Disneyland--the memories are about family, Pt 1

I did not grow up seeing my dad's side of the family much, since they lived in California and Minnesota and we were in Illinois, but the families made a point of gathering every few years, usually someplace central, like Colorado.  (Which is also why I was thrilled when DH and I got to live in Colorado as newlyweds--like living in nostalgialand, so close to Crested Butte and Mesa Verde and all the places that were dear to me from childhood.)   The few times we did gather all the way out in California, we of course had to visit Disneyland.

And when DH were married and living in Colorado, we were close enough to California for a roadtrip to the big family reunion to celebrate my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary, B.C. (that's "before children," in my family lingo).  (Family, that first reunion was back when we still used a film camera, so I don't have any digital pics!  If any of you have some, would you be willing to email them to me? Thanks!) We did Disneyland all together--ALL the aunts and uncles and cousins and even my grandparents.  But it was also the first time DH and I visited Disneyland as adults, and as a couple, enjoying sharing memories and appreciating the fun from a different vantage than childhood.

Our next trip to Southern California was a few years later, for my cousin's wedding, when we had our first baby. 

Summer 2001

 

My big sister Rebecca, with her two daughters Sarah and Emily and my little Sunny, there in Grandma Betha and Grandpa Chuck's living room, Summer 2001.  I don't think we visited Disneyland--there was just too much other family fun to do!

 

My grandparents stayed young at heart, still getting down on the floor to play with their great-grandchildren. 

Then when DH's job moved us from Colorado to California, we had even more opportunity to drive down and visit family, and get to know them more than I had as a kid.  It's still a 6-8 hour drive to LA from where we live on Monterey Bay, but we love road-trips, so it's totally doable several times a year.

Fall 2003

November 2003, when Grandma Betha and Grandpa Chuck first met Merry.

We used to go when my parents were visiting, and stay in their camper parked out front of my grandparents' house--or if we were going down at a time of year when my parents were back home in Illinois, we would stay in my grandparents' guest room.  They had a wonderful, amazing gift of hospitality, and ALWAYS made you feel like they wanted nothing more in the whole world than for you to come and stay, and for as long as you wanted.  It was so fun visiting them.

My grandparents also happened to live five minutes from Disneyland.  Ok, 10 with traffic, but close enough to watch the impressive weekend fireworks from their driveway.  Both DH and I have a fondness for Disney, although I would say more the vision and values of historical Disney; we don't at ALL buy into the merchandising, or the whole princess phenomenon, and we have chosen not to show some of the movies to our kids (but that's for another post).  But Disneyland we love, and so while my grandparents were still alive and we were driving down to see them several times a year, we bought annual passes. 

First Disney trip with our kids.

The thing about the passes--once you have gone about 5 days they have paid for themselves, and so if we have free lodging and are frugal with food, the main expenditure for a Disney trip is the gas to drive there and back.  (We never buy any souveniers in the parks--our memories or little freebies we get here and there are plenty for us simply pleasured, space-challenged folk.)  It was so fun to drive down, get to see family, and then be so close to the park that, thanks to the annual passes, we could just drive over to Disney for a few hours, until toddlers were needing lunch and naps, and then drive back to Grandma and Grandpa's for rest. 

Aunt Joyce with Merry.

And then often my Aunt Joyce, who at that time was living with her parents to help care for them, would offer to babysit the kids in the late afternoon/evening and put them to bed so that DH and I could go out and have some fun just the two of us.  Sometimes Aunt Joyce would even offer to drive us to the park and back, so we did not have to pay for parking.  That's how much my family spoiled us when we would visit.  (Nowadays DH gets one "deluxe" pass when we buy the annual passes, so we get free parking, as well as a larger discount on purchases in the park.)  Having the passes allowed us to be so flexible, so we didn't feel like we had to be there when a toddler was all done, which is really the way to do it, if you can.

Because when you are three, it is hard to enjoy the waits for the Dumbo ride.  Esp. when you missed your nap.  

And since we were driving down several times a year to see my grandparents as much as possible, it made sense to drop in on Disney while we were there.

Summer 2004

Disneyland, during the last big family reunion, Summer '04.
 

My dad playing with Sunny and Merry in Grandma and Grandpa's front yard, in front of my parents' camper.

Merry and Papa sitting around my Grandma Betha's kitchen table.

 

 Merry and my mother playing in the living room.  I have no pictures of Grandma Betha from this trip, because this was the week she lay dying, yet still wanting to take care of her family and make sure we all knew how much she loved us.

My Grandma died, just a few days after we had our last big family reunion (God's timing--was such a blessing for everyone to get to see her and say goodbye). And then my Grandpa got so that he could not live on his own, and so he moved in with my Aunt Sharyn and Uncle Don. And so when we came down to visit to see Grandpa, my aunt and uncle continued the legacy of hospitality and opened their home to us. They had three children who were grown and on their own, so had bedrooms to share, but even then, it was their strong sense of family and their casual and gracious generosity that made us feel so welcome, what with our two little kids and one baby at the time.

Fall 2004

Oct. '04

Oct. '04.  I love looking back at the pics I have of the kids playing with this ball fountain over the years--you can really see the progression of our family.

January 2005

This is the only photo I have from our trip down to So. Ca. that January.  Clearly our purpose was to see Great-grandpa Chuck, and the fun at Disneyland was bonus.

Fall 2005

Our first visit to Southern CA with baby Happy to visit Grandpa, there at Aunt Sharyn and Uncle Don's house, Oct. '05.  Let me tell you, big helium balloons make the best baby toys! 

 

Tie one to a hand, or foot, or both at the same time, and your baby will be delightedly engaged for a good 15 minutes, which is precious time to a mother of three little ones. I am sure it is good for hand-eye coordination too. 

There was a stage in our family Disneyland life when one of those Disneyland stroller rentals was worth its weight in gold.

 

Summer 2006

This visit down to Aunt Sharyn and Uncle Don's house was the last time we saw Grandpa Chuck.  We did not visit Disneyland this trip, just spending time with my parents, who were visiting Southern CA, and my extended family.

I'm so thankful my children knew their great-grandparents, even a little.

After Grandpa died, we did not go back for several years.  It was not that we didn't want to see our family, but there were no longer Reasons to go--no more weddings, no more great-grandparents, and even my parents were not traveling down there as often now that Dad's parents were gone.  And so several years passed.

Fall 2011

But then, last Sept. my cousin Stacia got married, and DH and I drove the kids down earlier in the week so we could be helpful in the preparations.  We got to stay with Aunt Sharyn and Uncle Don, and be of some help.  We also got to have a couple of days to take the kids to Disneyland once again. (Smiley's first time, Happy's first time being big enough to actually ride anything but "It's a Small World".)

Spring 2012

And that's why we got Disney passes this past year, and why we made another trip this past Feb, to make the most of the passes.   It has been really fun, since the kids are so much older than the last time we had passes, and the girls can actually ride all the rides, and even Smiley is big enough to really engage with the whole experience.  And I love my Southern California family--they are such wonderful people, and we always enjoy being with them.  And I am so thankful that they are so big-hearted, to invite us to stay with them when we come.  We try to be low-maintenance guests, but still, we are a family of six with little kids, and so we appreciate very much how welcome they make us feel.

Fall 2012

We did not stay with Aunt Sharyn and Uncle Don this time, but they so sweetly treated us to lunch at the Rainforest Cafe,  Downtown Disney.

I thought after our summer trip to Illinois this year that we would not have the time or extra $ to make one last trip to Disneyland, but about a month ago DH surprised me by suggesting it.  And since we had invited DH's parents to join us at Disneyland back in Feb, but they couldn't make the trip then (they were spending time out in Colorado helping Auntie N with little Sweetness while Uncle S was back in India on business), and since MIL had *just* been offered a sweet early retirement deal and would be officially retired the Friday before we were planning this last trip, it seemed only right to invite them to come with us. . . .

Pt 2 yet to come!