We were lucky to get to go to Disneyland this year with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jim, Aunt Ottie, Gregory and Ryan. We had a great time! We spent the first two days of our vacation at Newport beach. We secretly wish that we could have stayed there a couple more days. The kids loved the beach and the ocean it was their first time to see the ocean. Dylan sat down maybe once, he was in the water even though it was freezing, he was digging in the sand constantly, and running with his cousins, he loved it. My little Sophie played in the sand all day, finding shells, filling up buckets with sand, she loved it. We stayed at a wonderful house on the peninsula it was two blocks from the ocean and right on the harbour. It was beautiful! Jesse and I rented beach cruiser bikes and rode the boardwalk and around the entire peninsula. My hiney was a little sore but that might have been the highlight of the trip we had so much fun! We stopped at the pier and I had a frozen banana my new favorite treat! Yum! We also at at the famous Crab Cooker! Fantastic the best shrimp and scallions that I have ever had. (My mouth is watering just typing it!)
Next stop Disneyland! Disneyland is nastalgic for me, some of my favorite memories as a little girl were at Disneyland. It makes me smile and get emotional when I see my kids there. I feel that I have come full circle. My Mom and Dad always made our trips to Disneyland magical. I hope that Jesse and I did the same for our kids. We got to stay at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel. It was really nice to be so close to the park. When you walked into the hotel you could smell suntan lotion so yummy. We spent five glorious days at Disneyland and California Adventure, daddy thought that three was enough but I could have done it for seven. :)
Jesse and Dylan soaked on Grizzly River Rapids!
Sophia with the "real" Cinderella! I thought that she was real too. Her voice was amazing and she asked Sophie where she was from and I said Utah and she said (in the best Cinderella voice ever) "Did you ride your horse and carriage all the way here? What a long journey you have been on!" I got goosebumps and Sophie was in Princess heaven! So fun!
Dylan loved Grizzly River Rapids, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, Soaring over California and Buzz Light year. Sophie loved Tea Cups, Dumbo, Monsters Inc., and the Toon Town Roller Coaster. She went on Big Thunder but about half way through she started to cry (she didn't like when it went dark!) My favorites were the Churios, The Screamer, Big Thunder and especially Soaring over California. It's my favorite and Jesse's too! Dylan went on anything, which surprised me a little he is usually so cautious, I think that having 2 older boy cousins helped a little. We loved watching the parades and fireworks and the kids especially loved the water slide at the hotel. What a wonderful week we had with family. Ohh, if we could only be on vacation all the time. Back to work! :(