A Mammoth 4th of July

We spent the week of the 4th in Mammoth again this year.  This is one of my favorite traditions.  It is always so much fun – small town parade with friends, a great fireworks show, and making memories.  This year, Jack discovered his love of fishing.  We did LOTS of it!  His poor Daddy should win a medal for being the BEST Daddy ever.  He skipped out on spending time with friends he doesn’t get to see very often to take his wife and boys fishing.  He was so patient and calm during all of the casting, re-casting, trying different bait, tying new hooks (because Jack managed to lose a few in the lake).  And on top of all of Jack’s fishing, we had The Benjamin to deal with….  I’m surprised that any fish were caught at all because he must have scared most of them away.  That boy is so loud!  He was hilarious –while we were fishing, he kept asking me, “Mommy, can when we go fishing?”

<—Ben & his princess<---Captain Cool ZIP LINE!!!  The boy who was too afraid to ride most rides at Disneyland just a few weeks earlier was brave enough to do the zip line several times AND try the rock climbing wall.  We were so proud of him!

Here, he got a little too high and it scared him.  But couldn’t get down until after mom got a picture first.

Learning to cast.Monson fishing stance.Twin LakesLake George.  It is SO beautiful here!Thinking about trying to catch some fish with his bare hands.  Not much luck with the fishing pole that morning.

More Disneyland…..

Jack was so excited to be picked to participate in the Jedi Training.  He practiced his lightsaber skills before taking on Darth Vader.  Then he received a certificate showing that he completed his Jedi Training.  Very official.  He was one very happy boy.  We were also very happy parents (because it meant that we wouldn’t have to come back for another training session) – it looked like he wasn’t going to be picked at first.  But thanks to his Nana waving her arms all around and pointing to our little Star Wars loving child, they came back to him and he was selected.

I’m not sure what was in the food at Goofy’s Kitchen, but my Mom had something extra special in her dinner because she turned into The Kissing Bandit.  You can’t take her anywhere!

CARSLAND!!  We got into the park an hour early.  Thank goodness we did!  The line for Radiator Springs Racers was SOOOO long, we wouldn’t have been able to ride it otherwise.  We ended up in line for almost the entire hour of early admission.

  That’s me underneath all that hair in the back row.  My mom has her head buried in Jack’s shoulder once again.  I laugh so hard each time I see this picture.Becoming official Wilderness Explorers.  The boys LOVED this adventure!

DISNEYLAND!!

The boys got to experience Disneyland for the first time on this trip.  It was so much fun and we can’t wait to go back.  Next time, we won’t go so soon after a new attraction opens up.  Cars Land opened on June 15th and we began our 3 day Disney adventure on the 18th.  

It took us a little while to figure out what we wanted to do and how to go about using the Fast Pass.  Once we got that part down, we got a lot more accomplished.  We started off on the Jungle Cruise, where Ben decided it was too scary and refused to get on the ride.  So while my mom, Wayne and Jack did the Jungle Cruise, I took Ben over to the Tikki Room.  He really enjoyed it until the room got dark and there was thunder and lightening.  Then, I had to take him out.  But that worked out perfectly because by that time, everyone else was done with the Jungle Cruise.  Jack and Wayne rode on the Thunder Mountain Railroad and after that, Jack was all about the roller coasters.  We did the Pirates of the Caribbean and neither boy was very excited about that one, so we left and rode some more rides.  We kind of let Jack take the lead on which rides he wanted to go on.  Ben was happy just riding around in the stroller and taking it all in.  In fact, he cried on nearly every ride we went on before and during it.  Then afterward, he would tell us all about how much he liked it and that he cried. 

By the end of the day, we were all pretty tired and it was such a nice treat to be able to watch most of the fireworks at night in our jammies and from the comfort of our room at the Disneyland Hotel.  Here’s little Benjamin crashed out.

  <---It’s a Small World<—Ben looked like this on every ride we went on (with the exception of Autopia and Star Tours).  Poor kid, I hope we didn’t do too much damage to him later in life This was the Roger Rabbit ride in Toon Town.

I just love how my mom is holding onto Jack for dear life.  We were all so happy that she could join us on this trip.

  Ready for Star Tours!  This was a favorite for both (I mean ALL) my boys.  Me, not so much.  The first time, I had to close my eyes cause it made me feel sick.

It was so nice to be able to cool off and feel refreshed for about an hour or so at the pool.  In fact, I think the boys would have been just as happy if we had stayed at the pool the entire time and not even gone to Disneyland.