Dismal-land or The Happiest Place on Earth...a family divided.

So, we did it. We've been living in So. California for almost three years now and we cleverly have gotten out of taking our family to Disneyland.  But the baby (almost 4) has been bugging and bugging and asking and asking us to take her to the magic kingdom. Now if any of you know my husband, he'd rather get his eyebrows tweezed and go shopping with me than go to Disneyland. Now I know there are men who wouldn't mind doing those things...like my friend Debbie's husband (who just confirmed that he loves all those things), but mine does not...so you know where Disneyland ranks with him.

Now, in defense of him, his first experience with Disneyland was when we went the day after Thanksgiving one year when we were "dating." Actually, we were "not dating" at the time but decided to go anyway. We got a flat tire on the way, and then the parking structure was too full, so we had to park in the overflow. He wasn't used to the large group of Japanese tourists at the theme parks...and their tendency to push in line. (I, having lived in Hawaii and being of Japanese decent, didn't seem to be as bothered as him, but it didn't make it a great day for him.)

Now in defense of Disneyland, it was in line for the Haunted House that we had an open and frank conversation and worked out all the "kinks" and we were dating again...and were engaged soon after. Yep, true story...the Haunted House. Maybe that's why he wanted to get married on Halloween or a Friday the 13th.  (We were married on a Friday the 13th in case you were wondering).

We had taken our other two children to Disneyland once before and spent a lot of time tracking down princesses and Buzz Lightyear, but we thought we'd give it another try.

We didn't tell the kids. We went to the school and pulled them out and told them that we were going on a surprise trip.  When we got to the Disneyland area (signs all over) we asked the kids if they knew where we were going. They started to say Disneyland, but stopped because they didn't think it was really happening. Kinda' cute and sad at the same time, huh?

When we were there, my kids wanted their faces painted. Do you know how much it costs? To be honest with you, I don't know because I didn't even ask because I knew it would be TOO MUCH! I promised them we could paint faces the next day and I would paint whatever they wanted. Turns out, we didn't have enough time to bust out the paints, but we painted their faces a couple of months ago and they love it!!!

Now, I'm not that great of an artist...but we had left over makeup from Halloween and I purchased some face paints from Walmart.  As you can see below, I'm not that talented, but the kids had a blast and I saved a lot of money.

 I loved this one. The kids thought this was great because you can make the fish talk and sing. I painted the gold fish on first, then the blue. Then I used a stiff brush to brush on the black.  The fish lips were red, too...but by the time I got my camera out...they were gone.  I did another gold fish on his other cheek and when you looked at him face on, it looked like the fish were kissing.

Hearts are so easy and they definitely make girls happy. The picture isn't that clear, but I put white dot accents around the hearts and then just decorated with swirls and glitter. You can make anything cute with glitter (just not too close to the eye).

She wanted flowers and a butterfly...so she got both. I find it easier to lay down the color and use the white to create the picture. Again, some dots and swirls to make it cute.  

I used one of those brushes that comes with water color paints, but I have since bought cheap painting brushes...they give me more control.

Here are some other designs I found online that would be easy to paint. These would be great for a birthday party, a school or church fundraiser or just for some Saturday fun.

EPILOGUE: I'd like to say Disneyland was a success, but at first it wasn't. My husband wasn't the problem, it was the 3 year old. When we got there, it was more crowded than we thought, so we hit the first rides that had the shortest lines which happened to be the Haunted House, Pirates of the Caribean and Winnie the Pooh.  After those the baby says, "I NEVER WANT TO COME TO DISNEYLAND EVER AGAIN." Turns out she doesn't like "dark" rides or "scary" rides.  I took her over to fantasy land, we rode the Merry-Go-Round, the Teacups, Dumbo and saw some princesses and she loved Disneyland again. In fact, this morning, she asked "How many hours till we go to Disneyland?"

Momma didn't save THAT much money.