I feel like we can actually start our countdown to vacation now!! We only have 30 days until we head to California on a giant family vacation.
We've never taken the boys to Disneyland. I know lots of people take their kids when they are really little but we just didnt see the point. It's crazy pricey to do Disney and when one was too young to ride most rides and the other was too little/short...we just didn't want to spend a gajillion dollars to walk around and gaze upon $60 tshirts. We decided that we'd go when Connor was 5. He'd be tall enough for most of the rides and those he didn't meet...he'd likely be a bit afraid to attempt anyway. Bear would only be 2 but he'd be free to get in so it would work ok. Plus, Noah will be able to ride on some things as well.
I plan on walking around enough to burn off all the junk food I plan on eating. Also, I'll take some pictures.
Also, we're driving. That will be nutso since being in the car for more than 45 minutes tends to make me stir crazy. When we drove to San Diego last summer, I was snarky before we left the 602 area code. Fortunately, it resulted in funny fb posts. I make no promises this time as I never know if my snark will result in hilarity or the silent treatment. I shoot for a nice balance of both. Except that kids don't give the silent treatment - they scream. Also, they throw things.
Anyway, Jeff's family LOVES Disney. Who doesn't? But they really love it. I'm thrilled that everyone is able to come along when we take the boys to Disneyland for the first time.
It's going to be crazy fun, mostly because of how many family members are coming. It would take a white board with a full blown chart to explain it all so I'll just say that my dad and Corliss are coming, Jeff's parents and two of his three sisters as well. One of those sisters has four kids and of course her husband is coming. His brothers have families of their own as well and his parents too. Did you get all that? All in all we're thinking between 20-25 people...I think 10 of those will be kids...ranging from itty bitty baby to teen. That's three sets of grandparents too so we'll be fortunate to be able to have adult time for a dinner or drinks here and there as well.
Other great news...Jeff's parents have a timeshare and our branch of the fam will be staying there so we're fortunate enough to skip paying for a hotel. This is great as we'll likely be there a full week.
I only half jokingly suggested that we have shirts made up for all of us. We could do baseball style raglan shirts with each branch wearing a different color. Fun right? No one was interested which surprised me because I got this email from my youngest sister Megan yesterday :)
Ok... So, the Barnes family is definitely full of nerds. We sort of unofficially decided that on Saturday we are going to wear shirts that are of traditional Disney characters (i.e. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, etc.) and we don't want you guys to be left out. Steph and I have Minnie shirts that we got from the last trip. The girls both have Minnie shirts as well. Kaden has a Goofy shirt and Ryan and Jacob have these cartoon strip shirts with Mickey and Goofy on them. Also, the Birch Blum family has other little theme days;
Sunday - Girls are wearing Alice in Wonderland (only because Bella and Olivia are coincidently wearing the same exact shirts as Maddie and Lanie)
Tuesday - Bambi/Dumbo characters (not sure if the boys will participate in this day either because not sure that they will care about either movies, but could fit Peter Pan in there also)
Wednesday - Phineas and Ferb (the entire Birch Blum clan will be wearing Perry the Platypus shirts)
So, that is it for my nerdiness.
Love you,
Megan
I bought my first Disney shirt in preparation of this trip. I'm not really a character shirt kind of gal. Not for my kids either. I prefer my kids' clothing to have a pattern, not an animal. I don't always win that battle. It's nothing crazy, my shirt. It has a mickey head, that's it. Maybe it's Minnie. I'm really not positive honestly. Our branch is all wearing Mickey shirts on day one. Update: I took a pic of my shirt. It's bedazzled of course. Also, signed by the mouse. I'll pause for your gasp.
Our friend, Megan of Megan J Photography lives in California and will be doing photos of our branch of the family as a gift from Corliss. Can't wait. I think it will be so fun to have family pics in Disneyland. Megan is amazing. She did our family pics in 2010 that we did at ASU. Here and Here. Last years pics were a shit show, so this year has got to be better. As amazing as Megan is, I'm anticipating a lot of pics like these:
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| oh awkward family photos, i adore you. |
Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to the trip.
I'm also open to suggestions on what to call this trip. The Great Barnes/Blum/VanHook/Ditton Extravaganza is a bit wordy for a hat. And I'd really like a hat.
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