The morning of the flight out, Thursday, was very hairy. If you want to know the whole story, I have posted it at the bottom. We got to Papa and GG's around 4 pm on Thursday and a giant bull raft awaited the boys in the pool (thanks Papa!). That was basically the rest of the day, as you can imagine. What else would we need? Lol
The boys were pooped and in bed by 6:30 pm (helloooo, glorious time change).
Friday - DISNEYLAND! Me, the boys, Uncle Erik, Papa and GG(2). If you ever want to do Disneyland in one day, I have posted, also at the bottom, our itinerary. I spent untold amounts of time reading Yelp reviews of the rides, determining which lines get long and when, what is worth it, what isn't, etc etc. To many, I realize this seems ridiculous and silly. HOWEVER, ask my fam how happy we all were to have a great plan and I'll show you a picture that looks like this!
Being shoved in a teacup spells F-U-N, amiright? ;)
But here are a just a few yummy samples from the 1,336 pictures I took.
Alex and GG sat out Big Thunder Mountain Railroad but the rest of us rocked it!
I'll also make a note about Splash Mountain. Last year, at Disney World, Alex rode all of the rides like what. He was not even 3 and jaws were dropping all over the place. Well it's clearly because he had no clue about what was happening. 1.5 years later, it was not as impressive. In fact, he screamed bloody murder on Splash Mountain this time. He was so petrified I was honestly figuring out how to stop the ride. Pretty sure he ruined the experience for the other people in (on?) our log. Which brings me to...Best quotes of the day!!
Me (at Splash Mountain, about to board): "Oh, the seats are single file? I thought we would be going in pairs."
Erik: "Well, two people can't straddle a log very well can they."
Mom/GG, as the celebratory bugles were blaring to announce the park's opening: "I hope they don't play this music all day."
Random woman walking next to us [in disbelief]: "I hope they do!"
Me (in It's a Small World): "Wow, this ride just keeps on going."
Erik: "Well Kristen it's a big world."
Alex (on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, which is dark and twisty): "I really don't like this!"
Ashton (frantically turning the wheel, truly believing he was driving our car): "Don't WORRY Alex! I WILL GET YOU OUT OF HERE!"
Ashton (on Big Thunder, which is a fast roller coaster): "WHOA! Is there someone DRIVING THIS?"
Erik, in Mickey's house, gazing about appreciatively: "I could live here."
And so we could, perhaps! It was really that fun despite our blistering schedule. (Literally - it was hot!)
On to Saturday, no slowing down here!! Off to Little Corona to the beach with Erik and GG. Not super compelling pictures of this day.
Ashton made a cool necklace and Alex found a heart shaped rock.
Not pictured was the exploration of that giant rock (boulder?) in the background, covered with spitting anemones, crabs and weird sea bugs.
More pool time when we got home and another early bed time - looooved it.
Sunday was a mish mash of things. Bike riding (Papa attempted to help Alex learn, he just won't!), then the Fun Zone at Balboa Island, walking the pier, Newport Beach and then shopping at Fashion Island. I got new Ray Bans ;) What is it about being away and on vacation and feeling no guilt about spending money? (That's rhetorical.)
And just like that, it was Monday :(
No drama on the way home. Off we go!
Thank you to Papa and GG(1) for hosting us. Papa for getting the bikes ready and blowing up the bull, and GG for all the food and cleaning up after us. I know it is no small feat to have us in the house, but we loved every single second. XOXOXOXOX! And thank you GG(2) for having so much fun with us. We made great memories.
Lastly, thanks to Erik, for being a truly awesome uncle the entire time. I know this was your favorite part:
Who doesn't love sifting for pre-planted coins in the blazing hot sand under a relentless sun? I owe you one. Um, several. ;)
By the way I did send in a glowing review of Shaneah to JetBlue. We never would have gotten on that flight without her!
How to do Disneyland in one day with a 4 year old and a 7 year old and be home in time for dinner
(adapted slightly from its original version to show what we actually ended up doing and the times we did them - we skipped Star Wars, Space Mountain and Jungle Cruise, but otherwise a solid showing!! Numbers and color codes don't matter unless you are hard core like me.)
The boys were pooped and in bed by 6:30 pm (helloooo, glorious time change).
Friday - DISNEYLAND! Me, the boys, Uncle Erik, Papa and GG(2). If you ever want to do Disneyland in one day, I have posted, also at the bottom, our itinerary. I spent untold amounts of time reading Yelp reviews of the rides, determining which lines get long and when, what is worth it, what isn't, etc etc. To many, I realize this seems ridiculous and silly. HOWEVER, ask my fam how happy we all were to have a great plan and I'll show you a picture that looks like this!
Being shoved in a teacup spells F-U-N, amiright? ;)
But here are a just a few yummy samples from the 1,336 pictures I took.
Alex's favorite character!
Pew pew! Papa and GG on Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters:
Autopia:
Disneyland Railroad:
Boat to Tom Sawyer Island, which was so cool by the way!
Parade
Alex and GG sat out Big Thunder Mountain Railroad but the rest of us rocked it!
Me (at Splash Mountain, about to board): "Oh, the seats are single file? I thought we would be going in pairs."
Erik: "Well, two people can't straddle a log very well can they."
Mom/GG, as the celebratory bugles were blaring to announce the park's opening: "I hope they don't play this music all day."
Random woman walking next to us [in disbelief]: "I hope they do!"
Me (in It's a Small World): "Wow, this ride just keeps on going."
Erik: "Well Kristen it's a big world."
Alex (on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, which is dark and twisty): "I really don't like this!"
Ashton (frantically turning the wheel, truly believing he was driving our car): "Don't WORRY Alex! I WILL GET YOU OUT OF HERE!"
Ashton (on Big Thunder, which is a fast roller coaster): "WHOA! Is there someone DRIVING THIS?"
Erik, in Mickey's house, gazing about appreciatively: "I could live here."
And so we could, perhaps! It was really that fun despite our blistering schedule. (Literally - it was hot!)
On to Saturday, no slowing down here!! Off to Little Corona to the beach with Erik and GG. Not super compelling pictures of this day.
Ashton made a cool necklace and Alex found a heart shaped rock.
Not pictured was the exploration of that giant rock (boulder?) in the background, covered with spitting anemones, crabs and weird sea bugs.
More pool time when we got home and another early bed time - looooved it.
Sunday was a mish mash of things. Bike riding (Papa attempted to help Alex learn, he just won't!), then the Fun Zone at Balboa Island, walking the pier, Newport Beach and then shopping at Fashion Island. I got new Ray Bans ;) What is it about being away and on vacation and feeling no guilt about spending money? (That's rhetorical.)
And just like that, it was Monday :(
No drama on the way home. Off we go!
Thank you to Papa and GG(1) for hosting us. Papa for getting the bikes ready and blowing up the bull, and GG for all the food and cleaning up after us. I know it is no small feat to have us in the house, but we loved every single second. XOXOXOXOX! And thank you GG(2) for having so much fun with us. We made great memories.
Lastly, thanks to Erik, for being a truly awesome uncle the entire time. I know this was your favorite part:
Who doesn't love sifting for pre-planted coins in the blazing hot sand under a relentless sun? I owe you one. Um, several. ;)
****
Appendix #1 :
The flight that was delayed almost two hours but then changed its mind and tried to leave on time.
Actual emails I sent. It's just faster.
From: Kristen Nill <kristen.nill@me.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 9, 2018 12:24 PM
To: kari.brayden@hotmail.com
Subject: Fwd: Hello from fly-fi
Well holy f&*king S#&%T. I am on this airplane by the grace of god. At 7:30 am JetBlue was like oh, we're not leaving on time at 10:45 anymore, we are delayed until 11:30. Then not long after that, "actually we are now delayed until 12:30".So I basically screwed around at home and waited to leave. The boys played, Jason had coffee etc. Around 9:15 I was like ok we should just go probably. I’ll go get dressed. Jason was like ok I’ll just drive you (had planned to Uber).9:45 we get in the car and we are on route 30 about 30 mins from the airport and the text from JetBlue comes: “back to 11:30!” And I am like oh crap, ok well that’s perfect actually. We will just make it. Then 3 mins later: “back to on time at 10:45!”Now as you know the door for a 10:45 flight closes at 10:30. At this point it was 10:05 and I call jetblue to see about other options to maybe Long Beach but nothing. Sold out. Jason drives on the pike like a bat out of hell. We get there at 10:20 am. My heart was beating out of my chest, I was like are we actually going to miss this flight- it’s like unthinkable. The next 10 minutes are going to make or break me.Story commences below. Let this be a lesson that JetBlue does roll back their delays!! This happened last year in Florida too actually.
Begin forwarded message:From: Kristen Nill <kristen.nill@me.com>
Date: August 9, 2018 at 12:05:17 PM EDT
To: jasonnill@braeburngolf.com
Subject: Hello from fly-fiOmg babe. We are in the air. that was so unbelievably intense! We ran into the big open terminal and I did exactly what you told me to do. I found a person and said can you help me? We are on the 10:45 to LA...and totally started to cry (for real). I was like shaking. She looked it up, it was 10:20 and she said the flight is closed. She must’ve seen the look on my face though, and said “hold on...” so the she ran over and got on the phone and came back with boarding passes! But then she didn’t realize we had bags so then it was a question of whether they could get those on. Which eventually was a yes.
So then she carries the car seat bag with us and escorts us to security which was a MESS. We cut the line but those agents were in ZERO hurry. The boys lost their water (which was fine, at one point I was like I’ll throw the whole bottle away I don’t care!), I had to totally take out the car seats and helmets and scan those through, my bag got flagged for the Epi pen and the ipads, my shoe got stuck etc etc . It was slow motion. I started to panic again and the boys were both crying and the girl called again to the gate and she was like don’t worry! You’re on I promise.
We ran down and there was still a line to board. And then I got a text for a delay until 11, so I was like wait we would have been fine? but the girl was like the problem was they had closed the flight. (She had had them reopen it for me so she could get us boarding passes and do our bags). Anyway we got through and she hugged me and I gave her $20 and we walked on!! I was shaking the entire time omg. I can’t believe it. You were an amazing delivery driver babe, a regular Uber and we never would have made it. Actually after we walked in and the girl was seeing if she could get me on, there was another guy wandering around waving his hands like “WTF? There was a delay and now it’s ON TIME?? I’ve never experienced that in my LIFE!” And naturally with his attitude no one rushed to help him, he was like “my wife and kid are in the car, can SOMEONE please tell me what I’m supposed to do right now.” And I was thinking to myself you’re screwed buddy, I know the next flight that has seats on it is 8:55 pm tonight based on what the agent told me over the phone when we were on our way in.
Anyway I’m still in disbelief. That was a crazy 20 minutes!!
The boys have latched on to one new app that is of course on just one iPad so I’m trying to download it to the other one- doubt it will work but we have tons of other stuff to play and watch. Haven’t tried the amazon streaming yet. Just bought a sandwich and cheese box and when the beverage cart gets here I might order a vodka lol. Phew!!
Xoxox
By the way I did send in a glowing review of Shaneah to JetBlue. We never would have gotten on that flight without her!
***
If lastly, if you have somehow googled something and landed here, Appendix 2:How to do Disneyland in one day with a 4 year old and a 7 year old and be home in time for dinner
(adapted slightly from its original version to show what we actually ended up doing and the times we did them - we skipped Star Wars, Space Mountain and Jungle Cruise, but otherwise a solid showing!! Numbers and color codes don't matter unless you are hard core like me.)
ITINERARY -
7:00 am Arrive at Disneyland, park and shuttle to gate
7:30 am Get tickets/head for the rope drop,
Book first FP
8:00 am Rope drop -> head across the Sleeping Beauty drawbridge to Fantasyland
Fantasyland – 8 am – 9:30 am
FIRST: Peter Pan's Flight (33)
Pinocchio’s Daring Journey (25)
Mr Toad’s Wild Ride (32)
Storybook land canal boats (38)
It’s a small world (39)
Explore Toon Town and ride the little roller coaster, 9:30 – 10:15 am for characters (meet Mickey at his house) and then walk down around the Matterhorn (currently closed for refurbishment)
Tomorrowland – roughly 10:30 am – 12 pm
Nemo submarines (49)
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (58) (FP)
Autopia (51)
GET ON THE RAILROAD AT TOMORROWLAND AND RIDE 2 STOPS TO NEW ORLEANS SQUARE
LUNCH at French Market ~ 12:30 pm
New Orleans Square - roughly 1 - 2:15
Haunted Mansion (15)
Splash Mountain (16) - FP
Explore Pirate’s Lair – Tom Sawyer Island (19)
Adventureland – 2:15-3:15
Indiana Jones (11) -FP
Pirates of the Caribbean (13)
Tarzan’s tree house (12)
Get Dole Whip at Tiki Room (9) on the way to:
3:30 PARADE (watched from bottom of circle next to Adventureland entrance)
Frontierland - 4:00 - 5:30 pm
Big Thunder (25)- FP
Show at the Golden Horseshoe
Depart, exhausted but glowing, to the Toy Story parking lots :) Try and avoid crap souvenirs that cost one million dollars on the way out.
***
Can't wait to go back, honestly and truly.
xo Papa and GG(1)
