The Plague

My children have been hit with sickness again. I've diagnosed it as viral tonsillitis. We're waiting for the lab results (which should have come today) to rule out strep throat completely. Cute Girl is going on a week of sore throat; Handsome Face is behind by a few days.

My boy is great. You can't even tell that he's sick other than the fact that he constantly clamors for all of the sick bed treats. I asked him this morning if his throat hurt and he replied, "My throat not hurt. My throat fine." I love that kid.

Cute Girl is completely different. While most of the time she is content to just quietly lay on some flat surface, she also refuses any of the home treatments that would help her. She's just miserable. Her tonsils are so swollen and covered in grossness that I can't even see the back of her throat. I had to call my paramedic father at eleven at night just to make sure her airway wouldn't close. I wasn't going to sleep otherwise. That girl won't drink anything, won't eat anything, won't take her Tylenol, and just generally tries to thwart me.

I can't wait for this to be over. I'm sick of listening to PBS cartoons all day long and being quarantined to my house. I will be overjoyed to put away all of the thermometers, sippy cups, essential oils, Tylenol bottles, flashlights, and tongue depressors that litter my house. I can't wait until all of the lemonade, Kool-Aid, root beer, popsicles, and ice cream (that are supposed to be enticing Cute Girl but are really just making Handsome Face a glutton) are gone.

The Cardinals Won!

Although neither team played very well. We went to a Diamondbacks and Cardinals game a few weeks ago. The Rocket Scientist had a great time but I think we won't be taking the kids back anytime soon.

Looking down into the Diamondbacks' bull pen.

We saw the fireworks on the way back to our car which was fun. I think my favorite part was the Hilton hotel suite. The kids enjoyed the pool and luckily we were the only one's in it the next morning. Ours were the smallest children I saw in the hotel all weekend. The RS kept being vexed at how little our children ate at restaurants but of course at the hotel breakfast buffet where they were free they ate like champs. Go figure.

A few weeks ago the whole family sat down and made playdough. We had a lot of fun. The recipe came from Jill at homemade by jill and was featured on Skip to My Lou.

Disneyland: Day 3

The Rocket Scientist calls this a failure. He was greatly amused.

My kids watching the Disney Channel while we get ready to hit the park.

Meeting Mickey Mouse!

On the way home and totally worn out

And my mother-in-law must have all of the other pictures because I'm out. But the rest of the trip was just more of the same as far as pictures are concerned.
On Wednesday Karen took the kids and treated my husband and I to lunch at Club 33. It was so much fun but of course none of the pictures turned out very well. We got to see lots of shows including Playhouse Disney and Aladdin. Friday night we stayed late for Fantasmic and the fireworks. Splash Mountain was finally open that day and the Rocket Scientist and Cute Girl got stuck on it when it broke down right after they got on. But luckily Cute Girl had already ridden it with me. She loved it in the end but when we were going up for our big plummet I was warning her that it was coming and she buried her head in my shoulder crying, "I'm not ready! I'm not ready!" So funny and she loved it in the end.
Oh, and earlier in the day we treated ourselves to some beignets in Downtown Disney. So very worth the (affordable) splurge.

Disney: Day 2

You can't see us but Cute Girl and I are on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. She loved, loved, loved this ride. Handsome Face was dieing to get on it but he just wasn't tall enough. Poor kid. We used Fast Passes and did a Child Swap to get on this ride. The line is always long.

The Caboose on the Casey Jr. Circus Train!

Handsome Face and I on Dumbo again

I think on this day the kids and I went home for naps. Then when Dad and Grandma got back we went swimming. It was so funny to watch Handsome Face at the pool. He was adamant that he was not putting his suit on or going swimming. But once we got there he looked really sad. He finally agreed to take off his jeans and put his feet in the hot tub. Then after awhile he started completely stripping! We ran upstairs real fast and got him all changed and I think he had fun despite the cold.

Right now each of my children has a butter knife and a flashlight. And they're singing made-up, gibberish songs. I've no idea what this game is.

Disney: Day 1

Since it was our first day there and the kids had never been before, we hit Disneyland right as it was opening and spent all day there. It was a blast! We visited Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. A horrible shot of the teacups by the Rocket Scientist. The teacups were actually quite fun.

A word to the wise, if you want to do Fantasyland (especially Dumbo) go there first thing. The lines can get really long. If you enter the park before opening time, you can hop on the very first train out of Main Street and take it around to the Toon Town station. It'll save a bit of time and walking. But if you miss the first train, don't bother. It'll be faster to just walk. Oh, and the Peter Pan ride always has a ridiculous line too so hit that and Dumbo first. You can also get off the train and do Toon Town first. It's at the very back of the park and takes a long time to get crowded. There are only two real rides there though.

The Casey Jr. Circus train. The kids loved this, and honestly, so did I. It's one of my favorite rides in Fantasyland. And we got to ride in the Animal Cage! Only thing cooler would have been the monkey cage but someone beat us to it. Later in the week the kids and Grandma got the caboose. That's cool too.

This is the Astro Orbiter, or rocket ships as we call them. I lost count of how many times we rode this thing by the end of the week. It was one of Handsome Face's favorites. It's the same concept as Dumbo only bigger.

We also rode Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. This also topped Handsome Face's list of best rides (along with Dumbo and the carousels). He always wanted to go "ride rockets and shoot robots." We did a child swap with Handsome Face so the rest of us could ride Space Mountain. This was the most difficult ride/wait of the day as the ride broke down while they were waiting in line and HF and I were at the exit waiting for them to come out. But finally we got on. Cute Girl loved it! She went back on with me as my child swap partner and as we were going she laughed, "Mommy, this is too much fun!" She rode it three times by the end of the week but that was finally enough for her.

We took Handsome Face on the Matterhorn twice as it's the only "roller coaster" he could go on and we all like it. He didn't so much. After the second time with Daddy he was adamant that he was never going on the scary mountain with the scary monsters again. But then he became obsessed with it for the rest of the week and talked about the scary mountain constantly.