The Doc Is In

What are you going to be when you grow up?  This questions comes up often at our house and the answers range from comical to hilarious some days. I have realized that all the real jobs that people have are super boring and hard to describe so it's no wonder the kids come up with such a mix of jobs they think they want to do.  

Ben's stock answer is to be a worker man.  This is a term he use for any men working anywhere, doing anything.  He does specify that he does not want to cut down trees like some of the worker men near us who are clearing some lots to build new homes.  He likes to yell at those worker men when we drive down the road and tell them not to cut down the trees. I have to agree with him, I too feel for the trees.  

McKenzie's job aspirations range daily from one extreme to another.  Her most lasting job desires are being a doctor and a bus driver.  I like her ambition to think she can have two jobs at once, perhaps in the future there will be mobile doctor offices like food trucks and she can drive a bus around as her doctors office.  I need to remember to capture more of the jobs they say they want to do, car wash attendant and ice cream server are also popular jobs to want.  So far no one wants to work on the computer like Mom or Dad.  

Here's McKenzie dressed up as her favorite doctor, Doc McStuffins, for Dr. Seuss day at school.  She has so much fun matching her outfit to the characters outfit.  Luckily it mainly required mismatched pink and purple clothes and we have lots of that.  

Kindergarten Art

One of the fun things I get to do now that McKenzie is in kindergarten is to volunteer in her school as the classes Art Docent.  That means I go into her class once a month and teach the kids about a new piece of art and then help them try a similar technique to make their own art.  It's been the perfect way for me to be engaged in McKenzie's class and meet classmates without too much time off work.  We have created some great projects and I've learned a lot mainly to use much smaller paper since it takes some kids forever to fill in a big sheet.  One of my favorite projects so far was creating a piece of art as a class for the school auction.

We made a fingerprint tree that represented the class starting their journey of education together.  I found the idea on Pinterest and was even able to locate a tree that could be downloaded and printed out so all we had to do was add the fingerprints in.  

My neighbor Heidi generously donated the framing to give it that finished look and off it went to the auction.  I was a bit worried it wouldn't compete with the older kids classes but it held its own and sold for $800!  It was amazing that the kindergarten class could be such a big part of bringing a new playground to their school.  I will have have to try to do a year end show of all the art projects we've done over this year.  

The Happiest Place On Earth

To our little family heading down the coast from our gray skies and raindrop even without Disneyland, California would rank among the happiest places on earth to us.  Imagine being able to go swimming outside in February.  The entire trip was all we had dreamed it would be and more.  We had a great flight down and arrived mid morning to the beautiful sun, high in the sky.  Some of our best friends, Travis and Andrea, moved down to California last summer so we headed to meet up with them, hit a local park and then had some lunch.  It was so good to see them even for a little while.  We then headed south from Burbank to check into our hotel.  The kids loved it immediately since it had a pool with water slides and a huge bucket that dumped water on you.  

After we were done swimming we went in search of some dinner so we headed to downtown Disney and discovered the Lego store.  It was a amazing to see all the huge Lego sculptures they had.  McKenzie got quite a scare from Hulk.   We had a fun dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe and the strolled back to the hotel to get some sleep before our big Disney adventure.  

As we approached the park that morning the kids were calling out all the things they could see peaking over the top of the park walls.  The monorail was a huge object of interest to them.  They immediately began plotting to ride it.  First thing when we got inside we ran into our first character and I'm not 100% sure who she is since we didn't have our autograph books yet so we just posed for a picture.  They kids were a little uncertain at this point but lost all their shyness over just snuggling up for a hug after this.

Our second stop was the autograph book stand and we got some pens as well.  We then saw Mickey Mouse just waiting for us and the kids were so excited to see him.  While we were waiting our turn McKenzie was pointing out all the things she saw around us and she pointed to a lady standing in front of the Lincoln Theater who was dressed in a long plain dress.  She was an older woman and McKenzie said 'Look there's a princess... I think....'  After Mickey we saw Minnie and then we were off to ride the rides.

Our first official Disney ride for the family was Space Mountain, it was a little nerve wracking to watch Ben measure up to the 40 inch mark on that first ride since that's the magic number we'd be waiting for him to hit before we could do Disney and he was just perfectly tall enough .  We were a little worried that the ride might be too much for them but as soon as it stopped Ben said 'That was awesome, let's go again!' and so we were off bouncing from one ride to the next taking in all that we could.  There were very few rides that Ben was not tall enough for so it was the perfect time to come down for our first adventure.   Favorite rides were -  Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear and the Tiki Room.  We also rode the railroad around the outside of the park and walked until it seemed impossible to go on.  Good thing there were lots of rides to sit down on and rest for a bit.

Here we are on the jungle cruise - the kids loved seeing all the wild animals!

Splash Mountain got mixed reviews from McKenzie since she really did not want to get wet.  We covered her up with my sweatshirt and that kept off most of the water but it still was not her favorite.  After that ride we got to meet Tigger, Eeyore and Pooh which was very exciting for the kids.

Ben and McKenzie almost recreating the scene from Lady and the Tramp with the spaghetti but with a churro - just one of the tasty treats during our trip.

Riding the Astro Orbiter - Ben and I stood in a very long line to get on while McKenzie and Matt went on Indiana Jones and then they came and found us right when it was almost our turn so McKenzie jumped in line with us and got to ride.

Comparing our scores at the end of the Buzz Lightyear ride - we had no idea what the ride was when we got in line but it turned out to be one of our favorites.

The kids are trying to pull Excalibur from the stone - they were very sure they could do it if they just pulled hard enough.  I love the crazy packed scene in the background with the castle.  Fantasyland was by far the busiest area we went to.

Day three of our trip did go quite a smooth as day two, we got their early and then realized that the park didn't open for another hour so we rented a stroller and started to go in search of breakfast.  Ben didn't want to ride in the stroller so Matt scooped him up onto his shoulders and in the transition up Ben somehow went down and crashed on the brick pavers and got quite a gash in his forehead.  The Disney team was fantastic and helped get us stabilized, including me restoring my blood sugar to a normal level, and off we went to the ER to make sure Ben was okay.  He ended up with ten stitches and a new best friend in the doctor who sewed his head up.  He even invited him to come with us to Disneyland before we left, unfortunately he had to stay and work.  We are learning that it's not a real vacation for our family if we don't check out all the local amenities.  He will now have a small scar on his forehead, just like his mother and father, and we turned out okay.

Ben was plotting his escape in this picture, the fall and head wound didn't seem to phase him at all.  Right after this picture he said 'Mom, let's get out of here'.  He was quite a trooper through the whole ordeal.  One more item off the childhood bucked list - stitches.  We declined the ambulance ride otherwise we could have checked that off too.

McKenzie on the midway in California Adventure, winning her first carnival prize, a giant Dumbo.  Before we left both kids had one which fit so well into our luggage for the trip home.

This was our coldest day at Disney, we should have packed warmer clothes but in the end it turned out okay since a lot of people left when it was rainy and we just kept going since we're from Washington and a little rain never hurt anyone.

Late night in line for the Cars ride, it was one of our favorites even with the hour long line in the rain at 8:00 at night.  The kids were on a roll that day and we nearly shut down the park.

Day four we didn't go into the parks but we did keep doing Disney.  For Christmas Grandma and Grandpa C gave us a character breakfast which was really a treat.  We got to see so many of the characters and fill up our autograph books.  McKenzie's favorite was Aurora but she hugged each and every character that came to visit.

Being goofy outside of Goofy's Kitchen - love these two!

The sillyness continued - they are pretending they are Mickey and Minnie.

We spent some more time at the Lego store on our way through Downtown Disney.  McKenzie loved this girl with her dog since she had just picked out a baby Pluto of her own.

Ben and Matt have been playing a lot of Lego Star Wars on the Xbox so seeing Lego Gandalf was a hit.

We wrapped up the day with a surprise - Grandma and Grandpa C flew in to do Disney with us!  The kids called them the second day were were there and asked them to come down and so they did.  We had it all planned out but it was a total surprise to the kids.  Now they think that they can just ask Grandma and Grandpa to get on a plane and there they will be.

Here are the kids knocking on the door to Grandma and Grandpa's room which was right next door - such a fun surprise for them 

Day five we headed back to Disney, we went in early with a magic morning pass, which we should have used on day three and avoided the head injury but who knew we had it?  We got through a bunch of Fantasyland rides and then we over to California Adventure to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa.

Here's Grandma with the kids on the giant Ferris wheel that also rocked back and forth while it went around and around.  My feeling about the ride was that I wanted off before I even got on.  It was fun but a little slow paced after all the other amazing rides.

McKenzie getting her face painted as a butterfly princess.  She looked so cute!

The whole crew ready for more fun.  We headed over to Disneyland after lunch and enjoyed the park until well after dark.  We finally got to ride the monorail as one of our last rides for this Disney trip.

Day six we headed south to Legoland, which is a beautiful drive along the coast from Disneyland.  It was a lot of fun to see all the things that can be done with Legos but not quite the same as Disneyland.  Overall it was a very fun day exploring the park.

We stayed until the park closed and then headed back up to Anaheim for one more night before heading home.  It was a fantastic trip and one we won't forget anytime soon.  The kids are already working hard to fill up the jar again so we can go back to Disneyland.