DISNEYLAND: Day 1

We had such an amazing trip full of fun, magic, and adventure. We are all still adjusting to normal life and desperately want to go back to the Happiest Place on Earth, but until that is a possibility, we have our pictures and our memories. In this post I will share what we experienced on our first day in both Disneyland and California Adventure.

We decided to start the day in Disneyland, enter through the main entrance and take a picture in front of the iconic Mickey flowers.

Then we headed to Adventureland to enjoy the Tiki Room, Indiana Jones, Jungle Cruise, and the Mark Twain Riverboat.

We then made our way to Fantasyland, via Frontierland, where we ran into Jessie from Toy Story. This was one of my favorite moments of our trip. Inara got so excited when she saw Jessie that she jumped out of the stroller and started to run towards her, and even though there were a few people waiting in line to see Jessie, they allowed Inara to "cut" in line. Jessie gave my kids a hug and when Inara was enthralled with the ride Big Thunder Mountain, Jessie played right along. Pointing to the train ride, and going over to the fence to watch it pass by with my two. It was so precious to watch.

Once arriving in Fantasyland, we rode the Carousel, Dumbo and the Teacups.

After that we decided it was time for lunch, which we brought into the park with us, so we took a break to eat, and while we ate we watched a really amazing live show called Mickey and the Magical Map. It was very well done, full of music and magic, and I highly recommend it.

My mom kindly offered to take our kids and nap them so Sean and I could do a couple things ourselves. So we were able to ride Space Mountain and Autopia, as well as get some churros, sit in the shade and relax.

After nap, we agreed to meet meet my mom (and Gary and my Gramma) in Toon Town where we saw Goofy, Pluto, Mickey in his house, and Declan and Sean rode Gadgets Go Coaster. My Gramma also bought the kids Mickey ears hats with their names inscribed on the back. They weren't super into them at first, so Sean and I wore them for a bit.

We wrapped up the afternoon/evening in California Adventure, riding Francis' Ladybug Boogie and Heimlich's Chew Chew Train, which my kids LOVED. Then we left the park to have dinner in Downtown Disney, meeting up with Clark, Molly, Jackson & Aubrey.

The Countdown Has Begun

ONE WEEK.
There is only one week left until we leave for Disneyland!!
I can't even believe it. I am SO excited.
But, if I am being honest, I am also a little apprehensive.
Here are my reasons for these conflicting feelings:

First of all, I am super excited to go to the Happiest Place on Earth, AND for my children to experience the magic of it all, at such a young age.
I am excited to see my family.  My mom, step-dad, grandma, brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew will all be joining us down there.
I am looking forward to the warm So. Cal. weather and being off of our normal schedule and routine, and just going with the flow.

Now, my reasons for feeling apprehensive are, that we are FLYING down and taking a shuttle bus to our vacation rental from LAX. With a 3 year old and a 21 month old.
I am afraid that my expectations are too high for the trip and I am going to be disappointed.
There are going to be several rides closed for refurbishment and I am sad that I won't be able to do some of the things I LOVE to do at Disneyland. And I am bummed that my kids won't be able to have the complete Disney experience.

But all in all, I am really looking forward to our first family trip to Disneyland. I think it will be a wonderful trip full of happy memories.

Here is our countdown chain:

And our planning binder:

Both of the above ideas I got from Pinterest and I must say, I would not be nearly as prepared for this trip without that wonderful resource.

Adventures in Potty Training

It's that time again...we have started training another child to use the potty. But I have to say, I am not super excited about it.

When we decided to train Declan, I was totally into it. I was done with diapers for him, we had just had Inara so we were going to be sticking close to home, I had lots of help since Sean took time off work and my mom came up to lend a hand, and it just felt like he was ready, even though he was only 20 moths old.

This time, I am totally done with diapers, PERIOD. I hate them. So that is a big motivator. Plus, Inara is SO ready, like Declan was, at 20 months. She tells us when she's pooped in her diaper, she insists on sitting on the potty anytime she sees Declan do it, she constantly pulls at her diaper and sometimes removes it completely. But for some reason I am just not into the work it takes to encourage successful potty training.

Nevertheless, we started on Friday and despite my reservations, it's been going really well. She's gone numerous times on the potty and only had a handful of accidents. She has even gone to sit on the potty without being prompted or asked. She's even said "Potty" to us, and then when we tell her to go sit, she pees. SO successful. And I am so proud of her. Again, I'm just not super into the hard work we as parents have to give towards making this milestone a victorious one. I am however looking forward to moving out of the baby stage that we have been in and into the toddler/preschool stage. That part is exciting and something to look forward to!

Reflecting

"We can not change where we've been, but we can change where we are going".

As I've been reflecting on 2014 I have felt the Lord use this quote to really speak to me. It's referring to the past, but not only the past year, the past in general. And while what has happened to us before is important and a part of our lives, it is not where we are going. We can not live in the past and our past does not define us. Isn't that amazing?

It makes me realize how much I love the New Year. I love that it gives each of us a chance to make a fresh start. It gives us the chance to reflect on the year behind us and look forward to the one in front of us. We leave one years accomplishments, failures, successes, defeats, victories and lessons all in the past and then eagerly await what is to come in the future...those things that God has already laid out for us to walk in.

Sean and I went out to dinner the other night and talked about what our hopes, dreams, and expectations were for this coming year. It was really fun and encouraging to go back and forth sharing what we'd like to see happen for ourselves, each other, our kids, our family and our relationships. Some of the ideas were new and even a bit surprising, while others were things we've talked about before, but have never fully gone after, for whatever reason.

I really feel like 2015 is going to be a great year for the Connolly Clan. Big plans are in the works and I just know that those things that we end up pursuing are going to be good because we serve a good God who loves us and only wants good things for us.

Christmastime is Here Again!

The Christmas season is upon us! Even though it starts trickling in well before Thanksgiving, I typically don't get too involved in Christmas-type things until the day after Thanksgiving.
This year we kicked off the season with a visit from my mom, step-dad, and grandma who joined us in an array of fun Christmas events. It started on Saturday with a trip to Jacksonville to enjoy the decorations, then we headed out again in the evening for the tree lighting in downtown Medford, which included an unsuccessful visit with Santa. Then after church on Sunday, we journeyed to our favorite tree farm in search for the perfect tree to cut down. What a wonderfully full weekend we had!

Anger For Patience

A couple weeks ago our church held a Ladies Retreat, located on site so that as many women as possible would be able to attend. They did this last year as well, and both years were very successful. It was a wonderfully fulfilling weekend, and the Lord used it to speak many truths into my life and used many ladies to do so. One of the people he used was the amazing Jan Elkins. In our last session together she was sharing about communion and explained to us that communion was so much more than just taking a representation of the body and the blood of Jesus. She said that God wants to use communion to make an exchange with us. We give Him something and we get something in return. Jan had us call out things that we have given to Jesus and what He has mercifully replaced that with, such as: Pain for Healing, Darkness for Light, Fear for Peace, Despair for Hope, and the list goes on. During that time the Lord said to me "Anger for Patience". That was the exchange He wanted to work out in my life.

Now, I am not an angry person, but there are things that can really set me off and I can react in an angry way. But I don't want to behave that way. It isn't okay, nor is it something that God wants for my life. So, I have decided exchanged anger for patience and have asked the Lord to show me why I get angry, where that actually stems from, and to take it from me, receiving patience from Him in return. And just this week I have experienced some situations that would normally cause me to react in an angry way, and I have instead reacted in a patient way. Seriously SO amazing!!!

So I would like to encourage you to seek out one thing that you no longer want to define you and exchange that for something better. And the next time you take communion, make that exchange with the Lord and invite great results to be manifested in your life!

Fun Times This Fall

The Connolly Clan has had some fun during this recent Fall season. I love the change in weather all around and that it brings along with it beautiful color in this valley. I love that we get to go on exciting adventures that only come around once a year. And I love spending time with Sean and the kids, as we experience all that this time of year has to offer.

Here are the activities we have enjoyed:


Apple Picking with our friends (and consuming pumpkin muffins & cookies)

Scarecrow Festival @ Hanley Farm (pumpkin painting and a hay ride)

Harvest Festival @ Pheasant Fields (another hay ride and picking out pumpkins)

Making Hot Chocolate (and drinking it while we watched the rain fall outside)

7 Oaks Pumpkin Patch (more pumpkins and a pony ride)

Playing at a nearby playground on a gorgeous fall day

Dressing up for Halloween

Visiting Family in CA for my brother's wedding

Making A yummy treat called Scarecrow Crunch

Taking pictures as we played in the fall leaves

Making warm caramel apple cider

Early Thanksgiving with our friends

Making pancakes into the shape of turkey's complete with eyes, beak, and the little gobbler

Regular Thanksgiving at my mother-in-law's



What a jam-packed, fun-filled season it has been!