Car for sale!

Hopefully it'll sell soon and you won't have to see my million posts on facebook and craigslist... But in the meantime here's our ad on ebay--please let me know if you or anyone you know is interested!

UPDATE: We traded in the car for a Honda CR-V. :)

Attempting Disneyland with a Toddler #2

My first blog was about Money, Flying, Strollers, and Food; the 4 most expensive elements to our trip to Disneyland--as well as with any trip, really. This second blog will be shorter and about being a Mommy in the park, Visiting Characters and going on Rides, and Disneyland from the Eyes of a two-year-old.

Being a Mommy in the Park
This goes for any parent, daddies, too.
Imagine yourself packing for a trip... do you have everything? Nope, there is SOMETHING you forgot. Checked your list twice? Too bad, you forgot (dot, dot, dot). It happens to the best of us, and I say that because it ALWAYS happens to me. You'd think I'd have learned by now, but no.
Aside from parenting our children, a major part of our job is providing what they need, right? While in Disneyland, this begins with the diaper bag, or as I'd like to call it, the Mother Ship. Don't over-pack, but don't under-pack. There's a fine art to predicting what you will need, fitting it all in one bag, and not forgetting a thing. 
So what is my diaper bag recommendation for a trip to Disneyland? Ditch the Petunia Pickle Bottom beauty you got from your great aunt at your shower, and dig up the good ol' reliable Jansport you retired when you graduated from college. Two straps, one loop, two or three pockets--that's all you need. And it fits great over the handle of your stroller (personal or rented), on someone's back, and it doesn't scream, "I'm a $180 diaper bag; steal me!" 
Now, while I recommend a backpack of some sort for this purpose, there are some additional attributes to take into consideration. I used Adam's from college and while it was awesome for school, it really had too many pockets. I tried to utilize each one and couldn't remember from diaper change to diaper change where I stashed the wipes. One main, one in front (and an optional water/milk bottle pocket) is plenty. oh, and a carabiner! I gotta have my carabiner! My BFF. Whether it held her crocs, the coffee mug, the bag of goodies we bought, it was and always is a diaper bag necessity.
Inside... now let me first tell you what I did pack for our first venture into the park:

• Diapers and Wipes (I used night-time diapers because they hold more and I new I didn't want to run to the restroom to change her diaper every time she was wet. Some of you may gawk at this, but it's a fact and you know you'd do it too.)
• Individual Horizon Organic Milk Boxes (These undergo a special process so the milk does not have to be refrigerated.)
• 27 oz. Klean Kanteen (It can always be refilled at a water fountain and ice at a food venue is free.)
• Lysol Wipes
• Hand Sanitizer
• First Aid Kit
• Activities for Lucy (from the Dollar Store)
• ~$35 worth of food from Dormzy.com (this was to share with my parents, siblings, and my family of 3)
• Hats and Sweatshirts for the three of us 
• iPhone (instead of a camera)
• what was left of my sanity

This is what I should have brought:

• Twice as many diapers, because even though night-time diapers hold twice as much, I'm naive to the fact that my daughter drinks like a horse and we were in the park much longer than I predicted.
• Wipes
• Lysol Wipes
• Same milk
• 1/2 sized Klean Kanteen
• ~$50 worth of food 
• iPhone

Less is more! We didn't need 1/2 of the stuff I brought in, and I brought in wrong proportions. If you have something that takes up a lot of room like extra clothing just rent a locker--it'll save you the hassle of juggling it all day.

So what happens when you DO forget something... As I briefly touched on, I should have brought more diapers. By 5:00 pm, we ran out! We were in line for Dumbo when I could smell Lucy's newest brew, and I mentioned to Adam, "we're out, what do we do?" A very kind couple behind us (with their own brood) mentioned that over at guest services, they have diapers. What a brilliant idea! Disneyland has millions of people come through every year and I KNOW I'm not the first mother to run out of diapers. We dashed on over to Main Street and found the Baby Care Center. B.R.I.L.L.I.A.N.T. I was so impressed. I was a little nervous to find out the price of the diapers. If a corn dog was $5.99, would a diaper be $4.99? Come to find out, they were selling diapers at only $1 each. Great price considering... plus I was in a pinch! (Poopy dipe) Inside the Baby Care Center is a nursing station, a large changing station (forget those Koala Kids plastic thingies), high chairs, and even toddler toilets! It was so quiet and serene, I wished I was a breast feeding mamma just so I had an excuse to stay in there!

Ok, Back on track... Being a Mommy in the Park can include a lot of other elements. You are there to show your child a good time. Show your child excitement. Let them experience Disneyland in their way. This leads me to my second, third, and fourth points: Visiting Characters and going on Rides, and Disneyland from the Eyes of a two-year-old.

These three really go hand-in-hand because of our expectations as parents who were once kids. Let me repeat that: Our expectations as parents who were once kids. We were kids once upon a time, but now it's their turn. By no means am I saying you're not supposed to have fun, but your two-year old is going to move at a different pace. That pace may be faster or slower, depending on your child. But it's important to guide them through Disneyland in a manner that will give them the full experience without pushing them in the direction of Point A that makes them miss out on Point B. Let me clarify:

Visiting Characters

Oh, the illusive Characters... now you see them, now you don't! Characters can be a big part of your trip, especially if you WANT to see them. Keep in mind that there are often LINES to see characters... L-I-N-E-S. Full Hour lines. Is this how you want to spend your vacation? There are special appointments and attractions for particular Characters as well as meals you can arrange with Characters. Depending on your toddler's interest level in Disney Characters, there may be one or two that work better for you. Be sure to check out the Character Experiences page to plan ahead. As I mentioned in my first blog, you are going to need more than one day, so if your family wants to meet characters, perhaps plan one of those extra days for meeting characters.

Please please please do not be one of those parents that pushes their child to the front in order to get a hug and autograph from Mickey. Thankfully they have additional cast members to keep parents from doing this, but it's just sickening, and there's nothing wrong with your child learning the virtue of waiting, patience, and letting others go before them.

Going on Rides

Speaking of L-I-N-E-S. Waiting is a big part of the game at Disneyland, but there are two ways you can cut down on your time in lines when it comes to rides.

1. Plan your day around your Fast Passes. You can have two at a time--you will want to go to big attractions first to obtain your passes (i.e. Space Mountain). Such a quick and easy way that the geniuses at Disney have created to make your experience that much better.
2. There will be rides (i.e. Space Mountain) that your toddler will not be able to go on because of height restrictions. Another system Disney have in place is called Ride Sharing. How this work: Parent A waits in line for the ride of choice. When he gets to the front of the line and sees an attendant, he mentions that he wants a ride share pass (don't quote me on this jargon). After he enjoys his ride, he is able to meet Parent B at the exit (where she and the kiddo have been waiting or returns to after a little shopping), and the attendant at the exit will let Parent B on the ride with little to no waiting time while Parent A takes the kiddo. It's a great system! Otherwise you'd have to wait in line twice while one or the other parent has your kid.

Disneyland from the Eyes of a Two-Year-Old

Lucy is a very smart girl and sometimes I forget that she's only 2. I brought a bunch of activities for her to do while waiting in lines, thinking that she'd be bored. But to a two-year-old, there is something exciting and magical in everything at Disneyland. I can't say enough about Disney and how GENIUS they are. There is something to look at EVERYWHERE. Whether you see it or not, is up to you, but it's there. Lucy saw most of it. She was delighted to watch trickling little fountains, talking Tikis, begging parrots, mist-spraying space ships, everything was eye-candy to her. 

I've had to check myself and make sure I'm not a parent who tries to create magical or memorable moments. Without trying, Disneyland already provides that for my daughter (and still for me!). Lucy has taught me more to "go with the flow."

Our trip to Disneyland was so great, we're hoping to go again in 3 weeks, and again in September. She can't stop talking about it. It was worth every penny, and if I had it, I would have spent more to see the joy on her face, hear her talk about it every time she's on the phone with Grandma, and know that we've created a precious family memory without even having to work hard at it.

Monday musings.

Our froggy friend

I told Lucy to clean up her room. This isn't what I had in mind.

Attempting Disneyland with a Toddler #1

I've always been one of those moms who's vowed to wait until her children were "old enough to remember and appreciate" something. Disneyland in particular. I wanted to wait to take Lucy so that she would remember it and know what's going on, who the characters were, and also so that I could hold off on spending $100 a head on a trip to what may not be "the happiest place on earth."

BUT. We did it. And might I add: successfully. We had an amazing trip and so much fun, that I thought I'd blog about why it was successful and how you too can have a successful trip to Disneyland with your toddler.

Because there are many elements to traveling and to Disneyland, I'm going to split my blog into two. This first blog will be about Money, Flying, Strollers, and Food. These are the 4 most expensive elements to this trip. The second blog will be about being a Mommy in the park, Visiting Characters and going on Rides, and Disneyland from the Eyes of a two-year-old.

When you go is not important. It's always busy, but a weekday is less busy... I guess. If you have social anxiety, start taking your pills now. "There will be a lot of people and it will be OK." This was my personal mantra for the week. Also know that there is never enough time to see everything, so don't set that expectation. You WILL need a couple of days between the two parks and there WILL be things that you miss. Fact.

First let's talk about money. I didn't not have to pay a cent to get into the park. This was one of the deciding factors to even go to Disneyland in the first place. My sister works for Disney and graciously gave us her 6 free passes for the day. It didn't hurt that Lucy is under 3, so she got in free as well. If you are going to spend the money on a trip to Disneyland, I recommend getting a 3-day park hopper. The best deal I've seen is at Safeway (of all places) or booking through an insurance agency like AAA. Booking through AAA will give you other perks as well. That's all I have to say about that. I have no experience in this area otherwise.
*Every offer is different but if you visit Disney Rewards Visa and sign up for their credit card, they will send you a Disney Gift Card (our offer was for $200).


Flying
Driving 10 hours in a car with a 2 year old didn't sound like my ideal way to start a vacation. So what I probably would have spent on admission to the park, I spent on flying to LAX from Reno. TOTALLY WORTH IT. Lucy loved the plane and we were there in under 2 hours and she still talks about it every time she gets on the phone with a family member.

There are a lot of articles I found online that helped me prepare for flying with a toddler. Very helpful. Check them out here: Family.com and Babycenter.com
I took her car seat flying out of Reno on the plane. I'm glad I did because flying out of Reno was like riding on a pioneer's covered wagon with one square wheel. While I white-knuckled it, she hardly noticed and was high enough in the car seat that she could see out of the window. On the way home, flying from LAX I decided to check the car seat because it was one less thing to juggle. It was easier to move her around once in flight, she could sit on my lap so we could both see out of the window; it was the better choice for us. I could imagine that if you have a rambunctious kid that might squirm his way out of the lap belt, the car seat would be ideal.
FYI: Southwest lets you check up to 3 bags per person under 50 lbs for free and airlines HAVE to let you check safety items for your baby such as car seats, playpens, strollers at no extra charge. Double check with your airline, but this was very useful info for me while planning what to bring. Also, 2 years and up is a full adult priced ticket depending on the airline; bummer, but nice when you get to check all that extra baggage and give her her own seat.

Back to the park itself...
Stroller
Chances are you'll be travelling with a stroller. We traveled with an umbrella stroller borrowed from a friend. This was a good choice because it was light weight, it folded up easily for the airplane. However, when we got to Disneyland, we opted to rent one of their strollers. This was a GOOD choice for us. The rental stroller was only $15 per day. This is a good value if you a) have a $400 stroller you don't want to "leave alone" in the park (trust me, you will abandon your stuff several times in the day), b) your stroller doesn't have a large under carriage for storage, c) you do not have front swivel wheels. As petty as these points may be, it really did influence our decision. We saw many people at the park with phil&ted strollers and even bugaboo and it is a safe place. But knowing it could rain, someone could barf, etc, I would rather take the rental and know I don't have to pay for professional cleaning or worry that my investment is being destroyed.

I can understand why they would want to take their reliable, well made strollers however. I saw many people with cheap umbrella strollers struggling over curbs, monstrous doubles trying to weave through people traffic. These strollers are similar to a mid-level jogging stroller with height, swivel wheels, under carriage storage, and strudy enough to have your bag full of stuff hanging on the back and not tip over when your child's not in it.
At $15/day (or $25/day for 2) it's was totally worth it with Lucy's age. If she were older and were doing more walking, I probably would have taken the borrowed umbrella stroller (which we did take our 2nd day which was only 1/2 day in the park).

Food
What ever you think your food budget is for the park, double it. Right now. While the food is excellent and of good quality, you'll pay $5.99 for a hand dipped corn dog and $2 for a green apple. The only thing that seemed reasonably priced when it came to food, was the espresso drinks (comparable to Starbuck's prices), and the Bowl of Gumbo in New Orleans Square ($8.99).
The park does however allow you to take in food so that's what we did. We probably saved ourselves a good 50+ bucks, but it is hard to resist the temptation of a mid-afternoon pick me up espresso drink, and getting the full-experience of New Orleans Square, waiting in line for the Haunted Mansion, while sipping a Mint Julep.

Keep in mind that while perfect planning can propose and perfectly joyous vacation, toddlers are unpredictable and I saw more than one major meltdowns in the park (none by my sweet Lucy, of course). Things occur that were unplanned, both good and bad--It all comes down to how we handle it!

So hold on tight while I develop blog #2 and start planning your trips now--because my conclusion after actually doing it--it's worth it!