disneyland 2009

it's been a week since we've been home from our trip. sorry for the late post, but we had a rough transition back to "real life". the kids got sick on the day that we flew home. malcolm had a stuffy/runny nose, and alanna had a fever and actually threw up at the airport. so needless to say, the flights home were awful. simply awful. we basically spent the entire day traveling home (8 am to 10 pm), and we were completely wiped out by the time we got back to nc. malcolm was terrible on almost every flight, including our trip out to cali (5 different planes in total), but we survived... just barely. wow, what an exhausting week it was. we had a lot of fun, but it was so very tiring too. traveling with a toddler is hard work. i love our annual trip to disneyland for halloween time, but i doubt that we will make it back for at least five years or more. it's just too much work, and costs too much money. but i am proud to say that i funded this entire trip with cash! meaning i didn't use a credit card at all. not for the flights, the room, or anything! yay for me! (plus a big thanks to danny and mom for your help with trip funds too)

the weather was great. one day was pretty hot (sadly, the same day that jeanie came out to hang. so they only stayed a couple of hours, bummer), but two of the days were cool enough that we wore jackets most of the day. the crowds weren't too bad on the first day (wednesday, alannas b-day) and we walked right on to most of the rides, but by the weekend they were totally out of control. we missed out on a few rides because the lines were too long, and malcolm had little to no patience while waiting in them. but we were able to ride most of the good ones, and all of our favorites. malcolm had a lot of fun riding rides. he totally loved the haunted mansion holiday, but of course he did, he is my baby after all. pirates of the caribbean scared him a little. and he really liked it's a small world, and the monsters inc. ride.

i got a few new great nightmare collectibles, and alanna got some great birthday gifts from my mom. all in all, we had a good time while at the parks and in the motel. i loved spending time with my mom. and it was fun having kate there with us for two days too (sorry about malcolm kicking you in bed, haha!) i wish i had snapped some photos of kate while she was there, but my old camera was acting weird and wouldn't work for a couple of days. i guess that is a good thing, because it kept me from taking way too many pictures. and i haven't seen my moms photos yet, so maybe she got one of us? i didn't take any of the haunted mansion, decked out in all of its nightmare-ish glory. but i have plenty of them from our last three trips. after my lil' elph died this summer, i went back to using my older powershot. it takes good photos, but i think it's also on it's way out. bummer, because i don't have the money to buy myself a new camera right now. anyway... onto the many photos from disneyland i did get:

malcolm and demetri

jeanie and i, with the boys (this year)

(and last year) wow, they've grown!


dumbo!





malcolm loved playing in toontown

he also loved all of the pumpkins everywhere

my mom and alanna

running around on the riverboat

i love this one with alanna, and mom up top!

photos from disney's california adventure:

his very first carousel ride

we watched the pixar parade, it was really cute, and we got really wet

see the water squirting out of woody?!

we also watched fantasmic twice, which i've never seen before. it was very cool, and the fire-breathing dragon was pretty rad. if you've never taken the time to watch it, like me, you should check it out.

one of the main reasons i love going in october, is because of all the halloween decor. they really decorate the park beautifully. i wish i had taken more photos of all the festiveness, but here a few that i did get. oh, and those flowers are all real!

you can kind of see how large the crowds were in these two shots

i love main street at night

their "ray bradbury's halloween tree"

the vintage decorations and hand carved pumpkins in the big thunder ranch were some of my favorites

(sally was missing her pumpkin head)

a couple nightmare things i liked

and the beautiful vintage window on the hollywood tower of terror

i love how detailed everything is there.

on this trip, i especially loved the pinocchio ride.

and the little restaurant next door (which had vegan veggie burgers! yay!)

and last, but certainly not least. the halloween screams fireworks show was amazing. seriously so awesome. we loved it so much, we watched it five times. every time we tried to get a better spot, and some of them were bad, where we couldn't see all of the images projected on the castle, or jacks head etc. but on the last night there, we got a pretty good spot in the crowd (after waiting about an hour), and i got these great photos. i found a few videos of it on youtube, but they didn't do it justice at all. you have to see it in real life to really enjoy it. if you live in california, and you have season passes, you should definitely go and see this show (jeanie, this means you). it was a lot of fun to watch.

jack and zero (who was flying through the sky)

ghosts on the castle

oogie boogie

the huge blasts of fire were our favorite part

read for the record day

i just pledged online to read "the very hungry caterpillar" by eric carle with malcolm tomorrow. october 8th is jumpstart's read for the record day, which aims to raise awareness about the importance of reading with young children. it also helps to raise funds in support of jumpstart’s year-round work with preschool children in low-income communities across the country. eric carle will be appearing on the today show (on nbc) tomorrow morning to share his classic story. you should also go and pledge to read this wonderful story with your children, but you'll have to hurry and click here to register before the event begins. i'm sorry, i should have posted about this last week before we left for our trip, but i forgot... and now it is almost too late. but read the story tomorrow, even if you aren't able to be officially counted!

p.s. i will post about disneyland when i have more time.

birthday

tomorrow is alanna's 13th birthday! yikes... i'm almost the proud owner of a teenage daughter!

since we will be flying out to california early tomorrow morning, we had our family get-together for her on sunday at danny's mom and dads house. we gave her all of her gifts early, and she loved them all. we ate some yummy veggie tacos, and way too much cake and cookies. it was a nice time.

my husband is a babe <3

she hated having to wear that crown, haha

blowing out her "13" birthday candles


since her birthday is close to halloween, and we love that holiday, vicky made her this cute cake. i guess the witch got stuck in all that yummy goodness, haha. last year she made her an awesome jack skellington cake. yummy.


vicky and dan decorated these cute cookies too


malcolm loved wearing the crown. alanna put it on him just for fun, and he didn't want to take it off. he won't wear a hat. ever. but he'll wear this pretty sparkly crown?! what a silly little guy, haha

i won't be posting on here until next week when we get back from our trip. so be ready for way too many photos. and wish me luck on the loooong flights with my toddler... ugh. i'm not excited about that at all. but i am sooo stoked for disneyland, and being able to spend time with my mom, kate, jeanie and demetri! sweet <3

our trip to the mountains

we got back from our trip to sapphire valley on wednesday, but i haven't had time to post about it on here until today. it was beautiful out there. so green and thick with trees. the weather was perfect, nice and cool... and then it started to rain. and rain. and rain. did you hear about the flooding in atlanta? that same storm system moved north, and rained right over us. we were in transylvania county, and that area got over 20 inches of rain in less than a week, 11.5 of it on 2 of the days we were there! it was pretty crazy. that was the most rain i've ever seen falling continuously, and it poured. we ended up staying in the condo more then we had planned, but it was very nice spending time with my parents, and my aunt and uncle. plus i got to read a few magazines i like, and watch some cable (hgtv which i love). malcolm really liked watching the imagination movers on disney. and the resort had a rec center with an indoor pool and arcade, so we went there twice to swim and play.

on saturday, the rain hadn't quite made it up to us yet, but it sure was cloudy and foggy out. we drove about an hour and a half to chimney rock state park. it is located in the heart of nc apple country, so we passed tons of apple orchards and fruit stands along the highway. this is apple season right now, so the trees were covered in red ripe fruit. we stopped and bought some fresh apple cider. yum!

on top of chimney rock

dad, aunt earlene, mom and uncle arlund

yes, that is one of those damn monkey leashes from target. and yes, i have become that mom. (no, not the one who drags her child across the floor in a public shopping center). it really did come in handy up there on the huge rock, and along the walking trail. i think it's a great product, when used properly (and responsibly). don't judge me. <3

our condo


my mom surprised me with an amazing quilt she had handmade for malcolm and i. it was made with all eric carle fabrics, to match his bedroom. she pieced it all by hand, and even quilted it herself. she told me how difficult it was for her to find enough of each different fabric color to complete it, since it has been discontinued and is hard to find in local fabric shops. she ended up getting some of the extra fabric from the eric carle museum's website. it is beautiful, and we love it. malcolm kept making me lay it out on the floor so that he could dance and roll around on it. thanks mom.

our bathroom had the biggest jacuzzi tub i have ever seen. the kids had a blast in it!

on sunday we spent a very rainy day at the biltmore estate. it was a shame that it was so wet and gross out. we had already made a reservation online for sunday, so we couldn't change the date. but we all had a nice time regardless. we went in 2007, and the weather was great. bummer. it's much better to see it on a nice sunny day, to really appreciate the beauty and amazement of it all. there is no photography allowed inside, so here are a few photos from the outside.

i liked this creepy lil' devil detail

there is a great little toy store in the shops building, and i got this little mechanical singing bird. it's really cute.

malcolm tubbin'

this little shack was on the winding mountain road on the way to our condo. of course we had to buy some boiled peanuts.

on tuesday, it finally stopped raining, so we drove along the blue ridge parkway. it was still very overcast and foggy, so the views weren't as spectacular as they should have been. but it was still very pretty.

we hiked down this trail for a bit until we got to a river.

going through one of the many tunnels along the parkway.

then we drove through asheville before heading back to the condo.

on wednesday we stopped at a few shops with the family before heading back home. malcolm found a perfect bench that was just his size.

of course, the blue skies came back out on the day that we were leaving. i stopped at this waterfall along the highway on our way down the mountain. all the rain made it really loud and beautiful.

the kids and i stopped at this awesome toy store in brevard. the sign says "the coolest toy store on the planet". that pretty much sums it up. their selection was amazing! and it just kept going and going inside. like room after room of toys. all grouped by age and theme. pretty freakin' great! we spent over an hour and a half in there. it was a bit overwhelming. i already want to go back.

they had an extensive selection of plan toys which i really love, and i got malcolm this one:

and last, but not least, we stopped in asheville again before hitting the interstate, and got dinner and dessert at rosetta's kitchen. yum! it was a great trip. we all had a lot of fun. makes me miss my mom and dad. but we will see mom in just 3 more days! yes!!

just five more days!