Disneyland–Part Deux (aka Halloween in Happy Land)

Updated disclaimer – Merritt has hijacked the blog once again.  Mandee firmly disavows any of the crude, rude and totally unacceptable things that Merritt might post on this blog (unless it happens to be really funny, then she has the right to claim them as her own).  In particular, I am supposed to apologize to Sammy, who was greatly offended in my last post when I posted the phrase “Holy Crap”.  In Sammy’s words, “Daddy, why are you posting unpleasant words on Mommy’s blog?”  In the future, I will take great care to avoid such unpleasant language.

  For our last night in the Magical Kingdom, we combined two of the most freaking awesome activities known to man… trick-or-treating and going to Disneyland.  Holy moly (that is acceptable, right Sam), it doesn’t get any better than that!!

Merritt, Mandee and Mema (if you couldn’t tell) were Thing 1, Thing 2 and Thing 3.  On a side note, if you ever go to Disneyland during the first weekend of October, you might not want to dress in red shirts with white circles in the middle.  I won’t go into any details, but let’s just say that it is the official uniform of a rather “happy” celebration going on that weekend.  Awkward.

Alex (big surprise) went as Ron Weasley.  Sammy (even bigger surprise) went as Indiana Jones (he has worn the same costume for 3 years running, but hey, why mess with a good thing).  Maggie was the cutest Little Red Riding Hood you have ever seen.  Mandee made the costume herself and I am supposed to point out that it was freaking awesome.

We got to meet Jack Skelington, himself.  Sammy had been waiting for this moment the entire trip.  Maggie wasn’t nearly as impressed.

A wonderful thing happened at Disneyland that fateful night… she discovered that on Halloween, people give you bagfuls of free candy just because you are cute.  When you are this cute, they give you extra candy.

Next, we sat down to watch the Halloween fireworks show.  What did we learn from this experience?  Apparently, you are horrible parents unless you take your kids to the Halloween fireworks show in front of the giant castle at Disneyland (even though you would much rather be riding on all of the great rides that just happen to have no line, because all of the chumps are over by the castle watching the fireworks show).  Yeah.

Now, for the signature Halloweeny, awwww, that’s just cute, moment…  Indiana Jones, himself, rode the Indiana Jones ride, in full costume.

The only point behind this picture was that we were all freaking tired and needed a good place to sit, so… like any good Mommy, Mandee just had to have a picture.

That night, we ran the kids absolutely ragged.  We tricked and treated with the best of them until well past midnight.  After we were done, the kids were absolutely pooped (sorry again, Sammy).  By the way, the pack mule that they affectionately call Daddy was pooped (sorry Sammy), too.

Seriously, how pitiful are these children?

Despite being nearly being overcome with exhaustion, the children perked up when we got back to the hotel and took stock of their bounty.

Now, this is where most normal families would have ended their evening.  Although I don’t have any pictures to prove it, my slightly neurotic wife (I love you… honestly, I think your minor craziness is cute) spent the next hour sorting all of the candy out into individual piles and made a complete inventory of candy by type.  Rock on!!!  We know how to party.

For our last day in the Magic Kingdom, we spent our time at California Adventure.  Carson and Sammy, apparently hadn’t seen enough of each other during the last several days, and needed to make sure that they held on to each other.

The answer to the question you are asking right now is, “No, we really have no idea what is going on in this picture, either”.  But, whatever it was, it must have been important.

Carson and I ruled the bumper cars!

I hope Morgan waits a while to get his license.

Hey, here’s another great idea… just like the teacups… let’s put a bunch of kids in a car and spin it around as fast as we can.  That would be awesome (except for the cleanup… just ask Melissa).

Once again, here is a picture that leaves me speechless.  Please insert your own caption here.  Okay, I’ll give it a try… Alex:  “Oh, I think I’m going to throw up”.  Livvy: “Whatever, dude”.  Sammy: “Zippity doo dah, zippity aaayyy…..”.  Here is another try… Alex: “Who tooted?”  Livvy:  “He who smelt, it dealt it, dude”.  Sammy:  “Zippity doo dah, zippity aaayyy (I feel better now)”.

We found Tweedle Dumb, Tweedle Just as Dumb and Tweedle I’m with Dumb.  Guess which is which.  There is a strange phenomenon in our family… when the children get together, their collective IQ’s actually decrease.

The little caterpillar “roller coaster” was just the right speed for some of the kids (including Marci).

The cookie box ride was a hit, too.

And now for the “I’m a terrible parent” moment of the trip.  What do you do if you really want to go on a ride with your kids, but you know that it will scare the living crap out of them (sorry Sammy, that one just slipped out)?  Take the Tower of Terror, for example.  Bribery with cotton candy or souvenirs works great.  I’m not going to show you any of the after-pictures… they are just too graphic.

And then… after our wild adventure… it was time to return to real life… yeah!!!  Feel the excitement.  We need to rest awhile before we try this again.

For posterity’s sake, Mandee has asked me to memorialize the favorite rides of everyone in the family. 

Merritt – no question – California Screaming and Tower of Terror

Mandee – Teacups (that one earned me a slap)… Space Mountain and California Screaming

Alex – California Screaming and the Matterhorn

Sammy – do you even need to ask?  Indiana Jones

Maggie – Not It’s a Small World… man that thing is creepy.  Also, in case you are wondering, it is not a good idea to take your 2 year old (or your 4 year old nephew who may or may not be named Morgan) to the incredibly scary Bug’s Life 4D movie with creepy crawlies that jump out at you an crawl over you.  With those exceptions, she loved all of the little kids rides.

You know your children have been on a few too many amusement park rides when they do this when the airplane takes off.

And… we’re done.