10 More Days...And We're Off to The Happiest Place on Earth - DISNEYLAND!

The kids are so excited... its all they can talk about... To say nothing of how excited Brice is!

We made a countdown poster that is hanging on the wall where we cross off a calendar day each night, taking us closer and closer to the big event - Our Family trip to the magical world of Disney.

Ryder is potty-training right now, and we've feed him the tall tale that boys who wear diapers aren't allowed to ride the rides at Disneyland. So if he wants to ride, he has to "peep" and "poop" in the potty. He's totally bought into it, and we are seeing progress. Brice and I are hoping against hope that this is it. We don't want to be changing double diapers at Disneyland. One kid in diapers at a time!

We have also started a reward system for the kids to earn 'Disney Dollars" (Mickey Mouse Money that you can only spend in the park) for items and treats that they want to buy with their "own money" on our trip. Landin has been racking them up, doing dishes, extra chores, organizing random things and giving Brice and I foot and back rubs. Ryder has been a bit slower on the uptake, but has made some serious money in the last couple of days helping us with Mazlow and the dogs.

We have all kinds of fun things planned for the trip, including breakfast with Pooh and his pals, Lunch with the Little Mermaid Characters, Dinner with the Princesses, Brunch with Lilo and Stitch, and a trip to Medieval Times with the kids Grandpa Duke. But we plan to do more then just eat our way through Disneyland!

The kids are having a Disney movie marathon which started a few weeks ago and will continue until we leave for the trip. The idea behind the marathon is to acclimate them to as many of the Disney characters as we can before we "meet" them at Disneyland. We've been "cramming" to be sure the kids can recognize Peter Pan and his gang, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, and other classics. Brice also took Ryder to the library and checked-out a host of Disney books like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to be sure the kids appreciated the characters in the rides.

The whole idea for going on the trip in the first place was to celebrate Mazlow's first birthday. That's right, Mazzy will be 1-year old on St. Patrick's Day!

I'll be sure to post the details here from what is sure to be a family adventure for the Filippini Family history books!