Merry Christmas 2011!

Merry Christmas again! Last night we decided to go ahead and go to the midnight mass at church. That meant that Santa had to arrive and drop off presents while we were at church. This is a picture of what he left behind.

I tried to take a nap before going to church, but it was difficult. Eric seemed more awake than anyone else. Natalie openly admitted that she was tired but her mood held up. Eric got a little mellow on the car trip to church and when we got there, he complained about being tired and tried to go to sleep. He refused to sit on my lap, though. Instead he contorted his body so he could put his head on my lap. He awakened when we got home and he got upset that we wouldn't let him open presents. We used to go to midnight mass growing up and then open presents when we got home, but opening presents would have meant that the little ones would be up way too late and then they would make us "pay for it" the next day when they're cranky and tired. We'll probably do that when they get older.

I'm not sure when the little ones got up this morning, but they found their stockings and opened them in the downstairs bathroom. They were afraid of waking everyone up, for once. Their stockings included cereal, which they didn't start eating until Patrick found them in the bathroom and got them to go ahead and eat breakfast. They were quite busy playing with their Lego figure stocking stuffers for quite a while.

By the time the big boys got up, after 9am, I was already making chocolate and cinnamon sugar crescent rolls, and turkey bacon, so we waited until after everyone ate before we opened gifts. We didn't open gifts until after 10am!

I ususlly start out with getting photos of the kids with their unopened presents. Eric had the most gifts and they were all big. He said, "I have more presents than you!" He was pretty excited. He gave out the best giggles while he was opening each gift. This is a picture of the Lightning McQueen chair he received from his godfather. He got lots of Lightning McQueen stuff and he loved each and every one.

We were pretty relaxed the rest of the day. We snacked on those crescent rolls all day. Anthony was setting up his new laptop. Patrick tried to set up his new Apple TV. Alex was busy loading up his new iPod touch with apps and music and then playing with everything on it. Eric stayed in his pajamas all day, playing quietly with all of his new toys. Natalie was the only one who went outside, and that was around 11am when her neighborhood friend L.L. came by to play. I played Words With Friends and Bejeweled Blitz all day and I also went through some photos from the trip.

Tomorrow I'm planning on making some thank-you notes for the kids to fill out. We're expecting my sister Cynthia and her family to visit tomorrow afternoon. I hope everyone had a relaxed day filled with family, faith, and friends. Merry Christmas!

Last Day

Merry Christmas! I'll post a bit about our Christmas later. For now I'll recap our last day at Disney yesterday. We had a very relaxed morning. We packed first since we had to check out by 11am, so we didn't get to the Magic Kingdom until after 10am.

We wanted to ride on the Buzz Lightyear ride at least one more time. When we got there, the wait was only 30 minutes. Score! We went ahead and got fast passes too so we could ride again. When Anthony got the fast passes for us, they gave us "surprise" fast passes for the Carousel of Progress, so we rode on Buzz Lightyear, then the Carousel of Progress, then Buzz Lightyear one last time.

The first time, Anthony got the highest score pretty easily with almost 300,000. The second time, there were several delays in the ride but there was also some sort of malfunction in Anthony and Natalie's car. After just the first section, Anthony had already gotten close to 300,000 and soon after, Natalie maxed out at 999.999! They were both amazed and I think Natalie was a little excited.

After that we didn't try to do any other rides. Anthony and Alex would have wanted to ride Space Mountain, but the wait time was a couple of hours, which they didn't think was worth it. Instead we had lunch and then walked around for a bit. We came upon these stocks. Patrick and Anthony both wanted pictures. I would have wanted the others to take a turn too, but they weren't interested and there were a lot of people vying for a chance to take pictures too.

We used the monorail to get back to the hotel. They had a gigantic wreath on the side of the Contemporary Resort and I didn't get a chance to take a picture the last time we were traveling this way. I got my picture this time. I tried to take pictures of a lot of the Christmas decorations at Disney during this trip, but it wasn't the same as actually being there. Next time I think I would want to go during a less busy time of year, but it was really cool to be there during the holidays this time around.

We had an uneventful trip back home. We got home, began unpacking, and Patrick started doing laundry. Back to the usual routine...

Day 6

We had a change in plans early this morning. We originally made reservations for the Ohana Breakfast here at the Polyesian Resort. This is the character breakfast where Lilo and Stitch and friends visit and everyone marches around in a musical parade during breakfast. We've gone to this a couple of times before and the kids always have fun. We thought the reservations were for 8:30am since that's what it said in our iPhone calendars. Patrick had entered the time in at 7:30am and the phone automatically converted the time to 8:30am when we switched time zones. That meant that when we were getting ready at 8am, we had already missed the breakfast. On the plus side, we hadn't already prepaid for this meal so we didn't lose any money. If anything, we saved money from not going to a character breakfast. The kids didn't seem too disappointed at least, although Emily did express some disappointment and so did Natalie. At least that meant that we could go to the Animal Kingdom a little earlier and Anthony would get to go on the Expedition Everest ride that he really wanted to go on.

Despite the early start, we didn't get to the Animal Kingdom theme park until 10am. Even then, Anthony, Alex, and Natalie got to ride Expedition Everest three times. They got fast passes and then the wait times were 25 minutes and 30 minutes. After that they went on the Dinosaur ride.

Meanwhile Patrick, Eric and I managed to sit on the third row for the Festival of the Lion King show. Eric loved all the singing and dancing and he seemed especially fond of the acrobatic "monkeys". He also rode the TriceraTop Spin, which is a spinning ride with dinosaur shaped carriages. Then Patrick rode the Dinosaur ride with Anthony. Eric didn't want to go until Alex convinced him to. He ended up loving it.

We had originally planned on taking Eric to see the Finding Nemo musical, but the other kids didn't really want to do anything else at Animal Kingdom so we went back to the hotel to have lunch. After lunch, Eric and Alex hung out in the concierge lounge having goldfish and gummi bears.

Alex told Eric to bite the heads off the gummi bears because then "they can't fight back". Eric expressed his doubt saying "They won't fight back" to which Alex replied, "Just bite the heads off first anyway." They ended up biting the heads off 109 gummi bears, according to Alex and an unknown number of goldfish. Alex piled them all up on the table and wanted me to take a picture of the "carnage". This is just the "before" picture. Alex just cracks me up sometimes.

Eric wanted to ride on the train at the Magic Kingdom so Patrick and I took him there via boat. We just had to laugh because once we were on the train, Eric wanted to lie down on us because he was tired. He barely even looked around as the train traveled around the park. The afternoon parade was going on just as we got off the train and at least he paid attention to that.

When we got back, we saw the other kiddos playing in the sand. Of course they were all wearing their regular clothes and not their swimsuits. Alex had buried himself in the sand. For some reason, they decided to leave little holes for Alex's big toes to peek through and Anthony drew a smiley face on the sand with Alex's toes being the eyes. Later they changed into their swimsuits and made a big sand castle.

Natalie and Eric were playing in the sand for probably a good hour and a half before coming in for dinner. Eric even played in the pool and apparently chased his Papa around as a robot, a zombie who wanted brains, and then a zombie fish (since they were in the pool). He decided that Papa's brains were in his leg (that Eric could reach more easily) so he "ate" Papa's brains from his leg. I love it when they use their imagination like that. :)

Eric didn't want to stop playing in the sand. The only thing that enticed him was that he wanted to roast marshmallows, one of the nightly activities at this resort, and we wouldn't let him do that until he ate dinner.

We finished off the night by watching the movie they had on the big screen down on the beach at 7pm. The feature film was "Cars 2", Eric's favorite movie. Even though he has seen that movie a million times already, he was so excited when it came on. The movie had a few technical difficulties, as in it kept stopping, so after an hour, we convinced Eric to get his bath and watch the rest of the movie on the iPad.

We saw the night parade on the lake and the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom for the last time. We've enjoyed this trip immensely, but it'll be good to get back home tomorrow.

Day 5

We didn't arrive at Hollywood Studios until about 9:30am this morning. We immediately headed to the Toy Story Midway Mania. The waiting time was already 60 minutes. The park had just opened at 9am and the fast passes were already not available until after 6pm! We would have gotten fast passes, but at the time we wanted to go to the Fantasmic show at 6:30pm and the fast passes were going to be good for that period of time. By the time we finished the ride, the fast passes were gone. That was definitely the most popular ride in that park.

The Toy Story Mania ride is definitely everyone's favorite. Melissa and Emily really only wanted to go on that one ride. Everyone in my family also named that ride specifically as the one they didn't want to miss. We also get a little competitive. After we finished the ride, we met outside and compared scores. Anthony "won" with his score of 185,900. Alex and I both got around 131,000 while Patrick got around 128,000. Natalie got 68,000, I think. I have to give Patrick a few points because he rode with Eric and every so often he had to help him direct his shooter. Eric got 20,000. Alex was pretty happy to beat his Papa's score. I was surprised because he is much better at these shooting games than I am. Anthony and Patrick usually both do pretty well.

Our next stop was the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular at 11:30am. We thought that Eric especially would enjoy all the explosions. There's even an exploding airplane in that one. Next we had lunch and then we separated. We thought Eric (and the boys) would enjoy the Lights, Motors, and Action Extreme Stunt Show (at 1:20pm) because of all of the cars AND the explosions. We also got fast passes for Star Tours for later (at 3:50pm). Melissa and the girls decided to head to The American Idol Experience instead. That's a relatively new attraction where the audience watches some auditions, just like on the TV show, and vote for their favorite. Apparently the favorite for the day gets to be at the front of the line for the actual American Idol auditions.

They incorporated a few minutes to Lightning McQueen during the Lights, Motors, and Action Extreme Stunt Show. They had a car that looked like Lightning McQueen drive around as if he was looking for a spy car. Tow Mater was only shown on a big TV screen. That was enough to really get Eric excited about the show. Apparently he was telling his Aunt Melissa all about the show and the "explosions" later at dinner.

We had to kill some time after the show and before our Star Tours fast passes. We saw a line where you could get your photo taken with Lightning McQueen, so of course we got in that line. Anthony was with us and really helped entertain his brother to make the wait shorter. Patrick and Alex ran off to explore and to have a snack. Several times during this trip Eric has refused to have his picture taken. That wasn't the case this time.

We killed some more time having ice cream snacks, watching some live music, and watching the Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun parade. Anthony said that he was tall but that he wasn't tall enough to see over the "parent-child combos" that were watching the parade. In other words, there were several parents who had their children up on their shoulders so the kids could see the parade. Anthony couldn't see over them so the next best thing was to put his brother on his shoulders so Eric could also watch the parade. It was nice to see that interaction. Eric kept pointing to the Pixar characters that he knew and so he seemed to really enjoy the parade.

I took this second picture while we were waiting for our Star Tours show to start. Eric was being a little goofy. It was a 4-D experience complete with 3-D glasses and the feeling like you were in an actual space shuttle. Patrick and the boys enjoyed the show because it was a different story from the last time we were here.

We were getting tired at this point. Even Melissa and the girls had left the park to go back to the hotel to chill. Even though we had planned on seeing Fantasmic, we all decided that we didn't want to wait around at the Hollywood Studios park until 6:30pm just to see that show. Instead, we all headed to Downtown Disney. Melissa and the girls met us there and we ended up eating dinner at Cap'n Jack's Restaurant.

After dinner we went to the Lego Imagination Center. Eric and Natalie were there building their Lego creations for quite a while. I loved watching the concentration on Eric's face. I could tell he was enjoying himself because he didn't want to leave. The only thing that convinced him to leave was the rest of us going off to Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop for dessert. There we had the most decadent desserts. Alex had the "Domingo" or basically a sundae. Anthony had the Warm Brownie Sundae. No dieting during vacation, that's for sure! We all headed home after dessert and again we watching fireworks from our room. I'll never get tired of that.

Tomorrow we're heading to Animal Kingdom and we'll also be saying goodbye to Melissa and Emily.

Day 4

Even the little ones didn't get up until around 8am this morning. That's late for my youngest children. Everyone else got up right after, got dressed, and went to breakfast except for Anthony. He didn't get up until 9:30am. The rest of us went to Epcot without him and he caught up soon after.

Emily really only wanted to ride on Test Track, so that was our first destination. By the time we got there, around 10:30am, the wait was already 80 minutes. We all got fast passes except for Anthony who wasn't there yet, but those passes weren't going to be good until 2:15pm. Emily wanted to ride Test Track right away, so Melissa stayed in line with the girls. The rest of us (soon joined by Anthony) went to The Seas so Eric could ride the Nemo and Friends ride. He loves Nemo. The ride itself wasn't incredibly thrilling. You basically just ride through scenes from the Finding Nemo story. Eric loved it though. What he loved even more was seeing the real fish in the aquariums after the ride was over. He could have stayed there the whole day. When we passed through the gift shop on the way out, he really wanted the small Nemo and Dory stuffed animals that were for sale there. We didn't want to carry those for the rest of the day, however, so we persuaded a very reluctant four-year-old to leave without them.


We went to lunch in the World Showcase Mexico area. At first Patrick said that we can have Mexican food any time, but we were hungry and tired and Mexico was the first country that we came to in the World Showcase. We met Melissa and the girls there after their first Test Track ride. We went to Norway and rode the Maelstrom ride which was a water ride about Norway. It was short and we didn't have to wait long. Then it was time to go back to Test Track and use the fast passes.

Anthony took the first photo above when they were in Test Track. I gave my fast pass to Anthony, since I didn't care to go and he enjoyed it much more than I would. Eric was just barely tall enough (you had to be at least 40 inches) but he was able to ride. That car-loving boy loved it, of course. The second photo above I took in the afternoon when we wandered around the World Showcase again. We ate dessert crepes and ice cream in France. We had desserts (earlier) in Norway. We went to gift shops in Norway (where we took a picture with a troll) and Japan. Anthony also went off by himself at one point to get on Mission: Space. Because he was a single rider, he was able to ride in 10 minutes instead of the 40 minutes wait time. We didn't even bother to go to Soarin' where the wait was as much as 180 minutes! Oh, and the boys did go and do some other things like Innoventions. They didn't even try to get on any other rides.

One of Eric's favorite places today was the showcase of GM cars that was right after Test Track. I had to really bargain with him to tear him away from getting in all of the real cars and pretending to drive. We almost got hung up in the gift shop. He really wanted me to buy him one of the monorail toys. When I said that he already had one at home (from our last trip three years ago), he said that he wanted to have two.

We didn't get back to the hotel until around 6pm. My feet and legs were aching. Eric found some renewed energy when we took the monorail and boat back to the hotel, which was good because we still had the Spirit of Aloha dinner and show at 8pm. Eric was reluctant to go even though we told him there would be music, dancing, and fire. Once the show started, though, he really got into it and started dancing in his chair. At one point in the show, the guy on stage dropped some leaves and the announcer said that "picking up the leaves was a symbol of love, peace, and friendship". The guy on stage kept pointing to Patrick with his spear at that point. They said that phrase about three more times while the guy was pointing to Patrick before Patrick realized that he was supposed to go on stage and pick up the leaves! We were so surprised that we didn't get any video or pictures. Anthony actually did take one photo with his phone, but it was of Patrick's rear as he bent down to pick up the leaves, so I decided not to post it here. ;)

In the end, Eric said he enjoyed the dancing the most. :) Tomorrow we're heading to Hollywood Studios.

Day 3

We were all quite exhausted this morning when the alarm rang at 7am, but we all managed to get up and dressed, have breakfast, and be at the front of the resort by about 8am when we met the taxis there.

Our cab driver told us that the Universal Studios Islands of Adventure theme park was a small one and that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was but a small part of it. He also said that there has been a huge increase in the number of visitors there after the Harry Potter area opened. He thought we would be okay getting there so early but that there would be lots of people there. "Lots of people" was an understatement.

Our first stop was actually in the Dr. Seuss area called Seuss Landing. Eric wanted to ride on the "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" ride. Patrick and the big boys joined him. They didn't realize until they sat down and the seats were wet that it was a ride where you could get wet. They didn't get too wet, but they were surprised. It was one of those rides where you control the height you're flying at as the rides spins around. If you're not high enough, the water spouts will squirt you.

We met Melissa and the girls in the Harry Potter area. Melissa was already in line for the Harry Potter an the Forbidden Journey ride because the expected wait was going to be TWO hours! On the plus side, the line moved quickly and we got to see the inside of Hogwarts Castle. They had pictures that "moved" just like in the movies and books. We also got to see things like the "mandrakes" in pots as we passed through the greenhouse area. This first picture was right before we entered the castle.

We managed to get a little further up in line by doing what they call the "child swap". Since Eric wasn't tall enough to ride, one of us would have to stay with him. They had this little room near the front of the line where you could wait with your child until the rest of your party went through the ride. We ended up not doing that because Emily didn't want to ride after seeing the warnings about avoiding the ride if you have motion sickness, which she does. I was a little tentative myself, but I wanted to see what it was like. It was a fun ride and well done and the boys loved it, but I have to admit that the up and down and flying sensation left me with a queasy stomach and a headache. That was even with me closing my eyes during part of it. So after I reporte back to Melissa who was waiting with Eric and Emily, she didn't care to ride either. The wait and the ride turned out to be more like an hour plus.

The girls desperately wanted to stay in the Harry Potter area to shop and to look around at the sites they remembered from the Harry Potter books. The big boys wanted to get on some rides. Eric was already asking to go back to the hotel. Patrick kept him interested by taking him back to the Seuss Landing area. This is a picture that Anthony took of Eric riding on the Caro-Seusss-el carousel ride. Look at that big smile! When we met up later, Eric told me that he had a lot of fun. :)

Meanwhile, Melissa, the girls, and I went to stores called Zonko's and Honey Dukes, again straight out of the Harry Potter books and movies. If we had wanted to see the demonstration where you could see how your wand picks you, we would have been in line for an hour. Instead we opted to merely visit Ollivander's Wand Shop. That line was only about 15-20 minutes long. You could select wands based on your birthdate, but Natalie didn't want that wand so she picked another one. Emily picked the wand that corresponded to her birthdate. After that we ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks (we had to wait in line to get in) where the girls got their first taste of frozen Butterbeer. I had some too and it was a bit sweet but tasty. I later learned that the big boys had two butterbeers each, so apparently they liked them too. After lunch, they weren't interested in any rides at all. The Harry Potter area was shoulder to shoulder with people, so thankfully they saw what they wanted to see and we went looking for the rest of our family.

Melissa had bought all of our tickets and she bought two extra "Express Plus" passes so the boys could get in the much shorter lines at the rides. The cost of those passes was almost the cost of a whole ticket, but it was so worth it. The boys were able to ride on the Flight of the Hippogriff three times, Poseidon's Fury, and the Caro-Suessel, in the span of about two to three hours. The wait on at least one of those was an hour without the special passes. Additionally, when Melissa went back to the hotel with the little ones, Anthony rode on the Incredible Hulk Coaster twice in about an hour. Patrick was with him but decided to avoid that ride since it takes you upside down. He decided that having even the chance of a heart attack might not be the most prudent move.

Patrick and Anthony also went through the Toon Lagoon area where they had these word bubbles mounted on the light posts so you could pose under them. This was one of the reasons why Anthony wanted to stay a bit longer, so he could take pictures there. He has been taking lots of pictures during this vacation. I love it because I have pictures to use for my blog and someone else is aware of the photo opportunities out there. Patrick heard Anthony say that he realized that the next time we take a Disney vacation, he might be in college and not able to come with us, so he is savoring this time. He also wants to be able to share the memories with his friends. No matter the reason, I love that someone else is taking pictures!

While Patrick and Anthony were off exploring, Alex and I were relaxing in the City Walk area in the shade and enjoying the beautiful weather. When they were finished, we headed back to the hotel. Melissa was with the little ones on the beach when we arrived. Later, Patrick and the boys enjoyed burying Eric in the sand and watching the movie Lilo and Stitch in the pool area. Eric and Natalie fell asleep early, but the rest of us watched the "Wishes" fireworks display over the Cinderella's Castle and the Magic Kingdom from our rooms.

Tomorrow we're planning on going to Epcot and we're not planning on getting up too early!

Day 2

This was the view from the big picture windows in the concierge lounge this morning during breakfast. Gorgeous, isn't it? I didn't take many photos with my iPhone today, so I won't have any others to share, at least not until I get home.

We had breakfast around 8am. Patrick woke up the big boys too. The little ones had been up for a while. I finally got up when Natalie told me they were hungry.

We brought our jackets with us to the Magic Kingdom, but it warmed up very quickly. It was very crowded so we didn't get to do too much. We started out on Main Street. We were about to get one of the Disney photographers to take a family photo in front of Cinderella's Castle, but we had to wait for the horse-driven trolley to pass by. Well, while we were waiting, the horse decided to take a dump right next to where we were. Natalie and Eric got the biggest kick out of that!

Next, we stopped off in front of the castle to watch a show then proceeded to go to Tomorrowland. Everyone seemed the most interested in the rides and shows there. Our first show was the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. The wait was only about 10 minutes and even Eric laughed at the jokes. Natalie wanted to go to Stitch's Great Escape next while the boys wanted to go to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. The wait there was 30 minutes, which wasn't bad, but they decided to get a Fast Pass instead so we could meet back up with Patrick and Natalie to go in together.

In the meantime, the big boys went to Space Mountain while Eric and I enjoyed one of the "street parties" with music, dancing, and hula hoops. Chip and Dale were there along with Stitch. Eric was mostly watching until Pluto arrived. He seemed drawn to Pluto and wanted to get a picture with him--we did. After that Eric came alive and started playing with the hula hoops. This was about when Patrick and Natalie joined us.

We all ended up meeting for lunch. Anthony got a burger and chili cheese fries but made a big deal out of how he was being "healthy" by choosing apples instead of fries. Then it was time to use our Buzz Lightyear Fast Passes.

The biggest story with that ride was that Patrick beat Anthony's score pretty handily, with about 178,000 versus Anthony's 138,000. Eric brought up the rear with 700 points. We all had a blast, though. That is definitely one of our favorite rides time after time.

Next we voted to go to Adventureland and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride or at least everyone except Alex who hung out in the gift shop instead. The wait was 40 minutes but the line went quickly. We didn't even have time to sit down when there were chairs available. Eric seemed very tired at first, asking to be carried, but by the end of the ride, he was singing "Yo ho ho! A pirate's life for me!"

Anthony and Alex stayed while the rest of us went back to the hotel. Eric and Natalie really wanted to play in the sand and swim in the pool. Melissa arrived soon after so Emily was able to play too. Anthony texted me soon after to say that they were coming back because the lines were too long and their legs were tired.

The little ones were outside for a long time before we all headed to our rooms. We relaxed there until it was time to go to the Hoop De Doo Revue dinner scheduled for 8:30. We got there early to be sure but the trip by boat took about a good 45 minutes or so.

The dinner was really fun. Patrick joked that Anthony could tell his friends that they served actual buckets of food. Eric had a shocked look on his face when the entertainers walked in singing and banging drums. He seemed to really enjoy himself at first, but after he ate he was ready to go home. He rapidly deteriorated to the point where he was trying to sleep all curled up in his chair and was almost in tears because it was "too loud". I was tired anyway, so I took him home a few minutes before the show ended. Natalie wasn't doing well either and we saw her "piano face" during the last part of the show.

Anthony and Alex stopped off at the Magic Kingdom on the way back. They only had time for one ride--Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, one of their favorites. The wait time was 50 minutes with some added delay, but it had been 90 minutes earlier, so they were happy to be able to ride.

We have another big day planned for tomorrow. We're headed to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure especially Harry Potter World. I hope the little ones (and the big ones too) do okay after our long day today.

Day 1

We're here! Eric was so excited this morning that he kept asking if it was time to go to the airport every five minutes or every time he saw someone come downstairs. In the meantime, he was pulling his Lightning McQueen suitcase back and forth. When we did get to the airport he asked why we couldn't get on the plane yet. On the plane he asked when we were going to get to Disney--and so on. He fell asleep on the plane which made his view of the trip much shorter, thank goodness.

We finally got to the Polynesian Resort around 6pm. We had some food in the concierge lounge then Natalie and Eric were anxious to go play in the sand outside. The big boys were interested in going to Downtown Disney, so Patrick went with the little ones and I went with the big ones.

This is a picture of the big boys building light sabers at one of the stores in Downtown Disney--Once Upon A Toy, I think. They were having so much fun mixing and matching parts. Anthony wanted to "fight" after they finished their creations, but Alex didn't, so we just walked away.

It's always fun for me to be with the boys and to hear them talking about this or that. Even when they're arguing or making fun of each other I can hear the mutual respect they have for each other. It's rather nice.

We went to various stores including The World of Disney, Ghirardelli, and Lego. Anthony was already in a goofy mood, as evidenced by wanting to fight his brother using the light sabers I mentioned above. He also tried on a bunch of silly hats and posed in front of a Lego Buzz Lightyear and Woody. His goofiness spread to his more reserved brother. Even Alex started trying on hats, and more importantly, Alex let me take pictures!

It was really crowded in Downtown Disney but it was still fun. We headed home around 9:30, or at least that's when the bus finally picked us up. That meant that we missed the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom, but Patrick and the little ones got to see them from our room. At least our luggage finally got here while we were gone.

Oh and Anthony had the Midnight Reverie at Ghirardelli, which was chocolate ice cream with dark hot fudge. Alex had the vanilla shake and he already has plans to have the Banana Split if we go there again, and we will at least once since Patrick will want to go too.

Patrick wished that he could have gone to Ghirardelli with us. Instead he was back at the hotel thinking that he had lost Natalie. He allowed Natalie to return to our room early after she begged repeatedly. She ended up going to the wrong building. Never mind that they were right outside our building. So when Eric and Patrick got back to our room, Natalie wasn't there and Patrick frantically went looking for her with Eric in tow. Thankfully when he went back to our room again, Natalie was already there taking a shower, totally oblivious to the stress that she had caused. Yes, Patrick definitely could have used some chocolate. He had a drink instead.

I'm not sure where we're going tomorrow, but my sister Melissa will be joining us with my niece Emily.

Christmas Card Sweatshop

By the time this is set to post on my blog, we'll be headed to the airport for our trip. I got a welcome surprise for my birthday yesterday. The Christmas Cards that I had ordered only one week ago arrived today. I ordered the standard shipping and it wasn't due to arrive until next Tuesday, but there it was on our doorstep this afternoon. I was so relieved! I hated waiting so long to get the Christmas photo and I hated not being able to make my own cards this year. Ordering the card was a nice option under the circumstances but I was frustrated with not being able to send them out until we got back, which would mean they wouldn't get mailed out until after Christmas.

As soon as I realized what the package was, I called the kids into action. Anthony and Natalie came right away. Alex always has to go to the bathroom first. They folded the cards, stuffed and then sealed them into the envelopes. Patrick printed out the address labels, the kids applied the labels onto the envelopes.

I was a little frustrated with Natalie because some of the address labels were very crooked. She told me "They don't have to be perfect, Mama!" I told her she was right but that she still had to make it look like she cared about how it looked! Sigh.

Patrick knew that not having the cards out yet was stressing me out, so at 9pm or so, he drove out to the post office to mail the cards. We'll have to wait until after Christmas to mail the international ones since the post office wasn't open, but finally I can enjoy my vacation without Christmas chores still hanging over my head!

I called this my "Christmas Card Sweatshop" because I put the kiddos to work to get these cards done and mailed right away. I love that they were all such a big help especially the biggest "kid", Patrick!

Happy Birthday to Me!

We went out for breakfast at IHOP this morning. Everyone went except for Alex. He wanted to stay in bed and I was fine with that. It was ironic because last night when we talked about going to IHOP for breakfast, he said that he didn't mind getting up early for IHOP.

Last night also, I walked into the formal dining room to find Anthony and Alex sitting in front of a kraft paper-wrapped present. I wondered why they were wrapping one of the kids' presents right where they could walk in. It was only later that I realized that the wrapping paper wasn't Christmas wrapping paper.

After we got home from breakfast, they presented me with the present that they had decorated themselves. I love the little personal touches, like the narwhal and the shark. I didn't ask them who drew what, but Eric said that the car was his and Natalie said she was the one who put the shark on the side (big surprise).

As I started opening it, Patrick said that I would never guess what it was. I thought for a second and realized what it probably was. I guessed it right, of course--a pillow with that special foam stuff to make it firmer. I'm leaning on it now as I'm typing it. Very nice! As soon as I said "pillow" I knew I was right because of the big smile on Patrick's face. :)

We did have a busy morning. Breakfast at around 9am then home to open my present and then Natalie's recital was at 10:30am. This is a picture of her with her teacher. As you can see from their body language, they are not as close as Natalie was to her previous teacher. Still, she seems to be learning things from him and he is very patient with her. She did a fantastic job with her two pieces and then we picked up Wendy's for lunch since Wendy's is her favorite fast food place. We had just barely eaten breakfast, but she and her brothers were already ready for lunch.

Oh, and I almost forgot--Natalie's piano teacher gave the kids a "holiday scepter of excellence" after each of their performances. That is better known as a "candy cane". We all got a kick out of that alternative way of describing candy canes.

We stayed home all afternoon, went to church, then out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory at the Rim. This is a new location and so far I was impressed. I ordered my usual Chinese Chicken Salad. Usually I ask for a to-go box right away so I can split my meal before eating any of it. That way I can keep the other half from getting soggy from the dressing and it tastes better the next day that way. Well, at this location, they split it up and boxed it for me. I was impressed.

We were all too full to eat any cheesecake, but we ordered one slice of their Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake to eat later and a whole cheesecake to leave in the freezer until we get back from Disney on Christmas Eve.

I had a great birthday today. I got to spend it with my family, which is all I ever want, but I also get to go away to one of my favorite places tomorrow. Disney, here we come!

School Christmas Party

I was postcall today, but I had a great night so I was able to go about without having to take a nap. I had lunch with my friend Anne Marie, who is retiring from the military. I never get to go out with girlfriends and I wasn't on a tight schedule so lunch was nice and relaxing.

Around 2:30pm, I headed to Eric's school for his Christmas Party. They were going to have it after nap time, which meant that when I got there, there were still several kids that were asleep. There is a computer room just outside of Eric's classroom so there were actually a handful of parents already there waiting for the party. Of course my child was not one of the ones asleep. Eric had his head up looking around. He watched me walking in and he smiled. I had not seen him since yesterday so seeing him was especially sweet.

There was a sign-up sheet for party food, but most of what they requested was "sweet treats". Eric's teacher kept putting sweet item after sweet item on the plates that the parents had brought. The picture above shows the M & M cookie, ding-dong type treat, mini-cupcake, and chocolate pudding. After that she added donut holes. At least they had a couple of more healthy choices like the fruit (grapes, pineapple, and apples), a cheese stick, and carrot sticks. The carrot sticks were last and as the teacher put it on the kids' plates, several of them were already saying that they weren't going to eat it--my son included. Out of 12 kids, only one ate the carrot sticks. What a waste of food!

Luckily, Eric didn't eat much more than what you see in the picture above. He ate most of the fruit. I ate the carrot sticks.

After the food they had a book gift exchange. Eric was one of the last ones to receive a book and he was so excited. He managed to wait until we got home to open the gift. Natalie was at home when we got home and she not only helped him open the gift, but she also read the book to him. I never get tired of seeing the older ones read to the younger ones.

Our Visit With Santa

I picked Eric up from school at around 10am, after he had only been there a couple of hours. That way he could play with his friends a little and I could go to the grocery store to get a few things. When I got there, his teacher said that Santa had come for a visit that morning. Eric said that Santa gave him a candy cane and then proceeded to tell me how there were candy canes that were different colors. Two of his friends got "rainbow-colored" candy canes and how "you can't eat rainbows". I had planned on taking Eric to La Cantera Mall to see Santa and I wondered how Santa's visit to his school would affect the visit to Santa at the mall.

We walked into the Food Court at La Cantera, and Santa's Workshop was right there. I thought we were going to go eat lunch first, but when he saw Santa, Eric went up right to him, so I decided that we would have to get the pictures taken then and there. The elves at Santa's Workshop let me take photos for free last year, so I felt like I "owed" them or at least I felt like I owed Santa since he works so hard. I let them take a couple of photos and I bought the smallest package--1 5x7 and 2 3x5 photos for $25 tax included. I liked my photo better. ;) Santa's elf told Eric to say "cheese" while I told him to say "Lightning McQueen"--a little less cheesy and a lot more personality, I think.

After the visit, we played on the new indoor kiddie rides and then ate Chick-Fil-A. Actually, I still had a bean and cheese taco from Benny's Tacos this morning, so I ate that. I bought breakfast for Anthony and a couple of his friends--8 tacos and two drinks for less than $10. You can't beat that.

We traded in the book that came in the kid's meal for some soft-serve ice cream. Eric took forever eating that cone, but he enjoyed every bit of it. Finally the cone got too soft and it sort of collapsed, but he had eaten almost every drop of ice cream by then. We even took a video of him licking the ice cream, at his request.

Eric made a comment after our visit with Santa. He said, "There are two Santas." All I said was "Really?" He is one intelligent, very observant little boy.

Christmas Card Photo 2011

I've been very absent from my blog, but my last Christmas task (sort of--we still need to mail the Christmas cards) is done. I finally got my Christmas picture of the kids on Sunday. We had rain all weekend, and really for all of the past week. I was about to try to get a picture of the kids inside the house but it was just too dark inside with the overcast skies outside. The rain had let up a bit and the ground wasn't too muddy, so we went outside. I might add that I had a jacket on while I took this photo but my children were not cold at all. In fact, Natalie had started running around the backyard and Eric followed suit. She's trying to tippy-toe in this photo so she'll appear taller--what a goof. That meant that Eric got all riled up and I couldn't calm him down for photos. He was Mr. Action Man for most of the photo session, except for the time when I told him I wouldn't give him another Cars car (I have one left). At least he stayed still enough to pose for pictures, even with a cheesy grin.

After I got this photo I uploaded it to make a Christmas card. I couldn't manage to make my own cards this year. Maybe I'll make my own cards next year. Maybe I'll start trying to get a Christmas photo a little earlier next year too. Of course we won't have a big Disney trip the week before Christmas next year either. For those of you on my Christmas card list, I'll have to send them out after we get back, so you won't get them until after Christmas. I promise that they'll be worth the wait. They're the most beautiful kids in the world, after all. :)

Happy Birthday, Patrick!

I've been really tired this week. I've been getting off work, going to pick up Alex from the school bus stop before heading home, and then Patrick goes back out to pick up Anthony after his high school soccer practice (which doesn't end until 6pm). On Tuesday, they went straight to Anthony's club soccer practice while I took Natalie to swimming. Alex stayed home with Eric. I haven't been feeling very crafty, so my December Daily album is still pretty empty. I've had no energy to post on my blog either, in fact, I've actually been going to bed early.

So, when Thursday rolled around and it was Patrick's birthday, I knew I was in for a late night and I didn't get a chance to upload photos or do a birthday post for my blog. Alex and Natalie got to miss their respective sports practices so we could go out to eat as a family. I picked up Alex as usual then we went as a family to pick up Anthony so we could go straight to El Mirasol for dinner.

Patrick had his usual top-shelf margarita and chicken mole enchiladas. I had the fish tacos. Anthony had the chicken flautas. Alex had the Tampiquena steak by himself, although he gave a large portion of the steak to his sister. Natalie had her usual refried beans in addition to the steak, and Eric had his usual queso dip with flour tortillas and some of the borracho beans from Alex's meal. For desert, Anthony, Natalie, and Eric all had some Tres Leches cake. Patrick and I had a little of it, and Alex just watched from across the table. He was saving room for dessert at home.

By the time we got home, it was almost 8pm. Patrick opened his presents. We got him a couple of "PhoneSuit" brand battery devices to charge his iPhone and other iDevices on the go. He wasn't expecting it and he said that he liked it.

By the time we got everyone in bed, I was tired and ready to sleep also. Patrick had spent all day at home mostly playing his Skyrim game on the PS3. He wanted a quiet day at home and a family dinner. He has simple needs, but he has the right priorities. Happy Birthday, Patrick! :)

Elf On The Shelf

Alex has really been getting into this Elf On The Shelf activity. He was so tickled when he came up with the idea of eating a bunch of candy and putting the elf in the middle of all the wrappers. He doesn't smile as much as he used to, but he had a big grin on his face when he did this. Eric did too. He got a big kick out of the elf eating a bunch of candy. He didn't notice the elf until he went into the pantry to get a paper plate for lunch on Saturday.

Alex set this one up on Saturday night for the little ones to find on Sunday morning. Patrick usually sets out the donuts with some plates so they can help themselves since they get up so much earlier than everyone else. I was the one that decided that it would be more authentic to put a little chocolate on Red the Elf's face. I didn't see the kiddos when they first saw this, but later when I finally came down to eat, I saw it and asked them about it. Natalie responded matter-of-factly and not her usual enthusiastic self, which made me think that maybe she doesn't believe in such things anymore. Eric responded with a laugh which made me think that he's getting used to this whole elf idea. At least he hasn't asked me lately to remove the elf because he doesn't want to be watched.

Anthony came up with this idea last night. I'm trying to make this something creative for the big boys to do so they can get into the Christmas spirit also. They seem so jaded sometimes and it's nice that they enjoy doing this for their younger siblings.

Apparently they saw Red the Elf on the sofa this morning, but they didn't make a big deal out of it. I'm not sure what that means.

The Weather Outside

I was going to title this post "The Weather Outside Is Frightful" but it really wasn't. Anthony was supposed to have soccer playoffs all weekend--as many as five games if we made it to the finals, but they rescheduled it for next week. They called it off because we were supposed to have thunderstorms, except that we didn't. It did rain, mostly drizzle, pretty much all weekend, but it wasn't nearly bad enough to call off a soccer game. Now, when they play next weekend, if they make the finals, it'll be the following weekend--the weekend of the 17th-18th. We're leaving on the 18th. I want them to make it to the state finals, but I don't want Anthony to have to miss those games. Sigh!

On the up side, because the games were called off on Friday, Anthony would have been able to go to the National Honor Society volunteer event on Saturday morning. They were supposed to put up Christmas lights in a local neighborhood. He needed this event as part of his NHS requirements. Unfortunately, that was called off too. I got him up at around 7:45am so he could get ready to go to it. We didn't know until we were already driving in the car that the event was called off.

Anthony had figured that the event was going to get called off. That's why I had to get him up and he wasn't already up. The little ones wanted to go by Benny's Tacos near Anthony's school though, and then to Starbucks, so I was always going to take them along. Patrick felt like going to Starbucks for breakfast too, so we all went except for Alex. Alex wanted to stay home to play on the PS3.

When we got the call about the cancelled event, we went to the nearest Starbucks instead. Natalie and Eric had their usual. Patrick and I shared a mocha frappucino and we each had breakfast sandwiches. Anthony had a strawberry smoothie (like Natalie) and two pieces of pound cake (marble and lemon). They didn't have tables big enough to seat all of us, so we sat at the long table against the window--perfect for looking outside at the icky weather.

We didn't really do anything else yesterday. Natalie did have her friend M.E. over to our house and then she had a neighborhood birthday party. There was a lot of PS3 and iPad time. I should have been working on my December Daily album, but the weather just made me feel lazy. That's okay, my Christmas shopping is now DONE after some online orders this afternoon!

Season For Giving

Yesterday, Anthony had his last day of Model U.N. He wasn't going to be finished until around 7:30pm. He also had a class in school where the assignment was to put together a fundraiser to raise money for the local food bank. Their fundraiser was last night from 5:30-8pm at his school. They were going to sell food and they had activities like a bouncy house and games planned. It's the right time of year to hold a function like this. Unfortunately, it rained all day and they couldn't hold a lot of the outside activities. We figured that they wouldn't have a good turnout because of the weather, so we made an effort to go.

We had hotdog, chips, and soda for dinner there. Alex stayed home, as usual. There were really only two games, bowling and a cake walk. There was a DJ that played music, and there were a few families there. The bulk of the attendants were the students in the class who were putting on this fundraiser. Natalie and Eric did the bowling a couple of times, but they had the most fun when they were chasing each other. In fact, when it was time to leave, Eric didn't want to leave because he was busy chasing Natalie and he wanted to be chased back. I indulged him a little until I realized that if I kept running after him, he would get tired but then so would I. We left soon after that.

Anthony wasn't there during our visit. Patrick wanted to take us home so that he would have time to hang out at home before going back to get Anthony. After Model U.N., Anthony wanted to go to the fundraiser to help clean up. It was a worthwhile effort, but it was nice when he finally got home. I think we all missed him the last few days because of the long days he's been putting in for Model U.M.

December Daily: Christmas Spirit

Each day this month I'll either post pages from my December Daily album (an idea from Ali Edwards) or just the pictures themselves, at least until our Disney vacation. I would love to post pics then too, but I don't think it'll happen. I'd rather enjoy the vacation. :)

This year I'm taking Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas (JYC) class. She provides prompts, downloads, photo tips, etc. This first picture shows my pages closed. The "Christmas Manifesto" is a download from JYC. I can't seem to decide which album to use for this, so I'm waiting to punch holes in my pages until I decide which album. Sorry for the bad photos, but it was too late to get any decent light. My theme for Day 1 was "Christmas Spirit".

This shows the first page opened up. The photo on back of the page is my Lego calendar at work. I took a picture of it so I could show Patrick how my number "31" is missing. Luckily, my office mate helped my find it today. One of the blank white Lego bricks at the top was turned sideways.

The right side is a transparency page with another download from the JYC class. Last year, I regretted not doing transparency pages in between the day pages. I really like that look, so I bought a few this year to use. I'm trying to stretch those supplies by only using partial pages.

This shows the transparency page flipped over. The picture behind it is a picture of our elf Red relaxing on Natalie's Groovy Girl bed with a Christmas book. This still did not seem to amuse Eric. He still asked me to remove Red because he didn't want to be watched.

The right hand side shows the Caramel Brulee Latte that I got from Starbucks yesterday. I stopped by on the way to work and I figured that getting one of their "holiday drinks" would put me in the Christmas spirit, or at least that was my excuse. :)

I'm going to use daily printouts using Ali Edwards' digital overlays from Designer Digitals just like last year. The overlays make my book look more finished without a lot of extra work. I decided to cram a bunch of photos on the back side of the above page in a landscape instead of portrait orientation because this enabled me to get this page done quickly. Natalie wanted the new Lego City Calendar for this year. Eric picked his Playmobil advent calendar out before the Lego City Calendar was available at our local Toy Zone toy store, so when he saw the Lego City Calendar, he wanted that one instead. Luckily, he didn't mind sticking with his original choice.

The older boys weren't interested in advent calendars, so I didn't bother getting them any. They didn't even eat up the candy in their advent calendars a couple of years ago, so I didn't buy them the edible advent calendars either. Advent calendars definitely help with getting some Christmas spirit. Traditionally, they build up anticipation as the child counts down to Christmas. This is not the case with Eric. After he opened up the door #1 yesterday, he wanted to open up all the doors. I explained to him that he could use this as a way to know when it was finally Christmas. He didn't sound convinced, but he refrained from opening up more doors for now.

Midweek Update

I just want to post a quick note without any photos. I'm exhausted and I need to get to bed.

Anthony had a Model U.N. event this afternoon/evening after school. In fact, he just got home around 9pm. He's missing school tomorrow and Friday for this event also. From what I gather, each student represents a different country and issue. He happens to be "representing" China and his topic is Human Rights. He's got his work cut out for him. He'll be busy with this so his school work will be piling up. He'll be home late again tomorrow and then on Friday when the Model U.N. event is over he's volunteering at a Food Bank event at his school. On Saturday he was signed up to help put up Christmas lights for one of the neighborhoods near his school for National Honor Society, except that he also has three soccer games for the soccer playoffs. If they win they'll have two more games on Sunday. I'm tired just thinking about it...

I also want to post a short update on the Elf on the Shelf. Apparently Eric kept looking at Red, who I had placed in his room on top of the window blinds. Eric wouldn't go near Red and he kept saying, "I don't want him to watch me. Can you move him?" Eventually he started playing with his cars that were all lined up on that windowsill, but he doesn't seem happy with Red right now.

Tomorrow is December 1st, so I'm going to post pictures daily (hopefully) as part of my annual December Daily album. I got a bit behind last year, so we'll see how it goes this year.

Elf and Penguins

Natalie, Eric, and I went to swim team practice tonight then Dollar Scoop Tuesday at Baskin-Robbins. We drove by another Baskin-Robbins a couple of weeks ago and Eric said, "Look! There's a Dollar Scoop Tuesday!" Since that's how we seem to refer to it, that's what he thinks is the name. Too funny.

We got this in the mail today. My mother-in-law sent it for Natalie and Eric to be opened before Christmas, so I let them open it after their shower/bath. I was surprised that Natalie did most of the opening. Eric just watched, maybe because he was pretty tired. He wanted her to read the accompanying book though, and she did. The book says that they're supposed to name the elf. What would you expect them to name him? They named him "Red" of course! I was a bit amused that Eric, when he heard that "Red" was supposed to watch them to see if they're being good, said that he didn't want "Red" to watch him. I'm curious to see how he reacts to him in the coming days.

I just told Alex about Red and how I put Red in his room for tonight. He wasn't familiar with the "Elf on a Shelf" story so I told him. Alex replied, "That's a little creepy." I had to laugh, especially when Patrick agreed. We'll see how it goes...

Speaking of Christmas, we put up our tree and some of the Christmas decorations on Saturday. This is the Hallmark Keepsake ornament that Natalie picked out this year. She loves penguins and she and Eric both love the ornaments that play music. This one plays "Jingle Bell Blues" or at least I think that's what it's called. I asked her to hang it up high so Eric couldn't reach it. I can just see him hanging on it and pulling the branch and potentially the whole tree down with it. Of course he heard this and said that he wanted to reach it. Maybe I'll have to rethink that...

Speaking of the color red, Natalie's favorite color (and mine) is red. I found these penguin place mats at Target. At first I only saw the red Santa ones and the green penguin ones. She saw them and said that it would be perfect if they had red penguin place mats. Needless to say, she immediately approved these when I brought them home. I saw some red penguin shirts at Gymboree yesterday that Natalie would love. I'll have to tell Grandma about them. ;)

This one is a bit off-topic, but I thought I would include this picture of Alex wearing his brand new headphones. He was listening to music instead of participating in the tree decorating. We were all wondering what was up with him. Anthony even started calling him "Grinch". There was some laundry that needed to be folded and Anthony said that we should make Alex fold it before he could play any video games. Of course those headphones are so good at blocking out everything except the music that Alex only heard part of the conversation. He thought Anthony was suggesting a "punishment" for him and we were letting him. That really hurt his feelings and made him retreat even more. I love Alex, I want him to be happy, and the headphones make him happy, but I suspect that we will have a lot more problems with communication than we already do. Sigh.