Disneyland Days: 1

Finally! I was so excited that the chain was done, that I forgot to take a picture! But trust me, all that was left was a beautiful little Mikey Mouse shaped paper loop, which means.....It's time to go to DISNEYLAND!!

The perks of flying with an adorable 4 year-old

this too. 

 We flew to Annaheim on Sunday, rented a car, then headed to the Carousel Inn. The trip was great, Elliott's ear started hurting him a bit on the plane, and his throat was sore that night, but he woke up ready to go on Monday morning! The last time we went to Disneyland, Lucy was 3, and Elliott was not quite 2, so the kids don't remember anything. We went in February then too, so we were hoping for no lines, and great weather. Well, to start us off, we touched-down during a coastal wind and rain storm. Our flight crew and pilots were champs, so it wasn't as traumatic as it could have been. Luckily, the rain was supposed to stop on Sunday, and it was going to be 60s and windy on Monday. After a quick trip to the grocery store for food, we found our hotel; the same one we'd stayed at two other times.

Monday came, and the kids woke up at 6 AM out of pure excitement. Now we're all crowded in a motel room with no wifi for 4 hours waiting for the park to open; things got hostile pretty fast, so we headed to Trader Joes for some groceries, then to the park a little early.

It's a good thing we did too, because the security line was pretty long, and then, of course, it IS Disneyland after all, there was another line to get in. At this point, after a rough morning of anticipation and lines, our older kids were wondering why this was supposed to be "fun". We kept telling them it was going to be great, but they weren't feeling it for the first little bit. 

Archie, however, got right into the fun.  Being 4 years old, even waiting in line can be an adventure, so he didn't see a problem. Once we rode the Buzz Lightyear ride, and headed towards Pirates, we found our first character to hug: Woody.

 Archie played high-5 keep away with him for a while, then we headed to my favorite ride...

 Pirates of the Caribbean! I assured Archie that it wasn't scary and after no wait, we all boarded our boat.

 Mom-Fail, I forgot about the 3 big drops. Archie was not happy, and would remain traumatized for the next 3 days, not trusting my judgement on ride-scariness any more. We had to convince him it was a "soft" ride, not a dark ride, or like the Ariel ride.
The older kids were still not convinced of Disney's magic, so, after having lunch with my parents (didn't I mention they joined us there for 3 days!?!?!?) we decided to try California Adventures.
Immediately Archie found a few more friends to hug.

Papa, Lucy and I watned to scare the "pee-woddle" out of ourselves, so we went to the Tower of Terror because Mike's awesome app that we would rely on the entire trip, told us there was no wait, and the others went to the Disney Jr. Live show. 

Archie loved the show, and Elliott still was wondering what was so great about this "Disneyland". 

Meanwhile, Lucy and Papa and I had a 3-genenration adventure. We decide Papa needs to make an "I survived the Tower of Terror at 70" shirt. 

We wandered over the to river raft ride and found the Wilderness Explorer park. Elliott, Archie, Lucy and I climbed the rope course several times, and Elliott found the magic! From there, he and Lucy rode the river raft repeatedly while Archie and I continued to explore. This would become a  common scene for us; the kids loved the rafts, and Archie loved to explore the rope course. 

 We left Papa and Gramma for some rest, and we continued to explore the pier.

 Archie's favorite ride (and the only one he would try for a few days) was the Ariel ride. Outside the ride, we found the green, plastic soldier street-show. This picture made me smile because somewhere, we have one like this of Elliott on Habi's shoulders at Disneyland.

 The kids were wet from the raft ride, there were 50 mph winds and the sun was setting. We decided to wait for the Parade, warm-up with hot chocolate and churros, then call it an early day.

Turns out,
Disneyland is pretty magical after all.

Birthday Bonnie

The weekend before my birthday, Morgan and Sommer got married!!! I took a solo trip to AZ to celebrate with them. Maybe it was the no kids...maybe it was the waking up at 4:00AM....maybe it was the Dr. Pepper....or the Thrifty ice-cream...whatever it was, things got a little crazy that first day!

(me saying goodbye to my sleeping kiddos at 4:30AM!!!!!)

See, even Kimo looks a little crazy! 

but, things calmed down enough for a beautiful ceremony, a beautiful bride, and a beautiful experience for these two.

After a hurried weekend, I headed back to Boise to get ready for my birthday, and to get ready for DISNEYLAND!!

On saturday, I turned 37 years old, and I mean O-L-D!! To celebrate, we went to Lucy's first Ignition volleyball tournament. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures, but I DID find a picture online from her MCO Choir concert in December, so I'll post that one instead. (She's just right of center, second row from the top!)

 The kids were so sweet and made me birthday presents this year. Elliott worked all week, and even though it didn't turn out quite like he wanted, I love it so much. Archie followed his example and made me a masterpiece too.

 To celebrate, we nixed the birthday cake, and had birthday caramel apples instead. It was kind a low-key birthday; after all, DISNEYLAND is tomorrow!!! We can celebrate there, right?!

 (Archie sneak-attacked my candles for me)

Nothing too Crazy

This new year has started out pretty slowly, C'MON DISNEYLAND CHAIN, SHRINK ALREADY!!

I DID start teaching piano, which has been so wonderful! I was so nervous to start, and even after my first 2 lessons, I wasn't sure how it was going because I wasn't sure how they were supposed to go! I've got 7 students, and had a few lessons each, and I am really enjoying it. I am taking lessons myself right now too. I am feeling so great about both. 

Archie got his haircut, which really isn't that remarkable, but the cut he got was pretty great! While getting it cut, he decided he wanted "Elliott Hair", so he got his first, official hairstyle!

 Elliott got 3 rubix cubes this Christmas, and Mike was the first to solve this one. I was so impressed, I had to get a picture. 

 Archie had to try too. He had his concentration scowl on, so I had to get some pictures. 

 We were walking into church, and I realized that all 3 of my boys had the same hairdos!! Quick photo to remember forever. 

 Arche had his Little Gym mid-semester show. He is struggling with going right now, and he was pretty disappointed when he realized this wasn't the end. I think it's a phase; he just wants to stay home all the time now!

 Lucy is doing a big project in school on "The trial of the century"; the assassination of Governor Stuenenberg. We took an impromptu field trip to the State Capital downtown to see his statue and grave sight. She is so excited about school, I LOVE IT!

 Ok, This chain looks much better! We are now officially 2 WEEKS away from Disneyland!!!!

Ringing in 2016!!

We have had FREEZING temperatures here this year!! I don't think it's gotten above 20 degrees all week! Despite the frigid temps, because Mike had most of the week off, we thought we had to have some family fun, so we went snow-tubing at a close by park. Archie made it down one time, linked to Lucy, but the older kids did 4 before calling it a day. 

Another field trip was a viewing of the new Star Wars movie!!! Lucy has already seen it, so she got babysitting duty while Mike, Elliott and I made history.

We celebrated New Year's Eve Hynes family style, as usual. After a birthday dinner for Emery (not pictured...Bummer!!) We played and snacked at Jason and Kristine's house until MIDNIGHT!!! YES!! this year, all 5 of us made it to midnight! It really wasn't that much of a stretch, since the kids have basically been staying up until 11pm every night this week anyway. The real stretch will be getting back to school hours sleep schedule!! There was football watching, dance video-gaming, and poppers popping!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 

This year is going to be great; I can feel it! Starting it off, January promises to be quite an adventure! I was making the calendar for the month, and it is so exciting. We've got:
1. My 37th Birthday, of course
2. Uncle Morgan and Sommer's wedding
3. DISNEYLAND
4. Piano teaching starting
5. Lucy's new volleyball club starting
6. Elliott signing up for baseball
7. Archie's little gym show

Just so we can track the anticipation, here is how the Disneyland countdown chain has changed over the last week!!!! It's getting closer!!

Here we go!!!