The happiest place on earth!

I couldn't be more satisfied with our trip to Disneyland. True, traveling by air with 10 people is a logistical nightmare, but logistics just happen to be my specialty! We left our house Friday at 11, stopped at the bank in the states to withdraw some US funds, and then met my sister at a parking lot on I-5. That saved us some time getting Lucille and Hailey.

Two cars, 9 people, and umpteen pieces of luggage then headed south! We stopped at the Super WalMart in Everett and bought a picnic lunch to eat before our foodless flight. From there, we drove to Seattle to pick up an anxious Nathan and then took the back streets to the offsite parking lot (I-5 was bumper-to-bumper by 2:30). After parking our cars we took the shuttle and all of our bags to the airport to find that our flight was delayed by an hour. We checked what we could and then found a spot to eat our lunch and let the girls run around a bit. After going through security we found our gate and then Don took the girls to the kids' play area. The big kids galavanted around the airport or sat and played their DS's to kill time. Finally we all got seated on the plane and our vacation had really begun...

We landed in Santa Ana and collected our luggage. Lee was kind enough to come to the airport to get 4 of us, saving us a lot of money in shuttle fees. I took all the carseat people with Lee and Don followed with the big kids in the shuttle. We got to the hotel around 11, but we hadn't had anything to eat since our picnic lunch, so Grandma and Grandpa (who had been there waiting for us since 4 that afternoon) took all the hungry people to Quizno's for a late-night snack. We divvied up hotel rooms...three rooms with 2 queens each, but we obviously didn't want to combine big girls and big boys, even though that would have been so much more convenient for schedules, since the big kids closed the park each night and the adults went to sleep when the littles did. In the end, we put all the girls together, Nathan stayed with Grandma and Grandpa, and Dylan and Sean stayed with Don, Nick, and me. It worked out fine.

Two of our rooms were joined by a kitchen, and Mom and Lee went to Costco that afternoon and stocked it up with all sorts of wonderful breakfast and lunch foods. And snacks. So all of our meals with the exception of dinners were at the hotel. That saved a lot of money.

Sean getting his money's worth at the hotel's continental breakfast.

We spent four days in the park, and we needed every one of those days! We went to the park early everyday, went back to the hotel for lunch, naps, and a swim if the weather agreed, and then it was back to the park until 10 or later so we could see the fireworks, Fantasmic, etc. They were exhausted by the end!

All the kids at the hotel before we walked over to the park. Lucille, Nick, Nathan, Sean, Hailey, Jordyn, Dylan, and Patience.

Us walking to the park. Our hotel was about a 10-minute walk to the ticket booth. Sweet.

The Murphy family in front of the castle.

Don and Lucille in front of Disney's new Twilight Zone ride.

The weather was cooler than I expected the first two days that we spent in the park, but it sure didn't stop us from having fun! It just meant that the littles enjoyed new warm clothes purchased by very generous grandparents!

Snuggy warm Nick in his Disney sweatsuit.

The girls at Toontown, wearing their Minnie Mouse fleecies.

The girls (and Don) loved the princesses. We didn't wait in line for an hour at Pixie Hollow to see Tinkerbell...we saved that for the next time.

Lucille and Nathan at the fireworks show.

The big kids were basically on their own the entire time. They hung out as a big group or two smaller ones, depending on their whims. It worked out so well. We usually met up at the hotel room at lunch time or for other special events, like the fireworks. The kids closed the park every night. They kept an exhausting schedule!

Hailey and Lucille at the fireworks.

My three eligible bachelors.

Nick enjoying Jordyn's Minnie balloon.

Don and Cathi with half of their kids.

The girls and Don on the carousel, the first ride we went on.

Don and the very spoiled girls watching the Pixar Parade with their giant helium balloons.

Patience and Jordyn on the Jellyfish ride.

On Sunday night Don and the big kids went to a Sharks/Ducks hockey game. They had a great time. It was the first NHL game for Dylan, Sean, Hailey, and Lucille. Hailey is now becoming a hockey fan, much to Nathan's delight.

Patience ended up loving all the rides, even the roller coasters! Here are the photos we bought from Space Mountain and Splash Mountain. Click on the photos to see them larger...you can see the look of joy on Patience's face. Not so much on Jordyn's.

Nathan bought the girls churros, which they had seen and asked for the whole time we were there.

Jorydn at California Adventure.

Patience enjoying hot chocolate on a chilly morning in Disneyland. Does it get any better?

Cute pics of the girls:

The girls loved meeting and getting autographs from all the characters.

The bravest grandparents on earth! We were all so happy and fortunate to have Mom and Lee share our vacation with us. They helped so much with the Littles...trust me, it wouldn't have been nearly as fun or relaxing for Don and me if we didn't have their help!

The ladies at California Adventure...the girls are enjoying juice boxes and snacks from the hotel.

Grandpa and Nick at California Adventure.

Patience and Grandma in the bumper cars. Grandpa and Jordyn were in another one.

Grandma and the girls watching the Pixar Parade in California Adventure.

Don, Grandma, and the girls on the Ladybug ride...similar to teacups but not nearly as fast!

On our last night Mom and Lee treated us all to a great dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Lucille and the little girls had never been, and it's one of my boys' favorite restaurants.

We left Wednesday around 10 to start our long trek back. The energy level was quite a bit lower than when we traveled to Disneyland, but now we were all talking about our favorite rides, activites, etc. of our trip. Thankfully, the traveling home was uneventful and we were all home by 7 p.m. What a wonderful family holiday.

Our whole group before heading back to reality.

Showing our true feelings.

Our weekend

Pretty soon it'll be Nick holding Patience!

We've just had a very nice weekend! It started with Don and Sean going tagging (begging) for cadets Friday late afternoon. I took Dylan to his Friday night show (pit band) and then went to the border to pick up Nathan, whom Valarie had just dropped off. She was so kind as to pick him up from the bus stop in Bellingham and then drive him to the border...it's definitely not "on her way home" but we so appreciate her for doing it! Nathan and I put the girls to bed and then explored the Seattle bus system. Nathan has pretty much gotten over his anxiety about taking busses and is now ready to explore further away than walking distance.

On Saturday, Don, Sean, and Nathan headed out to tagging. Nathan got to be a "supervisor" for a cadet team, which apparently consisted of him standing about 10 feet away from the begging cadets and playing his Nintendo DS for 4 hours. He did get to see a lot of his old cadet friends so that was nice, and they were very appreciative to have his help. Dylan had the last two shows for his pit band...an afternoon matinee and then again in the evening. He stayed at the school between the two shows and enjoyed a nice dinner that some of the parents put together for the kids. Saturday afternoon I picked up Nathan and took him and the girlies to get haircuts. Nathan and I did his Canadian taxes, and then he went to hang out with his friend Peter and the rest of us had taco soup and quesadillas for dinner.

Saturday evening Don and Nathan watched the Canucks beat the Sharks 3-1.

This morning we had delicious waffles with bacon (cooked inside) and then went to church. Don took Patience, Jordyn, and Sean home from church and I took Dylan, Nick, and Nathan south of the border. We stopped at WalMart to do some shopping, had a little lunch, and then took Nathan to the bus stop for his journey back to Seattle.

I can't believe we have only 5 more sleeps until our Disneyland holiday! And it's a good thing it's soon because Nathan forgot his retainers in our car so he'll only miss sleeping with them for 5 nights...shouldn't be too bad.

I'll talk to you soon!

Grandpa's Boy

Nick wearing Grandpa Lee's hat from his babyhood

Extreme Home Makeover!

For a few weeks now I've been itching to reorganize our house to better suit our needs. I knew it was going to be a lot of work and need lots of furniture moving, so I hadn't started it. But the boys ended up not having school yesterday because Poppy was without power, so I took advantange of the situation and rallied the troops.

The major change was to redistribute the bedrooms. We had the three littles sharing one room, while each teenager had his own room despite the fact that they're both gone most of the day. So, now Dylan and Sean share a room, and Patience and Jordyn share a room beside them. That leaves little Nicholas alone in the nursery!

Can you tell which son has military training? The boys put the gate up in their door jamb to make sure they don't have little visitors when they're not home.

Patience now has a twin-size bed and Jordyn got upgraded to Patience's bed. That leaves Jordyn's old toddler bed for Nick to grow into (it's still in the nursery).

Both twin beds are now out of Nathan's room in the basement. We moved Sean's double bed in there so now we have a guest room. Also in the guest room are all the boys' instruments, so that room will double as a music studio and the boys can practice whenever they want. The basement room that used to have the girls' toys now have the boys' computers and school work area. The basement family room is now dedicated to video games, so the boys have all of their interests/activities in the basement, where the girls are no longer allowed!

The girls' toys have been moved into the room next to the laundry room, where the boys' computers used to be (are you following me?).

Last night Patience was so excited to be in her new digs that she was jammied, teeth brushed, and in bed by 7:30! When Don went in to tuck them in, she said,

"Daddy, this is just like Extreme Home Makeover!"

Chicks!

Saturday morning Don went out to see how the chicks had progressed from the "cheeping-from-inside-the-egg" stage, and this is what he saw:

The black chick had recently hatched, so he wasn't fuzzy and cute yet. In fact, when Patience saw this picture, she thought he was poop.

A yellow chick had also hatched, and since then been joined by a second yellow chick. So, we have three chicks and one egg that really, really, really needs to be gotten rid of before it breaks accidentally. The chicks are so cute, and it's amazing to see how their instincts are hardwired into their little bird brains. Mommy just sits there, providing "brooder lamp" services, and the chicks run around and explore, and then run back underneath momma when they get cold. What a fun experience/experiment this has been!