November Tid Bits

 It's a bit hard to believe anything other than Sydney's birthday and Disney happened in November! Either we were frantically preparing for it, living it, or reminiscing about/recovering over it. But life happens and some other events snuck their way into the month.

The leaves were not alone in receiving Midas' touch! All month long the skies spoiled us for gorgeous, golden sunrises and sunsets.

I truly love all 4 seasons but I do wish fall would last longer. Almost as if I manifested it, I told Brent if the leaves could change and then stay on the trees for a few months I would be perfectly content with midwest weather. The tree outside our bedroom overheard and while the leaves didn't hang on for a full 3 months, they seemed to cling a bit longer than normal and I relished every moment.

Even as the snow began to fall, they remained stoic.

I think even more beautiful all dusted and frosted!

I had grand plans to have the house mostly decorated for Christmas before we left for Disneyland (which would likewise be decorated for Christmas!) and I was bested by my own hubris. Throughout the month we slowly got our act together, bit by bit. For the planters, I did an array of evergreens and some little gnomes I picked up at Home Depot.

Brent: Shouldn't you be taking a nap Sydney?
Sydney: Am I supposed to? Or do you just want me to?

I need to stop leaving projects for next holiday season when I will surely have more time than I did this holiday season. I buckled down and figured out a way to hang this lasered paper which used to sit on the fireplace mantle with some electric candles behind it. Their weak glow never quite showed off the stunning details so I hammered some picture hangers on the corners of the frame, strung some wire and hung it in the window where the light could fully shine on it.

It was perfect for this room full of the paper snowflakes! 

I wasn't completely behind the 8-ball because I had all the presents wrapped before Thanksgiving. Ireland was a doll and volunteered to help. We found this fantastic wrapping at The Container Store and we remembered the dinosaur unicorn rainbow that served as the perfect embellishment. This particular gift went to Reagan's family- a bubble wrap calendar!

Sydney received her flu and Covid booster a day before her sisters. Inexplicably, she went with them.

Me: Why did you go today? You already got your flu shot!

Sydney: I was an emotional support animal.

Brigitta is all over mulling the wassail as soon as she has the ingredients to do it! We are forever tweaking this recipe.

Liesel: *yelling from the shower* Can someone bring me a towel?

Gita: BE MORE PREPARED!!!

Sydney and Liesel practiced their acrobatic poses.

They didn't always turn out perfectly.

During Liesel's choir concert I ended up sitting next to two super obnoxious teens. So throughout the concert I quietly ripped up my program and dropped the scraps of paper in the hoodie of the girl closest to me. I had like 20 little pieces in there when they got up and left!

Gita told Liesel about it and she said, "That's such a Mom thing to do!"

The moon was absolutely stunning but I could never snap a decent picture. It looks so small in a photo compared to how big it seems! These will have to do.

One of the schools had a fundraiser at Chipotle and we mobile ordered since our night was chockablock. I was driving so the girls put it under Taylor Swift and I'm told when they went in to grab it the guy gave them a wry smile.

Sydney left behind her planner and in all my wit and wisdom, I decided to write her a note so she might be more mindful in the future.

She wrote a note back!

That was the sum and substance of our November!

Thanksgiving and Foyer Refresh

Last year we were in Alabama for Thanksgiving and due to travel schedules, we actually celebrated on Wednesday evening. I actually had to work that day and it was rather nice coming home to that warm meal. Those who cooked found no guilt in running to the store for a few forgotten ingredients. We all really enjoyed having the big meal out of the way and just eating leftovers on Thanksgiving. I floated the idea to Brent and the girls of doing the same thing and they were all game. Brent bought a couple of rotisserie chickens from Costco and then focused on the sides (we are BIG fans of the sides!) and it was a lovely meal!

On Thanksgiving we had wassail and pie for breakfast and sat back to enjoy the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. It was lovely and moving forward I think this is the way we are going to do it. There was so much less stress and anxiety. We didn't feel the need to spend an entire day cooking- we just did what we could for a fancier dinner and that was it!

I'm putting this here because I tried it and really loved it! Hoping to do it again next year.

 The real motivation behind getting Thanksgiving out of the way is I decided it was high time we finally repaint the foyer. Ever since we bought the house I wanted to change it and the time had come. I told Brent it would be my Christmas present and since we rented the 24' ladder on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, by the time we returned it on Friday evening, we'd only been charged 1 day of rental, which was nice! 

The old gold color of the foyer made it dark and in pictures the yellow hue made everyone look jaundiced. 

Previous owners had not been kind to the walls and even though I had repaired them, they needed a good paint job to make them look fresh and new. 

I would strategically tape Christmas cards over the patched holes and then when the cards came down I'd have the sad reminder of how awful the walls looked. 

I thought about scaffolding and in the end realized a very tall ladder and extension on the paint brush is what was going to get the job done. 

Halfway there:

 Before and After:

Like I suspected, this was no small job!

Initially I thought I'd go up the ladder and Brent would hold it steady but after one shaky ascent, he did all the high work. 

In fact, the whole family worked on it. Gita braved the ledge around the window. The rest of the girls helped me patch and sand. 

Bit by bit it came together and with bruises on our shins and sore shoulders and necks we were finally done with the bulk of it.

I spent extra time with touch up and trying to smooth some areas. I am SO happy with the result and couldn't wait to put up the Christmas decorations. They look so much prettier with those clean, white walls. The expensive travertine tiles actually stand out more rather than blending in and I think they look much more sophisticated and classy. Simple upgrades to the switch plates made it look like new construction. Make no mistake, I'm SO glad this is over and done with because I was a job I tell you! But every time I use the stairs I'm so happy with the result and I'm glad we did it. 

I am colossally bad at gallery walls and I really never liked the original arrangement of our photos from Hawaii. Honestly the original positioning had much more to do with covering up patched wall than anything aesthetically pleasing. I happily repaired the holes, painted and tried again... and then repaired most of those holes, repainted and tried (yet) again. I'm so much happier with it this time around! Hawaii was such a happy time for our family, I really wanted this to look nice. 

Major props to my sweet husband for being such a sport. It was the perfect Christmas gift! Kinda makes me wonder what other projects we could tackle with a nice, extra long weekend... hmmm.

Leaving Disneyland

Though our flight wasn't terribly early in the morning, it was still a rush to get everything packed. It seemed like our stuff had grown threefold and we were trying to get it all to fit in our luggage. We managed to do it and we helped BJ lash it down to the luggage trailer on the back of their car and headed to the airport. Again, I would highly recommend John Wayne over LAX any day of the week!

 As we settled into our seats it occurred to me that never in my life did I fly with my parents and siblings together. We all went to Hawaii earlier this year but we took separate flights. That we have been able to not just travel, but fly together with our own children is a huge blessing! There's been significant sacrifice to make it happen, for sure! 

We took off over the ocean before the plane did those 90* turns to take us back inland and home to Chicago. The city was glittering with lights to welcome us home.

This trip to Disneyland was incredible, magical, fantastic! We really enjoyed the parks and made so many memories. However, we don't think we will ever be back. 

Before even taking a Disneyland vacation, we stayed on top of blogs and podcasts, read the latest holiday food guide and ordered cute t-shirts for the girls. We bought them new shoes and watched countless YouTube videos on how to work Lightning Lanes (many of which turned out to no longer be accurate). We bought park bags, pins and ears and then stocked those bags to the brim. Every vacation takes some preparation but a Disneyland vacation is par none. Whether you are there for the food, entertainment or rides, you need to do your homework or you lose out! 

Between staying in two rooms at the Disneyland Hotel and paying for Genie+, we paid a pretty penny to fully take advantage of the parks. That investment didn't always pay off as many of the big rides were closed or seemed to be open and then closed before we could ride them. Poor BJ got to the front of Space Mountain when they announced it had broken down... again! I think the morning when Web Slinger, Incredicoaster and Radiator Spring Racers were all down kind of soured things. Luckily that was not our only day in DCA and we were eventually able to enjoy them. I feel bad for families who spent a bundle just to never get a ride. 

It is said influencers ruin everything. There are so many videos touting Disney hacks. I'm confident Disney watches those videos because a lot of those hacks were no longer options. Being able to rebook Lightning Lanes for rides that had broken down was a prime example. Maybe if a ride broke down we could get 1 extra non-timed Lightning Lane- not unlimited like the influencers promised. It was frustrating. Not to mention if you didn't accurately gauge interest in a particular ride, the available Lightning Lanes disappeared for the day and you had to chance it with standby. This all begs the question- why pay so much more for Genie+? We really lucked out having Jeanne in her scooter but even with that we were told repeatedly only 6 people were supposed to accompany someone using the disability pass. They let us by... this time.

Though the parks are fun and we were able to avoid crowds during the busiest part of the day, we couldn't avoid the crowds entirely. As I looked around I saw other tense and anxiety-ridden parents. Anytime anything went wrong the financial weight came crashing down. A meltdown wasn't just a meltdown, it was a $10,000 meltdown when factoring in flights, hotels, tickets and merch. The amazing cast members keep everything flowing and seem to generate magic out of thin air (see our Lamplight Lounge evening). Only Disney can give you a Disney experience, for sure. But at what cost?

Our family is growing and after this trip Brent and I are looking at other options. Cruises and all-inclusive resorts would cost us the same but strip away much of the stress. It would be a different experience to be sure, but with rising costs we aren't sure Disneyland is the best bet for a family vacation anymore. Even long-time Disney annual pass holders have talked about how the prices have more than doubled in recent years with relatively few new attractions to justify the cost. 

Beyond all this is the difficulty of the girls missing school. In order to avoid crowds, it's best to go during the schoolyear. But then getting back into the swing of things is no small task. Education is really important to us and it's a tough reckoning whenever we return from a Disneyland vacation. 

We aren't saying a hard no to Disney- we may try a Disney cruise or maybe even Disney World! AAA discounts are much more readily available at the less-crowded Disney World and having loved our time in Hawaii, maybe a cruise with more beach time is the ticket? 

The more time we spent in Disneyland, the more resolute Brent and I became in making this our last trip while the girls are little. We are glad we did it! Especially with Brent's parents as I've learned the hard way that's not always going to be a possibility. But moving forward we feel we can spend our money more wisely and seek out different family vacations. We mentioned this to the girls and they were of course sad. The bulk of the preparation and the cost is not theirs to bear so it seems like a non-stop carousel of fun! Brent and I see things a bit differently from our vantage point. 

So with these thoughts and feelings we said goodbye to Disneyland with an eye toward a different vacation moving forward. Thanks for the memories Mickey!

Glorious Vacation Day 5: Disneyland (last time)

Our last day at Disneyland was all about hitting those favorite rides one last time, snapping any photos we'd missed and noshing on the last snacks on my carefully curated list. I had ordered Rey costumes for everyone but sized down since the girls are on the smaller side. Turns out they really didn't fit so the bigger ones went to Gita and Sydney. It worked out though because Liesel and Ireland were a little too old for that and they just wanted to be super comfortable.

Liesel and Ireland actually got a lot of compliments on their Adidas skirts- go figure!

Of course Brigitta made herself hot chocolate for breakfast and of course she dribbled it right on the front of that brand-new cream coat! 

 With Magic Morning we were able to snap some photos in front of the castle without a press of people- super rare!

Just in case it broke down again, we got Space Mountain under our belts. Much to Brent's chagrin, I insisted on doing Peter Pan since it was a Magic Morning ride and the line would never be shorter. There was still quite a line, but it was shorter. 

We did the Matterhorn and then It's a Small World

We hadn't done the Storybook Canals yet and then Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway

We headed over to Galaxy's Edge for some blue milk. Turns out they also had blue milk with Nerds which was so good! Someone noticed Sydney and Gita dressed as Rey and mentioned she was just around the corner if they wanted to meet her. We casually headed over not realizing she had been there a while and her time was almost up. 

The way Sydney ran up to her just melted my heart. 

We made Gita hang back because we heard someone saying it was time for her to go but she noticed her and asked if they were sisters. She let Gita join them and then gave them a little Jedi lesson. Here they are taking a deep breath to connect with the force... 

... and saying "You can leave now."

Rey was just so delightful with her British accent and her invitation for us to take a "scan" ie picture of the three of them. Knowing she was ready to leave and stuck around for these two was really special.

While we were there we took some photos around the Millenium Falcon.

I was really having a hard time walking- my pinky toe was completely raw after several blisters so I borrowed one of the girls slides to try and get through the day. Not the best for photos!

Brent used a death grip on BJ...

So Ireland used a death grip on Brent...

Which Brent didn't like so he used one on her...

Which Gita didn't like so she used a death grip on Brent...

Which Sydney didn't like so she used a death grip on Gita...

It's probably best our Lightning Lane window came up for Rise or I think we all would have just killed each other!

Obviously we had to do Smuggler's Run again!

Sydney was having the time of her life!

Our next Lightning Lane was Big Thunder and everyone was getting hungry. I did a mobile order which Brent ran back to grab while we found some seating tucked away from all the madness. We tried the Thanks-mas sandwich and roast beef sandwich. Brent also picked up elote from a trolly. Then there were the lovely desserts! 

The raspberry rose macaron:

The Mickey ornament macaron:

The chocolate cake with Christmas tree icing- so cute!

We had a great time snacking, chatting and watching the Columbia sail by now and again.

When our time slot for Big Thunder arrived we were ready to go!

Then we did Star Tours. While I headed back to the hotel with Liesel and Ireland to enjoy that lovely hot tub again, Brent wisely took our Magic Bands. He took the little girls on Autopia several times to hone their driving skills.  

They managed to do Rise again.

Somehow they managed to squeeze in Finding Nemo and some ice cream snacks.

We met up with them at the Red Rose Tavern where we tried the size of a barge potato bites, chicken cordon bleu sandwich, holiday grey stuff and the holiday punch. It was all really good but the grey stuff and the punch were excellent!

For the last time, we took advantage of Jeanne PLUS and did Indiana Jones. This was the night of Ireland's 1:1 and we did Rise and Smuggler's Run.  

I'd heard the popcorn at Kat Saka's Kettle was delicious but unfortunately they were closed. We decided to go to Pooh Corner for some chocolate- the pumpkin churro toffee, a Tigger tail and a chocolate Rice Krispy treat. 

Since the fireworks were again cancelled, we met back up with Liesel, Gita & Sydney. They were doing some crowd controlled and only allowing people to walk in to Frontierland. The girls did a little shopping where Ireland bought her Disney hoodie. Big Thunder had been closed and when I looked at the Disneyland app I saw it had just opened up so there was no wait so everyone but me ran to fit that in one more time. By this time Sydney was done and I was done so we went back to the hotel. 

Everyone else finished out the night with a frenzy of rides: Space Mountain, Astro Orbiter, Star Tours (twice), Matterhorn, Space Mountain again (twice) and Astroblasters. Heading out of the park for the very last time, they snapped a few photos.