Disney Day 3

The shortage of decent pictures from Day 3 is even more staggering than that of the previous days, so I'll use this time to talk about our Very Favorite Ride: Toy Story Midway Mania at California Adventure.

Oh, baby, we would have ridden this ride all the

 live-long day if the line weren't always interminable

It's a 3-D ride where you use funky controllers like this:

(note: this is not Craig and me)

to shoot at targets like this:

It is awesome in every way. 

More important than that, though, is the fact that I beat Craig at it. One time. On our last day. (Craig is super-competitive and super-awesome at anything he ever does, so this was a Very Big Deal for the likes of moi.) (I'm still celebrating inside.) In the interest of Good Measure, (and isn't this blog all about Good Measure?) here are our scores from the first time to the last time we played together. In almost every picture, the higher score belongs to Craig. You'll want to take special note of the last one, though, because that's where history was made. Oh, yes, that high score belongs to me. 

(You should also note that my accuracy is almost always better than Craig's but somehow he still manages to win. Blast it all.)

Here's the silver tuna, folks. Read it and weep.

(I played later with Alexa and totally kicked her trash, but for

 some reason there just wasn't the same satisfaction that time.)

The End.

(stay tuned for Disneyland with kiddos)

P.S. Craig is Woody when I answer the questions for him.

P.P.S. 

(especially me. 'cause I beat Craig!)

Today

I woke up this morning to the same mess that we had deliberately neglected last night: dinner (and lunch) dishes in the kitchen sink, crumbs covering the counters, socks under the dining room table, myriad stuffed animals lovingly placed in a semi-circle in the middle of the playroom floor, etc. I also woke up this morning to a long list of things that I hadn't had time to do this week: writing a paper, preparing a lesson for church, preparing another lesson for church, emailing all of the parents in Julia's class, etc. And, to boot, I was Very Tired from having stayed up incredibly late to read an awesome book, under the pretense that I was too exhausted to get started on my demanding homework assignment. (It's called The History of Love. You should read it.) (The book. Not the homework assignment.)

And yet.

I woke up to infinite snuggles from Lexa-Boom, who laid on my chest for quite some time before it occurred to her that she needed to make a call on my cell phone. I woke up to 3 little girls getting along. I woke up to time with sweet Julia, who found me when I snuck into her bed to get started on my lesson, and who also snuggled me while we discussed important things like What a Good Big Sister She Is, and Why The Little Mermaid Ride Is So Awesome, and Why It's Really Gross To Wipe Boogers On The Wall. I woke up to adorable Savanna, who got dressed by herself and put her own pajamas away and put a headband in her fluffy, curly hair and who smiles like the sun. I woke up to so many blessings that I usually overlook, or don't pay attention to, or just plain old don't recognize.

I woke up to my life.

And there just aren't words for how good that life is.

Disney Day 2

Turns out we aren't quite as good about taking pictures when the girls aren't around. (Either that or there is a shortage of pictures because I deleted all of the ones where I have a double chin. We may never know...)

Day 2 was lots of fun even though we were already utterly exhausted from our 15-hour day the day before. (It was totally my fault. I insisted on going on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride right before the park closed at midnight. What are we, 20?)

Good Times in Toon Town

Katie in Wonderland

Soarin' Over California

We spent some time in the Beast's Library in California Adventure 

so we could determine our Disney character alter-egos. 

Turns out I'm a princess after all.

This was Craig's result, but only because he said he 

"likes to eat nice people for lunch," which we all know isn't true. 

(He much prefers them for breakfast.)

Here we are at our fancy dinner at Ariel's Grotto.

 I had no idea what I ordered but it was pretty darn good.

Craig went for the steak. No nice people for dinner.

And check out this fancy dessert that we were too stuffed to eat!

We watched The World of Color afterwards 

and then slept a heavenly sleep until day 3...

Disney Day 1

After an incredibly fun (and not at all restful) week-long jaunt as Disneyland, we are back. And while it was a little sad to return from a world of Not Making Meals and Getting Your Bed Made Everyday, we are feeling okay about it since it also means that we simultaneously left the world of Walking Around For 12 Hours A Day. There's always a trade-off, I suppose.

Craig and I spent the first 3 days alone (Alone? What does that mean?) at Disneyland while the kidlings stayed at my sister's house and woke her up early and messed up her house. (Proof that they don't change their M.O. when they are out of state or away from their parents.) I do not exaggerate when I say that those 3 days were Pretty Darn Blissful. It was good for Craig and I to remember that we do have it in us to be fun and spontaneous, and to experience just how carefree Life Without Kids can be. (It was a little reminiscent of our honeymoon Disneyland trip, only this time we appreciated the not-having-kids part.)

First Stop: Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. Try as I may, 

Craig always scores higher than I do on this one.

Thank goodness I am capable of 

losing and yet still having a good time.

Yes, Craig is a veritable Space Scout...

...and even though I look like a pro,

I always hover in the Planetary Pilot range. 

(At least I think that's what that says...

my awesome trigger fingers are covering the word.)

Good times fraternizing with the natives on Indy,

(which we happily rode twice on the first day)

Jungle Cruising (which somehow we 

failed to do when we had the girls...oops!)

and Tea Cupping. 

(Craig spun the tea cup so fast that 

I couldn't watch the awesome parade that was going 

by at the time. I wasn't too sad because I figured 

we'd stop and watch the parade when we had the girls. 

We didn't. Oops again.)

Quick Quip

I took the girls to my brother's house on Thursday to pick something up and he and I ended up sitting in the car for a few minutes chatting while the girls watched a movie in the back of the van. I was feeling pretty impressed that they had sat so quietly while my brother and I were talking, and as I drove away, I thanked them for being so patient while they were waiting to leave. A couple seconds later, Julia pipes up, "Well, actually...I wasn't being very patient in my head."

I assured her that she can be as impatient in her head as she wants, as long I don't hear anything about it.