Phil’s annual work conference at Disneyland rolled around the first week of February (GASP- I am actually blogging about an event in our lives IN THE SAME MONTH that it happened. I am just about caught up now. I’m gonna need a minute to soak that in. A goal realized. A mountain climbed. A stream forded (?). A rainbow followed. Now what am I going to do with the rest of my life??). Ok what? Oh yes, the conference. We debated back and forth about how it was all going to go down. How many days? Which days? How many nights to book at the hotel? So many decisions. And I am not good at decisions.
We discussed our options, threw out ideas, went back and forth, hemmed and hawed. And it boiled down to this: our kids are little but not so little anymore. The times we can pull them out of school (for a few days, not like for homeschooling which is always an option we consider each year) without heavy consequences are rapidly coming to an end. Jonah is my not-a-baby-baby now. This could actually be fun. Maybe. Darn it all, the time is NOW.
So we pulled them out of school for five days to spend time together, to make memories, to seize the dang day. And since it was for five days (not the, say three, that we hypothetically could have done), we were able to get their schoolwork for the week they’d be missing and so wouldn’t be behind by the time they returned to school. There now. We aren’t total flakes.
As it turned out, the cold virus that hit Phil then Lauren the previous week, got to Allie and she was feeling pretty miserable that first weekend and the Monday of their week off. We were hoping against hope that it would end there and not spread to the rest of the family. And by Tuesday, she was all better and we were all systems go for our close-to-home vacation.
So thanks to a groupon, we found ourselves here at Pretend City. The last time we were here was for Lauren’s Day of Epic Birthday Fun back when she turned three. Back when she insisted on wearing one particularly well-loved and tattered handed-down-several-times pink Barbie dress for days on end. I thought at the time the dress completely disintegrating was going to be the only way to get it off of her. I miss those days.
And now this guy is the resident three-year-old in our house.
Meanwhile, our now 6.5 year old spent a whole lot of time here.
Little Miss Moneybags had quite a stack of bills when all was said and done.
Caught snacking on the job.
Finally done with the ATM machine and moved on to the old school phone.
Learning the ways of the big sister.
Storytime in the pink girl’s room.
A quiet spot for tea.
What’s up, chick?
Thankful that he’s big but not too big to still enjoy this place.
His big brother thought it’d be a great idea to box him in. He didn’t agree.
Halt, I say.
A typical Jonah reaction. (That’s him taking a swing at the sign. Never mind that he’s been told “no punching, no hitting” umpteen times.)
He likes to think he makes up his own rules.
Hey look! It’s the same toothbrush from all those years ago! Ugh.
Oh that daddy in the background.
A little downtime in the arts and crafts room.
You are my sunshine.
‘Stache and beard courtesy of Lauren.
Always up for some family fun. Love this guy.
He’s also always up for goofy faces.
Always.
Hello my sweet.
Mr. Moneybags counting his bucks.
Has knife. Will cut.
My boy has an eye for plating. This is also about the time I noticed that he was starting to not feel so good…
At least our pita sandwich artist was feeling back to normal.
Can a guy get a little service around here?
They aim to please. Even while not feeling so great.
Same bench statue, one extra kid thrown in this time. Also, Mikey was really not feeling good by this point. Poor kid.
