Disneyland 2018

I have been waiting for a Robins family trip to Disneyland ever since I first met Bryan in 2011. Although it was 7 years in the making, it was well worth the wait. We had an absolute blast with all 10 of us together.


I'm just going to share a few an overload of pictures here.

Stay tuned for my Guide to Disneyland at Halloween! Insights into exclusive food to order, must-sees, and tips for Mickey's Halloween Party. Plus, a video!

Woody was quite the charmer. He had all sorts of flirting to do with Chim!

 

 Watching Del ride this by himself was the funniest thing!

 You can tell which rides we were on the most...

But really, with 5 days we had plenty of time to do everything we wanted to!

Everything about this place is magical!! Even the character drawings from water on the pathways. Seriously talented people.

If you look closely, Bryan has a different face in every single picture.   

 Ok, let me tell you about this picture. It's pretty early in the morning on our first day. We didn't have a set plan before we went to bed but I knew the parents were going to get checked in at our other hotel and pick up our tickets. The next thing I know, they're showing up saying we have to go get breakfast and that we're going straight into the park. No warning at all. Since I'm the new one in the family, all the kids were like, "Mary, just roll with it. Seriously, don't try to fight it. Just do what they say" I was like, what about a shower or changing clothes or any of that? They all said it could just happen later. So here I am, strolling through Disneyland, like a hot mess.

 

Penny wishes at Snow White's Wishing Well! This whole trip was so entertaining because of these cute kids. They were so good the whole time and were excited about everything. I've never been with kids except for when I went when I was little, so this was a special treat to be able to experience it with them!

 Just a little scrolling through the Mutual App while we waited for our flight ha!

Her face says it all. This little girl cracked me up the whole trip! She can be quite sassy but she knows what she wants and she's stickin' to it! At one point, Grandpa and I were suddenly in charge of the kids while all the big kids went on a ride. We took them on the teacups, bought them popcorn, and tried to keep them happy. I'm sure it was quite the funny duo to watch. 

I don't know what it is about this photo that cracks me up! He carried the rabbit like this the whole night and for some reason it reminded  me of the Brer Rabbit from Splash Mountain, all tied up waiting for his doom.

These two uncles take such good care of Troy. All he wanted to do was ride Astroblasters with them the whole time!

We got stuck on SO many rides this trip!! Here we are stuck on Splash Mountain, near the end, so they actually made us hop out of our logs and walk to the exit. Apparently it was major Disney goals for Bryan and Mikayla. They were so excited about walking off a ride haha!

Oh, and this is the day we wore our Disney shirts that Marianna made! They all had different Disney quotes that apparently went with our personalities. I'll share all of them later.

I loved hanging out with my boyfriend all week! The last time we were here was on our honeymoon!

BUBBLE MACHINE!

It was like winning the jackpot when we got to take the time lanyard through the ride line. I had NO IDEA Tyson and Jeff snuck into this picture!

Fun fact. My husband is incredibly good at this game/ride. Over the 5 days, he was in the top 10 of high scores for the ENTIRE PARK multiple times, his highest being 3rd.

Cousin Kathy and her son Kennedy joined us on Thursday! I didn't meet them at the wedding so it was fun to spend a few days with them!

I tried so hard to capture this. Hair twirl and thumb sucking all the time!

In the middle of this ride, the car started spinning, and Mia yelled out, "I'm gonna die!!!" It was the funniest thing!

We love Magic Mornings! We got to ride this 3 times without getting off

The new Incredicoaster wasn't my favorite! I think they did a good job with it but I miss California Screamin'.

This parade was so good! The music, the floats, everything!

I could seriously live in California. The weather is always perfect and PALM TREES. Need I say more?

So story behind the Pinocchios...they got a real one in a McDonald's happy meal once and ever since then Mikayla and Del have been messing with each other sticking it in random places. Mikayla got serious this time and printed out little Pinocchios to put in his food, clothes, etc. the whole trip.

 

book review: before we were yours

So far we are 2/2 for amazing books this book club year. If you haven’t read Before We Were Yours, it is a must-read! It’s been on my list ever since it came out last year. Historical fiction has always been one of my favorite genres and this captivating story made my love for this genre grow even stronger, I felt like I was flipping through pages so quickly because I just couldn’t wait to find out what happens.

It is taken from a real-life scandal that happened in Memphis, Tennessee where Georgia Tann would take children from poor families and adopt them to wealthy families all over the country. It is shocking that this went on from 1924-1950 and the records were not opened until 1990. She treated the children horribly, killed some of them, and would have mothers sign papers while they were sedated in the hospital, telling them their children had died and taking them instead.

So some of it was a bit difficult to read but it switches back and forth between a modern day story and the historical story of Georgia Tann with a little bit of mystery so it's not all devastating.

At our book club meeting we talked about how it was possible for Georgia to get away with this and how she even had the audacity to do it, but then realized that selling of children who may or may not have parents has happened numerous times throughout our world’s history.

Similar stories include The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright and the movie Lion which both tell about children taken in India and adopted to other places in the world.  Human trafficking is also  prevalent in our world today. You can learn more about Timothy Ballard's mission to end trafficking here.

We also talked about the resilience of children and how adaptable they can be to new situations and overcoming horrible things.

It's crazy to think about how because of this scandal, there are so many people who don't know who their real ancestors are or that they are even adopted at all!

That's why journaling is so important! Keeping a record of our lives and the lives of our families helps to preserve memories and understand links between generations. There is something so powerful about knowing where you come from and who you belong to.

Where did Fall go?

Just two weeks ago we were driving through the Alpine Loop and I wasn’t even wearing a jacket. It was the perfect fall weather, in my opinion.

Then, overnight it turned to WINTER. Cold, dark, gloomy. The day it started being dark in the morning was the day it suddenly started being more difficult to get up in the morning.

I’m all about crunchy leaves, bright blue skies, sun, and crisp air, but not freezing.

I’m hoping we’ll get a little bit of fall back because it was waaay too short!