Disneyland Pictures....Finally!

Sorry for being a little MIA from the blog lately! My life has been crazy since we got back from vacation, but I think things have finally settled down and I should be able to get caught up!

Disneyland was AWESOME!!! I totally loved it! Oh yeah, and the kids loved it too :-) Unfortunately, Jayson had some work-related stuff he had to do in California, so although he was in California with us, he had to work and didn't come to Disney :-( I recruited lots of help to take his place. My mom (aka "Mimi"), my sister (Tiare), and GG all jumped at the chance come with us.

This was the first time that the quints have stayed in a hotel. We brought along 5 pack-n-plays (I have purposely been putting off the transition from crib to big kid beds until after all our trips this summer). They went to sleep surprisingly well---they must have been exhausted from the drive. When the quints woke up in the morning, it was so cute to see all their little heads pop up and down again in their cribs. It reminded me of one of those whack-a-mole arcade games.

Ready for bed: Kassidy, Rustin, Ryder, Kyndall, Kaydence

Nothing like being woken up by 5 two-year-olds! Tiare with Rustin, Kyndall, Ryder, Kassidy and Kaydence

The kids watch TV while we take get packed and ready to go.

Breakfast at the hotel

And we're off!

Just inside the gates--Tiare and I with all the kids

As soon as we got in the gates, Riley and Kaiya went off with Tiare to ride on Star Tours and get a fast pass for Space Mountain. GG, Mimi and I took the quints to Fantasyland. Our first ride was Snow White's Scary Adventure, which turned out to be a BAD idea! You would think that with a word like "scary" in the title, that I would clue in to the fact that the ride would be...SCARY, but somehow I missed that. Some of the kids had fun anyway, but Kaydence and Kassidy were terrified and did not want to go on anymore rides. I was thinking that it was going to be a looooong day if every ride was going to bring tears of fright!

Next we tried the carousel, which was not quite as scary, and then Peter Pan. By this time Riley, Kaiya and Tiare had caught up to us and we decided to try the least frightening ride we could think of.....It's a Small World! It did the trick, and even Kaydence took her hands away from her eyes by the end of the ride.

The rest of the day was spent packing in as many rides as possible. It was crowded, but most of the time we did not have to wait more than 30 minutes to get on a ride. The quints favorite ride was It's A Small World, which we rode on a couple of times. All the kids had the song memorized by the time we left and they still sing it DAILY at our house!

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride--Rustin, Kassidy, Kyndall, Ryder, and Kaydence

Waiting in line....Rustin, Kaydence, Ryder, Kyndall, and Kassidy

More waiting...

The quint's second favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear one---all the cars had guns to shoot at bad guys with a digital display to keep track of the scores.

Winnie the Pooh Pots...Kaydence, Rustin, Kassidy, Ryder, Riley, Kyndall, Kaiya

We were waiting in line to see Tigger and Kyndall slipped under the ropes to run over to Eeyore to give him a hug.

Tigger! When Riley and Kaiya were 2, they were terrified of all costumed characters, but the quints love them!

The whole clan with Tigger

Tiare and the kids with Eeyore

At the Haunted Mansion, there were lots of tombstones, including one with Rustin's name on it :-)

We had to be creative to keep the kids entertained while we waited in line!

One of the highlights of the day....seeing the "Princess Castle". Rachelle, Tiare, Mimi, GG, Riley, Kaiya, Kaydence, Ryder, Kyndall, Rustin and Kassidy

Eating the ridiculously expensive lunch at Disney

Locked up!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

The longest line we waited in, was the line to see Micky Mouse. It was highly deceptive....we kept thinking that he was around the corner, only to be placed in another waiting room. Had we known how long the line really was, we probably wouldn't have done it, but by the time we figured it out, we had already invested enough time that we stuck it out!

Mickey with Rustin, Riley, Ryder, Kyndall, Kaydence, Kaiya, and Kassidy

Riley

Kaiya

Kassidy

Kaydence

Rustin

Kyndall

Ryder

Tiare, Mimi, Mickey, Rachelle & GG

During the big "parade" the kids boogied in front of the Princess Castle--It was a perfect end to a perfect day!

Mimi, Rachelle & Tiare at Yogurtland---YUM!

After we got the kids to bed, we left Jayson in charge and headed out for a "girl's night" (I know that sounds terribly mean---"Hey honey, I know you didn't get to go with us to Disney, but now we want to ditch you and go get frozen yogurt without you", but he was pretty stressed about his work stuff and couldn't break away. He definitely deserves to be "Husband of the Year")

Tiare, Mimi and Rachelle in front of Hard Rock Cafe

Tiare and Rachelle---if you look really close you can see the Hollywood sign all blurry in the background.

In-focus picture of the Hollywood sign

Stay tuned for more pictures from our trip.....

Disneyland Pictures....Finally!

Disney Preview

We just got back from our road trip to Arizona and California. I have tons of great pictures to post, but I need to get organized from being gone before I tackle that project! Here is one picture to wet your appetite:

Back: Riley, Rachell, Kaiya, Tiare (my sister), Mimi (my mother), GG, Front: Kaydence, Ryder, Kyndall, Rustin and Kassidy

The kids LOVED Disneyland (how could they not??). They have been singing "It's a Small World" pretty much non-stop since we got back! More later, now back to unpacking!

Disney Preview

Ready or Not....Summer is HERE!

The past couple of weeks have been filled with all the crazy end of the school year activities for the kids. Between student-led conferences, plays, and other activities, it seemed like I was at the school every day for something!

Today is the first official day of summer and I am trying to figure out how I am going to keep all the kids busy for the next eleven weeks and still maintain my own sanity. Fortunately (at least I think it is fortunate) we have a lot of things planned for summer, including several weddings to attend, DISNEYLAND (we gotta go now before the quints turn 3 and we have to pay for them!), and visits to both sets of grandparents. All together, I calculated that we will be putting close to 9,000 miles on our van (“the Beast”) by the end of the summer. Yikes! The kids did great on our road trip to Arizona last summer, but we will really be putting them to the test this year!

Kaiya and her school friends Ashley and Ryley

Riley and his school friends

Riley had his last Volleyball game of the season. He had improved a lot this year! Kyndall, Rustin, Kaydence, Ryder, Kassidy and Kaiya all went to cheer him on!

Riley and his friend "Fudgy" in the 4th grade play---they were rappers!

Kaiya and her 1st Grade Teacher, Mrs. Speegle

Kyndall, Kaydence, Kassidy, Ryder and Rustin enjoyed an outing to Burger King to celebrate the last few days of school.

Ryder, Kaydence, Kyndall, Kassidy and Rustin

The first wedding of the summer actually happened over Memorial Day Weekend. My brother, Colby, got married in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was a very small wedding---only parents, siblings, and a handful of friends were invited, so I was “forced” to get away for the weekend while Jayson stayed home to hold down the fort with the kids. It was a fabulous break for me! My mom flew in to Austin and we drove to Hot Springs together where we met up with the rest of my family. It has been about 4 years since all my siblings and I have been together and it was great to be able to hang out together kid-free. Hot Springs was absolutely beautiful---I had no idea.

The wedding was simple but very nice. I absolutely love my new sister-in-law Neeha and am so excited for her to be part of our family!

Colby and Neeha get married!

The Girls: Tiare, Betty Ann (aka Mom or Mimi) and Rachelle

The Boys: Ryan, Colby, Shane, McKay and Steve (aka Dad or Papa)

My Mom and Dad (Steve and Betty Ann)

Newlyweds Neeha and Colby. Neeha actually wore three different wedding dresses---the beautiful white one that she was married in and a couple of traditional Indian Sarees.

One wedding down, two more to go!! While in Hot Springs, we also did a little sight seeing...

My Family: Shane, Tiare, Dad, Ryan, Mom, McKay, Rachelle & Colby. I am the oldest sibling, and yes, also the shortest!

Newlywed's Neeha and Colby by an actual "hot spring"

Hot Springs is famous for it's European style bath houses. We enjoyed taking a tour of one of them.

In the "olden days" doctors prescribed baths, or "hydrotherapy" to cure many different kinds of ailments. As the field of medicine became more advanced, the baths became less popular. However, seeing the facilities brought back memories of the hydrotherapy that my doctor prescribed for me while I was pregnant with the quints! It was one of my favorite parts of the day!

Old Hydrotherapy Tub (McKay, Rachelle & Mom)

Things have changed a bit in the past few years, however---here is a video that Jayson took when I was pregnant of my modern hydrotherapy tub:

Yes, I felt completely ridiculous being lifted into the tub--wearing nothing and being roughly the size and shape of an exercise stability ball, but it was so worth it!

Ready or Not....Summer is HERE!