July was the BEST!

Our vacation was fabulous. It was an awesome time that we will treasure forever. We had such a great time and enjoyed so much being together 24/7. I would so recommend Disneyland as a family vacation. There was nothing we would have done differently. I thought maybe it would have been nice to be as proficient at Disneyland the first day as we were the third, but then realized how much fun it was learning the ropes. Sorry about the length of this entry but this is my journal since I can never seem to actually write in one. Hope you enjoy the fun.
Hey, I just realized we had some great stuff happen before vacation. I'll have to post that at a later date. I'm actually burned out on the blog thing. My eyes can't look at the computer anymore. :)

Day 1 - Tuesday, Orange
Let’s go fly a kite, orrrr, fly in a plane. Everyone was so excited to fly. Caleb had so many questions including, “how does our stuff get to where we’re gonna be?” We were quite a scene - 14 people dragging 16 pieces of luggage through the line. Southwest was great and checked everyone in under one name. We made it through security with surprisingly humorous screeners. They teased the kids about getting their shoes back and one bowed several times to James and I. It was a slow morning perhaps. We got all the looks and questions as usual, with a new one. Some guy asked if our family had been on a mission or were leaving on one. He apparently contributes money to families, usually large ones, who go to poor areas to serve. It was a good opening for our first missionary experience, one of several to come. All the kids did great on the plane. We had 3 take-offs, 3 landings and one switching of planes. All the flight attendants were great including one who when saying good-bye, thanks for choosing Southwest, he added, “And to the Lee Family-Have a great time at Disneyland.” The Pilots even came out to check us out. We gathered up all our bags and crammed them and us into the 15 passenger van we rented and went to pick up the cargo van. In LA, after an hour of trial and error, we discovered that the addresses, for ex W900 whatever, start over every time a new zip code begins. It would be like having 1648 E Rowan at my house and then again in the valley and then again over on the west side of town and then again in Liberty Lake. And nobody there seems to think that might be vital information for an out-of-towner. Sooooo, after a long search, we found the U-Haul and dumped our stuff in it. We found a Walmart with a McDonalds and shopped for the next day’s food and had dinner. We then began the insane drive over freeways that might as well have been amusement park rides, to find our KOA. When we arrived, in the dark, we set up camp and went to bed anxious for morning to arrive. I overheard Katie say to Becca, “Is this great or what?”. Yes it was.



The Spokane airport - ready to go!!!













Waiting in LA for Dad to get the van from the rental place.


Day 2 - Wednesday, Blue
Disneyland, here we come!!! We were all so excited for this day to arrive. The first thing we did was park in the Mickey Mouse and Friends parking lot. We walked to catch a tram to the gates into Disneyland. When we got off, Caleb said, “that was a good ride.” James and I laughed out loud and he said, “Mom, it was good”. I agreed and we moved on to bigger and better things. We were all totally amazed by everything. At the gates, the Toy Story Soldiers give general announcements for about 5 minutes and then freeze for another 5. They were so good and so clever. Downtown Disney was so quaint. Cobbled streets, horse carriages, toon cars, shops, eateries, and TONS of people. It was a mass movement and we were a line of blue. From the air we probably looked like a blue snake winding it’s way through a splash of color. We just kind of wandered about and then sat down to get a game plan. We saw a great Indiana Jones Show, climbed on, around, and through Tarzan’s tree house, we did Pirates of the Carribean, the railroad, Alice in Wonderland, the Parade - which was absolutely Amazing-, Buzz Lightyear, the Matterhorn, Finding Nemo, and the river cruise. In line for Nemo (45 minutes at 9:15pm), one of the guys gave all the kids 1st Visit Buttons. This mixed with 12 kids was too much for the guys at the Matterhorn. They let the kids go ride after ride after ride. I think they all went 3 or 4 times. Then he wrote out passes for us to do the same thing for the next day on three rides of our choice. We left that ride at 11:45pm. Caleb was exhausted. He kept asking if there was a ride where he could lay down. Once on the Matterhorn was enough for him, so he sat and waited with me and Levi for everyone else to finish. It was great. All the people at Disneyland were so nice, sincerely so. It was refreshing. We all dropped into our sleeping bags without really waking up, until we couldn’t visually locate Ryan. Day 2 and I had lost Ryan already. We quietly ran through camp looking for him. I just couldn’t believe he would have wondered off. I pictured him crumpled up somewhere asleep. We finally found him in the tent he was suppose to be in, with a suitcase on him. One of the other boys, we’ll call him JOSH, had unknowingly set it on him. So, everyone got back into bed and we slept hard. It was an awesome first day.

Indiana Jones










Tarzan's Tree House




















Buzz Lightyear








The Disney Parade


























Day 3 - Thursday, Yellow
We were up and ready to go to Disneyland by 9:00. We spent so much of the night before on bigger kid things that this morning we started out in Fantasy Land. We rode Dumbo’s ride, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Snow White’s castle, the carrousel, saw Wendy and Peter Pan, and visited Princess Place. Becca, Katie, Caleb, and Ryan learned how to bow and curtsey, dance, wave, and parade like perfect princes and princesses. They also enjoyed a story told by Snow White and ran into Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, and Belle. After that we went to the same park again for lunch. We took longer in the park today because we wanted to see the fireworks show and the Fantasmic Show with Mickey Mouse. We headed back and enjoyed the Innovations building for 2 hours or more. It was everything of the future and more. It was so cool. The boys got lost in all the new video game stuff. Caleb loved riding the motorcycle. The kitchen was one of my favorites - Brandon and I have to talk about the menu planner there, and the big girls loved the bedroom and wardrobe mirror. The younger kids loved the story room as well. It was all awesome. We could have spent the whole day there. We did space mountain, autotopia, the trains, Pirates of the Caribbean (WOW), and some other things. Then the fireworks show began. It was the most amazing thing so far. My kids kept saying, “And they do this every night?” Absolutely fantastic. I was holding tired kids so I didn’t get any pics. I think one of the older kids did some video. Then our breath was taken away by the Mickey Mouse Fantasmic show. It was done on an island that had actors as well as characters projected on a wall of water. The music and story was unbelievable. Amazing!! And then it ended with 2 huge ships toting all the Disney characters ever. The pirates were flipping and swinging out over the water and the princesses were smiling and waving perfectly. It was so cool. I did video tape most of that. I didn’t get any pics though. James and I both agreed as we were toting 3 sleeping children to the tram at 11pm that it was all worth it for that show. It was so incredible. We landed at the KOA about midnight and looked forward to sleeping in a bit.


The Princess Place










The Dumbo Ride








Indian Jones Ride




Day 4 - Friday, Red
Today we slept in the latest so far, 8am. We headed out for Hollywood CA to visit Universal Studio. The kids were just as anxious to see that stupid Hollywood sign on the mountain as they were to go to Universal Studios. I guess it is a novelty. We were amazed how it was it’s own little city. Shopping, restaurants, little park settings, streets, and attractions. Just the difference between the upper and lower levels was crazy. We rode 4 very long, very steep escalators in between the two. It was almost a ride in and of itself. The kids had fun with the Jurassic Park and Mummy rides. We all enjoyed the 4-D Shrek movie and the special effects studios were really cool. We also got a taste of the making of Backdraft and boy was it hot! We had a late lunch and headed back to our KOA for some shopping and a swim. Actually, mom and ½ the kids watched, slept through a movie, while dad and the other ½ swam. It was another great day.







Day 5 - Saturday, Light Blue
This was our last day at Disneyland. We went earlier than before. We entered the gates at 8:00am ready to go. We had figured out the fast pass deal by now so by 2:00pm we had gone on 2 fast pass rides and had 6 stored up. Because we had gotten there early, we never stood in line longer than 5 or 10 minutes. We did splash mountain a few times, Winnie the Pooh 6 times, Indiana Jones a couple of times, Buzz Lightyear, Indiana Jones, Autotopia, Thunder Mountain a couple of times, the Pirate Island, Toon Town, Pirates of the Caribbean a couple of times, the Matterhorn, and saw several other attractions. It was awesome. By the time we were done, nobody even wanted to hit Space Mountain again. We were fat and full on Disneyland and very happy. We had some great food and swam in the pool for quite a while. While there the kids ended up singing ‘So long, farewell’ for a Danish couple who didn’t believe all 12 kids were ours. The guy video taped the whole thing and visions of the kids on You-Tube raced through my head. I hope he only sends it to us via the internet. Anyway, it was great and all those at the pool enjoyed it. If nothing else, we are an entertaining bunch to watch. They were also impressed the no-fear approach of Caleb and Ryan in their floaties. They were over their heads and letting go in the middle to sink down under water. Then they would kick up to grab onto the floatie and grasp for air. It actually was entertaining. We loved our time at Disneyland. The memories will last forever. It really is the happiest place on earth, worldly speaking of course.





Pirate Island







Day 6 - Sunday, White
Well, our Sabbath started out pretty good. Unity, cooperation, got camp all taken down, and then enters the Devil. I drove the cargo van behind James to San Diego. I will never live in LA for the traffic alone. San Diego wasn’t great either, but better than LA. And the Devil’s Demons were all those motorcycle drivers who would unrepentantly pop up between you and the other car in between the lanes. When you hear about the statistics of motorcycle accidents and deaths, I am convinced they are all coming from southern CA and the like. It was the most stressful driving I have ever experienced. We did get excited at our first glimpse of the ocean though. All the kids in the van in front turned around motioning me to get a picture. Happily, Shi was with me and she took the pics. Otherwise we may have ended up in that ocean. I felt the Spirit return as we saw the San Diego Temple in the distance. We drove there first and walked the grounds. It is a beautiful Temple. Levi did get his first bee sting there though and his little hand swelled like a balloon. Luckily we had some Tylenol and a bottle. From there we spotted some sea lions as we drove to our KOA. I have never been so happy to get out from behind the wheel and park a car knowing it would be there, stationary for the next 5 days. Our KOA was fabulous. There was grass by our site and we were next to a big circle style kitchen with 4 sinks and four sets of burners. There was also a really nice gas BBQ. The bathrooms and showers weren’t far away either and we had a lot of space. We also had power. What a great site considering we were going to spend a lot more time at camp than in LA. We had a nice dinner together at the local Hometown Buffet, telling our children all through dinner all the stories of GA eating out on Sunday while traveling and missionaries who eat with them. We also argued that we would have to buy food somewhere, even if just in a grocery store. I’m not sure that we convinced all of them as one said “I fell like we’re sinning”. Then another one piped up and said “Hey, maybe I like sinning.” We decided to be sure and read our scriptures extra long that night.












Day 7 - Monday, Green
Today we hung out at the KOA doing laundry and playing games during the morning. We had on a lot of green shirts that said “Whitman Choristers”. I had several people ask me if we were touring. I’d answer, “Kind of”. It was fun. We then met up with Carson and Kandi to go to Lalloa Beach. Katie and Becca were so excited to see Maddie. We talked in the roadway at the KOA for like 20 minutes till Kandi and I said, we can talk at the beach. It must be that “entry-way syndrome”. I don’t think any of us were prepared for how salty the water was. It was…gross. We did like the waves though and the sand. We stayed most the day. Caleb became separated from us during the afternoon. As I was panicking and freaking out, I caught a glimpse of a cute little blonde boy sitting next to some lifeguards by the tower. I went up to him and it was indeed Koli. The guys said he was very obedient and wasn’t leaving because dad said mom was at the tower. (we were sitting 6 feet in front of the darn thing) They said they were going to make an announcement over the loud speaker, but weren’t sure about asking if anyone was missing a Koli Poki. They asked Caleb his name and he obviously said Koli. When they asked him his last name he said Poki. I asked why he didn’t say Lee and he said he did when he said Koli (KoLEE).
Well, let’s just say we complimented him on his resolve to stay put but asked that in emergency situations, he could use the name Caleb Lee. He replied, “Maybe”. We left the beach close to dark and headed home for dinner and a movie.






Day 8 - Tuesday, Yellow
We went to Sea world this day with Kandi and Maddie. What an amazing place. The dolphin show was so cool and ½ the group sat in the splash zone. They got so wet they opted for higher seating when it came to the whale show. Very, very smart of them. The people sitting in the wet zone there couldn’t have gotten wetter if they’d jumped in the pool. It was incredible. We also loved the sea lion show and the otters were adorable. The sharks were, well, creepy. I’ve never really enjoyed sharks. Levi fed some of the sea lions and I don’t have a pic because I was video taping. Some day I’ll learn how to get something from my video cam, to the computer, and on to the blog. For now I just know how to get a video off my cam. Anyway, he grabbed those fish and held them right down to the sea lions. It was so funny. We had lunch at a park again, next to a bay, and ended the day with dinner and bed. I’m not even sure if we swam. We were pretty tired. It was great fun.





These are the Sea Lions Levi fed.








Us and our little Maddie - We really should have had her and Kandi where yellow, well maybe not Kandi, they may have mistaked her as a second wife considering all the kids!





The park we had lunch at.













Our KOA pool. --- Just Kidding!



This was our KOA pool.
Day 9 - Wednesday, Med. Blue
This was our kick-back day. We hung out at the KOA and swam and ate, watched a movie, and swam and ate and had a great time. Kandi and Maddie came over while Carson took James, Shane, and Tony to Ocean Beach to boogie board on some bigger waves. When they got home, I could tell Shane and Tony had been versed on what and what not to tell mom. The fact they left a couple hours after the life guards left, told me a lot. The waves were huge I guess and Tony was able to stand on his board using it as a surf board. I guess some surfers were there and stayed to watch the four of them after they themselves had retired for the night. The boys were very proud to tell me the surfers were impressed with their boogie boarding. They think they ought to try surf boarding. Too bad we live in WA. They did get teased from a few of our fellow campers about walking like new and inexperienced cowboys though. The boys even had a few board burns on their ribs. Nothing a little Vaseline didn’t cure. No pain no fun I guess. They all said it was definitely worth it.







Day 10 - Thursday, Orange
The Zoo! We had a great time at the zoo. A lot of the animals were sleeping, so you either saw them doing, well, nothing or you couldn’t see anything because their beds were hidden from view. What we did see was great. A couple of things - we were watching these hippos through the glass (they were under water) and Becca and Levi were right up to the glass. The hippos were swimming around and around their tank, which took a while for each rotation because the tank was huge. Anyway, this huge male hippo comes slowly swimming by and then stops, backs up, and peers right into the eyes of Becca. I don’t have pics of it because I was videotaping the whole thing. The rest of the kids went up to the glass and then that hippo stayed there looking at them for like 5 minutes. Then he went above water and opened his giant mouth and said good-bye and moved on. It was so cool. All the people watching were like, “look at this thing staring at those kids”. It made Becca’s day. She also had a little following of fish as she was doing the fish lips moving back and forth along the glass. It was so cute. Levi learned that if he said bye-bye to the animals we would leave and move on. He for some reason liked the flamingos and no matter what James did, he couldn’t get Levi to say good-bye. They watched those birds for 20 minutes. Funny the things kids like. Speaking of liking, Tony loved the monkeys. He was so entertained (laughing so hard I thought he might puke) by them that I quit video taping them and turned the camera onto Tony. Everyone got a kick out of his enjoyment. We hit the Hometown buffet on the way home and landed in bed well played, well fed, and very tired. It was a great day.



KOA camp







Our first sighting at the zoo.























Levi's Flamingos








Becca's Hippo
















Levi doing the usual, trying to pick someone's nose.






Becca's Fish








Just Monkeying around!







Day 11 - Friday, Light Blue
We had a kick back day at the beach. We went to Silverstrand where the little kids really got a chance to boogie board. I took more video this day than pictures. Caleb really biffed it one time when Shane took him out quite far. He hopped right up, spit a couple of times, and hopped back on to ride another wave into shore. Ali, Cam, and Josh really caught on as well. They were out in the big waves with James. It was cute to watch Shiloh and Shauna help the little girls. Kind of like the blind leading the blind. Levi hung out on the beach and collected sand, lots and lots of it. They all had fun collecting shells and making sand castles. We went home and had dinner with Kandi and Maddie and James, Tony, and Shane headed out to Ocean Beach again with Carson to get some serious boogie boarding done. I’ll forever be seen as the party pooper who wouldn’t let them buy surf boards. I can live with that.



Levi must have missed his pool bath.


Day 12 - Saturday, White
We flew home today. Much happened before that though. We had planned out our itinerary just right so as to be on time. LOL Everything we did, mostly the traffic took longer than expected. Needless to say, we were standing in line to check our bags when our plane left without us. I was freaking out as James was saying we’ll teach the kids how to read the monitors and catch stand-by flights. When we got to the counter, Jessica became my saving angel. First she said in her polite southwest voice. “there’s a plane leaving at 2:35, but you’ll never make that one”. She continued, “Well there’s one leaving at 4:00, but that would be stand-by only”. She took one look at my face and then at all the white shirts and before James could say okay, she said, “oh, that won’t work.” *Angel in the making* Then she brightened and in an excited polite southwest voice said, “I have a plane leaving at 4:30 and I am just going to print you board passes for this one. You will have to change planes in Seattle though - sorry about that.” Are you kidding?!! I wanted to jump the counter and give her the biggest bear hug ever! Sooooo, we headed over to the ticketed baggage lines and the guy there had told the kids he needed to speak with their dad. So James walked over there thinking oh great, what’s wrong with the luggage and the guy said, “ I just had to give you a high five man, 12 kids dude. You’re the man.” We ate lunch along the windows of the airport, 13 happy meals and 12 hamburgers - everyone along the way were counting- and boarded plane number one to Oakland.
The fight crew were the happy hour crew. The guy introduced the other two flight attendants like this “If you’ll give your attention to my two ex-wives, they’ll instruct you in some safety information.” Then he followed with some lines like “If your life vest doesn’t match your outfit you can choose to wear your seat cushion for our unexpected pool party.” and “and remember, no one loves you or your money more than we here at Southwest.” The flight crew loved our kids and gave them all wings and even had Becca in gloves walking up the isle asking for everyone’s trash. It was great. We all changed planes in Oakland and then in Seattle the crew was done. They waited 10 or 15 minutes for half the kids to get out of the bathroom so they could get a picture with us. A kind passenger did the honors and then we went our separate ways. Plane number 3 to Spokane was in the dark which intrigued Levi. Ryan and Caleb were impressed they had their own lights and turned them on and off. We arrived in Spokane at 9:30pm and waited on the sidewalk for James to bring the van. We stopped by home to drop our stuff and headed out to Wilderness lake to stay in the house we’re selling. I can’t believe how many people shop at Walmart at 11:45 at night. We were happily eating hotdogs at 1:30 in the morning and slept on nice carpeted floors. Boy carpet feels good.





Day 13 - Sunday, Red
Ah, Sunday, the day of rest. Well today it really was. We slept in after retiring to bed at 3am and woke up to Heavenly Father’s beautiful woods. We enjoyed each other’s company and that of a mother deer and her twin babies. We had a wonderful spiritual experience on the rocks behind the house and had a chance to share all of our favorites of the trip. Katie’s answer remained the same. Her favorite part was seeing Maddie. They’re so sweet together. We had a missionary moment as well, when the soon to be owner showed up to check out his house. He was quite surprised to see 14 people had inhabited it for the weekend. He was great and he and James talked about decks, cabinets, and large Mormon families. We assured him we’d be long gone by closing date. He didn’t seem too concerned. We ended the day fairly early (well 11:45pm would be early to us for the last two weeks) ready to head home in the morning.



Day 14 - Monday, Dark Blue
We woke up bright and early to workers at the house. Shane ate his cold cereal a little sheepishly as he knew he wouldn’t be staying to work, but having one more day off. After breakfast we headed home to check the place out.
We came home to a jungle in the garden. When we left, our plants were calf high at best. Tony’s friend Zach did a great job of watering! The lawn was a lot less brown than we thought it would be. We didn’t have Zach water it. It actually looked pretty good, so we’ll begin watering around the clock and see how it goes. The kids were anxious to get the pool filled. As for myself, I’m a bit water-logged. James put up a clothes line and Shi and I started laundry. It was funny to see all those colored shirts hanging. We ended the evening with dinner at Golden Corral and had a surprise to see Courtney and his family there. We counted that as our FHE activity and it was great. We came home, and all fell asleep to the Bee movie. I had several tired little Bees. There’s no place like home I guess, not even Disneyland.









All in our Disney and surf shirts except for James whom I have ordered one off the internet. We never did find him one in CA.