Disneyland Part I

Ben, Joey, Rocky, you know I love you to bits and pieces, but when Aaron and I breezed through Disneyland with only Hank and Max to keep track of--no schlepping a giant diaper bag full of baby gear, no pushing a loaded double-stroller through thick crowds, no stopping every two seconds to feed a baby or change a diaper, no breaking in the middle of the day for naps--we thought, with just a tiny bit of jealousy, "so, THIS, is what it would be like to only have two kids!" It was a walk in the park compared to the circus show we're accustomed to with our crazy family of seven! Crazy or not, I love our pack of boys and it ripped out my mommy heart a little bit to leave Ben, Joey, and Rocky behind, but what made our Disneyland trip so special was that, with just the four of us, the pleasure actually outweighed the amount of work involved...we had F-U-N!

Once we arrived in California, we had the afternoon to play before we headed to the park the next day. The boys spent a few hours swimming (they could stay in the water for days!), then we ate dinner at Downtown Disney, went a movie, and checked out the Lego store.

Hank and Max are comfortable enough in the water now, that I can actually do a little light reading from a poolside reclining chair without having to stress about them drowning every second. I loved overhearing their conversations with other guests at the pool--they made quick friends with bunches of kids ("hey! what's your name? How old are you? Want to play with us?") and had a blast cannonball-ing into the pool and splashing around.

Family first: we took the boys to see a non-animated action movie....there were only a couple scenes that were a bit intense and we had to cover their eyes.

I've never thought of Hank as a good shopper--he is bored to tears whenever I drag him along shopping with me--but he was happy as can be shopping at the Lego store. Go figure!

 Aaron and I, obviously:

For once in their lives, Hank and Max didn't have to be threatened with every trick in the book to get them to go to sleep...they were so exhausted at the end of each day that they literally collapsed into bed and fell right to sleep: