Disney Vacation

We had such a great trip to Disneyland last week. We got home on Sunday night, but have been going non-stop since we got home and trying to catch up with our daily schedules. I have TONS of pictures so its taken a while to sort through all of them. Prepare yourselves for the worlds longest blog post!!

DISNEYLAND/CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE

We spent 4 days at Disneyland and California Adventure. Tucker's mom and dad came with us to help out with the kids. I wouldn't have done it any other way. They were a HUGE help and made it possible for us to go on all the rides we wanted to. We also met up with my sister one day. She just happened to be there with a friend and so we had fun spending the afternoon with her that day. Our last day we met our friend Lisa and her 2 kids there. They live there and have season passes and so it was fun to spend the day with them.

We really lucked out with great weather and no crowds. We rarely waited for any rides, I think the longest we waited for any one ride (besides Finding Nemo) was maybe 10 or 15 minutes. We did wait about 30 minutes for Finding Nemo, but I guess that's not so bad for that ride. It was fun being able to walk right on a ride and get off and get right back on without having to wait.

Halle loved finding all her favorite Disney characters and getting their pictures and autographs. Her favorite rides were Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and Soarin over California. I think we rode Big Thunder Mountain about 8 or 9 times. She loved having dinner with all the princesses at Ariel's Grotto and loved all the parades we got to see. It was fun that she was big enough to go on almost all the rides and she surprised me at how eager she was to try all the big ones that I thought she be too scared to go on.

Aidan was so good and I'm happy to report that we made it through the whole trip without any major meltdowns. He was so good to just nap in the stroller, one day he took a 2 hour nap. He was a little nervous with the characters at first, but by the end of the trip he was running up to them to get his picture taken with them, it was really cute. His favorite rides were Buzz Lightyear, Finding Nemo and all the Bugs Life rides. He really loved the Playhouse Disney show and the Pixar Parade. My favorite thing was after EVERY ride he went on he'd say "Thank you Mom, Thank you Dad!" It was SO cute!

Avery was so good, as well. She was so content to just ride around in the stroller all day and didn't mind when we took her on all the little kid rides. She was very happy and took her naps in the stroller also. She quickly became a Disney attraction as we had several people stop us every day to admire her squishiness. They loved all her chubbies and her pretty pink toe nails.

Tucker quickly realized how afraid of heights I really am. His favorite ride was Soarin over California and took Halle on it several times. They talked me into going with them once and Halle had to keep saying, "Mom, open your eyes!" I thought it was cool, but I was pretty terrified. Halle was fearless! The last time they went on it, they got on just after John Stamos...too bad I didn't get his picture!

I loved watching the excitement from my kids. Everything was so magical to them. Every now and then as we were walking around, I'd have these flash backs of being there when I was a kid and it as so fun to be there with my own kids. I loved the Electric Light parade and the fireworks.

Well here's all the pictures...they pretty much speak for themselves, but there are LOTS!!

I probably shouldn't admit that I was a little afraid when Halle wanted to go up really high on Dumbo!

Waiting for the parade to start!

Aidan loved Buzz Lightyear...we did this one about 5 times and he got so excited to see Buzz ever time!

Dinner with the princesses!

This is me and Halle riding Splash Mountain. We pretty much had the whole ride to ourselves and they just let us keep going cause there wasn't anyone in line. It was a lot of fun!

Tucker got his mom this birthday pin cause it was her birthday the day after they left. She loved having so many people wish her a happy birthday!


Me and my sister, Amy riding the Matterhorn.


It was REALLY hot this day...Avery's cheeks are quite red!

Riding the Jungle Cruise

Aidan imitating the monkeys!

Aidan picked this hat out. It says Squirt...from Finding Nemo. It's so him!

Looking so great after just getting soaked on the Grizzly River Run!




I love how Aidan is copying Tucker in this picture.


Sleeping Avery...she was so good at just going right to sleep in the stroller.


They both loved the Princess Fantasy Faire. Halle loved getting her face painted.




Halle & Audrey in Toon Town.


Aidan played this silly piano in Goofy's house for quite a long time.



Dancing at the Playhouse Disney show.

NEWPORT TEMPLE & THE BEACH

We took a break in between our Disneyland days to go to the beach. We stopped to see the Newport Beach Temple on our way there. We were quite under dressed in our beach wear, but loved walking around the temple grounds and taking more pictures.






I was so excited to take the kids to a real beach. We took the ferry over to Balboa and played for a couple hours. It wasn't super warm and was pretty windy so we didn't stay as long as we'd have liked. The water was freezing but it didn't stop the kids from playing in it. They had a great time building sand castles with dad and grandpa and running from the waves. They kids' least favorite thing was getting cleaned up and finding sand EVERY where. We got lunch and walked around a bit before heading back to the hotel. We ended the night with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and watching American Idol with Grandma & Grandpa.

I was so excited about getting Avery in her cute swim suit but it just wasn't warm enough! She snuggled in the blanket with grandma instead!

Halle's dinner creation at The Cheesecake Factory...silly girl!

ANGELS STADIUM

Our last night in California we took the advice of my friend, Erin, and went and watched an Angels game. I had never been to a major league game before and it was quite impressive. The kids lasted a lot longer than I thought they would. We stayed through 6 innings before calling it a night. They loved having hot dogs and peanuts. Halle thought is was so crazy that you could just thrown the peanut shells on the ground. It was fun seeing the fireworks every time they got a home run. Thanks for the great suggestion, Erin. We really loved it.

Halle enjoying some cotton candy!

This is what 10 o'clock PM looks like after being at Disneyland all day. Aidan got his second wind after buying him a SOFT baseball bat in the gift shop!

VISITING GOOD FRIENDS

On our way out of town we stopped at Todd & Lisa's apartment and then all went to a really fun park for lunch. The kids had a great time running around together. Tucker & Todd (good friends from high school) had some male bonding time while they left to get us all lunch...it took much longer than we thought it would. It was so fun to catch up with them and see their cute kids again. We haven't seen them for over 2 years. Hopefully it won't be that long before we see you guys again...thanks for making time to see us. We had a great time!







It was such a fun trip and so hard to come home. We can't wait to go back!