Vacation Day 3, California Adventure

We spent today at California Adventure. Disneyland is always great, but this park is a fun change with lots to see and do.

We went on the Toy Story ride first. David was thrilled to be holding Noah....again.

It's a fun ride with 3D glasses. The kids like that.
Emily and Alanah.

Josh and Ben.

Josh and his parents went on California Screamin' which is a great roller coast that I had never been on. It goes upside down. Emily is tall enough, but didn't want to go on it. So, we took Alanah with us and hit a few milder rides. Like the swings.

Ben was my date.

We make a cute couple.

Then we rode the Jumpin' Jellyfish.

Then, we split up from our friends as they had park hopper tickets and wanted to go back to Disneyland to ride a few things. It was warm out, so we jumped into a preview of Frankenweenie.

My kids crack me up.

I liked Emily's sweaty curly hair. She looks pretty, but she always does.  Her freckles...love them.

Then, we went into Disney's Nightclub where characters were out dancing. Captain Hook wanted to dance with Emily, but she wasn't interested. Playing hard to get.

So, he went for Ben.

Then, we did some other things and ran into Frozone from The Incredibles.

We went to a stop motion animation viewing for Frankenweenie, which was pretty cool.

Ben talks about being an animator or something similar one day, so it was neat for him to see the little scenes they create.

Then, we did this fun playground area. Noah was happy to be running around.

The kids did a zipline.


Twice...

David and Ben took off exploring.

We did the huge ferriswheel. Noah wasn't impressed.

At some point in the day, Emily said she wanted to try California Screamin', the upside down roller coaster. David didn't want to go on it, so I went with her. We were headed there when I took this picture. She was super excited and so nervous.

As we got closer and closer I thought she would back out, but we had fastpasses which means you wait about 3 minutes. There is no time to backout.

It was so fun to experience this with her. I'm glad her Mama got to be there for one of her "firsts" now that she is older. Her first upside down rollercoaster. It was fun to watch her standing in line. One second jumping up and down. The next hugging me around my waist. She did great though and we rode it a second time. I also almost saw my dinner for the second time.

Our last ride was Radiator Springs in Cars Land.

Disney had closed early due to a Halloween event, so California Adventure was filling up quickly. We had fastpasses though. We got to the ride and CLOSED. Yep. We waited about 15 minutes when they decided it was bad enough to encourage people to leave. Ben was really disappointed. I hated to end our fun filled day on a sour note.

So we got ice cream!




Yep. That made everything better.

It was a fun 2 days at Disneyland, and I'm so happy that we are headed to the beach to relax tomorrow. Tonight was this sunset...

Tomorrow, we'll watch it from the beach!

Vacation Day 2, Disneyland

Today was Disneyland. We were all so excited that we were up a good hour before I planned. We went to breakfast early with our friends and walked to the shuttle. We are about a mile from Disney, but only a 5 minute walk right to their shuttle bus in one of their lots. So, we walk in and take the bus over. Much easier. Here are all the kids. Everyone is bright eyed and bushy tailed!

Dakri took this photo of us on the bus. I thought this would be the only picture I was in all day and I wanted to get a picture while my hair was still great. Humidity + Splash Mountain = Bad Hair

We actually got to Disneyland early. They let us in, but corral everyone in an area. Ben and Josh were scouting out our day on the map.

We headed right to the Matterhorn. And this was the last time we saw our friends for 11 hours. We have to do baby swap. Since Noah can't go on most rides, I ride it with the kids while David takes care of Noah. Then, we swap the baby or in the case, 3 year old. Well, 2 year old because we are lying or he isn't free, and I'm not paying $158 for Noah to ride Winnie The Pooh. In any case, we did our own thing and headed to Buzz Lightyear ride next.

Noah was just in awe. We turned the corner where he saw a huge Buzz and he had no words, and this kids always has words.

This was the end. We defeated Zurge. Yes!

Emily and I headed to Space Mountain. Ben didn't want to go. He went last year and was crying when it was over. They redo it for Halloween and it's a little spooky. Ben calls it the "fire ghost" and wanted nothing to do with it. Emily was game.

David took the kids on this ride and about puked when it was over.

Going round and round isn't good when you are over 35.

While they were on that ride, I ran into these chicks. Their a little overdressed, don't ya think?

Then it was off to our favorites, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. We are waiting for David to retrieve the stroller.

Next up was Splash Mountain. It was warm out and I wanted to get a little wet, but I got soaked. This is the photo that they take going down the big drop. Let me just say, if I'm ever feeling sad or in a bad mood, I will look at this picture for the rest of my life and laugh. HYSTERICAL!

I seriously can't stop laughing.

We just happen to stumble upon Woody. I thought Noah would've been more excited, but he seems to have a little cold and I think he was tired all day. But Ben made up for Noah's lack of enthusiasm.

This is one of my favorite pictures. That smile is worth the $656 for 2 days at Disney.

Ben was trying to find his string so he could talk.

He's a characters worst nightmare with 100 questions. Why can't you talk? Where's your horse? Let me pull your string... Oh brother. I think Woody was happy to pose for a photo and get us out of there.  I love Emily's little popped out leg.  She's posing.

Oh gosh, the teacups. The kids wanted to do the teacups and they make David and I both sick. But they make him sicker, so I went. It wasn't that bad. I kept the spinning to a minimum.

Here's Noah and I on It's A Small World. He loved it!

Then we went on Autopia and had the greatest time. Emily drove and let's just say we'll all need to get off the roads in 8 years.

"Look Ma, no hands!"

I didn't care. I was too busy checking out the hot guys behind us.

They got closer, so I gave them my number. I hope they call, especially the one in the middle.  He kept looking at me.

Emily and I stopped in mini car traffic, so we took a picture.  Yep, traffic in L.A. even in Disneyland, I shouldn't be surprised.

This little guy finally had enough, but only slept for about 10 minutes.

Grandma Suzy said they could pick out a souvenir on her. The kids LOVE the haunted house this time of year because it is redone with a Jack the Pumpkin King theme. The love, love, love him. Ben got a big Jack. Noah got a little Jack and his dog, Zero. Emily got a Rapunzel from Tangled doll, but I don't have a picture.

On the short walk back to the hotel, Noah was still pretty happy.

Emily's feet were hurting, so after a day of carrying a backpack and Noah through all the lines, David carried her. And Ben decided to give Jack a ride in case his feet were hurting also.

The kids did so good today. Emily complained a few times that her feet hurt, but other than that, they were total troopers. The crowds were very mild, 15 minute waits for most rides. We got to do everything we wanted and our favorites a second time. I call that a successful day at Disneyland.

We are headed to California Adventure tomorrow. Let's hope for another great day.

Vacation Day 1, California Here We Come

Day 1 of vacation is always met with much excitement. Then, the kids find out we are going to spend almost 7 hours in the car. I told the kids we'd be there after we watched 4 movies, and if one of those movies had been 10 minutes longer, I would've been right.

The best part of the drive is entering Palm Springs and the windmills. I love the windmills they are so neat, and it means the drive is more than half over.

We decided not to caravan with our friends as they were leaving a little before and picking their kids up from school right before heading out. Somehow, we ended up meeting in Quartzite and we pretty much caravaned the rest of the way. Funny how that happens.

When we got close to our hotel, we voted for skipping checking in and headed straight to Red Robin for fries and salads. We have our priorities straight. (This picture is small because I took it sideways on my iPhone and I couldn't get it big without chopping out the kids. I opted for smaller picture with children.)

We went to the hotel and got settled in. We got adjoining rooms. I didn't even know they made those anymore. The kids all thought it was the best thing EVER.

We didn't really unpack. We didn't get ready for Disney tomorrow. We went to Joe's Ice Cream. The best ice cream and Italian ice EVER. We've thought about this place for an entire year.

Emily got an orange and vanilla swirl.

So did Ben. He was so excited, he couldn't stop moving.

They gave Noah a sample size cone for free. Perfect.

Then, Ben decided he wanted my cone, so I traded.

Then, he wanted his back. Whatever.

David got chocolate soft serve dipped in peanut butter. This was the "regular" size. I'd hate to see the large. I think Noah was impressed.

I think Noah is dreaming of the day he can get a cone that big.

Now, everyone is asleep and I'm up blogging. David told me it could wait until tomorrow, but it can't. We'll have a full day at Disneyland and I'll have other things that I want to write about tomorrow night.

The highlight of my day, besides that ice cream, pulling in to the hotel parking lot and it's about 25% full. It's 3/4 of a mile from Disneyland. We pulled our kids out of school for a few days to try to beat the Fall Break crowds.  It's $658 for my family for 2 days at Disney.  I didn't want to spend 99% of our time in line.  I think we may have gotten our wish. Fingers crossed.

My Man Picked Me Flowers

Things are super crazy around here. We leave for Disneyland in less than 48 hours. I have lots of work to get done and I haven't even started packing.

We had to juggle Emily's piano lesson since we'll be gone, so David took Emily tonight. Usually Ben and Noah go to as we pick up the piano teachers son to play with Ben. Caleb and Ben are best buds. I was finishing up dinner and they all left. I assumed Noah went with them as the house was quiet.

David gets home and I ask if Noah is with him. He says no. Where the heck is Noah? I run in the backyard and see him on the side of the house. He's walking to me saying he picked me flowers.

Isn't that sweet? He picked me a bunch of weeds. I love him.

I haven't posted much about Ben lately. He's in his normal imaginary mode. He watches Charlie Brown's Halloween every single night as he makes him feel like he's trick or treating. Halloween is Ben's favorite holiday. Not because of the candy. He doesn't really eat much. But, this kid loves to dress up.

I must take a moment to brag about my Ben. I have to admit that I never thought he'd be the best student. He's in his own head too much to pay attention to other things. I thought he'd be a B or C student. Fine with me as I figured that would be the best he could do. He's shocking the heck out of me. Since I help in class, I get to see where he is in comparison to the other kids. He's in the top reading group along with Sarah, Cadence and Amry, who know just about everything. He gets the challenge words on spelling almost every week because he aces the spelling test every Monday. I'm just consistently surprised by how well he is doing. I guess I underestimated him. My bad.

Okay, that's all the time I have. My next post will be from California!