PORTER IS FOUR

Happy Birthday to our creative, sassy, full of life, fully entertaining Porter Norman. He turned four on September 14th and I can't believe it! We went over to his house for dinner and good times. The good times mostly being brought to you by a giant bunch of balloons that he happily ran around with outside for pictures. And in the end the pictures of our night basically speak for themselves.

GUMMOW DISNEY MAGIC

About a year ago, Heidi mentioned that Craig had a conference at the Disneyland Hotel, and wouldn't it be fun if we all went together? I was on board obviously. And I am not sure I have ever been as excited for a trip in a long time. I knew it would be a once in a lifetime trip and I couldn't wait to go and soak up all of the magic.

I ended up booking a townhouse that is right across the street from the park and it was an absolute dream to stay there with Barb. We had plenty of room and they have all of these extra amenities like big strollers and stuff to help make your stay easier. It was still a good long walk into the park, but it was so convenient. We arrived Saturday and had dinner at this Italian place where I embarrassed Stella by taking off Vivi's shirt so she wouldn't get pasta sauce all over it. It was this dark quiet place and no one noticed. But I admit it was a scandal. We then got settled in our place. We were all pretty tired and everyone went to bed early but me. All of the sudden I heard all these booms and bangs and I thought someone was shooting a gun outside, but then Vivi woke up and said "Fireworks!" and we realized we were hearing the fireworks from the park. We watched them from our window and got excited for the next few days.

The next morning we got up and got ready for our first day that we were going to spend at California Adventure. We had to wait for the condo people to bring us a new stroller because the one we had was broken, but once we had it and had fixed the wheel we were on our way to meet our crew. And what a happy reunion it was! Unfortunately, Vivi was so excited that she stood up in her stroller and almost fell over and it scared her so she started to cry and she would not stop for the longest time. I think she was both embarrassed and frustrated that I wasn't taking the time to get her to stop crying. When I asked her about her day the next morning she said: "I cried and mommy was mad because she wanted me to be happy." Bless her. So that is why she is crying in those first pictures. We did have some issues getting all set with the new MaxPass, which is an extra cost and it gives you access to more fast passes and pictures in the park. We couldn't get it to work at first and that was frustrating, but once we did we LOVED it and it made it so we didn't feel like we waited in any lines pretty much all day long.

Once we got all that settled though and got our first fast passes to ride Cars, we headed over to a few of the fun little rides in cars land. And the magic was in full swing.

Most of the group was ready to ride Soarin', which is not my favorite and Vivi is too short anyway so she and I just hung out. We waited in line for some characters and got our first MaxPass pictures. It was so awesome to be able to just video Vivi and not worry about taking pictures of Vivi saying Hi to Pluto and Donald. Within minutes the pictures were in our account and I was officially sold on MaxPass. Craig had arrived and had gone on Soarin' with everyone and after they all got off of that ride we went on Monsters Inc. which was the longest line of the day. Next it was time for us to ride Guardians of the Galaxy, which used to be the delightful Tower of Terror. I tried to have an open mind, but I pretty much hated it. I had no idea what was even going on except that we just got on the ride and got bounced around for what felt like a thousand times. I felt like I was on a boat in 20 foot waves. The only plus to all of it was that Stella was so scared and watching her ride it was kind of hilarious. I officially don't plan on ever riding that again. We hung out in that area for a bit because we did parent swap so Barb got to ride it and some of the kiddos got to ride it twice.

Stella and I have started to get kind of into finding hidden Mickey's at the parks. I'll admit I am not that great at finding them so I watched some YouTube videos that prepared us for our visit. The first (and best) one we found was over in Cars land hidden in the wires. We were pretty happy to find it. It was then time for lunch in Cars land. I started to notice how much work it is to manage the MaxPass rides. You have to really pay attention to the time and when you can get another pass and then manage what times you have passes to future rides. It gets a bit overwhelming at times. Thankfully, I am kind of genius so we definitely worked those passes to our benefit.

I wanted to take Vivien to the Disney Junior show so we went while everyone rode the rapids ride. We waited in line to meet both Goofy and Minnie, but they had to leave before it was out turn. We were able to get a selfie with Minnie though, which was kind of fun.

The Disney Junior show is probably the worst place in the entirety of all Disney properties. Maybe it was just my mood, but it wasn't my favorite. The kids were just allowed to run around and dance and they were just kind of everywhere. Vivi took the whole thing quite seriously and she seemed to like it, but I wasn't always sure. But we've seen it and I don't have to go ever again.

While we were at the Disney Junior show, Cars broke down. It was also our Fast Pass time and so when the ride got back up and we decided the best thing to do was ride Cars, we ended up having to wait in kind of a long line. The Fast Pass line was about 30 mins. Also while in line I realized my camera was acting up. I decided not to worry too much about it and see if I could fix it later, but still it was kind of annoying. Riding Cars all together was great fun though. It is such an adorable ride.

We asked a photographer to take our picture and got some cute pictures in Cars Land, but by this point it was time to move on! We had spent all of our time so far that day in Cars Land, or at least it felt like that. I always make a big fuss that I want pictures over on the waterfront and so we headed over there for pictures and were lucky to find another Disney photographer passing through who took pictures for us.

We then popped on the Zephyr ride, which is kind of a lame ride, but it does give you a fun view of the park. Poor Barb's knee was killing her at this point, but she sure was a trooper and she pushed through.

We were all pretty excited to ride the Incredicoaster. I always loved this roller coaster and now it was supposed to be different. Stella was so nervous to ride this for the first time, but she loved it. (No surprise.) We had more fastpasses for it so the kids were able to ride it again and the Disney folks let Craig ride it too. I was not up for it two times in a row myself as it did kind of shake me up a bit. Worth it though.

Vivi finally got to use a fast pass and ride Toy Story. She looked so cute in her 3-D glasses and I think she liked it. Everyone was pretty hungry after that so we had some dinner and then we went back to Cars Land. I was sort of shocked that Vivi was still kicking it. She was running circles around all of us in line and she was still in the best mood. At this point it had been a solid 12 hours of being awake and running around and she was still having the time of her life.

Most everyone went and rode Cars again while I sat tight with Vivi and tried to fix my camera. From what I read it looked like I was going to have to send it in to be fixed, but when I got home Courtney saved the day and told me how to fix it...Wahoo! Barb was kind enough to watch Vivi once again so I could ride Cars with Stella, Craig and Wyn. The rest of the crew headed to ride Soarin' one last time. Stella and I snuck on Luigi's tires right before the line closed and we had a fun moment just the two of us on a ride.

When we caught up with Barb at the front of the park we found Miss Vivi finally had fallen asleep. They had these beautiful purple lights all around for Halloween along with some seriously spooky music so I am glad she was out like a light. We got a few more pictures of all of us together and then we started the long walk back to our condo. It had been such a fun and magical and productive day. I was pretty proud of us and how much we accomplished. Such a fun day full of great memories.

The next morning we were all pretty beat. The plan was to go swimming with the Gummows at the hotel, but I knew Vivi needed a good nap before we went to the Halloween party that night so I stayed home with her and let Stella go and experience the magic of the Disneyland Hotel. I made the right choice but it was hard. I know Stella had fun and Heidi snapped a few pictures for me.

We were late for the party. I was epically annoyed with myself for wasting precious time in the park and making everyone wait for us. But I always underestimated how far away our townhouse was to the park entrance.
About a week before we left for California Heidi and I decided on a Alice In Wonderland theme for our group costume. I was fine just going in Halloween shirts but Heidi was certain it would be a missed opportunity if we didn't wear a group costume. It was so fun to see us all together when we first found each other in front of the entrance of the park. It was a lot of extra effort to get together these cute costumes and when I saw us all together as a group I realized Heidi was right to push for a theme group costume. We were so colorful and adorable. The first thing we did when we entered the park was get in line to take a picture in front of the giant Jack O'Lantern Mickey Mouse. It was a long line but I knew it would soon be dark and we wouldn't be able to get a cute group picture so we had to do it right away. I took pictures of everyone in different small groups while we waited.  Vivi also took that time to take more opportunities to practice her two lines: "Who's painting mine roses?" And "Off with yours head!"

We made our way over to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, then we stopped to take a pictures of everybody's individual costumes. After that we headed over to ride Winnie the Pooh and when we got off the ride the Halloween party had officially started and we made our way through the first trick-or-treat station. Disneyland's Halloween party was much more crowded than the one I attended at Disney World. But it still has the really fun Halloween feeling and it is so fun to walk around and see everybody's absolutely clever costumes.

After most of the crew went on Indiana Jones, we made our way to Fantasyland and we rode on Alice and Wonderland, the Fairytale Boats, and then we wrote on the teacups. I'm personally not really a fan of the Alice in wonderland movie, I am however a huge fan of the Alice in wonderland ride at Disneyland. and I think the teacups are always so fun and iconic.

We did not plan very well for how we should spend our time during the party. Barb couldn't walk very far and we waited too long to find her a good place to sit, wait, and save a spot for us to watch the fireworks. I guess I underestimated how many people are willing to sit down and wait and do nothing for several hours after spending $150 to come to a Disney party.

I knew most of the kids wanted to ride some bigger rides that Vivi wouldn't be able to ride. So Vivi and I found a line to meet Mickey and Minnie and we waited in it while everybody else road some rides. The line moved pretty slow and I was worried we were going to miss our opportunity to see the fireworks which were a huge priority for me or rather THE priority for me. But thankfully we made it just in time thanks to Heidi. Heidi had saved us a spot but when I found her she was super frustrated because she hadn't been able to leave and go find her mom. I wish we had planned it all better but I didn't really understand what we were getting into as far as the crowds for this party.

The fireworks were great though and after they were finished we made our way over to where Barb had been sitting and everyone had a little snack.

Then the parade came by a second time and me, Vivi, Barb and Heidi watched it while the big kids and Craig went and road Star tours.

As we were leaving the park, I wanted to hang back a bit and get a feel for all of the adorable Halloween party decorations they had on Main Street. It was all pretty cute. Our time at the party went by really fast and I know we all wish we could have planned better but it was still a really fun night together as an Alice in Wonderland group.

One day while shopping at Target I found this adorable Minnie mouse dress that Vivi could wear to Disneyland. Then one day when I was shopping online I found that they made the dress in big girl sizes I took a chance that the extra extra large would fit me and it did! I also bought one for Stella because I had the idea that we should all wear these matching dresses one day at Disneyland. Stella was not into it, but she was willing to do it because Vivi wanted to match her big sister. It didn't take long for Heidi to get in on it too and we all showed up on our last day at Disneyland wearing matching adorable Minnie mouse dresses. Our cuteness could not be denied.

Our first stop was in Fantasyland to ride the Casey Junior train which is one of my very favorite Disneyland rides. I love how Fantasyland still looks like it came out of the 1950s and 60s, it's so fun to think about Walt Disney while you hang around in Fantasyland.

Both Vivi and Stella were struggling that morning to stay peppy, so I made the executive decision to give them a little bit of Coke. Vivi kept insisting that she wanted to go on the carousel, and I kept looking at her like she was crazy because she hates the carousel ride at Lagoon but she wouldn't stopo so we all reluctantly got in line. Turns out we all loved riding the carousel and taking a little tour around Fantasyland. It was magical, and one of my favorite parts of the day.

I couldn't leave Disneyland without a picture of us and our Minnie dresses with Mickey Mouse so everyone was kind enough to wait in line to go meet Mickey. After that the big kids went on Goofy's rollercoaster and while they did that, Vivi and I walked around and asked every cast member available to take our picture. I also bought Vivi a giant Mickey mouse balloon popcorn container that she fell in love with instantly and carry it around like it was a special prize, it was adorable! I had seen people walking around with them the first day and I had decided that we had to have one, they were just too cute. Vivi told me while she was eating her popcorn that it was a balloon, but it wasn't going to fly.

We then had fast passes for splash mountain so we made our way across the park. Stella and I stopped and got our traditional Mickey mouse ice cream sandwich on the way.

We were able to do ride swap so the kids were able to ride twice and Heidi and I each road once. While I rode with Stella, Catcher and Cy,  Heidi got in line with Wyn and Vivi to meet Winnie the Pooh. Vivi was so excited about her popcorn the entire time she waited, it was well worth the splurge to see her hang on to her popcorn balloon. It was a toy and food in one.

At this point, I was starving and while Heidi and the boys went to go meet up with Craig and Barb we sat down and had some food. I'm always super annoyed when I get hungry and I have to take the time to sit down and eat, but at least with Disneyland I know my favorite restaurants. After eating, we met up with the rest of the crew and got some pictures in front of the castle before it got too dark.

The Haunted Mansion had been broken for a good chunk of the day including when we had fast passes for it. It was finally up and running so we made our way over to that side of the park again. Right before we were about to go into the mansion Vivien announced that she had to go to the bathroom. So I picked her up and ran her all the way to the bathrooms (it was so far and I ran so fast) while everyone waited for us in line. Vivi was really excited to see Jack Skellington and Sally, but the ride scared her so much that she refused to ride it again with me later in the night.

We headed over to Fantasyland and rode Peter Pan while we figured out how we were going to spend the last few hours in the park. We were pretty efficient and we got a lot done in those last few hours. Space Mountain, Big Thunder, Star Tours, Splash Mountain, Alice in Wonderland, and the teacups we're all rides different members of our group were able to enjoy at the end of the day.

I spent my last hour with Vivi and she chose Alice and the teacups us her last rides and she and I had fun together just me and her I loved it.

And that was the end of our super fun day together. Me and the girls stopped at the Disney store on our way out. I let the girls each pick out a toy and I found a special toy one of my friends had asked me to look for a while I was there. I found myself an adorable jaunty hat as well. Viv fell asleep on the walk home and we were all so tired I just left her sitting in the stroller for a long time while I sat down in our living room and got the energy to get her out of her stroller get her in her bed.

The next morning we got up and got ready to check out of our town house. We loved staying there with grandma Barb and it was a really special time to spend with her. We headed to the airport and made it home just in time to have a about an hour to get ready for Halloween at our house.

Over all our visit with the Gummows was a dream come true. It was so fun to spend that special time together and have all those fun memories laughing and enjoying Disneyland with each other. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip that we will never forget.