Spring break part 3: Tokyo Disneyland

Happy day at Disneyland

Lizzie is doing quite the pose

Do we really have to wait in that long line?  As a kid I never noticed the waiting in line part, but now  as an adult with little kids I can't believe we have to wait in an hour long line to take a 1.5 minute ride!  But at the end of the day, the fun ride is all we remember.

Our little Lizzie bird got to go on lots of rides too -- the carousel, the Peter Pan ride and even Pirates of the Caribbean. 

The first ride of the day: the carousel.  We broke them in easy.  Although this one goes way faster than the one in South Coast Plaza in case you were wondering.

Then the dumbo elephant ride, then the famous tea cups!  While they were in dumbo  I waiting in line for them here.  Lizzie and I watched and took photos on this one and they were so cute laughing so loud.  They had the biggest smiles

Then we headed to Peter Pan ride.  The boys have never actually SEEN Peter Pan, so Mike put them on his knee and told them the story.  Of course we actually had to remember the story ourselves!  Waiting in line was tough for these little guys so Mike invented the sit-on-my-knee-and-listen-to-a-story technique to keep them from climbing on the railings and bonking into the people in front of us.

Lizzie bird was such a trooper -- tired half the time -- but just hung out on my front and smiled and waved at everyone - yes she actually waves at people - we are all kind of shocked when she does it - it turns out she loves smiles and attention.

Andrew got in trouble for running off (every parent's worst nightmare) so here Mike is talking to him and putting him in time out right there outside the Dumbo ride.

Lunch was japanese curry and rice with pork cutlet - amazing - and Joseph spilled about three different things at three different times and we kept getting so upset with him.  When he gets tired he gets really punchy and silly.  But in the end once we all had a bit of food and a rest we all had a laugh about Joseph's silly spilling escapades.  Andrew is - what else? - drawing.  Although this time he is drawing Joseph spilling his lunch and it going down the drain.  He draws lunch tables and umbrellas really cute.  I will have to find this drawing and take a picture of it.

The last ride we went on was autopia.  We were really excited to let the boys drive - Joseph said he was going to drive FAST like a race car!  He loves anything fast.

Here we are!  Go Andrew race car driver! 

Of course the obligatory poses in the fake car out front.

At the end of the day as we were leaving Andrew said he wanted to go on a roller coaster, so we took them over to Toontown.  While Lizzie and I waiting at the treehouse, Mike took the boys to wait in line for the coaster.  There were three girls in line (maybe 10 years old?).  They just adored the boys and kept saying "you're so cute!" to the boys.  The boys usually aren't very nice to adoring strangers but they really liked these girls so they had a conversation and asked the girls what their names were and such.  Anyway I wasn't there, but when they got off the coaster they came up to me to meet me and said goodbye to the boys with such sweetness that I had to get a picture.  They were so excited to be asked to take a picture.  Seriously so cute!

Spring Break part 2: Getting ready to go to Disneyland

Spring break part 1: On our way to Japan

Hi we are heading to Tokyo!

The boys have the week off of school so we planned to go to Japan.  We are planning on going to the Tokyo LDS temple and taking them to Disneyland the first time!  The boys were so excited to fly on an ANA airplane.  Andrew has been drawing ANA airplanes flying to Japan for about a month now.  If you know Andrew, you know he draws airplanes ALL DAY LONG.  Every day.

We got a seat for Lizzie bird sitting between us and she sure had fun climbing around.  She was really tired but of course, totally Lizzie style, refused to sleep but was just pleasant and happy.

The boys chose to sit on the airplane alone next to each other (does that make sense?).  The row was 2 seats wide and they had the whole row.  Anyway, they watched little TV shows and Andrew read the passenger safety sheet which he LOVES.  This sitting-on-their-own thing is a big change for us since the boys are growing older and getting more independent.  When we first started flying abroad with these little boys it was such a full time job entertaining them, containing them, and keeping them happy (aka keeping them quiet and not bugging or kicking the seats in front of them).  NOW they are doing so well I will say as a mom it is the most wonderful feeling in the world.

Tired but not wanting to sleep, the only thing that makes her happy are her books!  She loves books.  When she sees her book she gets all excited making cute sounds and kicking her legs and grabs to get the book as soon as possible

Happy birthday to our Lizzie Bird

Can you believe I am one year old?

Elizabeth turns ONE today!  Family photo.  Actually her birthday was yesterday, but we were flying back from Japan so it wasn't much of a birthday although I did sing Happy Birthday to her about 100 times throughout the day yesterday to make up for it.

An hour before cake time Andrew draws Elizabeth's birthday card 

He is holding up his finger: my sister's turning ONE!

Andrew's finished card

Joseph's finished card for Elizabeth

Before she gets her presents and cake we make her to take a family photo.  But as we're smiling she sees her new present -- a big book -- and she can't wait to get her hands on it.  She loves books, and in fact her favorite book is this particular book Where is Baby's Belly Button.  I was lucky enough to find her a giant copy!

Before we even can get to the cake she HAS to have a look at her new book!  She is so excited she is kicking her legs like crazy and opening all the flaps.

Now it's finally time for cake.  We sing Happy Birthday and the boys are elated to help her blow out the candles.

Now we sit Elizabeth on the table and let her attack the cake!  She grabs the blueberry with enthusiasm.  I also love Joseph's sneaky look here -- he couldn't wait to sneak a blueberry, a real treat as they are not cheap here so I rarely buy them

Next is a juicy fresh strawberry, another real treat here in China.  Her first cake is an organic chocolate cake with fresh cream as frosting.

All smiles!

So I originally made the cake to be a double layer, although ayi accidentally broke it into pieces (long story), so I set aside the second broken layer on the back of the counter and made Lizzie's cake a single layer.  Well Andrew found it and decided it was his very own cake, so he put 5 candles on and begged me to light them.  So after we sang to Lizzie, we lit his candles and sang to him and he blew out the candles (after reminding us not to cheer for him since he doesn't like the clapping and cheers).  So then Joseph wanted us to sing to him too, hence the picture.  So all in all we had three birthday songs today!  We are all very happy happy happy here!