The Carver Crew

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

How did we trick our kids into manual labor and good behavior for 2 months straight? Simple. Sheer bribery and a little help from

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E.

(Don‘t pretend you didn‘t just sing that.)

Call us crazy, but we did just that. Boy was life grand during the months of August and September. With the promise of the ultimate 5-day trip to Disneyland & California Adventure riding on their every move, my kids didn‘t dare say a cross word or let a scowl pass their lips for fear that said trip might be revoked. They happily did their chores (ok, “happily” might be a slight exaggeration. But hey, at least they didn‘t totally revolt) and treated each other as all good little boys and girls should (with the exception of the occasional 'he hit me' or 'she‘s bothering me'). After all, this was no ordinary trip to Disneyland at stake. This trip we decided to go 'all out'.

Highlights included:

* 3 days at Disneyland, 1 day at California Adventure, 1 morning at Downtown Disney
* World of Color water & light show
* Getting pictures and autographs of dozens of Disney characters
* Lunch with all of the princesses at Ariel’s Grotto
* Halloween Time--Disneyland was all decked out for Halloween
* Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Trick-or-Treat Party the night of Jen’s birthday
* Aunt Mari visiting
* Dinner with Aunt Mari and Uncle Chris at the Rainforest Café in Downtown Disney
* Visiting a live show of Playhouse Disney
* Tricking Josh into going on the Tower of Terror with Jacob.
* Jacob braving his first upside down roller coaster (California Screamin’)
* At least one ride that Josh was on breaking down each day that we were there.
* Jacob being selected as a jedi during the Jedi Training Academy