Disneyland Vacation

Okay, so we've been home from vacation for about two weeks now and thanks to a bug that I caught on the way home I haven't been feeling well enough to do much since then. I am just now getting back into the swing of things and I've been dying to write about our trip. Our vacation was jam packed with fun things to do and see, so I have an overwhelming number of pictures. I decided to pick out some of my favorites to tell about the trip and there's a slide show at the end with more (if you can believe it) pictures.

Of coarse every vacation begins with the planning and the packing. I hate packing! It takes me forever because I try to think of everything we could possibly need. I tend to over pack a little, but when you have little kids it's hard not to. I even packed Jason's things this time because he was so busy with school, flying and test prep studies. The kids were pretty excited when I got the suitcases out. Tressa knew what that meant, but Corbin may have been a little confused. He was trying to pack himself and his few favorite items (blankie, dinosaur, Elmo, and fishy crackers) in my suitcase. I think he was afraid of being left behind....he did not want to get out of that suitcase!



We had an early flight (6:00 am!) and our friend gave us a ride to the airport. We had to leave at 4:30 - now that's a true friend....thanks Carney! Despite the early flight time, our kids were awake and excited. They love airplanes and traveling.



After a long trip (about six hours if you count our layover in Dallas) we made it to California! Tressa was so excited to get there that she was the only one who didn't really sleep on the plane. But as soon as we got in our rental car (where she could actually see California) she zonked right out!

Our first stop in California (Jason's top priority) was In n' Out Burgers. We ate outside and the weather was beautiful...good old Southern Cal! Jason and I enjoyed our burgers while the kids fed leftover french fries to the pigeons.



We were the first in our family to arrive and we couldn't check in to the hotel until late afternoon. Since we had some time to kill we thought we'd walk the pier at Seal Beach. This was a great idea because not only was it beautiful and scenic, it warmed our kids up to the idea of spending a day at the beach. They got to see the ocean for the first time and watch everyone having fun in the sand from a safe distance up on the pier. (You might remember that my kids had a bad experience with sand at the lake on Memorial Day). They loved running up and down the pier and looking at the water (and in Corbin's case trying to climb over the edge).



Later that evening my sister Emily and her family arrived at the hotel. It was a much anticipated reunion...especially for Tressa and Rachel who couldn't wait to get their matching princess jammies on.



The next day was spent at Huntington Beach. Despite my fears, the kids actually did pretty well at the beach (those beach socks worked like a charm!). Neither one really liked being in the water, I think the sound and movement of the waves was a little too frightening for them. But they loved playing in the sand (more so away from the water), looking for seashells, pointing out palm trees (which Tressa said are actually called "beach trees") and just hanging out with the family.





Here's my brother-in-law Ethan burying Rachel (my niece) in the sand.



Here's my bestest (and only) sister, Emily with cutie pie Zeke.



And here's our traditional feet-in-the-sand photo. Me and my sister have some weird obsession with photographing our feet.



Thumbs up! Can you do this with your toes? It's a special talent that runs in my family...much to Jason's dismay (he hates feet and this is all I have to do to gross him out.)



This post is getting really long and you haven't even seen pictures from Disneyland yet...so here goes!

We had a 3-day park hopper pass that I thought would be more than enough time at Disneyland and the California Adventure Park....but there is SO much to do there! We didn't see everything, but I don't know if our kids and our feet could have lasted much longer anyway. So the three days was just about perfect. The very best thing about Disneyland was that my parents came with us....they were a HUGE help with the kids. They didn't have an agenda of their own other than to be with their kids and grand kids...they were so helpful and they made it a magical and meaningful trip for all of us.



Highlights for me and Jason were the rides we got to do together, the time we spent with my family, and the kids' reactions to all the fun things they got to see and do.

The fam at the Disneyland entrance:



Me & J on the Matterhorn:



J right before he got drenched on Splash Mountain:



Me and Em at California Adventure:



Highlights for Tressa were seeing the castle, meeting the princesses, the rides, cousin Rachel, the sparkly sidewalks, her Cinderella doll, her Minnie mouse balloon and the special time she spent with grandma and grandpa.

The top three things on Tressa's list of things to see were the castle,



the merry go round (of all things?!),



and Cinderella. We almost didn't get to meet Cinderella. She wasn't at the princess breakfast we went to so later that day we (actually grandma) stood in line for almost an hour to see 3 more "surprise" princesses at the Princess Fantasy Fair. My heart sank when we went behind the curtain and didn't see Cinderella anywhere. Tressa was happy to see Pocahantas, Snow White, and Belle, but I knew she was really hoping to meet her favorite princess. Then, just as we were taking photos with the last princess Cinderella came walking up to take her place. The dramatic last minute entrance made it even more special! Cinderalla could tell that Tressa was a big fan (since she had a Cinderella doll, necklace, etc.) and gave her some extra hugs and attention. I was so relieved and Tressa was just beaming!



After she met the princesses, learned how to dance and walk like a princess, and had story time with Sleeping Beauty my Mom paid for her to get her face painted. From all the excitement she fell right asleep in Grandmas arms soon after.



Disneyland is so magical for someone her age. That made it fun for me and Jason too. On our last day at Disneyland as we walked toward the park entrance she looked down at the sidewalk and said "Mom, the sidewalk is sparkley...I think it's because Disneyland is such a magical place!" Then we practically bumped into the man who was selling balloons. Tressa had her eye on one the day before, but we never saw the balloon guy again after that. Even though they were charging seven bucks, I couldn't resist. Tressa got the last Minnie Mouse balloon and is STILL talking about it constantly. On the shuttle to our car she said "I had a wish to get this balloon and it came true Mommy!" She was SO happy.



Highlights for Corbin were the playgrounds, the parade, certain rides (he wasn't so sure about some of them), toon town, his mickey ball, and all the attention he got from the family.

Here he is on one of the playgrounds. This one was shaped like a ship and had a nautical theme. He loved steering the boat and pushing all the buttons.


Here we are right before the parade started.



Not looking too sure about this train ride!



Trying to lift the dumbbell in toon town. Look at those muscles!



Grandma and Grandpa bought him this mickey basketball and he LOVED it! He still cannot be seperated from it.



As if that wasn't enough fun...we got to spend a couple more days in California after Disneyland. We went to a Dodgers game, went swimming at the hotel, explored a local children's museum and I even tried sushi for the first time at a restaurant called Tadai.

The Angels are Jason's favorite baseball team but they were out of town all week. He wasn't going to leave without seeing a baseball game so we caught a Dodgers game one afternoon. The stadium was pretty getto and the Dodgers lost, but we enjoyed just being there and the kids even got to run the bases at the end.





Here are some pictures from the pool. The kids had a blast.




The museum was really fun too! They especially liked the Bob the Builder exhibit.




And here we are at the mall after our sushi dinner. I thought it was a nice picture of our family.



What a fabulous vacation! We can't wait to go back.