The Happiest Place on Earth

We are now the proud owner of annual passes for Disneyland Paris.  Not something I thought we'd do but definitely glad we did.  Our kids are really a good age for it which I was initially a tad bit skeptical about.  It was so much fun to see their faces light up!
We rented a house about 5 minutes from the park with some friends.  They have 3 little boys to help liven things up.  The first night, Kherington peed the bed.  I finally stopped putting a diaper on her at night awhile ago and we'd only ever had one accident.  I guess having her sit in a car all day and down water wasn't the best for her bladder.  Thankfully the pee stayed on the comforter and there was a washer and dryer so we stuck it in.  Well, it ended up being too big to be successfully spun dry in the washer and too heavy to be dried in the dryer so we had to get creative.  We hung it up on a dry rack in the garage and at the end of the day there was water all over the day.  It took 3 of us to wring it out...then is dried and was good to go by the time we checked out :).  Later that night, all the kiddos were asleep aside from Kevin...he was downstairs watching bball with his daddy :).

Each day we went for the morning, stayed until 1 or 2, went home for naps then went back around 5 for a couple rides and the night show.

They LOVED the night show.  We had originally planned on only doing it one night, but Kherington really wanted to do it again and we were only going to have to stay another 30 minutes until it started so we went for it.  I'm thinking it would be nice to go again when it is not FREEZING.  A little sun and warm would go a long long ways.

 I thought it was kinda funny that the first day when we left the park around noon for naps,  the kids decided to 'ride' the moving walkway as we excited the park.  It really does make you tired walking around.  It is a good mile long hike to get from the car to the buzz light year ride (I looked it up online).

Saturday we got checked out at 7:30 (no fines which is always a good feeling) and go the park early. 
Since we had annual passes, we got to enjoy 8am-10am at the park with only other annual pass holders and those staying in Disney hotels.  We found that if you're walking through the gates to the park at 8am you can ride about 5 rides in about 30 minutes....compared to 2 if you arrive at 8:30.
The favorite ride hands down was Buzz Lightyear.  We probably road it 20 times (no joke).  The kids also enjoyed autotopia (Kherington could drive the car) and Small World.  Some of the ride were pretty scary though.  Kherington was not such a fan of Snow White, Pirate of the Caribbean or Peter Pan. 

We went to meet Mickey one of the days. They had it setup pretty nicely with a cartoons playing on the big screen so you could watch as you stood in line. Plus it was inside so we were able to thaw out a little. Aside from Mickey, Kherington also go autographs from two of Cinderella's mice. I made both her and Kevin little autograph books which turned out pretty cute...but for the most party they just colored in them themselves.

After a couple rides we went over to Disney Studios for a show featuring Mickey & Donald then walked out to catch the parade. I don't think we could have planned that any more perfectly.  We stopped for some Happy Meals on the drive back to Brussels and the kids ended up eating then sleeping the rest of the way.

We had fun...enough so that I'm hoping we go a couple more times :).

March Madness 2013 Picks

We've been fairly creative each year with how our kids have picked their bracket.  This time around we figured they were old enough to do it the normal way.  Kherington did it by herself (Ryan just had to cover up the columns she'd already selected) and Kevin pointed while Ryan actually clicked it with the mouse.  The only rule was that the first selection was the one that stayed.

Here's who we each picked to win it all:
Kevin: NC State
Kherington: Minnesota
Erin: Gonzaga
Ryan: Indiana

St. Patty's Day

St. Patrick's day fell on a Sunday this year.  Ryan started talking about how lucky the leprechaun was going to come the night before.  He and the kids built a 'trap' out of Lego's to catch him, but in the morning the kids just found it smashed.  When Kherington went to bed, she was very concerned that Lucky was going to come in her room while she was asleep...and even woke up to a nightmare...no worries, Lucky stayed out of the room. He did leave shamrocks all over the house and some cool glass's, hats and green M&M's.  Ryan made the kids green eggs and green milk in the morning for breakfast.

I brought some shamrock stickers and paper to church which kept the kids decently quite during sacrament meeting.

I thought a lot about what to make for dinner that would be something out of the ordinary but still healthy and yummy.  I decided on Green Lasagna.  The sauce is just pureed cauliflower that has been boiled in vegetable broth and dyed green.  I layered the sauce, noodles, chicken, sauteed zucchini, broccoli and  spinach, and ricotta and Gouda cheese.  After church all I had to do was pop it in the over.  Kevin had 2 plates full.  Kherington (who normally eats everything) took some convincing, but one she tried it she said it was her favorite.

Right before bedtime the kids found a bar of gold and shamrock in their room.  Lucky didn't want them to go to bed without a treat.