Luke loves to take new objects and study how they work, turn them over in his hands over and over to carefully examine them. With climbing stairs, he climbed the first 2 steps for several months up and down and up and down over and over, and then surprised us one day with going all the way up and all the way down with no problems. He really does study something out and then goes full speed with confidence!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Luke Walking!
Luke took his first steps on February 11th at 13 months old. Cora and Violet took steps at 11 and 12 months, but weren't fully walking for a few months after that. Lukey approached walking just like he has everything else-- study it carefully, for a long time and then take off! Luke was walking many steps in a row just two days after he he took his first! Luke loves being able to walk just like his sisters.
Luke loves to take new objects and study how they work, turn them over in his hands over and over to carefully examine them. With climbing stairs, he climbed the first 2 steps for several months up and down and up and down over and over, and then surprised us one day with going all the way up and all the way down with no problems. He really does study something out and then goes full speed with confidence!
Luke loves to take new objects and study how they work, turn them over in his hands over and over to carefully examine them. With climbing stairs, he climbed the first 2 steps for several months up and down and up and down over and over, and then surprised us one day with going all the way up and all the way down with no problems. He really does study something out and then goes full speed with confidence!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Instant Oatmeal
The kids love oatmeal for breakfast. I used to buy the instant oatmeal packets, but after I tried this recipe, I don't think we'll ever go back to those! It helps rotate our food storage, I can do whatever add-ins we like, and it has much less sugar. It's probably cheaper too.
Instant Oatmeal
- 6 cups oatmeal
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup dried fruit or nuts
I put all of these in an airtight cereal container and shake it up.
To prepare the oatmeal:
For my kids, I put 1/3 cup mix in a cereal bowl, add 1/2 cup milk, and microwave for 2 minutes. This is pretty thick oatmeal. Then I stir in about 1/2 cup or yogurt or applesauce or a combination, it cools it enough so they can eat it right away. And they add sprinkles on top. Whatever works, right?
Notes:
-You can use quick oats, but I've just been sticking 2 cups of the regular oatmeal in my food processor and making oat flour, another two cups chopping it up just a little, and two cups of whole oats. It depends on what consistency you want your oatmeal though.
-For the fruit, I've been using 1/2 cup craisens and 1/2 dried apples from the cannery, I do put the apples in my food processor for just a little bit so the pieces aren't huge
-You can make it with water if you want instead of milk
-You can add flax, wheat germ, a bit of bran or whatever to make it even more healthy
-You can package it in individual servings in sandwich bags if you like
-The recipe I used said it only lasts one month in the pantry
Instant Oatmeal
- 6 cups oatmeal
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup dried fruit or nuts
I put all of these in an airtight cereal container and shake it up.
To prepare the oatmeal:
For my kids, I put 1/3 cup mix in a cereal bowl, add 1/2 cup milk, and microwave for 2 minutes. This is pretty thick oatmeal. Then I stir in about 1/2 cup or yogurt or applesauce or a combination, it cools it enough so they can eat it right away. And they add sprinkles on top. Whatever works, right?
Notes:
-You can use quick oats, but I've just been sticking 2 cups of the regular oatmeal in my food processor and making oat flour, another two cups chopping it up just a little, and two cups of whole oats. It depends on what consistency you want your oatmeal though.
-For the fruit, I've been using 1/2 cup craisens and 1/2 dried apples from the cannery, I do put the apples in my food processor for just a little bit so the pieces aren't huge
-You can make it with water if you want instead of milk
-You can add flax, wheat germ, a bit of bran or whatever to make it even more healthy
-You can package it in individual servings in sandwich bags if you like
-The recipe I used said it only lasts one month in the pantry
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
TP News
This week someone discovered the joys of toilet paper unrolling!
Look at that smile! Luke has made several more attempts since. We may be using his exploration byproducts from a grocery bag for a long time yet. Cora only tried this once and Violet never did! But I think Luke is not satiated yet... he even found the extra rolls under the sink and attempted to unroll those too.
Two days after we got home from Disneyland, Violet woke up with a dry diaper, and I decided it must be a sign. We dove into potty training and have had much success this week! We stayed home most of last week, except for Friday when the kids ended up spending the day with Kissie, and Violet did great out and about too. It's so nice that she'll go on her own now, the first few days of the timer going off every 20 minutes and encouraging lots of liquids are kind of a pain. She's thrilled to be a big girl wearing princess undies, and I'm so proud of her!
Look at that smile! Luke has made several more attempts since. We may be using his exploration byproducts from a grocery bag for a long time yet. Cora only tried this once and Violet never did! But I think Luke is not satiated yet... he even found the extra rolls under the sink and attempted to unroll those too.Two days after we got home from Disneyland, Violet woke up with a dry diaper, and I decided it must be a sign. We dove into potty training and have had much success this week! We stayed home most of last week, except for Friday when the kids ended up spending the day with Kissie, and Violet did great out and about too. It's so nice that she'll go on her own now, the first few days of the timer going off every 20 minutes and encouraging lots of liquids are kind of a pain. She's thrilled to be a big girl wearing princess undies, and I'm so proud of her!
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Sea World
We drove down to San Diego early Thursday morning. It ended up being a 12 hour drive, the longest we've ever attempted. It actually went really well! One of our little dvd players wouldn't work when we first started, but we worked out a way for the girls to both be able to see and they took turns choosing movies really well. Luke did great, except for getting antsy the last hour that we spent in traffic. And Kevin and I listened to a good book on cd that passed the time really well too.
(On the way home we weren't so lucky-- we had a late start, the other dvd player-- cheap and old-- broke two hours from home, we had many more potty stops, and our book and tape was so weird we stopped it. I think for our Oregon trip I'll bring a back-up audiobook. And we just got a dependable built-in dvd player for our van, so we should have a smoother trip, I hope!)
We got a fantastic deal on our hotel, and it included a big breakfast from 6-10, which we took full advantage of with our early-waking kids. Kevin got discounted passes to Sea World through his work, they are running a promotion this year where you pay for one day and can come back all year long. So it was easy to decide to do two days at Sea World. It was nice not be rushed and we even saw the Shamu show twice. Winter hours are just 10-5 and 10-6, so we had nice full days that didn't totally wear us out.
On Friday we skipped the Shamu show, so this water ride had no lines. It was a warm day and Cora loved it! She went on it 4 times. Violet was asleep, so it was fun to let Cora go as much as she wanted. We got soaked.
We didn't end with any show pictures... with our hands full of three kids!-- but a couple of pictures of us at the shows. I love the Sea World shows, they are my favorite part. The dolphin show had been redone since Kevin and I saw it 4 years ago, and I thought the new one was great too. The kids really liked the shows, especially the pets one, but Violet did freak out when we got Shamu splashed.
Luke took some peaceful naps in the stroller.
... and ate some of his meals while we explored the park.
The girls liked the animal exhibits, especially the penguins and polar bears, but I think the real highlight for them was the Sesame Street area. There were three rides for kids to ride with adults, so Kevin and I traded off taking them and staying with Luke. Luckily we rode the rides a bunch on Friday, because Saturday was much busier there.
Cora even got to meet Elmo and Cookie Monster (Violet would have too but she screamed and clung to my leg).
(On the way home we weren't so lucky-- we had a late start, the other dvd player-- cheap and old-- broke two hours from home, we had many more potty stops, and our book and tape was so weird we stopped it. I think for our Oregon trip I'll bring a back-up audiobook. And we just got a dependable built-in dvd player for our van, so we should have a smoother trip, I hope!)
We got a fantastic deal on our hotel, and it included a big breakfast from 6-10, which we took full advantage of with our early-waking kids. Kevin got discounted passes to Sea World through his work, they are running a promotion this year where you pay for one day and can come back all year long. So it was easy to decide to do two days at Sea World. It was nice not be rushed and we even saw the Shamu show twice. Winter hours are just 10-5 and 10-6, so we had nice full days that didn't totally wear us out.
On Friday we skipped the Shamu show, so this water ride had no lines. It was a warm day and Cora loved it! She went on it 4 times. Violet was asleep, so it was fun to let Cora go as much as she wanted. We got soaked.
We didn't end with any show pictures... with our hands full of three kids!-- but a couple of pictures of us at the shows. I love the Sea World shows, they are my favorite part. The dolphin show had been redone since Kevin and I saw it 4 years ago, and I thought the new one was great too. The kids really liked the shows, especially the pets one, but Violet did freak out when we got Shamu splashed.
Luke took some peaceful naps in the stroller.
... and ate some of his meals while we explored the park.
The girls liked the animal exhibits, especially the penguins and polar bears, but I think the real highlight for them was the Sesame Street area. There were three rides for kids to ride with adults, so Kevin and I traded off taking them and staying with Luke. Luckily we rode the rides a bunch on Friday, because Saturday was much busier there.
Cora even got to meet Elmo and Cookie Monster (Violet would have too but she screamed and clung to my leg).
Sunday in San Diego
Sunday morning we check out of our hotel and went to the San Diego Mormon Battalion Historic Site. It was so cool! A perfect thing to do on a traveling Sunday. They had just redone it and it was great. They had an interactive presentation where we moved from room to room to act out the places the Mormon Battalion went. And afterward they had several activities for the kids. I was really impressed. I learned a bunch of new things and the kids stayed pretty interested too.
Panning for gold... and the girls each got to keep two pieces!
Next we went to the temple to take a walk around. Our visit was cut a little short by an emergency potty trip, but it is such a pretty temple!
Luke and Violet fell asleep in the car, but Cora and I headed out for a short beach walk. Kevin did a little research and found a super cool beach with a little cave, lots of seals and sea lions, a park, a walkway with a view, and tide pools. Unfortunately we only had 30 minutes there. Cora was dying to explore more! We could have spent a whole day there! It was fun to see the sea lions and seals play, bark, and loll around on the beach. All of my kids LOVE the beach, whether it's swimming weather or not, and Cora really liked watching the waves crash over the rocks. Good thing we'll be able to go to the beach when we go to Oregon in a few months!
And here's a close-up
After the beach we were lucky enough to meet up for a yummy dinner with some of Kevin's friends from college and their families. It was fun for them to catch up and the kiddos had fun playing together. Then it was off to Anaheim for Disneyland!
Kevin got to dress up in some soldier gear so we could see what they wore and the little supplies they took.
Panning for gold... and the girls each got to keep two pieces!
Next we went to the temple to take a walk around. Our visit was cut a little short by an emergency potty trip, but it is such a pretty temple!
Luke and Violet fell asleep in the car, but Cora and I headed out for a short beach walk. Kevin did a little research and found a super cool beach with a little cave, lots of seals and sea lions, a park, a walkway with a view, and tide pools. Unfortunately we only had 30 minutes there. Cora was dying to explore more! We could have spent a whole day there! It was fun to see the sea lions and seals play, bark, and loll around on the beach. All of my kids LOVE the beach, whether it's swimming weather or not, and Cora really liked watching the waves crash over the rocks. Good thing we'll be able to go to the beach when we go to Oregon in a few months!Here's Cora with the seal lions sun bathing in the background
And here's a close-up
After the beach we were lucky enough to meet up for a yummy dinner with some of Kevin's friends from college and their families. It was fun for them to catch up and the kiddos had fun playing together. Then it was off to Anaheim for Disneyland!Disneyland!!!
We met Kissie and Pata at the hotel Sunday night. The girls were so excited to be at Disneyland, they were bouncing off the walls! After dinner Kevin and I took Cora and Violet to Downtown Disney to catch a glimpse of the fireworks (Lucky for us, Pata dropped us off and Kissie stayed to watch Luke who went to sleep). The girls loved them about until about halfway through, when we had to run find a bathroom for Cora and Violet fell asleep :). It was a great preview for our next big Disney day though!
We started off at California Adventure. The adults took turns riding the roller coaster while the girls rode King Triton's carousel many times (they both said it was one of their favorite rides). Luke took a turn or two on the carousel, but was pretty content to people-watch in his stroller.
Next was our big princess lunch at Ariel's Grotto! The girls were all ready with their autograph books and were excited to see princesses! Violet seemed a little shy at first, and then was just so excited. Cora was thrilled from the first. The food was actually pretty good, and it was nice that the meal was included with our hotel/ticket package. The princesses came around to each table one at a time, and it was great-- no waiting in lines! 
Later on we did wait in a line to see Tinkerbell, but we skipped out of a very long line to see Rapunzel. We also saw Peter Pan, Wendy, Mary Poppins, Cinderella's fairy godmother, and a bunch of other characters throughout the park.
We rode pretty much all of the rides at CA on Monday. My favorite was California Screamin' (especially when we got to do it at dusk on Wednesday!). Violet loves 'A Bug's land' -- all the rides were just perfect for her. Cora didn't make the height check on the Grizzly River Run, even with a pack a tissues stuffed in her sneakers (they told us she could get on if she was wearing princess shoes, so I didn't feel bad about trying), but that was probably for the best since it turned chilly after Kevin and I went and got wet.
The swinging cages on the Mickey Ferris wheel were surprisingly fun and really spiced up the normal ferris wheel experience. Cora loved the silly swings, was scared by the golf ball coming at her in Soaring over California, and had a great time at the interactive Turtle Talk with Crush. The Toy Story ride was fun, but the longest line we waited in the whole three days!
Cora went on the Tower of Terror with Kissie and Pata... I should have previewed the ride before sending her along, I didn't remember how scary it was! She fell asleep in line and that didn't help matters much. Poor girl! I think we have scared her. During Sacrament meeting on Sunday the speaker was talking about the power of prayer and Cora asked me if she was talking about the Tower of Terror. Unfortunately it was one of her most memorable events of the trip, and she swears she's not going on it again until she's 10.
We passed some time before the Aladdin show at the Monsters Inc ride, one just perfect for Violet. We loved the Aladdin show-- even Luke! He got ansty the last 10 minutes, but before that he was really interested and even clapped when he got really excited.
Tuesday we went to Disneyland and got into the park an hour early with our Costco package. It was great to have even fewer people for that hour, and just to have an extra hour of fun! The adults took turns going on Space Mountain and the kiddos traded off riding the Buzz Lightyear and flying spaceship ride to their hearts' content.
Cora took one trip on Space Mountain, but that was enough for her! Luke especially liked the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, and the girls loved jerking Pata and Kevin around on Autotopia.
Future driver!!! Good thing we have about 14 more years!
We saw lots of our favorite characters. Mickey and Minnie spent a few extra minutes with Luke each time, which was fun to see.
The Fantasyland rides were a little disappointing... lots of short jerky rides that were scary for the kids or hard to follow the storyline. But we had lots of fun on the teacups, It's a Small World, and the flying dumbos. Violet rode her first big roller coaster, The Matterhorn Bobsleds, and liked it, but didn't want to do it again.
Then we switched off doing the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with the Big Thunder Ranch. Cora ended up going on the roller coaster 5 times! She was scared during it, but as soon as we got off, she wanted to do it again. Luke liked petting the goats and gave some big smiles.
During the Haunted Mansion, I ended up covering Violet's eyes the whole time, and Cora elected to shut hers during the scary parts. We all enjoyed a little break on the railroad tour around the park. And Pirates of the Caribbean was a big hit all the way around, except for the girls being worried about getting wet. Violet was a yo-ho-ing for quite a while after that ride! We all really enjoyed the Enchanted Tiki Room, and then the adults took turns eating dinner and riding the Indian Jones ride. The Jungle Cruise was fun for the whole family too, I was just worried Luke was going to jump out of my arms into the water in the dark!
We ended the night back in Tomorrowland, where the kids once again rode the Buzz Lightyear ride and the flying spaceships over and over until the park closed. Pata and Kevin tried out Captain EO, which they said was a good reminder of how far 3D technology has come in the last 20 years.
Wednesday morning we were back at Disneyland, getting into Mickey's Toontown an hour early, courtesy of our Costco passes once again. The did a fun song and dance show, and we toured the character's houses.
But the real highlight was the Gadget's Go Coaster, it was just the right amount of thrill for Violet, and fun for Cora too. We spent a few more hours at Disneyland riding our favorite rides again, and then ate a fabulous lunch at the Blue Bayou Restaurant, thanks to Kissie and Pata. It was especially relaxing because Luke slept all the way through it :). The atmosphere was so fun, and the food was great. It fulfilled my months long craving for a Monte Cristo sandwich!
After lunch we headed back over to California Adventure Park and did all of our favorite rides there again and did a little shopping too. We saw a little Mickey Dance Crew performance, which was pretty fun. They had Cora stand up and dance for a bit too.
We finished the night watching the World of Color performance. We ended up buying a picnic from Ariel's Grotto to ensure a good viewing place, and that was really nice. It was a pretty spectacular light and water performance, it just had a few scary parts for the kiddos.
It really was such a great trip! The weather was cooler than normal for California, but way warmer than Utah. We waited in very few lines, and only one or two long lines. Usually it took us longer to walk through the corrals to the front of the ride than actually waiting in line. Violet hasn't turned three yet, so she didn't need a ticket. And I really liked the extras from the Costco package we did-- preferred seating for some shows, two early mornings, and the included princess lunch, plus some lanyards and luggage tags thrown in too.
It was off-season-- there were 4 or 5 rides closed, one restaurant we wanted to eat at was only open on weekends, and because we went mid-week, there weren't any parades of fireworks. The park also closed at 8pm, but that was fine with us! We were still there from 10-11 hours each day and that was plenty for us. We got there when the park opened and stayed until closing, and it was terrific. The pros of going off-season way outweighed the cons for our family. We loved being able to go on our favorite rides over and over and short lines made it easier to trade off for the adult rides.
I was so impressed with the Disney customer service. Every employee we encountered was happy and eager to help. I was just amazed, it was way different than most of the stores I go to here. No moody teenagers, no huffiness, shortness, or rolling eyes. It just made everything that much better that people were honestly at work to help make your experience great-- or at least were good at pretending!
Our kids did a super job too-- Cora walked all day every day with hardly any complaining. She was too excited! She also walked the 15 minute walk to and from the park each day, with exception of one night where she fell asleep on Kevin's head.
We took two single strollers which made it easy to maneuver and let Violet and Luke rest and nap when they needed to. Here Violet fell sleep mid-cookie bite.
But our biggest key to success was inviting Kissie and Pata along! They were so great, they just told us to plan the trip we wanted, and they would stay wherever, eat wherever, do whatever, and help with everything. So it wasn't hard to work around multiple people's schedules and desires because they were oh-so-flexible. We were so grateful they came with us, I don't think Kevin and I could have done it alone without some frustrations and we would have never been able to ride a big ride together. They kept us all in a nice and cheery mood, pushed strollers, swung kids, held Luke's hand so he could walk and stretch his legs, and I think (I hope!) they got to ride all the rides they wanted to too. It was great to have concentrated family time together, and the kids loved having lots of Kissie and Pata attention.
It was a fun trip! Now we can't wait until we get to do it again!
We started off at California Adventure. The adults took turns riding the roller coaster while the girls rode King Triton's carousel many times (they both said it was one of their favorite rides). Luke took a turn or two on the carousel, but was pretty content to people-watch in his stroller.
Next was our big princess lunch at Ariel's Grotto! The girls were all ready with their autograph books and were excited to see princesses! Violet seemed a little shy at first, and then was just so excited. Cora was thrilled from the first. The food was actually pretty good, and it was nice that the meal was included with our hotel/ticket package. The princesses came around to each table one at a time, and it was great-- no waiting in lines! 
Later on we did wait in a line to see Tinkerbell, but we skipped out of a very long line to see Rapunzel. We also saw Peter Pan, Wendy, Mary Poppins, Cinderella's fairy godmother, and a bunch of other characters throughout the park.We rode pretty much all of the rides at CA on Monday. My favorite was California Screamin' (especially when we got to do it at dusk on Wednesday!). Violet loves 'A Bug's land' -- all the rides were just perfect for her. Cora didn't make the height check on the Grizzly River Run, even with a pack a tissues stuffed in her sneakers (they told us she could get on if she was wearing princess shoes, so I didn't feel bad about trying), but that was probably for the best since it turned chilly after Kevin and I went and got wet.
The swinging cages on the Mickey Ferris wheel were surprisingly fun and really spiced up the normal ferris wheel experience. Cora loved the silly swings, was scared by the golf ball coming at her in Soaring over California, and had a great time at the interactive Turtle Talk with Crush. The Toy Story ride was fun, but the longest line we waited in the whole three days!Cora went on the Tower of Terror with Kissie and Pata... I should have previewed the ride before sending her along, I didn't remember how scary it was! She fell asleep in line and that didn't help matters much. Poor girl! I think we have scared her. During Sacrament meeting on Sunday the speaker was talking about the power of prayer and Cora asked me if she was talking about the Tower of Terror. Unfortunately it was one of her most memorable events of the trip, and she swears she's not going on it again until she's 10.
We passed some time before the Aladdin show at the Monsters Inc ride, one just perfect for Violet. We loved the Aladdin show-- even Luke! He got ansty the last 10 minutes, but before that he was really interested and even clapped when he got really excited.
Tuesday we went to Disneyland and got into the park an hour early with our Costco package. It was great to have even fewer people for that hour, and just to have an extra hour of fun! The adults took turns going on Space Mountain and the kiddos traded off riding the Buzz Lightyear and flying spaceship ride to their hearts' content.
Cora took one trip on Space Mountain, but that was enough for her! Luke especially liked the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, and the girls loved jerking Pata and Kevin around on Autotopia.
Future driver!!! Good thing we have about 14 more years!
We saw lots of our favorite characters. Mickey and Minnie spent a few extra minutes with Luke each time, which was fun to see.
The Fantasyland rides were a little disappointing... lots of short jerky rides that were scary for the kids or hard to follow the storyline. But we had lots of fun on the teacups, It's a Small World, and the flying dumbos. Violet rode her first big roller coaster, The Matterhorn Bobsleds, and liked it, but didn't want to do it again.Then we switched off doing the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with the Big Thunder Ranch. Cora ended up going on the roller coaster 5 times! She was scared during it, but as soon as we got off, she wanted to do it again. Luke liked petting the goats and gave some big smiles.
During the Haunted Mansion, I ended up covering Violet's eyes the whole time, and Cora elected to shut hers during the scary parts. We all enjoyed a little break on the railroad tour around the park. And Pirates of the Caribbean was a big hit all the way around, except for the girls being worried about getting wet. Violet was a yo-ho-ing for quite a while after that ride! We all really enjoyed the Enchanted Tiki Room, and then the adults took turns eating dinner and riding the Indian Jones ride. The Jungle Cruise was fun for the whole family too, I was just worried Luke was going to jump out of my arms into the water in the dark!We ended the night back in Tomorrowland, where the kids once again rode the Buzz Lightyear ride and the flying spaceships over and over until the park closed. Pata and Kevin tried out Captain EO, which they said was a good reminder of how far 3D technology has come in the last 20 years.
Wednesday morning we were back at Disneyland, getting into Mickey's Toontown an hour early, courtesy of our Costco passes once again. The did a fun song and dance show, and we toured the character's houses.
But the real highlight was the Gadget's Go Coaster, it was just the right amount of thrill for Violet, and fun for Cora too. We spent a few more hours at Disneyland riding our favorite rides again, and then ate a fabulous lunch at the Blue Bayou Restaurant, thanks to Kissie and Pata. It was especially relaxing because Luke slept all the way through it :). The atmosphere was so fun, and the food was great. It fulfilled my months long craving for a Monte Cristo sandwich!After lunch we headed back over to California Adventure Park and did all of our favorite rides there again and did a little shopping too. We saw a little Mickey Dance Crew performance, which was pretty fun. They had Cora stand up and dance for a bit too.
We finished the night watching the World of Color performance. We ended up buying a picnic from Ariel's Grotto to ensure a good viewing place, and that was really nice. It was a pretty spectacular light and water performance, it just had a few scary parts for the kiddos. It really was such a great trip! The weather was cooler than normal for California, but way warmer than Utah. We waited in very few lines, and only one or two long lines. Usually it took us longer to walk through the corrals to the front of the ride than actually waiting in line. Violet hasn't turned three yet, so she didn't need a ticket. And I really liked the extras from the Costco package we did-- preferred seating for some shows, two early mornings, and the included princess lunch, plus some lanyards and luggage tags thrown in too.
It was off-season-- there were 4 or 5 rides closed, one restaurant we wanted to eat at was only open on weekends, and because we went mid-week, there weren't any parades of fireworks. The park also closed at 8pm, but that was fine with us! We were still there from 10-11 hours each day and that was plenty for us. We got there when the park opened and stayed until closing, and it was terrific. The pros of going off-season way outweighed the cons for our family. We loved being able to go on our favorite rides over and over and short lines made it easier to trade off for the adult rides.
I was so impressed with the Disney customer service. Every employee we encountered was happy and eager to help. I was just amazed, it was way different than most of the stores I go to here. No moody teenagers, no huffiness, shortness, or rolling eyes. It just made everything that much better that people were honestly at work to help make your experience great-- or at least were good at pretending!
Our kids did a super job too-- Cora walked all day every day with hardly any complaining. She was too excited! She also walked the 15 minute walk to and from the park each day, with exception of one night where she fell asleep on Kevin's head.
We took two single strollers which made it easy to maneuver and let Violet and Luke rest and nap when they needed to. Here Violet fell sleep mid-cookie bite.
But our biggest key to success was inviting Kissie and Pata along! They were so great, they just told us to plan the trip we wanted, and they would stay wherever, eat wherever, do whatever, and help with everything. So it wasn't hard to work around multiple people's schedules and desires because they were oh-so-flexible. We were so grateful they came with us, I don't think Kevin and I could have done it alone without some frustrations and we would have never been able to ride a big ride together. They kept us all in a nice and cheery mood, pushed strollers, swung kids, held Luke's hand so he could walk and stretch his legs, and I think (I hope!) they got to ride all the rides they wanted to too. It was great to have concentrated family time together, and the kids loved having lots of Kissie and Pata attention. 
It was a fun trip! Now we can't wait until we get to do it again!Monday, February 07, 2011
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