Leafapalooza January 9, 2010

So we finally got to our annual leaf raking, jumping Leafapalooza. This year we set up the tripod and the video camera and recorded an hour and a half of fun. After watching it back at regular speed we decided to spare you the rigors of such excitement stretched out over such a long time and compressed the videos for you as follows.

10 Seconds long: (+10 seconds of opening & closing text)


52 seconds of action, maybe the speed you're most likely to notice (if you watch carefully) Jakob going over the wall to get a ball I threw over the fence knocking leaves out of the tree, Anna going for a ride in and then on the garbage can, Emma taking the long route around the tree before jumping into the leaf pile but not really landing in the leaf pile and Sara getting buried under the leaves:

Jedi Training Academy

The video we've all been waiting for...

Disneyland Day3

Well, as most of you know, the highlight of our last day at Disneyland was the Jedi Training Academy. Now, since Jakob is a lot like both his dad and his mom (poor guy), we had an inkling that no matter how cool something might be, or how much he wanted to do it, it was going to take a lot to convince Jakob to get out of his comfort zone and volunteer to be a Jedi. That's one reason why we waited until the last day - so all the rides were under his belt already and there was nothing to compete for his attention, and fewer crowds too. He'd already watched the whole thing on YouTube at home, because there was no way he would do it if he didn't know beforehand what was going to happen.
So he and I went to the first show of the day, and just as I had hoped there were only a few kids there. Jakob would totally have gotten picked if he wanted to do it, but he was adamant that he was only going to watch it. Even when I explained that there would be more and more kids at each show so his chance would diminish each time, he wouldn't budge on that decision but finally promised to participate at the next show. So we watched it and it was awesome, of course. He loved it.
3 shows later Jakob finally agreed to return to the Jedi Academy! I mean, we just knew he would be kicking himself if we left without him doing it. This time the whole family came and we got there early to make sure he was front and center. Jakob kept saying how nervous he was, and he hadn't been nervous about any of the rides he had done. There were lots more kids this time so I knew not everyone would get a turn. Now it was all up to Jakob to jump up and down and act excited so the Jedi Master would choose him. Luckily he was also wearing his Star Wars shirt (see! He DID want to do it!) and so THANKFULLY he was one of the first to be picked. Phew! He did so awesome. We have a video which at some point we will post too. At the end they were all pronounced official Padawans and given certificates and the look on his face was priceless. I think most of all he was just so pleased that he had overcome his fears and done it.

Anyone who has asked Anna what her favorite ride at Disneyland is knows that the answer is the spinning teacups. In fact she told Princess Aurora that very thing - which was funny because she hadn't even done that ride yet. She also loved Dumbo and the Buzz Lightyear ride.

Speaking of Princess Aurora, my least favorite part of Disneyland was waiting in line for an hour and a half to meet the Princesses. Part of the frustration was my mistake in assuming that ALL the princesses would be around that elusive castle wall corner. In fact there are only 3 at a time, and so it's kind of a pot luck who you get to see. Luckily my girls don't really have any favorites and so it didn't matter in the end who it would be (unlike the many little girls in Snow White dresses who were disappointed to find out Snow White was not going to be there). However I did feel a bit duped when I heard it was going to be Ariel, Mulan & Jasmine. Come on! Talk about your B-list.

Anyway, there is a happy ending (kind of - I still had to wait for 90 minutes!) By some great stroke of luck we were just chatting with Mulan when Princess Aurora showed up to tag team her and so not only did we get to see 4 princesses instead of only 3, and not only is it the A-lister Sleeping Beauty herself, but we got to take a picture of Anna with both together!! How's that for rare! Maybe I can sell it on e-bay!

And speaking or rare, Emma was starting to get accustomed to all this character greeting stuff and almost touched Mulan! And below you can see her actually looking at Tigger & Pooh instead of only clamping her arms around my legs in fear! LOL.

At the end of the day the kids got to pick out some cool toys, thanks to the Disney Gift cards Omi had given them for Christmas. Jakob got a new light saber (of course) and some key chains (of course), Emma got a Mickey & a Minnie and Anna got a Daisy Duck (her new favorite) and this cool light-up bubble blower which entertained us on the bridge to It's a Small World.

All in all, we had a perfect trip and some great family memories.

Disneyland Day2

Day 2 began bright and early at Disneyland for their "Magic Morning" hour before the park opened to the general public. We rode Dumbo a few times and then Jarod took Jakob on Star Tours again (Emma was too small for us all to go) while I took the girls on Buzz Lightyear again, followed by my favorite Astro Orbitor!!


Then we passed the crowd waiting to get into Disneyland and went over to California Adventure for the day. Anna was quite thrilled to pose inside the giant "A" of "californiA" since A is for Anna after all.

First on our list was Soaring Over California which none of us had ever done before. Emma was too short for that ride too so I waited outside with her. Jakob was kind enough to repeat the ride with me and it is absolutely awesome. Meanwhile Jarod took the girls to the Playhouse Disney show which they absolutely, totally LOVED (so I took them again in the afternoon). They saw their favorite Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters, Winnie the Pooh, Little Einsteins and Handy Manny, and had fun dancing.

Jakob humored me with some character interactions while we waited for the show to finish.

It was much easier to get access to the Characters at California Adventure. In fact we hadn't even seen Mickey Mouse the day before so this was our first sighting of him.

Here's a good example why California Adventure is so great - it's bright, and colorful, and Anna is actually smiling in this ride!!!

Here's Jakob in 3D action at the new Toy Story ride - SO MUCH FUN! and speaking of 3D, the Muppet Show 3D was also a big hit and was perfect for our family since the kids were just introduced to the muppets over fall break. Emma loved wearing the glasses and while we waited to go into the theatre, even the preshow was so clever and entertaining.

There was quite a bit of construction going at the park, and all the lake was fenced off - they are putting in a new water show and rebranding some of the old stuff to be more "Disney". The kids rode the jellyfish jumpers - I'm sure it won't be long before it's all rebranded with Nemo! And last time we were here the big ferris wheel was the Sun Wheel but now it's Mickey's Fun Wheel.

I was pretty impressed that Jakob spotted our hotel from Mickey's Fun Wheel. In the foreground is some of the construction for the new Radiator Springs area of the park. They should just call this park "Pixarland - the happier (not scary) place on earth."

We spent the afternoon in Fliks Funfair, lots of fun little rides for the kids and no wait time. Wahoo!

We finished of the day with the Pixar parade, so cool, especially all the bubbles and then went into Downtown Disney to eat dinner at the Rainforest Cafe (we decided to splurge because the kids had been so good about eating their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches everyday, and this was a vacation after all!).

Disneyland Day1

On Monday January 4th, 2010 we headed out the door to DISNEYLAND wahoo! We'd been planning the trip since October but the kids only found out on Christmas morning that they were going. The girls didn't really know what it meant (Anna was 11 months old last time we went) but Jakob was really surprised & excited, especially because there would be 3 new temples to see as part of the deal! We tried to pick a time when it wouldn't be busy and all weekend I was silently "cursing" everyone we saw with a "you better not be going to Disneyland next week!"

We were not disappointed and had a fabulous time, doing everything we wanted to do.

There was a new exhibit "Sleeping Beauty's castle walkthrough". Now, Anna is not princess crazy but she does like Sleeping Beauty (probably because she is always pink) so off we went. Well, after about 4 steps up into the castle I ended up carrying her all the way through with her head buried in my shoulder because it was so scary to her. Here's Emma & Jakob waiting for us to come out and then Anna showing Dad what she thought about it. Anna was pretty much freaked out by all the fantasyland indoor rides, too thematically scary.

Jarod had been hoping that Jakob would want to ride some of the bigger rides with him, especially because he remembers as a kid not being brave enough to try them and then when he finally did, wishing he had done it sooner. Jakob had never been on a roller coaster before, but he HAS been playing Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 since Christmas, so that's kind of like training, I guess. So we got to Toon Town and Jakob did this...

...while the girls did this (and Jakob arrived in time for the final picture). Emma did not want to hug, give 5 or even touch any of the characters, but she did enjoy seeing them and saying goodbye to them. Anna loved the whole concept of the autograph book and enjoyed being in charge of that.

Then we hopped on the Disneyland Express train and I took the girls to do this...

...while Jarod & Jakob rode Thunder Mountain Railroad (which happens to be the only roller coaster I have been on at Disneyland - but not this time.) It is hard to tell what Jakob thought of it because most of his opinions were tied to how long he had to wait, but we think he liked it and only didn't want to do it again because he didn't want to wait in line again. He was definitely more nervous about the Jedi Show, than any of the rides!

As evening approached we got in line for It's a Small World and totally by accident got to see the holiday lights switched on. Pretty cool. (We've seen all the holiday stuff before because our previous 2 visits to Disneyland were in Novembers, but it was really cool to be right there when the lights came on)

The final selection of pictures for today is the Tomorrowland Astro Orbitor. This was one of Anna's favorite rides (and my least favorite, if you can tell by the way I'm staring at my knees while we are spinning round - in between asking Anna to stop making it bounce!) Ah, the things we do for our kids! The second time I rode it with Anna AND Emma! By the way, this was the first ever ride that Jakob did at Disneyland, 7 years ago.