Disneyland 2012 -- long post warning

   We decided to drive this year to Disneyland so we didn't have to spend the money on flights and car rentals.  It was an adventure :)  Here are some of the highlights:
   We had intended to stop in Vegas for the night on the way to California, but after discovering that we couldn't take our 2 year old to the Family Magic show that we had intended to go to we thought that it would be asking too much of our children to make them drive for 5 hours the next day so we continued on.  We pulled into our hotel at about 11 p.m. Sunday night and because we only have two hands each had to wake Ethan up and make him walk in himself.  Well, we get into the hotel and the next thing you know we can't see Ethan anywhere.  After a few seconds of panic we see his feet sticking out the end of one of the lobby couches.  He had walked in and flopped down and was dead asleep.  After a good chuckle we maneuvered up to our suite.  (Homewood suites had very very good service)
   The next morning we went down and had breakfast at the hotel buffet and after I took the kids out to see the hotels pool while Spencer finished up eating his breakfast.  After a few minutes of walking around the pool I told the kids that it was time to leave and go to Disneyland.  Mason looked at me as if I had betrayed him and started bawling and ran back inside the crowded hotel dining room to Spencer.  I grabbed the other two boys and followed.  When I walked into the hotel everyone was looking at us and I informed Spencer that I had told Mason that we had to go to Disneyland instead of swim in the pool. :)
   Disneyland was fun.  The kids enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean the most and we went on it a couple of times. The lines were really short so we were able to get around most of the park within a few hours.  After just a couple hours we decided to call it a day because I was really sick and the kids seemed to be winding down and wanted to go back to the hotel and swim.
   My mom was able to come Tuesday and Wednesday and spend some time with us and I opted to have her go to the beach with us so after consulting the waiter's at the diner we had stopped at we drove to Venus beach.  My kids loved it, but I was a wreck!!  I felt like I spent the whole time while we were in the water telling Ethan and Mason that they were out too far and that they needed to stand closer to me.  Mason would stand on the other side of Ethan and so Ethan would wade out to his waste and start running back when a big wave came and Mason would try to do the same, but by the time he would see Ethan running the wave was almost on top of him.  At one point I was very tempted to tell them that a shark was going to get them if they went out any further, but I restrained myself.
   The funniest part of the beach experience was that Spencer and I had gone to the target the night before looking for sand toys, but alas they didn't have anything like that this time of year so we ended up at the dollar store and decided to buy regular buckets and spades for the kids.  So ... the first time Ethan filled the bucket and tried to pick it up for the sand castle ... the bottom completely fell out!!!  I was laughing so hard ... Then I tried to help them build this sand castle and I dipped the spade in the sad and it bent completely in half when I tried to scoop the sand up!!  so much for finding good deals at the dollar store.
   After the kids had played in the water they went up to the beach and Ethan drew his name really big in the sand while Mason drew these amazing abstract drawings of snails and other things.  My mom and I marveled at how artistic Mason was.  Zach thought it was really fun to walk on the kids drawings and make them cry. We had a wonderful time at the beach.
   The next day my Mom asked me what we should do that would help me out and I told her a swim day at the pool would be the most helpful.  Thanks to her we spent 3 or 4 hours at the pool and my kids were in HEAVEN!!  Seriously ... we got all ready and walked down to the pool and had just began to swim when Zach pooped in his swim diaper.  That would have been the end of the swimming experience for me and my kids had my mom not been there, but because she was I ran back up to the room with Zach while my other kids swam.  I took videos of Ethan holding his breath for 20 seconds and of Mason pretending to be a crocodile.  Mason thought it was hilarious to step into deep water and have Ethan save him.   It's a good thing Ethan was there each time to save him.  I kept trying to tell him that he didn't really have to drown to have Ethan save him that he could just pretend, but alas ... Zach had fun going from pool to hot tub to pool again.  I stayed in the pool and my mom stayed in the hot tub so we didn't have to keep moving.  Ethan also really enjoyed doing canon balls into the pool.  Fun day!!
   The next day Spencer had off and we were able to go to Disneyland and Disneyland California adventure.  Ethan loved going on California Screaming and Mason enjoyed eating his lollipop.  We spend most of the day in the park and were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel.  Of course the kids wanted to swim that night, but Spencer vetoed it and we had a movie night in our room and then watched the Disney fireworks out of the window of our hotel room.
   Friday morning we went down to the pool and had fun as a family swimming around the pool playing "I'm going to get you" and so on and so forth.  After swimming we packed up and headed for Vegas.  In Las Vegas we stopped at the Mandalay Bay's shark exhibit.  It was really fun for us and the kids to see all these fish that we see on the show River Monsters and at the end of the museum there is a ship wreck where you feel like you're in a ship and the sharks are swimming all around you.  Really fun!!  After the shark museum we decided to go to Mesquite for a buffet, but after stopping we saw that it would be around 16 dollars a person and decided even though it was late we would make it to St. George and go to our kids favorite restaurant "Chuck a Rama"  Well, Spencer and I forgot about the time change between Nevada and Utah and by the time we got to the restaurant we would have only had 15 minutes to eat.  I was feeling so guilty where Mason had been asking for food since Vegas.  But the night was saved when we pulled into the Golden Corral and they were open later.  I was able to keep my mash potato promise to Mason so that was great.
   We stayed that night in St. George and after swimming in the pool in the morning we continued on home.  I credit the 60.00's of movies and cartoons that we purchased at the Sam's club on the way down for such an enjoyable drive.
If I ever find my camera that has all our Disneyland and Christmas pictures on it I'll post them.   If not I hope I've remembered the most important parts of our trip.