Disneyland Trip 2011

We went to Disneyland last week. We took all four kids (Carter 5, August 3, Luella 1.5, and Magnolia 3 months) and Quadsie (our four seater stroller).  We stayed for a week and it was a blast.  We tried all the character dining and absorbed at much 80 degree California sunshine as possible.

First day we started with character dining with Minnie's Breakfast at Plaza Inn right in the park.  So much fun.

I love this shot... Luella checking herself out in the mirror as we waited for Mickey.

Second day we ate breakfast at Surf's Up with Mickey at Paradise Pier Hotel and it was our favorite.  Great food, not the most selection but the best quality of food, and by far the most characters. Our babes had a blast.

Then we headed to California Adventures for a bit, then back to Disneyland for the parade and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (Carter's favorite ride)

Third day we went to the princess breakfast at Ariel's Grotto.  Honestly, it was quite awful.  Very rude staff, crappy food, and the princesses were not very nice and only spent about 1 minute at our table.  Maybe we'll go again when Lue is a little older, in a few years, but would much rather head back to Surf's Up with Mickey.

Then we walked around a bit, did Tarzan's treehouse (one of my favorite parts of Disneyland) and watched the fireworks from our newfound favorite spot, at the beginning of Main Street.  It was great.

(Love the picture above... I hate people staring at me... and people just gawked at the stroller all day long.  It made me really uncomfortable but so worth it.  That stroller made the trip so much easier)


Fourth day we at the Chip and Dales Storytellers Cafe.  It had good food but definitely not child friendly.  They had a few bear characters, pretty good food but nothing outstanding... but I'm definitely not complaining.

Then we met Jessie (from Toy Story), went on Toy Story Mania (super fun) and did the splash park.

 We went to World of Color but it was so crowded, I could hardly reach in my purse to get my camera out.  But here's me and my sleeping infant after the show on the pier.  The show was great and we sat next to this nice family with tween girls who held the boys during the whole show so they got to see everything. It was great.

Fifth day we used our "Morning Madness" and got into the park and our early and rode "Finding Nemo" with barely any wait, and then Stephen took both boy on the Matterhorn and they loved it. Then we went for brunch at Minnie's Breakfast, so convenient and always great characters.

We rode a few rides, went to lunch at our favorite Mexican place, Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante.  So quiet and gorgeous... and amazing fish tacos.

And our sixth and final day, we started with Goofy's Kitchen in Disneyland Hotel.  They had a great spread of food, great service but not quite as many characters as Surf's Up Mickey... so I'd say it was a tie for best places to eat. 

Then we went to Wilderness Explorer Camp where the boys met Dug and Russell and became SENIOR Wilderness Explorers.  This place was a blast, so much climbing, sliding, and swinging. The boys loved it.

 Then we headed back to Disneyland to get Nolie her first pair of Mickey Ears (that don't quite fit), meet Tinkerbelle (and Vidia) and one last stroll down Main Street.

It was such a great trip.  We had a blast.  We stayed right across the street at Best Western Park Place Inn- Mini Suite and the service was great.  I just feel so blessed that I get to let my children enjoy this.  I have the most amazing husband in the world and he pretty much read my mind the entire trip, not to mention sponsored the entire thing.  We can't wait to go back next year, I'm hoping with just a double stroller, but we'll see.

Curb Appeal

I have been longing to build a roof over the front porch ever since we moved in.  But 4 kids is turning out to be a lot more time consuming than anticipated, LOL. Who would have thought?

But we finally got around to rebuilding the front steps.
Only took 10 months (well,it took that long to wait on some sunshine)

Obiously the railing is yet to be completed

And with the left over decking, I build a planter box.  I love free
And the shot from Google Maps... YIKES

So it's coming along... sloooowly but surely! I think next summer my rhodies will be the same size, (look at the difference in them in the Google Maps picture) And Redneck seems to think that it will be impossible to do a project as large as the front porch roof with 4 kids, so I have a contractor coming over today for a bid.  Breaks my heart. 

Oh well, it hasnt been all work

We went to see Thomas the Train

And lots of fun in the backyard

Beauty

M

This is what occupies most of my time! 

(Said with a huge smile)

She's 3 weeks old today and I love feeling that my family is complete.

Some 4th pictures

Luella is always a blurr. She does't stop moving... EVER. It's exhausting. The girls had matching shirts.. hard to tell through the blurr

We walked to town for the parade

Yes, everyone was staring at us

The kids had fun

And we've finally rebuilt the front stairs...

More to come on that later. The finished product looks great.  Post pics soon!

What's a Brine?

Raising the "Rhyne Brine". 

That's my blog name but it's much more than a cute rhyme.

[brahyn]  noun, verb, brined, brin·ing.

–noun

1.water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt.

 

And it's all based around this:

 

Matt 5:13-16

    ¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
   ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

 

 

 

I am raising my children to be very salty, much like a brine.  I want them to be so salty that Jesus is all people see when they look at our family.  Granted, if you looked at them at this very second, you would see a very cranky 3 year old whining something at his older brother who is bossing him around because he put the wrong toys in the wrong box.  And a one year old who just trampled through her brother's train track creation, now both boys are upset...  at least the 11 day old babe is sleeping peacefully.  Oy.

So, this salt business is a work in progress.  You have to sit in the brine awhile to get salty right?  

So there you have it, that's whats in our name! :-D

 
 

Look what I got...

Baby #4 arrived early this morning at 3:41am.

Magnolia Joy

June 18th, 2011
8 lb 8 oz
21" long

14.25" head

(my tiniest baby)

Contractions started about midnight and right off the bat were 45 sec long and 3 mins apart. (You are suppose to head to the hospital when contractions are 1 min long and 5 mins apart).  I hoped right in the clawfoot tub, the most relaxing place to labor.

  We had planned another homebirth but labor is a weird thing.  Contractions hurt bad... but in between contraction you feel 100% fine.    I kept telling myself that the contractions would peeter out and didn't end up having Redneck call the midwife until 2 am. 

Turns out my midwife was just finishing up another delivery in Puyallup, about 45 minutes away.  So she wrapped up there and got to our house around 2:35 (she sped, hehehe). Contractions continued to get stronger and finally had to push at about 3:30. 

2 pushes and Magnolia was born at 3:41am.

The 3 other short people that I claim as my own, slept through the entire thing.

My awesome midwife, Ann Olsen, and her daughter (aka assistant) got me all set up in bed, everything cleaned up, baby weighed and checked out, to McDonalds to get us breakfast and back, and were gone by 6am... and my kids still hadn't woke up.  We got about an hour of sleep in before they eventually woke up and the boys were very excited to meet their new lil' sissy "Nolie".  Luella, on the other hand, could care less.  I think she thinks I'm holdimg a doll or something, she hasn't even given her lil' sis a second glance, LOL. 

But all is well in the Rhyne household and my family feels so complete. 

Nolie is nursing great and sleeping a ton!