Boogie Til You Puke!

I have a cousin, Hannah. When I got married she was 5 years old, and the flower girl in my wedding. She's my Dad's baby sister's daughter. She's younger than the next youngest cousin in our family by a good ten years. Whenever our family would all get together she would do her best to keep up with all the rest of us older kids. She would hang with the best of us, stay up without a nap, and be a good sport....up until she'd BARF! She would just tire her poor little self out and get so overstimulated, that eventually she'd crash, throw up, and pass out. It's now kind of a running joke in our family. We call it "Boogie Til You Puke."

Well today - Megan and Molly had a "Boogie Til You Puke" kind of day. We went to Disneyland with my parents and my cousin Daniel - who is visiting from Washington with his wife Christina and their three sons - Jonah (5) Lukas (3) and Nathan (1). We woke the girls up at 6AM in order to eat breakfast, get dressed and get to the park RIGHT when it opened at 8AM. Our goal was to make it to the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage line before it got too long. We entered the park at 8:14AM and went straight to Nemo. The line was already 3 1/2 hours long! We reluctantly agreed that this was too long for our little ones to wait. (Too long for us big ones to wait too - especially this pregnant momma - as far as I was concerned!) So we went to Fantasyland and walked on almost every ride. For whatever reason - Disneyland was not that crowded today. Some of the park employees told us that Sundays have been slow lately. And since half the park was waiting in the Nemo line, we got to do SO much!

Matt and I agreed that we'd just go until we thought the girls had had enough and then head home for naps. Depending on what time that was - we'd maybe come back to the park in the evening for the parade and fireworks. So we went on the Teacups, Dumbo, Peter Pan, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, the Carousel, Astro Blasters, and the Rockets. By this time, the girls were hungry and we got some lunch. It was about 12:30PM and Megan repeatedly kept saying, "I don't want to go home yet, Mom!" So we hit the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie the Pooh and the Disneyland Railroad. We got off the train by It's a Small World just in time to get a front row seat - in the shade - for the Parade at 3:30PM. How lucky was that!?

The girls were amped up on the cotton candy and Slurpee's we shared during the parade - so after it ended we went on Small World. We were walking over to drive the cars at Autopia when we saw that the line for Nemo was only 90 minutes. By now, Molly had fallen asleep in the stroller - so Matt and my Dad went and sat with her in the shade while the rest of us waited in line. The line really only took about an hour, and by the time we had made it to the front, Molly had woken up and they joined us. We got to ride the Submarines after all!

Nemo was really fun, and the kids were so excited to be able to go on the ride after we had told them that it wasn't happening. After Nemo, Megan and Molly drove the cars at Autopia with Grammie and Papa (expectant mothers shouldn't ride the sign says.) Then it was almost 7PM. Megan hadn't slept all day - and Molly had taken only about and hour long cat nap, when they are both used to more like 2. We knew they were getting hungry and didn't want to push it much more. We decided to call it a day. I really had wanted to see the fireworks - but I didn't think they could make it 2 more hours until that happened!

On the way to the car we decided to get dinner in Downtown Disney so that the kids would have full tummies. If they fell asleep on the way home - it could be for the night! So we all went to the Storyteller Cafe in the Grand Californian Hotel. The girls were antsy, but stayed in good spirits as Papa entertained them by singing several rounds of Old MacDonald and The Wheels on the Bus. Our food came and both girls ate a great dinner. Surprising considering all the sugary junk they had consumed throughout the day.

And that's when it happened. Poor Molly had just had too much. She was sitting in her chair after dinner, and puked. She started to cry, and puked again. We made it to the bathroom in time to clean up and change into comfy clothes. Time to get to the car and pass out!

I had to laugh as we walked back the parking structure because I could tell I was waddling WAY more than I had been at 8AM that morning! I was thinking I wasn't sure what impressed me more - that my girls had made it almost 13 hours straight at Disneyland in the heat of July, or that ME, 31 weeks pregnant had made it almost 13 hours straight at Disneyland in the heat of July?! We got to our car and started loading everything up when we heard several loud explosions. "Boom Booms!" Megan shouted. We walked out to a cross bridge in the parking structure and were able to see all the fireworks perfectly. Again - I had to laugh. How much more could we fit into this day? We literally got to do everything possible that was age appropriate for our kids. Most of it by mistake! We didn't even make it onto the 5 freeway before the girls were passed out in their car seats. It was a perfectly complete "Boogie Til You Puke" kind of day.

Hope you enjoy the slideshow of our fun. You can see more pics of "cousin time" if you click the link to the right that says Burns Picture Albums. We've done so much this week! And if you are thinking of going to Disneyland for the Nemo ride - go on a Sunday!