so it was fun to see the crowd and all of their outfits. 

We ate at Napoli's pizza. It was our second time eating there, but they had renovated since our last time. We ate up on the balcony which was fun! The food was delicious, not that the big kids knew because they were still passed out!  

After dinner, we had one last stop to make -- the confectionary! And then it was back to the hotel for showers and an early bedtime!

Week 11 Recap -- Spring Break 2019!

This past week was spring break! It was SO nice to unwind for the week and let go of all the schedules. We are two weeks our from our trip to Disneyland, so we stayed close to home and just spent the week mostly hanging out with a few fun outings sprinkled in. 

Monday morning the big kids decided they wanted to try the "24 Challenge" which from what I've heard and what we've seen on YouTube, you pick a room and stay in it for 24 hours. We decided on the playroom (with the adjoining media room) because it has a bathroom and hello, it's upstairs! They made a MESS of the place, but they played, ate, and slept up there for just shy of 24 hours. 

I had them take one 1.5 hour "pause" to play outside and help wash all the outdoor toys they left in the kiddie pool. 

This little stinker did not participate in the challenge, but he did spend a lot of time upstairs. He could not be trusted during bedtime though. 

Also, these two pictures were taken 6 seconds apart. I checked on my phone. The emotions run high with this one! 

They fell asleep watching Stuart Little although Liam claims he never fell asleep and I kind of believe him! 

Tuesday morning we ended their challenge one hour early to head to the zoo! The weather wasn't great but it was supposed to get worse the next day (spoiler alert: it didn't) so we decided to just go for it. We met my mom, SIL, and nephew up there and then our good friends ended up coming too so we met up with them! It was a really fun day despite a little rain, and the perk of the weather was that we nearly had the place to ourselves! 

Peekaboo! 

Friends! 

I just love this picture!! 

We listened to an animal talk about these Carribbean flamingos and I truly thought Elias was going to dive in. He kept reaching for them and freaking me out! 

Can we just flash back really quick to 2012 and my sweet one year old baby boy. 

He will be EIGHT in 10 days! 

We ended with a carousel ride, of course! 

On Wednesday Liesl had gymnastics so we just had an at-home day. Liesl and Liam had some friends over to play and then we enjoyed the outdoors! Elias was there too - but he was napping when I took these! 

We have also been counting down the days to Disney with our countdown chain. 

Will decided to take a "mini-spring" break and stay home Thursday and Friday with us. 

Thursday was also Pi Day which we did not celebrate with pie, but we celebrated our Liesl Pie turning 5.5! 

We kicked off the day with a trip to the courthouse for passports. Long story short, we got their pictures made months ago, lost them, didn't get a chance to re-take them until our appointment, so we had to take them there. Normally that would be fine, but our guy was weird about their pictures and would not let the kids smile. !?!??! Like at all. 

Elias was not happy about that and so I give you....Elias' passport picture for the next 5 years. 

I could not stop laughing when I saw what the guy printed out. I was also super annoyed because they're so expensive, but what can you do. All three of their pictures look pretty bad, but it's done and we will redo them in five years.

My brother sent me this gem though and it made everything better. My mini-Elvis! 

Liesl wanted a picture with a smile so here you go! My pretty girl. 

We ended the day with s'mores! My MIL invited us over to roast hot dogs and s'mores, and it was the perfect spring break treat! 

I also decided on Wednesday night that I really wanted to paint Liam's room before his new bed arrived...on Friday. So on Thursday, the big kids went to a friends house for a couple hours and we tackled Liam's room. Elias kept us company after his nap and I was pleasantly surprised with how much we got accomplished! We took a break for s'mores and then finished the second coat before bed. It still smelled like paint fumes the next morning but it was dry and done and we LOVE it! It's "Olympus White" by Sherwin Williams but it is actually a light grey color. 

The big kids got a turn when they got home too! 

And Friday was the big day! Liam's dreams came true and he got himself a bunkbed! It looks really great in his room and is excellent quality. We still have a lot of rearranging and redecorating to do because it's quite a bit bigger than his last bed, so I'll have to post official room pictures later. 

Friday afternoon we went to my parent's house to dinner and then Liesl's spring break dreams came true -- Chuck E. Cheese! She'd been begging to go all week so we made it happen. 

Before we went, we got to play with this cutie little boy who is about to turn ONE! He and Liam almost share a birthday, just one day apart! 

My parents were good sports at the Rat Palace and of course the kids had a blast. 

And then it was bedtime! And for the first time EVER, all three kids slept together! Elias really wanted to try and sleep with them, so we let him not thinking it would last. I think they were all so wiped out from our busy day that they fell asleep in no time. Sadly, that's been Elias' only night with them because the second night he started messing around and kicking the walls and kicked Liesl in the eye, so he got booted but we will keep trying on the weekends. 

Apparently on Saturday this was the only picture I got! Liam had baseball practice, we played outside a lot and ran errands. We ended the night with family movie night and watched Mary Poppins returns. I LOVED IT and cannot stop listening to the sound track! It was so, so fantastic. 

St. Patty's Day Sunday! This was the extent of our celebrating but we did all wear green. Earlier in the week Liesl and I made the cute rainbow craft out of fabric squares. Will had to leave Sunday afternoon for a business trip so we said goodbye to him. Liesl went to a friends house for a little bit and my MIL hired Liam to help her move tree limbs, so Elias and I layed low at home. 

And that was the end of our spring break! I also spent a ridiculous amount of time pulling outfits for the kids for Disney, ordering stuff on Amazon for Disney, watching videos about packing and organizining for Disney, ha!