Best Disneyworld Family Photo

Don't they all look happy?!

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I Wear My Sunglasses at Church

"Mom me everyday drink. Me everyday bathroom, flush, wash  hands. Me everyday sleep." 
-quote of the day from Willa
"Mom, my shoes offing." 
-quote of the day from Saffron 

I'm blogging from my phone to try and trick myself into not thinking I'm blogging. Otherwise, it stresses me out. 

So, isn't it true that getting back into real life after a vacation is a lot like getting hit by all those gallons of cold water on the river rapid ride at Disneyworld? Except not as fun. We all got in late last night, and after a week of far too little sleep, church this morning and homework makeup tonight were pretty grumpy and grueling. In fact, because fatigue headaches always go to my eyes (because of previous eye disease) and make them very sensitive to light, and because I always have a pair on sunglasses with me, I couldn't resist sporting my white 'Hollywood-incognito' sunglasses all through Sacrament Meeting.  It was either that or leave. I hope everyone enjoyed speculating on whether I had a hangover or just bad taste. Either way, now that the girls are better behaved in church I figure I need to give the masses some new distraction.

Speaking of behavior, how do you discipline hyper eight-and-six-year-olds on a tiny airplane? Never considered that question? Neither had I until last night. All the things that used to work with little kids are no longer succesful. 

We were on our second leg of our flight home last night with Jasper finally getting his turn to sit by me, and Ruby sitting by Saffron (Steve and Willa flew separately).  Ruby and Saffron got a terrible case of the giggled which would have been acceptable on the bedroom floor, but not so much on a quiet cramped airplane. (Except that their giggling and my quiet but urgent reprimands provided entertainment for the bored, cramped passengers.  My calling in life, apparently.)
I calmly scolded, coaxed, threatened, and explained airplane danger and etiquette for about an hour before deciding I better get serious.  Jasper had already been feeling left out all week and missing me, because he is older and independent and kept getting sent off to ride rides with other people, so I wasn't willing to make him go sit by one of the girls. As happy as I was to see Saffron and Ruby having such fun together, it was really time to put a stop to it. This was bothering people. So, I said they had to separate and because Saffron is older, I sent her back to a seat two rows behind us for a couple minutes. Boy! That was a serious affront. She came back and proceeded to cry and pound and stomp in her seat. This was zero improvent over the giggling. This went on for a while and included the usuals, like refusing all food and crying pointedly at me, almost leaning over the aisle. But, then she just stopped. 

"Mom, you mad me sad?"
"No, I'm not mad," I said. 

And then she was fine. They all went to sleep. And it reminded me how amazing it is that they've come so far in four months. This vacation went better than I ever imagined--the girls got along, and took turns, and usually kept the pouting to a minimum (except for the time Saffron told me 'I want lost,' and and pouted away from us while we rode the Honey Pooh ride. I knew she wouldn't go far and we had a scout keep an eye on her.) 

Saffron is one complicated girl, and we'll never understand it all. Just yesterday she told me the reason she sulked for so long after I scolded her for not saying thank you to a brother-in-law who bought her dinner, was that her dad used to punish her for eating at neighbors' houses. 
"I know you not like my dad, Mom, but me scary. I don't know.". But Saffron is also one quick learner-- she pays attention, and adapts, and makes huge strides every week.  The women in my family are pretty tough cookies, and I think she'll fit right in. 

It was interesting to hear my family's impression of the girls. They said Saffron seemed very attached to me and always wanted to know where I was when she was off riding with other people. This was nice to hear, as I always feel like Willa would happily move in with anyone who would play with her and feed her unlimited bananas. I'm just the one who put her shirts in time out when she wouldn't put them away, and limits her daily banana intake.  But that's ok. We all need time to bond. 

So, all in all a good trip to the happiest place on earth. 

This post is brought to you by the letter M, as in 'moviestar.'. Saffron put my sunglasses on in church while I went up to sing with the choir. She was thrilled thst the woman behind us leaned forward and said "You look like a 'moviestar!" 

"What's a 'moviestar?" I asked.
"I don't know." 

Is It Really Disney?

"Is this really? Is it play??"

This is the question asked over and over by Saffron throughout our past two days in Disneyworld. When it's been less than three months since you saw your very first movie, rode on your very first airplane, saw your very first Christmas lights and discovered your very first talking toy, how do you even begin to get your mind around Disneyworld?

From the lights, speed, water-soaking special effects, and sheer fear of the rides, to the colors, music and animatronics of the shows, Saffron's imagination is on absolute sensory overload. She can't process it all, yet she is loving it and drinking it up. The thrill rides are the perfect example: yesterday at Animal Kingdom we began the day by riding the Mt. Everest coaster, where you speed through the dark only to find that a Yeti has broken your train's tracks, and you then slide backward down the hill at perilous speed--still in the dark. When we came out of the ride, Saffron and Ruby both burst into tears. And they continued bawling for about 10 minutes! The funny thing was, Ruby was crying because she was scared, but as an American girl knew all along that the monkey wasn't real. She was just afraid of the dark. Saffron, on the other hand, was sobbing because she was convinced a real "monkey" had broken the track, and we had fallen almost to our death. I kept telling her it was all part of Disney's plan, but she just wouldn't believe me. She was mad at me for taking her on the ride, and kept asking why we would think scary was fun--in her mind they were two completely different things. But how could we have prepared her? We tried to explain a rollercoaster, but quickly saw it wasn't computing and so decided to let her discover it for herself. I'll never forget the picture of Saffron and Ruby sobbing on their way out of the ride--hilarious, and very telling about each of their current grasps of the world around them.

Fast forward to today at Disney Hollywood Studios, and Saffron GOT it. It only took her a day to figure out that fear and fun CAN go together, and she ate it up. You couldn't drag that girl off the Tower of Terror. She was very disappointed not to have a chance to try the Aerosmith upside-down-in-the-dark coaster. She has loved every show, but is confused and constantly asks if the actors mixed with animatronics mixed with film and music are "really" or "play?"

So, one of our two new favorite Saffron quotes is "Is it really??"

Our other favorite new quote came from both Saffron and Willa last night. As we walked to the car, they kept saying to me, "Mom, Me have lot hangups." We laughed so hard. "Yes, you do have a lot of hangups," I said, "but I think right now you have a lot of hiccups, too.'"

As for Willa? Oh, she's eating it all up. Except she's not sure what she's eating up. "Where Disney? This Disney?" She keeps asking. "This is all Disney!" Steve keeps answering. "No," she shakes her head. "This not Disney!" Her favorite was definitely the Kali river rapids ride. Any four year old with any background can appreciate how funny it is to be sitting in a boat with a bunch of adults, fully clothed, and be doused with gallons of water. Now that's fun in any language.