Disneyland 5,674 or The Best Trashcans You Will Ever Throw Up In

Ahhh, that wonderful time of the... quarter...when we head off to Disneyland.  Really, I could write a book about how happy Disneyland makes me.  Here are some highlights from this trip:

Going with Baby Lincoln on his Fir.... no wait, what is this his 3rd trip to Disneyland?  Geesh, good thing he is free! (I bet Julia loves this picture!)

This LEGO rendition of Maleficent (my favorite villain) and Prince Philip was truly stunning not only because it is a work of art, but because...

of how amazingly big it is (That is beautiful Jes giving us a reference)!

We went straight to Dumbo first thing, which was good since we only had to wait 25 minutes instead of an hour and a half.  In a stroke of total luck Livi got the purple Dumbo (shhh...YES it IS purple, NOT BLUE!!!).

In line for Toy Story Mania.  We ended up losing a child, coming in 2nd in a trivia game, passing children over barriers, and eating who knows how many calories while we waited in what was our longest line of the day.

I thought Livi looked particularly chic in her 3D glasses and binkie!

I somehow got suckered in, by my kids, to ride the Merry-Go-Round.  It was worth it to see this.  Andrew started out helping both his kids...

but ended up spending most of the ride clasped tightly in Autumns arms because she sure thought the ride was less than fun (I agreed with her).

I somehow feel like we have arrived, now that we take up 4 rows on Pirates of the Caribbean.  When we have Eric and McKay there I hope it ups to 5! (you can see a little bit of Lincoln in his cute Tiger outfit on Jes' lap)

A horrible picture, but I wanted to document the fact I was going on Star Tours.  Last time I went on it I had to stop and wait over a trashcan right off the ride, because I was fighting my breakfast, and losing.  I swore to never go on it again, but I had to break that promise to myself.  Everyone else was going on their favorite rides, but it looked like Ethan was going to have to miss Star Tours.  He was so heartbroken that no one would go with him, and started to tear up (yes, you did) that I swallowed my pride (and knew my lunch was soon to follow the same path, only up) and agreed that I would go on it.  I had already been on Dumbo and a Merry-Go-Round so my stomach was already mad at me, but Ethan was SOOOOOOO happy.  He talked more in that stupid 100 minute line than he had talked the rest of the trip combined.  It was awesome to get to spend that time connecting with him, and to see him to excited.  I lasted about 6 seconds into the ride before I had to close my eyes and go limp, but Ethan assures me it was AWESOME.  I was sweaty, clammy, and nauseated for a couple hours after, but he's worth it!

Stott Girl's Day (Morning) or: I ran away in fear

Because my mother-in-law is pretty awesome, she invited me to go for pedicures with her and Cheryl.  Because I am so weird, I had to decline.  I really hate feet.  Not just a general dislike, I really HATE feet.  They are gross.  We walk around on dirt and filth, they sweat, smell, and have ugly toes sticking off them.  They kind of make me gag.  Part of the problem could be because I have horrible cracked heels, I have had nails ripped off painfully, and mine are just really ugly, but I hate feet.  What grosses me out more than feet: people touching my feet.  Yep.  I am that weird.  It also probably explains my love affair with shoes.  They take something gross and cover them with something beautiful.

Whoa.  Rambling. Sorry...so when Joan asked me if I wanted to go for pedicures I tried to not have a panic attack, and luckily Ella heard and piped up immediately with her wish to go.  Joan was very gracious and let Ella go with them, and it totally made Ella's day.  I don't think a little girl could have loved the experience more! She is still talking about it!

Ella and Grandma Joan picking out colors.  I've already heard about the other shades of pink Ella wants to try out.

The winning pink.

Ella and Grandma getting pampered.  Cheryl was nice enough to document all this for me!

Ella looks so tiny in the chair.  According to Joan's blog the massage chair kept trying to rub her head since it was at the level of most people's shoulders!

The finished product.  They still look this good 2 weeks later!  Next time maybe I'll go and get my finger nails done if they can get them to last this long!

The Beach

After Legoland we headed over to the beach.  The kids LOVED it.  I had to clean them up after while they were crying about being cold, covered in sand, and starving, so me...not so much.  At least Cheryl was there to lend a helping hand (and a jacket cover up).

At first they were content to get their feet wet and just run from the surf.  Too bad it didn't last!

Livi was asleep when we got there and stayed asleep for a little while.

When she woke up she didn't think the beach was a good idea and refused to go in the water. 

Ethan started getting more daring.

So did Ella.

Ethan started being silly.  He thought waiting for waves standing like this was a good idea.

He got completely knocked over by a wave.  Big surprise.

Legoland - or, I just realized I leave in a few days for another trip so I had better knock these out as fast as possible!

Cheryl and Joan were nice enough to take us to Legoland!

Waiting for the rides to open.  Ethan, especially, was very excited.

There were lots of fun interactions like shooting water, making music, and making objects move.

Legos can do a lot, but they are limited when making realistic humanoid figures.  This is Hansel and Gretel on the storybook cruise.

While the big kids, Joan, and Cheryl went on the bigger rides Livi and I had lots of alone time to ride some of the tamer rides.  Here we are on an African safari.

...and digging for dinosaur bones.

... and jousting other knights on a horse.

... and the coolest thing I have EVER seen.  Livi got to drive a lego car all by herself.  It wasn't on a track.  She had to steer all by herself and she even had to push down the gas peddle to go.  It was for kids 3-5 years old and she did better than all the other kids, including the 5 year old boys!

The older kids could drive on a bigger course, had to follow traffic rules and had gas AND breaks.  It looked so fun I wanted a turn!  This is Ella FAR away doing a great job!  She was a very conscientious driver.

Ethan was less concerned with the rules.  He did manage to avoid an accident with that "one kid" that was ruining it for everyone else by trying to run into them.

A limo land cruiser...

...complete with Leia and Chewie in the hot tub in the back!

Livi didn't want to go on the log flume, but she agreed if she could ride with Grandma Joan.  She ended up loving it!

Legoland has TONS of Star Wars exhibits (which was my favorite part).  Here are life size models of Chewbacca and R2D2.

Livi really wanted to play with all the "toys."  Those fences just begged to be crawled through...

...and over!

Millennium Falcon...enough said.

If you look in the trees you can see the Ewoks' homes.

I think Livi and Ethan loved this part as much as I did!

Every Star Wars exhibit had buttons you could push to make sound and movement.  The Cantina Band will always have a special place in my heart so this was by far my favorite:

I told Livi to smile.  I don't know what happened but it was pretty cute!

This seemed to be the favorite roller-coaster. They all look like they are having fun, but it looked vomit inducing to me!

Livi watching the 3D movie.  It was one of the best 3D attractions I have been to!

I had to record my score on the shooting ride.  It is the first time I have ever been the high score of my group.  It seems less impressive when you see Livi managed to score 1/3 of my score on her own.

Random Vacation Moments

Suffering for beauty.  I borrowed THE most awesome pair of my mom's shoes.  Because of the heat they seemed to have melted onto my feet.  It took DAYS to get it all off!

Excited to go to Dry Town!  Super fun but the sidewalk was SOOOO hot.  Note to Dad - buy sandals!

How Autumn watches T.V.

Nap Time

Bailey was cuddling with Livi during nap time.  She was also cleaning unmentionables right before I took the picture.  Loving, but so gross!

Some how this lady had a mullet which she was wearing in pigtails.  That is some fancy hair do!