Grandpa's Birthday Card

We decided to send my dad a birthday card from Disneyland. It took forever to choose just one of the post cards. We ended up getting the one Grace wanted. She told us that we could get this one and send it to Grandpa and he could put tape on it and tape it to his head so it looks like he is wearing a Mickey Mouse hat. She was so excited to send that one. I made a note that he should do it and send a picture back so Grace could see it. Grace was so excited that he did. She thought that was great. So thanks for the pictures Dad and Happy Birthday. By the way, I just had the thought that you might have sent a gift to Abi for her birthday but the post office lost some of our mail so if you did we didn't get it, so that's why we didn't say thanks. We love you!

Tuesdays Stink

Today didn't really start with a bang either. Abi has been sick for the last 5 days, throwing up everyday, is having bowel problems (not bough Debra), and has a moderate fever. Boy has she been a crank. The weird thing is that every one else has been fine. Anyway, Abi slept in this morning, in spite of the girls jumping on the bed right next to her in fits of screaming laughter. I was downstairs putting the laundry in and the girls start yelling "Mom Abi threw up three times on her hand and her pillow." The proceeded to tell me that they didn't give her the throw up bowl that has become her personal accessory because Abi was between them and it and they didn't want to get near her because it smells bad. So I change Abi, put the whole pillow in the laundry room to be washed (see maybe I should have put off doing laundry, then I would have been able to throw it in the wash right away instead of it making my bathroom smell), and go wash my hands. I was bringing Abi downstairs to eat breakfast and she said to me "I want to go to Disneyland." That made me smile. She asked to get into the stroller, which is currently outside being rained on and I told her so. She asked if she could ride her toy train and I told her she could. She got on it and then said, "Push me to Disneyland."

Things I didn't like this week
~Abi throwing up all the time, particularly on the way to or from dropping Scout off at school. It's hard to drive and try to hold a throw up bowl for her. It ends up that only about half of it actually gets in the bowl, the other half all over her and the car seat.
~Not being able to do anything all week because Abi wants to be held constantly. It's nice for a little while but after a few hours and 5 days I really have other things to do.
~The mail losing our paycheck, which is now 12 days overdue and Jared has been so slammed at work that he can't get over to the office to get another one reissued.
~Scout's song "Mommy is so rude"
~The dog we got from Alisha breaking the crate and ransacking the upstairs, chewing and breaking a big piece of my cedar chess off and ripping the carpet up in Scout's room so we are that much farther from ever being able to move. We sent him back.
~Jared being stress out at work and us both taking our stresses out on each other.

Things I have discovered this week
~Murphy is turning out to be an excellent dog in his middle age. He no longer pulls you off your feet to get to other people or dogs. We can have people over to our house without any problems from him. He respects the line of not going upstairs and has never ruined anything in our house.
~It's easier to keep the books cleaned up in the girls room when you have a book shelf.
~We will probably be living here for another three years.
~If you miss your kid's birthday, it's hard to find a day to make it up.

Things I enjoyed this week
~Mom watching the two girls while Jared and I went to Ikea with Abi, although I didn't enjoy her puking twice while we were there.
~Having the two girls rooms clean and the bunk beds separated.
~Getting the tax rebate to cover our check till we get another one and also to pay for getting the carpet replaced. That's a mixed enjoy thing, I am glad we have it for that because I don't know how we would cover it otherwise, but we were hoping to get things paid off with it, so it's pretty much that we just didn't get anything.
~Cuddling with Abi.

Things I am looking forward to this week
~Having a night out on Friday.
~Going to see Indiana Jones on Saturday.
~My book club getting together on Saturday.
~No school or work on Monday.
~BBQ at Amy's on Monday (I hope it's good weather)
~Hopefully Abi getting over being sick.
~My house not smelling like throw up anymore.

Sea World

Usually Sea World is my favorite thing to do on our trip, but this time we went on Sunday instead of Tuesday and it was busy. I hate going anywhere when it is busy. Since it was busy we didn't get any really good pictures. We only went to the dolphin show and the killer whale show.



Abi was still sick and had a fever. She just sat there the whole time.



The baloogas are always one of my girls favorite. They sit or stand forever looking at them. Last time we went we got a great picture of Scout with them, but there were too many people crouding around this time that they couldn't even get to the glass to see them under water.







We got to feed the seals and the sting rays. When feeding the seals a bird came and grabbed the fish right out of Abi's hand. We almost got the picture right as it happened.



Scout wouldn't feed anything because she didn't want to touch a dead fish. She did finally attempt to feed the sting rays by pinching the very end of the fish tail but she kept dropping it as soon an the ray swam past. Grace loved the sting rays. She sat and touched them forever and didn't want to leave.





Scout's favorite is the tide pool. She loves to touch the star fish.

Playing at Disneyland

There is nothing better then relaxing and just goofing around at Disneyland. We didn't do much of this when I was a kid, but it is one of the best parts about being at Disneyland with my family. The favorite place to just play this time was at Tom Sawyer's Island, they loved the pirate theme and had to try everything out. It was fun exploring all the caves and just splashing in the water. Grace wanted to get on every stationary prop in the whole park and have her picture taken like 10 times on it, leading the other girls to wanting an equal portion in the picture taking.

Disneyland Pictures

These are just the posed pictures that we took. We got pictures with a lot more characters this time then we have before. We didn't get around to going to the princess line though. Personally, I think that was a horrible idea. I am much more likely to stand in five 10 minute lines to see the princesses then to stand in one hour long line to see them all at once.

Our little coaster enthusiasts

I know what you are all thinking. Not another post about Jared's kids' affinity for circular condensation catchers. But don't worry. I'm not talking about that kind of coaster. I'm talking about roller coasters!

All 3 of our girls are big fans of thrill rides. Abi isn't tall enough to ride any of them except for the drops on Pirates of the Carribbean, the Matterhorn, and the small toontown coaster, Gadget's Go Coaster. However she loved all of them and eventually rode every one of them with her arms up the whole time.

Here are a few videos of the girls enjoying (in a shrieking manner) the coasters of Disneyland. Sorry I didn't have time to edit them, so there will be bits where it's too dark to see anything, and a few seconds of my shoes as I try to turn the camera off with my sausage link fingers.

(as a sidenote, pay no attention to the big fat guy you will occasionally get glimpses of. The camera adds like...40 pounds. It's a scientific fact.)

Gadget's Go Coaster was a favorite for pretty much everyone. As little kid coasters go, it's actually fun.

Here is one of Grace not really enjoying The Matterhorn, but Scout and Abi liked it. You can't really see Abi, but she's there sitting in front of Brittney.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was probably Scout and Grace's favorite ride this trip. Our last day in the park we went on it about 9 times. I have a couple videos of this ride, but this one was my favorite.

They both love Space Mountain too, but that one is way too dark for video.

There will be more disneyland posts coming. Stay tuned!

Dateline: Disneyland

I'm writing this from my cell phone so I hope it works. I haven't been able to get actual internet access from the hotel yet.
It's been an interesting start to our trip. We had an uneventful drive, with an equally uneventful stopover in mesquite. Thursday we spent several hours in the park and had a great time even though it was a little busy. It's great to be back here.

Thursday night things got interesting. Abi started throwing up in the middle of the night every half an hour until morning. Everybody else woke up feeling fine, but about an hour later Grace threw up twice. We waited around for awhile but the puking didn't resume so we headed over to the park, assuming it must've been some mild food poisoning or something.

About three hours later Abi decorated herself, Brittney and the inside of the Monsters, Inc. ride cab with strawberry gogurt enhanced gogurgitation.

Brittney bought her and Abi some new clothes and we kept on trucking.

No more puking after that yesterday.

Today we had a great time at the beach, then when we got back to the hotel this evening Scout started complaining that her stomach hurt. About an hour later she started in with the upchuckage. During her fifth round Abi, Pukemaster General of our little vomit brigade, suddenly sat up and threw up all over the bed.

So after a call to housekeeping for new bedding, and getting everyone to sleep, I am now keeping watch at midnight with bucket at the ready. Abi has tossed her proverbial cookies several times now tonight, casting doubt on our theory that it was a fast moving bug that only lasts about 12 hours.

So now my question is, who out there has puking kids? Who got us sick before our trip? Come on now. Fess up.

By the way, it hasn't been all nastiness. We have some great pictures and video to post once I can get the computer online as opposed to just my cell.

Highlights have included Grace nearly tackling Mickey when she saw him, Scout and Grace riding Gadget's go coaster with each other in their own car (awesome video!) and Scout watching the electrical parade in a state of pure joy.

Keep your fingers crossed that the sickness goes away soon so we can enjoy the rest of our trip.