59 Layton's!!!!- Heart, Might, Mind and Strength!
Happy Green Bean Family!
I am a slow poster, but I had to remember the amazing trip that we had to see all of our Layton family a couple of weeks ago. I am really missing the great weather we had while we were there. It has made our lousy Indiana weather seem that much worse!
Friday January 23rd- Our trip was officially supposed to start Saturday morning, but I had an ultrasound scheduled in Indianapolis at 2pm, so I had the brilliant idea to take all of our kiddos along and then stay in a motel 5 minutes from the airport to make Sat. am a much more calm morning. The appointment went really well. Our baby Freddie the fetus (that's just his in-utero name) looks awesome and the kids were really excited to hear his heartbeat and see him. We got to our motel and Mark picked up some dinner to eat in our room. We took the kids swimming in the advertised "indoor heated pool/spa" for a little bit, but were disappointed that the pool was about 55 degrees freezing!!!! Apparently that is heated when it is only 5 degrees outside! We also had a few little items that we needed for the plane for the morning, so we got the kids in jammies and all had a really wonderful trip to Target. Oh, I love Target! We don't have one in Terre Haute so it is always a real treat to go. Mostly, I spent the day enjoying the fact that we were leaving on a major trip the next morning and I didn't have to spend my entire night packing and finishing up to leave. It was heavenly to be ready a day early!
Saturday January 24th- We got up nice and early and arrived at the airport ready to fly to Arizona. We were cool, calm and collected and just taking it at our kids' pace. Well, funny thing was that when we got to the gate and calmly walked up ready to check in about 30 minutes early, a flight attendant came running on the same time we walked up. Apparently our flight had been moved up a half hour and we had no idea! We got on the plane and they closed the doors right behind us. We flew to Detroit first, and then had an hour delay to change a battery on our plane (what?) and then we were on to Arizona! It was 70 outside when we arrived....aaaaaah. Anyway, we spent the afternoon hugging cousins and playing outside. At dinnertime, my mom made a honorary "Green" dinner: green jello, green salad, green lemonade and green chili enchiladas. I have to say, when you come from a family with 10 kids, it is very rare that an entire meal is made in honor of you! We loved it! Most of my siblings were there for dinner and we ate out on the porch. It's funny, because when we're in AZ, we don't see our kids much. They just tear around the family "homestead" in heaven with their cousins. By bedtime we were all worn out and ready to get some rest.
Sunday January 25th- My mom made really yummy french toast for breakfast for our family. We even ate it with blueberries and whip cream on top. My kids said it was the yummiest breakfast they ever had! Granny is the best!!! We went to church with my parents. They are the last ward to meet and it was very late for our kids. By the time sacrament was over, 3 of our 4 were crashed out on the bench. Very unheard of for us. After church, we loaded a big (ok, HUGE) 15 passenger van and drove to California. All of my siblings left at different times during the day and we all met up at our motel across the street from Disneyland. The drive to CA was fun. The van was so big, that Mark drove with my Dad in the passenger seat. There were kids in other rows and my Mom also. Sadie and I were in the very back row. When Mark wanted to talk to me, he would call me on his cell phone! The van was a beast. At one point, we had 4 different movies playing at one time. The girls had a DVD player hooked up through the van playing a Barbie movie, Walker was watching Meet the Robinsons on a personal DVD player with earphones, Mom, Karli and I were watching Mama Mia on the laptop, and Sadie was watching Little Einsteins on my ipod. It was pretty funny. We got to our motel at about 11pm and got to room in a 10 person suite with the Mavity clan. Party!!! My niece Madison had even made signs for everybody's doors so we knew where everybody else was. Granny and Opa each had their own rooms (because of numbers in other rooms) and they had the boys over 8 years old, and the girls turning 8 in their rooms. This meant that our little Abby got to sleep in the princess room with Granny and all the big girls! They even went out and got Coldstone Creamery ice cream one night late after Disneyland! Lucky girls.
Monday January 26th- Disneyland opened at 10am. We all met out front in front of the park at 9:45 to take a family picture in our matching family reunion shirts. It was a really neat thing. Some of us even got a little teary seeing all 59 of us (counting the 2 fetuses Freddie and Eddie) together after so many years of not quite all being there. The whole day was so fun. It was so easy to run into eachother all over the park because we all matched. The workers knew who we were and we even all got Family Reunion pins to wear. Mark spent time with Abby and Walker doing some bigger kid rides and the little girls and I pal-ed around with other Moms with little kids to do all the kid stuff. I think the longest line we ever waited in was about 15 minutes all day! I did have a little afternoon adventure when I stood up from riding Pirates of the Carribean with a lap and handful of poop! Sadie had exploded all over me! We cleaned up as much as we could and then she and I got to take a walk back to our motel for fresh clothes. When we were standing in line at one point, somebody told us that we were part of another family's scavenger hunt. On the back of our shirts, all 59 of us were list in number order by when we joined the family. Their goal (this other family's) was to see how many of us they could find. So, they would just ask which number we were and then cross us off their list. Kind of fun. At the end of the day, we all met at California Adventure for the Pixar parade. It was really cute and tons of fun to see the kids all dancing and waving and cheering for all their favorite characters. Mark and I took our kids to IHOP for dinner and then we headed to bed. Actually, we put the kids down and then he and I went swimming in a real indoor heated pool. It felt so nice to not have my belly weight for a little bit. We had fun chatting with KC and Sherry and Al in the spa. I also got to do a load of laundry thanks to Sadie, and then Kaylani and I snuck out at 10:55 and walked around the corner to Coldstone for a sister treat! I liked that.
Tuesday January 27th- Another fun day at the parks! The little girls and I found lots of characters to hug and say hi to. Alyssa and Sadie and I also got stuck on the Winnie the Pooh ride when it broke down and got to walk out on foot. They even let us take pictures with the sets as we walked. It was pretty cool. We met the Porter's, Mavity's, and Owen and Janee for lunch on the Disneyland Train and did a loop around the whole park. We spent time at California Adventure and Louisa and I entertained 11 kids while Mark, Ed, Jake, Kaylani and a couple tall enough kids went on the Tower of Terror. The Bug's Life area is perfect for entertaining small kids with very few adults! Granny and Opa came and found us and then we all headed over to go on the new Toy Story ride (Midway Madness). That ride is so cool! We watched the parade for the second time and enjoyed it just as much. As it was getting dark, we let each of our kids choose one thing at Disneyland that they wanted to do before we left to drive back to AZ. Walker wanted to drive the Autopia cars and the little girls wanted to go on the Nemo submarines. I volunteered to do Autopia, because I had already done the submarines a couple of times and even though it's pretty neat, I prefer to not be so squished and claustrophobic! Abby really wanted to visit Tinkerbelll in Pixie Hollow, but it was closed by the time we got there. Bummer. We got back to the motel and loaded in our big van and headed back to AZ. All of us passengers got to "sleep" while Mark drove and Dad kept him company. It sounds like they had some good conversation. It's not often those two get to sit and visit for 7 hours. I think that's more than they have ever gotten to hang out. Mark said he really enjoyed it.
Tuesday January 28th- The day we paid for such a whirlwind trip with physical exhaustion and sleep deprivation!!!! We got to Mom and Dad's at about 3am. After re-packing and organizing for the trip back to Indiana, (and much grumbling from me because I was so tired), we slept for 45 minutes and then went to the airport. Walker complained of not feeling well, and while we were waiting to board, barfed. He made it all in a bag which I was grateful for. Walker continued to barf during the flight and got good use out of the motion sickness bags. Sadie was a bit of a holy terror. Our kids are usually the ones that get comments like, "You know, at the beginning of the flight when I saw you walk up and sit so close to me, I was really worried, but your kids are amazing!" I'm always very proud. I try to prepare like crazy so we're set for anything. Unfortunately, when mom and dad are both so sleep deprived and a nearly 2 year old has sat in a car seat for too many hours already, we don't get those kinds of comments. We survived, though! We were delayed pulling in to our gate in Detroit because of the bitter cold and snow, so we sat and were delayed....Fun Fun! When we left for Indianapolis, we had to sit and de-ice the plane for an hour. Then, when we got close to the airport in Indy, only one runway was open because of so much snow (Welcome Home Us!), so we circled in the air for 30 minutes extra waiting. At the airport, the kids and I were starving, so we got our bags and food and Mark got to got get the van from long term parking. Surprise!!! It was buried under about 18 inches of snow and then had about a 3 foot snow bank behind it from the plow. Somehow he got a door open and found my substitute crossing gaurd stop sign and used it as a shovel to bail out. We all finally made it in the van about an hour later and then drove home. There was more snow on the ground here than we've ever gotten in one storm since we've lived here! As we pulled onto our street the roads had not been plowed and our van ended up getting stuck about 100 feet from our house. So, the kids and I sat while Mark shoveled us out! It was definitely and adventure! Thanks to the snow, the kids didn't have any school the next day which gave us all a chance to recover.
This trip was so memorable and so much fun! We loved getting to see all of our Layton Family and were so grateful to Mom and Dad for the awesome Christmas present! We love you guys and wish we lived closer!
Sugar Cookie Dough Freddie by Alyssa
Freddie the Fetus 21 weeks
