Disneyland!

It's been awhile since we've been able to post, so here is the low-down about our D-land trip!

We have wanted to go to Disneyland for a couple years now and finally made it happen! Tim scouted out several online sources to determine the least busiest times at the park and we picked the middle of April.  It was still fairly crowded, but we used fast passes and stroller passes with gusto and the weather was great.  Liz's parents and two of her sisters also joined us to give us a hand with our crew.  We flew out Sunday after church and arrived in time to meet up with Liz's family at our hotel for dinner.  Our hotel was right across the street from the park, so we didn't even rent a car, but walked back and forth everyday.  Our rooms were all in a row so it was a lot of fun for the kids to go in and out of them as they wished.  Julie made us all matching shirts that said "Wheebells," a combination of our last names.  The "W" and "B" were circled as well as the "S" for "sickies", just kidding.  I actually forgot why it was circled, but it had something to do with Liz's dad being in the middle of chemotherapy for cancer during our trip, and Michael going through all he goes through, and we still went to Disneyland and had a great time!  My parent's had a car so the first morning we were there, we stopped at a store and bought a whole bunch of food to make lunches and things to snack on.  We ate breakfast at the hotel, then packed in our own lunch and usually ate dinner somewhere in the park.  In between rides we kept the kids happy with lots of snacks. 

We spent Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in Disneyland, and Tuesday and Thursday in California Adventure.  The first day at Disneyland we spent most of the time on rides like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and Indiana Jones.  The younger kids enjoyed the Tiki Room and Big Thunder the best.  That evening we all went on "It's a Small World" which the kids loved a ton.  Michael and Brooke spent the entire ride dancing.

On Tuesday, we took all the girls to the Princess Breakfast.  It was a fun experience, but pricey.  Just before the first princess came to our table, one of my girls suddenly had a melt-down over something (I'm actually not sure what it was) and was in tears when Snow White arrived.  Then she was too embarrassed to greet the princess and get a picture with her.  I wanted to say, "I paid a lot of money for this, so put yourself together right now and throw your tantrum an hour from now!!"  But of course, like a good mother, I just stroked my daughters hair as she sobbed in my lap and said, "there, there," while giving the princess an informative smile.  And then, just like when Mary Poppins snaps her fingers, my daughter was done with her fit and was fine when the other 3 princesses arrived at our table. 

To be honest, the rest of the trip was a blur, so I'm just going to list memories and highlights from the trip: 

The girls' hands-down favorite ride became the big roller coaster at California Adventure.  Spencer's favorite ride was Star Tours, although he hated any other ride that "moved fast."  Brooklyn, who we were considering not bringing on the trip because of her reputation for being grumpy quite a lot and not sleeping well at night, was actually really good for the trip and even managed to sleep most nights.  Liz never, ever throws up, but came pretty darn close on the Mickey Ferris Wheel in the rocking cart -we were so grateful they had doggy bags in the carts.  Liz's parents took us to the Rainforest Cafe for Liz's birthday, which was a great atmosphere, but very slow service.  We had time one night to get pizza and swim in the pool at the hotel.  The kids decided for their souvenirs to buy small Lego sets from Downtown Disney.  Tim ran all over the park to get fast passes and kept us going from ride to ride.  My mom wore a pedometer which said we walked 7-9 miles everyday.  Michael became Aunt Julie's buddy right away and loved being with her.  Brooklyn became Aunt Carrie's buddy and enjoyed riding rides with her.  Michael danced anytime the music got started, and especially when we had front-row seats to a parade in California Adventure.  One time while we were walking to a ride, he heard music playing and stood up in his stroller to dance and fell out and hit his head.  Brooklyn singing, "Let it dho" and showing some serious dance moves in the Tiki Room.  Whitney loving the front seat on splash mountain and her big grin after she got super wet each time we rode it.  Sarah not missing a detail of the park and asking to go on Big Thunder again, and again, and again.  Sarah also loved having her own camera along and loved taking tons of pictures.  My dad getting picked as the "spy" in his Star Tours ride, and my mom being the best artist among us in the drawing class we took together.  Watching fireworks from the balcony of our hotel. Spencer constantly asking if a ride was "slow" because he was scared of anything that was fast. 

It took coming home and thinking about it to decide it was a great trip.  There were a lot of stressful moments, logistics, disasters, tears, bumps and bruises, but in the end, it all came out as great!

Brooke actually slept on the trip!  We took a bed sheet along and hung it around her crib to help her sleep.

When we arrived the park the first day, Whitney got selected to dance with one of the chipmunks!

They let Brooklyn join in their dance and Brooklyn loved it so much.

Our matching shirts sure made it easy to stay together.

Spencer and Liz on the Dumbo ride.

Small World - Aunt Julie with Michael

Princesses!

At the princess breakfast.  The food was amazing.

Waiting for a parade to start.  The kids LOVED the parades!

Whitney and Mikey dancing during a parade.

Mickey Ferris Wheel

Yummy ice cream cone during a hot afternoon

California Adventure

Rainforest Cafe to celebrate Liz's birthday

Yea for Disneyland!!!

Spring Break

The kids started their spring break two weeks ago so we went to Colorado Springs for a few days.  This has been our annual tradition the last few years and the kids really enjoy it.  We stayed at the Academy Hotel again, which the kids love because of the large indoor swimming pool and great breakfast. 

Our family is getting large enough we decided to try out a 2-room suite this time and are glad we did.  The front room had a small closet area covered by a curtain that was the perfect size for Brooke’s pack-n-play.  Sarah and Michael slept on a very comfortable pull out bed in that room the first night, and Whitney and Spencer slept on it the second night.  On the alternating nights they slept on the extra queen bed in the bedroom.

The first day of our trip we visited Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and had a blast!  We think it’s much better than the Denver Zoo.  They have a sky lift that takes you up the mountain where we discovered a playground and breath-taking views of Colorado Springs below.  Many of the animal exhibits were well done, and the mountain terrain added a nice touch.

Some of the life sized animals were difficult to distinguish from the real animals

Riding the sky lift

Dad and the other kids aren't far behind

We made it to the top!

Which animal exhibit is this?  Must be the monkey bars!

Next spring break, let's fly instead of drive to the zoo

The best exhibit by far was the giraffes.  The hilly terrain and platform surrounding the exhibit put us face to face with the giraffes.  The kids enjoyed petting the giraffes and feeding them lettuce leaves. We were amazed by their long tongues and gentle demeanor.

Brooklyn, as always, kept us on our toes!  We ate lunch at a picnic area near the carousel.  Brooklyn had gotten out of the stroller, and when we looked for her a few moments later, she had somehow squeezed through the iron fence and was standing only a foot or two away from the carousel while it was in full motion!  We knew she would likely run away and towards the carousel if we called out to her, so I quickly ran over, reached over the fence, and snatched her to safety.

On the second day of our trip we visited Garden of the Gods, where we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the kids enjoyed climbing on the red rocks.  It’s amazing that we don't really need a fancy, expensive vacation for the kids to have a great time.  All they need is some fun rocks to climb.

Last Friday Liz took the 3 older kids to Snowy Range, Wyoming for a day of skiing.   They went with our friends the Baileys and had a wonderful time together.  The weather was beautiful and our kids are starting to get a lot more comfortable on skis. Spencer was the most fearful after crashing into some netting the last time he went skiing.  But with a lot of patient coaxing and encouragement from Liz and the other kids, by the end of the day he was happily skiing down some of the slopes like a pro.  Our home teacher and his wife were very kind to watch Michael and Brooklyn during the day while I was at work.

Yesterday we drove down to Pueblo for our nephew, Aaron's baptism.  We're so proud of him and loved spending the day with my sister Becky, my parents, sister-in-law Gina, and other family members and friends.  The day went by so quickly and it was so hard to say goodbye and drive home at the end of the day.

President's Day

On President's Day last week we told stories to the kids about George Washington.  Mikey started doing the sign for "wash hands".  We thought for a moment what he was trying to tell us, then realized he was signing George Washinghands!

It's been an unusually warm winter so far.  While my coworkers on the East coast have had several feet of snow dumped on them, our children have enjoyed sunny picnic lunches on the front porch:

We got a few inches of snow this weekend.  But while the weather was warm and to get into the seasonal spirit while she was visiting us, Liz's sister Carrie helped us decorate the inside of our house for winter.  She's home now, but her decorations still remain:

Icicles hanging down

Snowflakes falling from the ceiling

Each of us had our own snowman the kids helped make

Liz recently had a chance to visit Mikey's preschool and watch him in action.  He really enjoys it and is making progress both in his signing and in his speech.

Michael loves this large round mat with the alphabet and numbers written and drawn out in sign language

Painting time!

Painting a boat

Matching words with pictures

This is Michael's favorite toy right now.  We used to have one just like it years ago and gave it away since nobody played with it.  Dang.  Maybe we should see if the thrift store we gave it to still has it. :-)

Sarah's 3rd grade class recently put on a show called "Pen Pals" which depicted children from around the world. Sarah sang a solo and had some speaking parts as well. Our kids are still singing and humming the songs in different languages.

Sarah moved into Michael's room recently and has been the best big sister.  Sometimes at night when he's scared she lets him crawl into bed next to her.

The Fort Collins temple is coming along nicely.  The outside work is absolutely beautiful.

Can you tell what holiday we just had?  Our family wrote love notes to each other one night for Family Home Evening and we stuck them all over the kitchen.

Brooke sure is growing big and strong.  Could it be from all the milk she's drinking?  She still has a dairy allergy, but it's getting a little better.

Home at last

After spending an enjoyable New Years at the Bellamys we opted to make the trip back home the following Monday.  Liz's sister Carrie is going to stay with us for a month in Colorado, so we caravaned back together.  According to the weather forecast and road reports the roads were open and there wasn't anything to be overly concerned about.  After driving for 5 hours we got to Rawlins, Wyoming and discovered they had shut down I-80 and all bypass roads for the next 150 miles!  As best as we could tell it wasn't due to a snowstorm, but rather the wind was blowing so hard it was causing whiteout conditions from snow on the ground.  All the hotels in the area were full. 

After considering our options, we drove all the way back to Utah and spent the night back with the Bellamys!  We had driven for 10 hours just to get back to where we started!  The Bellamys were patient and accommodating and even turned their Christmas lights back on for us before we arrived.  The four older children spent the night sleeping under the Christmas tree so that Brooklyn would have her own room.  She had stayed in the room with us for the duration of our trip, but after almost a week of her waking us up crying throughout the night, we'd had enough!

On Tuesday the wind died down, so once again we ventured to make the drive back to Colorado.  Michael was super upset to have to get back in the car and made it clear we had used up his entire allotment of good traveler behavior the previous day.  After I'd had enough screaming, I pulled over and moved his carseat to a different location so he could spend the day staring at the back of someone else's seat instead of mine.  That seemed to appease him, and we resumed our journey without further incident.

We tried to make the most of the long drive and took a more leisurely pace on Tuesday.  For instance, it was the third time stopping at Little America in two days, and at each stop we let the kids have an ice cream cone or play at the playground there.  They all wanted to climb the buffalo statue.

Little America, Big Buffalo

Fortunately the roads didn't close on Tuesday and we finally made it back home and were able to sleep in our own beds again. 

It's been great having Carrie with us, she's been fun to have around and has been a huge help.  This week Liz and I and a few of the kids have been battling with colds, so having an extra adult set of hands has been a particular blessing.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

The day after Michael's clean MRI, he underwent eye surgery to try to help correct his inability to keep his eyes straight.  This is his third such surgery in the last two years.  Last time he had the surgery he was pretty miserable for about a week and a half afterwards.  This time around he was miserable the day of the surgery, but by the next day he was happy and doing just fine.  Another great blessing this Christmas season!

Michael has been anesthetized so many times we've long since lost count.  Nowadays they usually give him nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to put him to sleep before they tap into a vein and give him propofol to keep him asleep.  This week, one of the times he was given laughing gas he actually did start laughing.  It was the funniest thing and it made the doctors laugh, too!  Then, like Vizzini in "The Princess Bride", Michael conked out mid-laughter and was fast asleep.

We've had an unusually warm December, which I certainly don't mind.  Christmas Day however, it started to snow, so we got our white Christmas this year after all.

 We love our Christmas lights this year

Riding on a sled after a white Christmas

One of the Christmas gifts Liz and I gave to our 3 oldest children is some 2-on-1 time.  On the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Christmas we hired a babysitter and both Liz and I took one of our children out on a lunch date to the restaurant of their choice.  We enjoyed getting some more personalized time with our children, and those at home enjoyed getting their face painted by the babysitter.

Baking Christmas cookies

We can't wait for Christmas!

We spent Christmas Day at home relaxing with the family.  Santa left a new book for each child under the small Christmas trees in the children's bedrooms so they had a present to open and something fun to read while waiting to open presents.  One noteworthy present this year was an indoor slide for Michael.  He absolutely loves climbing slides and sliding back down again, and it's so good for helping him build up his strength and coordination.  So he was thrilled to get an indoor slide he can use when it's cold outside.

Michael's new slide

Brooklyn loves to eat, er, color with her new markers

We were supposed to head to Utah to visit Liz's family the day after Christmas, but we'd been having intermittent problems with our minivan.  We had taken it into the shop a few weeks earlier, but the mechanic couldn't reproduce the problem.   So we continued driving it until the 23rd, when the strange noise returned, the engine stalled, and the check engine light went on.  We took the van back into the shop on the 24th (Christmas Eve), but the mechanic was closed during the holidays and couldn't fix it until the 29th.  They were able to find and fix the problem this time around, so we drove out to Utah on the 31st instead (New Years Eve).  With the snowstorms we've received since Christmas Day it's unclear we would have been able to make the drive anyway, even if the minivan hadn't broken down. As it was, we had cold temperatures during the drive (it was -15 degrees in Fort Collins as we packed up the car to go) but the roads were clear and we arrived in time to bring in the New Year with the Bellamy family.