Home again

We've been home from Disney World for a week. Actually, more than a week - we got in on Friday night (the Friday before the Halloween that we ignored). What I've been doing since then is, mainly, laundry. Despite the cuteness of my blog header, I actually fully despise laundry. I hate it so much that I once created a scrapbook page about how much I hate laundry... and then had that scrapbook page published. And the absolute worst thing about a vacation is that it requires about 693 loads of laundry. See, before you leave, you have to wash Everything. Then pack it into suitcases. Then when you get home you have to get it OUT of the suitcases again (and the suitcases now smell like stinky laundry - thank goodness for Febreze) and sort it and wash it all AGAIN. And, mind you, even a three day vacation is responsible for creating this phenomenon... and we were gone for a full week.

(Interestingly, the same thing applies with cleaning out the car. You have to clean and vacuum and Febreze the whole car before you leave... and then again after you get home, because the van is full of lost Cheerios and dried up french fries and empty water bottles and lost raisins and tiny Legos and all the marker caps that I would have liked to have found BEFORE the markers in question all dried up, but whatever. And the van is starting to acquite a distinct 'odor' now that it's approaching 90,000 miles. Fortunately, my dear husband has graciously put himself in charge of car cleaning and de-stinking, as it's sort of an extension of automotive maintenance. If you stand on your head, and squint.)

Another one of the tasks following any vacation, but especially 6 days in Disney World, is dealing with all the photos. Now, digital is a boon for a lot of reasons, but I swear our computer is so slow, it almost takes as long to get the USB port to realize there is something plugged into it, as it did to drop off film (remember film?) and wait a week and pick up your photos. I blame Windows Vista. But we do have a lot of photos - I took 257, which actually didn't feel like that much spread out over 6 days (well, 5 1/2 days really) crammed into the park, and Matt took a lot of video. Although most of his video didn't count because his camera was somehow turned on in his pocket and recorded for two and a half hours. And our video isn't terribly high quality. We do have a nice camera that we bought in 2003, so it shoots 8mm tapes, but Matt didn't want to bring that because it's complicated and takes up space. So for his birthday I found him the cheapest digital video camera ever - it was $25 at Big Lots - that he could stick in his shorts pocket and use on our trip. But when you buy a camera for $25, the resolution isn't terribly high. Still, we didn't have any video from our previous trip (in 2007, the one where I was pregnant with Amy and couldn't ride my favorite rides) so this was an improvement.

So anyway, the point to all this rambly, introductory-type stuff is: Look! Pictures! Yes, last time we went to Disney I wrote massively long posts detailing each and every one of our days in the park. I probably won't this time because a) you will get bored, and b) I just don't blog as much as I used to. There, I said it. I blame the fact that I learned how to sew and now I have more hobbies than I can conceivably make time for. But anyway: Look! Pictures!

(These won't be in any semblance of order, because Blogger always thoughtfully jumbles them around when uploading, and after 4 1/2 years of having a blog, I am sick of trying to fix it.)

Betsy's all time favorite ride: the Rock & Roller Coaster (Featuring Aerosmith). Yes, my first baby is big enough to ride on a ride that goes upside down. Sigh.

I just really like this picture. We were waiting for the Beauty & the Beast show and having a frozen pink lemonade (except Porter, who wouldn't drink it on the grounds that it was pink) and I think I had just gotten off the phone with Catherine. This was our first full day in the park and we were really living it up.

Family photo by the Muppets fountain. It's a family tradition, in the sense that I had a picture taken there (by myself) on my first trip to Disney when I was 17, so every time I've been back, I've had to repeat it. First with Matt (honeymoon), then with the 2 kids, now with all 3.

Also note that in the above picture, I am wearing my Route 66 skirt. I've mentioned before that every time I wear that skirt, I get a ton of comments on it. Interestingly enough, the same holds true even in Hollywood Studios, where there are a LOT of interesting things to look at - I still got comments on my skirt.

The queue for the new Toy Story ride was a really neat and detailed one - and we should know, we spent about an hour and a half in it. (Don't worry, that was our longest wait by far. Mostly, we used Fastpass.) The giant Candyland board made me realize that they have changed the Candyland board more than I realized since I was a kid. Ice cream floats?! I remember that!

Amy's first time on a roller coaster - she was JUST barely tall enough for the Barnstormer. (And remember what I said about the photos being out of order, because this was our first night in the park. When Matt was making our reservation, he figured out that for an extra $12 we could get a 6 day pass instead of 5, and we could do a few hours in the Magic Kingdom the day we arrived, provided we drove really fast through Georgia and Florida. Which we did, and we got to ride Winnie the Pooh before it got closed for renovations, and Splash Mountain, and we saw the night parade and fireworks and generally got our $12 worth.)

The kids coloring, at Epcot. Good thing we spent two days in the car to get there and two days back, because they certainly couldn't have stayed home and colored. I kid, I kid! I actually love that there are interactive/crafty things for them to do.

Fishy faces! The Nemo ride is always a favorite (unless you are someone with an irrational fear of aquariums. Luckily I don't know anyone like that.)

It just so happened that we were there during the Food and Wine Festival. Or just the Food Festival for us, since we are Mormons. And funny story about the big golf ball thingy: Amy thought that that was Epcot, and not the whole park. So whenever she saw it she'd go "Look! It's E'cot!" There is actually a ride inside, which is long and soothing and good for putting toddlers to sleep.

My friend Cid got us VIP seats for Fantasmic. I wish I got to be a VIP more often. We got to walk right off to the cordoned off seats even though it was standing room only. Thanks, Cid!

Matt bought a whole bunch of glow sticks before we went - they turned out to be a great idea, not only for finding the kids when it was dark, but also for keeping them entertained when we were waiting for nighttime stuff (and we did a lot of nighttime stuff). Since we had a lot of extras, we were able to give glow sticks to other kids, too - a great way to make friends.

Amy being cute. And that hat got lost somewhere. And yes, she did insist on wearing a skirt or a dress every day.

Amy being cute again. Actually, we were just sharing a treat while waiting for Dad and the big kids to ride their turn on Soarin. But I love this picture because my baby is dang adorable, isn't she? And I love how the Florida humidity made her hair, which is normally a bit on the wavy side, CURLY. So cute I almost couldn't stand it - almost makes up for what the Florida humidity does to MY hair.

Meeting the princesses - get a load of my kids in their cute Mom-made outfits. The girls' princess dresses got a lot of comments, too. I wanted them to wear something that was princessy but still comfortable in the insane heat. I always feel sorry for the little girls who have to wear a heavy polyester costume all day long (and I guess I feel bad for the character actors, too, but at least they are getting paid).

Porter was insistent that he wanted nothing to do with the princesses. But he totally flirted with Sleeping Beauty.

Watching a lady make Japanese rice candy shaped like animals. It was completely mesmerizing. I think the Japan pavilion is my favorite even though they don't have a ride or anything.

Another reason to love the Japan pavilion is that they have the most adorable salesgirls who will dress up your little girl in a kimono and fix her hair and everything. And again I didn't buy Betsy a kimono even though I really really wanted to.

Porter wore his Mickey Mouse shirt just for the occasion. It was a coincidence that they were both plaid.

The nice thing about having a character meal is that you can see Mickey Mouse without having to wait in a seriously long line for the privilege of doing so. And the nice part of having Free Dining is that you get to meet characters AND have a lot of really awesome food without having to pay for either. Also, we had a really great server at the Garden Grill and I am using the word 'really' a lot.

Dale was the silly chipmunk. He made my kids laugh.

We didn't necessarily plan to have three character meals in a row, but that's how it worked out. And I know it doesn't look like it here, but Amy actually loved the characters. What she doesn't love is having her picture take (she's not too keen on bib-wearing, either).

We promised our kids Mickey Mouse-shaped waffles, and the Crystal Palace delivered.

Amy calls this character 'Tiger'. How do I explain to her that she's wrong? I don't, that's how.

Obligatory castle picture. Like Amy, I'm not crazy about having my picture taken.

But Matt is okay with it.

My kids are at the age now when they are totally into cheesy jokes, so they really liked Jungle Cruise. Actually, I really liked it too.

Space Mountain was one of the rides I was really looking forward to, since I hadn't been on it in almost 10 years (thanks to being pregnant with Amy on our last trip [totally worth it]). Only this time, when I went on it, I actually found it to be a bit too much. I started having a problem with motion sickness right around this point (it got even worse the next day) and I had to close my eyes for most of Space Mountain. Betsy and Porter, on the other hand, rode it twice in a row (thanks to baby swap) with no problems. I guess being young has its advantages.

I should also mention - since we didn't take any pictures for fear of losing the camera - that the kids flat. out. LOVED Splash Mountain. We rode that one both days we were in the parks (I brought ponchos the second day we went) and the kids got to do it twice. I think collectively that is our family's favorite Disney World attraction (and poor Amy couldn't even go).

Another thing we had promised the kids was ice cream shaped like Mickey Mouse. We made good on that promise our second day at Magic Kingdom. We were actually waiting for our Fatspass return time so we could ride Peter Pan and then leave. The park was going to be open for several more hours, but we'd done everything we wanted to do, and we were exhausted, so we decided to go back to the hotel and swim and pack up our stuff for the trip home. So. Those Mickey Mouse ice cream bars really hit the spot.

And the kids got hilariously messy while eating them. This photo doesn't even begin to show the filth and sticky smear that is created when you combine ice cream with the hot Florida sun. So we just got good and messy and had a good laugh and cleaned up everything afterwards with baby wipes (don't go anywhere without baby wipes or you have to do that stereotypical Mom thing where you lick a napkin and use it on your kid's face, which eeewwww).

Our last day - Animal Kingdom. We did the whole 'picture by the Tree of Life' thing. And if it seems like I didn't post as many pictures this time around, it's because a lot of them are redundant with the pictures from our last trip. (Only with Amy in them.) Animal Kingdom was also the day when I went on four different rides within an hour... I really don't recommend that... by the time we got off Expedition Everest I was within inches of tossing my cookies (which we got for free from the dining plan). So I swore off rides after that and we stuck with shows.

I also got to meet up with my awesome friend Cid, and thank her personally for the Fantasmic seats, but I didn't take a picture. Matt took the kids on one of the puke-inducing rides and I talked Disney and NCIS and fan fiction with Cid while Amy played adorable peek-a-boo with her.

They have the same thing for apes here as they have for the orangutans at the National Zoo. Like the Japanese rice candy lady, this was something else I could have watched for hours.

The kids like this section of the park, because it's dinosaur-themed. I always have a hard time with it, because the pavement reflects back the sun and there's no shade and there is a high concentration of puke-inducing rides. But, again, the kids like it.

Betsy and Porter being dinosaurs.

This is the hotel we stayed at. Betsy liked it because she's planning on becoming a rock star someday.

And then we went home. THE END. (Unless you want me to write about the epic poop blowout Amy had once we crossed the state line into Georgia on the return trip. It was like someone had poured twenty or thirty cups of Snack Pack into her britches. We had to bathe her at the hotel and throw out her clothes and I used an entire pack of wipes and half a can of air freshener trying to render her car seat habitable again. But that was pretty gross, so I won't tell you about it.)

My kind of town

First of all, thanks to everybody for the awesome comments on my last post. Matt and I really feel like this is the beginning of something good (so it's perfect that it comes in spring). On the other hand, we already had a pretty good life - cute/smart kids, nice house, we're all healthy - and that doesn't really change. I still haven't figured out if there is some Life Lesson we were supposed to learn over the past two years, or if it was bad luck. But thanks for sticking with my blog even when I was a Woeful Wanda (or even a Lazy Lou who goes weeks without updating).

As I mentioned in my last post, we took a brief yet action-packed trip up to Chicago (Amy: "Cago") last weekend. We had been thinking about going during spring break, but obviously Matt won't have the vacation time at his new job, whereas he had pretty much nothing to lose at the old job. I thought it was worth pulling Betsy out of school for one day, so off we went. We drove up early Friday morning and got to Chicago around 10 a.m. (I made Matt do the city driving because even with the GPS, it's not really my favorite. I can do it, I'd just rather not.) This was perfect timing because we got to the American Girl store right after it opened.

Matt and Porter came inside the store with us for a few minutes, just long enough to look around and take a few pictures. Then they headed off for more manly pursuits, namely the Lego store. (We do have some pictures for that, taken with my new camera phone, but I sort of haven't figured out how to get the photos off the phone yet...) So the girls and I stayed around the Mecca of Girliness for a while.
Betsy picked out a few things for her Kit doll, and I took a lot of pictures which I won't bore you with. I let both of the girls bring dolls (actually Amy had to borrow Betsy's Bitty since she won't 'officially' get hers until she turns 2 in a few weeks) and the store also had a lot of things that you could take down and look at. The Room of Babies was a big hit for Amy.

Once we dragged ourselves away from the AG store (without spending too much money) we met up with Matt and Porter at the Rainforest Cafe a few blocks away. Porter had been dying to go to Rainforest Cafe because they sponsor a show on PBS Kids and my kid is, apparently, highly susceptible to advertising. "Mom, it's a wild place to shop and eat!"

Porter is fascinated by this photo... "Mom, can I see my sad face?" I think he was grumpy because the service was atrocious. The place was 2/3 empty, and yet we had to beg to get a waitress to get our orders, and then it took something like a half hour to get our food. I don't think we'll be giving them any repeat business. But the kids liked the decor, so it wasn't a total waste.

After lunch we headed out to the suburbs. I had found us a hotel in Hoffman Estates and we let the kids play with their new toys while Matt and I enjoyed the novelty of cable TV, and then we headed off again. Because you know what's in Schaumburg? IKEA!

I really, really, really like IKEA. And the kids like it too (I think Matt merely tolerates the experience, but who cares? We only go there about once every two years, anyway.) Through persistence we were able to get the two older kids deposited in Smaland while Amy and the grownups shopped. I picked up some cool stuff for the house and we got a spare dining room chair. We also had dinner at IKEA - delicious Swedish meatballs, yum - and it was probably the cheapest meal we ate all weekend (including when we stopped at Arby's on the way back home).

Once through with IKEA, we went back to the hotel and went swimming for a while. I am a big fan of hotel pools. Not only is it a nice way to unwind, but if we let the kids wear themselves out, they might actually sleep in an unfamiliar bed. It more or less worked - I was the one who woke up at 5:30 and couldn't fall back asleep. Oh well. At least we got a yummy hot breakfast out of the deal.

Our final stop of the journey (not counting home) was the Legoland Discovery Center in Schaumburg. It looked like fun, and we got discount tickets online, although the price is still pretty steep (but not much is cheap in Chicago). But Porter had been looking forward to Legos (Amy: "Gego!") though all of the girly stuff on Friday, and I can't let my little boy down. Surprisingly, all three kids enjoyed themselves.

Porter wanted to build a tower. Yeah, we couldn't have stayed home and done that.

The downtown Chicago made out of Legos was my favorite - it was incredibly detailed. I can't even imagine having the patience (or obsession or whatever) to do something like that.
And... a wizard.
When we were done with the Lego place, we packed up in the car and pretty much headed straight home. It was a great trip, and I'm really glad we went. Matt starts his new job tomorrow, and there is still plenty of fun coming up for the kids. My parents are coming to visit the weekend of the Easter cantata, and spring break is shortly thereafter. And with this nice weather, they are playing outside all the time!

Now that I've piqued your curiosity...

I guess it's about time I told the full story of our trip to Washington D.C.! We drove out on Wednesday and got there with plenty of time to go to Celeste's bridal shower with my mom and Laura. (Unfortunately, Emily and Catherine were stuck in traffic, so they missed it.) We did our best to scare Celeste away from the family, but for whatever reason it didn't work. Sorry, Celeste. Thursday morning, we went down to the nearest Metro station and rode the train to the National Mall. Betsy loved riding the train, by the way.

Unfortunately we only had one day on the Mall so we didn't really get to see a whole lot. But, because Matt and I are slightly obsessive about our vacation planning (Really!) we'd mapped out a pretty good strategy, allowing us to see the highlights of each museum while hopefully avoiding too much boredom on the kids' part. We started at the National Air & Space Museum, which is a perennial favorite. I really liked the new exhibit about the golden age of American air travel; the kids were more amused to learn that astronauts wear diapers in space. When we got done there we hooked up with all four of my sisters and went next door to the American Indian Museum because Fodor's said that they have the best food, and if I'm going to pay too much for overpriced museum food, I at least want it to be good overpriced museum food. Which it was, actually. I had this overpriced chicken soup with lemongrass and cilantro in it and I lapped up every overpriced drop. After lunch Emily wanted to see the American Indian Museum because her kids are half Navajo (the other half) and Catherine wanted to see some art, so we split up again and headed over to the American History Museum. This one is actually my personal favorite, because I'm a little bit of a history junkie, but we also knew the kids would be bored so we kept it brief. America On The Move was my favorite - it's all about how transportation changed the American experience in the 20th century and vice versa. I'd worn my favorite skirt in honor of that one. We also hustled through The American Presidency and The Cost Of Freedom (a history of American wars - all the wars, even the unpopular ones) but didn't really have time to do them justice. Not to worry, though - the Smithsonian also puts together top-notch online exhibitions, so I can enjoy them from the comfort of my own home (and with cheaper food).

We met up with my sisters again at the Natural History Museum, or as my kids call it, "the museum of dead things." I skipped out on seeing the Hope Diamond because we'd already seen it on our last trip in 2003 and... well, not to call a giant diamond overrated, but if you've seen it once, there's no need to see it again. Maybe if they let you try it on or something. Anyway, my sisters and I all completely loved Written In Bone, which is a relatively new exhibit (and it's only there until Feb. 2011, so plan your trip now). I wouldn't have pegged myself for someone who's interested in forensic anthropology (despite my near-obsessive love of NCIS) and, in fact, hadn't even planned on visiting that one but my sisters wanted to. But I got absolutely sucked in. When you have a few minutes to spare, be sure and check out the interactive webcomic, which is slightly cheesy but tells the fascinating true story of one of the skeletons from the exhibit.

After the Natural History Museum we were pretty worn out, but we also wanted to avoid rush hour on the Metro, so we wandered around the Mall for a little while. There's actually a lot more to see than the museums we went to - there's gardens and sculptures and interesting buildings and monuments and whatnot. But, there was also ninety-degree heat AND one-million-percent humidity, so we kept it short. Also, on the train on the way home a pair of extremely well-dressed women (I love people-watching on the Metro - there are some seriously well-turned-out people in our nation's capitol) complimented my skirt, so that felt pretty good. It also felt amazing to go to bed that night.

Mike, Mandy and Miles arrived that night so the next day we all headed to the National Zoo together. We saw a lot of the same animals as the zoo here, of course, but we also saw giant pandas and a baby gorilla, which we don't have (and which totally cracked me up). Again, it was really hot and it started to rain, so we only stayed until 1:30 or so. But the Zoo has free admission, so it was all good. One thing I learned from this trip is that it's not enough to use Mapquest to get directions to a place - you've also got to get the directions back, because they may not necessarily be the same. Pretty much every time we went somewhere, we got lost on the way home. Coming back from the zoo, for example, we ended up in Georgetown, in a pouring rain. But, it was an adventure, and I didn't really mind. A GPS-enabled phone would have been nice, though.

Anyway, Friday night was the rehearsal dinner, or at least what passes for a rehearsal dinner in Mormon culture, since we don't have wedding rehearsals in the strictest sense of the word. It was more like a post-decorating-the-stake-center-for-the-reception dinner. Only we didn't help with the decorating but still showed up and ate lots of barbecue. Sorry!

Saturday was the big day in more ways than one. First of all, Emily cut my hair, which is always nice. And Matt and I got to dump our kids on my mom and go to another state (we were staying in Virgina and the temple's in Maryland. Only about half an hour away, but still.) Only one small wrinkle ensued. See, while I was ironing my dress, Porter was outside climbing trees with Graypa, and he somehow managed to fall and bonk his head. he didn't actually fall out of the tree, but he managed to give himself a big ol' lump on his noggin (I believe it even had cartoon birds tweeting around it at one point.). Now, not to sound callous, but Porter hits his head pretty much all the time, and he'll usually cry for a minute or two and then shake it off. I think his skull is actually made of cement, or lead, or something equally hard and impregnable. So, we didn't think too much about leaving him in Grammie's capable hands while we went gadding about.

The wedding was really, really nice. The Washington D.C. temple is beautiful (not to mention huge, a fact I'm sure I failed to appreciate the last time I was inside of it, in 1983). And neither Kevin nor Celeste had changed their minds (or done anything really boneheaded like left their temple recommend inside the other person's car the night before) so they got sealed together for all time and eternity. Yay marriage! Anyway, once we got outside Dad turned his cell phone back on and there were like three messages from my mom. Apparently after we left, our cute lil' head injury victim had been dazed and cranky and, most importantly, pukey. Oh great.

So, we posed for a couple of quick photos outside the temple (and I'm just going to apologize to Celeste right now for making a 'my-kid-fell-on-his-head-and-I'm-the-worst-mother-ever' face and probably ruining the shots) and hurried home. Luckily, there was an urgent care right up the road in McLean. Unluckily, almost as soon as we got there (we meaning me, my dad, and of course my son) Porter ralphed in their trash can. Apparently they have a very strict 'no tossing your cookies in the fixtures' policy because they sent us up the road to an actual hospital. With, I might add, incorrectly Mapquested directions. So maybe it's just a D.C. thing.

And that's why there's a picture of my son in the E.R. on our vacation.

Fortunately, the E.R. wasn't too awfully busy that day. Kevin and Celeste's sealing was at 1 p.m. and the reception wasn't until 6, so we had a little window of opportunity or things like hospital visits. Still, there's always a lot of 'hurry up and wait' where things like this are involved. The triage nurse didn't seem hugely concerned (I think Porter impressed her by reading the Pain Scale faces on the chart. You know, No Hurt, Hurts a Little, Hurts More... Did I mention that my four-year-old spontaneously learned how to read in the last two weeks? No?) but the vomiting was a bit of a problem. We ended up getting him a CT scan to make sure everything was all right, because we'd be heading home the next day and didn't want to be in the middle of nowhere and suddenly have a problem. Luckily, the scan showed that everything was fine, he'd just bumped his head pretty darn hard, and they even burned me a complimentary CD with images of my kid's brain (I think I've found my new screensaver!)

So, it was a pain in the neck but could have been worse (although, we'll see how laconic I feel once we get the BILL) but it still ate up a pretty good chunk of the day. By the time we'd gone back to the house, changed Porter out of his pukey clothes, found a pharmacy that was actually open and filled the prescription for anti-barf pills (Thank you, Dr. Anne-Marie Langdoc!), and battled through the usual inexplicable traffic jams, we were an hour late to the reception. Where Porter promptly ran onto the dance floor and started spinning in circles. And then ate all the frosting off a piece of cake. I think people would have thought we made the whole thing up except for Porter's hospital bracelet (and the visible lump on his head).

So. Kevin and Celeste's reception was very nice, and they graciously waited on all the first dances until we were there. The cake was insanely delicious (all those flowers that you saw on the cake in the previous post? They're candy) and K & C did smash it in each other's faces, but tastefully. Honestly, I think if I'd thought about beforehand, tasteful cake smash would be a pretty safe bet for the two of them. And Kevin's car was decorated with Oreos and we all got to blow bubbles to "whoosh" them off on their merry way.

That was pretty much the end of the festivities but since all the Blinns were staying together, we all stayed up way too late talking. (Some family friends we used to know in Rochester live in McLean, VA so of course my parents invited them to the wedding. They couldn't make it because they were heading out to Utah for a family reunion and would we like to stay at their house instead of a hotel? Would we!) And, the next day Matt packed up the car in a pouring rain and we headed home. It was a quick trip, and we're already thinking about when we can go back to D.C. again (but if we do, it will not be in the summer). And now it's Sunday again and the kids are starting school this week! I can't decide if I will clean the house, scrapbook, take a nap or just finish a sentence?