Tea for two

Cousin Paige is here today. Jenna and I found cute tea sets at the thrift store yesterday and she was dying to try them out. She hasn't said one sentence that didn't include "Paige" or "tea party" since 1:00pm yesterday afternoon. I was woken up with, "Did you call Paige's mom? Today is the TEA PARTY!" So, today is an ongoing tea party. This is mid morning tea. It will be followed with lunch and then afternoon tea. Lovely, lovely day.The table conversation has been amusing. Here is one little snippet:

Paige: My dad is at work.

Jenna: My dad is at work too! All the dad's in the world are at work right now.

Paige: Well, N O T Jesus.

Jenna: No! N O T Jesus!

Pudgy, dimpled hands--I don't want this lady to grow up.

Paige has experience in drinking tea the proper way--do they learn this or do they just come this way? They are only 4 and already so lady like.

The view under the table is as cute as the one above

Too cute not to share.

Disneyland Day 1, 2 & 3!!

How to blog this without it getting too boring...too late. We had 3 days at Disneyland and 3 days at the beach and one day at Nottsberry Farm--I think I'll tackle Disneyland first--but first a quick look into each day before the onslaught of pictures!!

DISNEYLAND! Day 1

SO EXCITED! Heading into the park! We're at DISNEYLAND!!

Day 2

Still excited--but we've done everything once...what to do...what.to.do...

Day 3

Done everything...at least 5 times...take.me.home.

With 5-10 minute wait times, we did all of Disneyland and all of California Adventure in ONE DAY--and that was walking, not running. We tried to take our time and just enjoy things as they came--and boy did we ever!

Anyone who knows Jenna, knows she is obsessed with snow globes--this was MIND BLOWING!
Jenna was the ONLY one on the entire raft that got wet--and she was SOAKED!Grandma Gwen gave each kid $20 to spend on our trip. Jenna saw this the first day and I made her wait until the last day to buy it in case she saw something else. She didn't. p.s. it broke the day we got home.
The best kept secret at Disneyland: this air conditioned room under the arch of the castle. A movie is playing, it's quite...heaven.

We met a lot more characters than usual--probably because there weren't hoardes of people hiding them. Jenna really liked them, Gavin and Kesley liked them but were embarrassed to admit that they did!
One morning Jenna and I ran to try and be one of the first in line to meet the princesses. It is nothing short of hysterical watching overweight/out of shape adults try to sprint to the other end of the park to save a place in that line--everyone is gasping for air about half way there. By the time I got there I was totally shaking and pretty sure I was going to throw up--but we were 3rd in line!!! Woot! Woot! Jenna got to meet Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, but she burst into tears when she realized that there was no Ariel! It's hard to be a 4 year old.
I really got into these snap shots that they take on the thrill rides and then try to sell to you for $15 each. I tried taking pictures of them with my camera and they aren't so great, but they still capture some of the panic/excitement the kids were experiencing. Kesley was the thrill lover of the trip--she LOVED any ride that went fast or made you feel like throwing up!

SPACE MOUNTAIN: First time--dark and fast. Kids weren't so sure and poor Jenna's head was whipping around like crazy!

Second time: Love Kesley in this picture--she just LOVED the thrill rides! I hated feeling like Jenna's neck was going to snap, but she loved it too!

Tower of TERROR:

They take you up in an elevator and drop you!

First time--love Jenna's reaction!

Second time--Awesome! This was one of our family favorites!

California SCREAMIN

First time--check out Gavin's face! Brent and Kesley in back

Second time with me--liking it a little more. Kesley is behind again.

I'm not sure where to stop with the pictures...we had such a good time and I took a LOT. But that is a good start. Tomorrow--beach days!

We went WHERE????

We successfully pulled off a surprise trip to DISNEYLAND! Last Saturday the kids found a note in the mailbox with three letters in it. They each got to read one: (missing one that Jenna read that said, "Have fun!")
I think we tease them too much because no one believed the notes at first. When they realized it was REAL--Gavin was convulsing on the ground, Kesley was walking around in a daze and Jenna was a perma-grin! SO FUN! I got it all on video.

The drive up to the airport was hilarious. Gavin was counting the minutes--or counting down the minutes until we got to the airport. Cute for a minute and then I was just REALLY grateful we were flying and I didn't have to hear that for 12 hours of driving. This was the first time the kids can remember flying (we flew into Portland for Gavin's second birthday) and they were E.X.C.I.T.E.D. We got through security and to our gate in 10 minutes and still had 2 hours to wait...and wait...and wait! Kinda took some of the excitement out of the moment.

WAITING for our plane

READY FOR TAKE-OFF!!!

Our two hour layover in Vegas wasn't as exciting as I expected. The kids were "bored" (I seriously wanted to slap them) and I forgot to grab some movies for the DVD player, so they watched Curious George for the KA-ZILLIONTH time. Hey! At least there was something in there!
After the hour drive to the airport, the two hour wait, the hour flight to Vegas, the two hour layover,the hour flight into LAX, the 1/2 hour waiting for baggage, the 1/2 hour drive to the rental car place, the 1/2 hour wait at the rental car place and then the 1/2 hour drive to our hotel.....we figure we could have driven there in less time. LONG DAY!

Tomorrow: THE BEACH! (Were we really mean to make them spend Sunday at the beach and not Disneyland?... I wish I could say it was a "keeping the Sabbath Day holy" kinda thing, but it was more of a "Disneyland will be less crowded on a Monday!" kinda thing...)