Warning: there is an absolutely obscene amount of photos on this post. If you aren't into travelogues, skip this one! ;)
We had so much fun on our vacation! My favorite part was seeing the kids’ reactions to everything. It was priceless! We left Monday after school and drove to St. George. We stopped in Sandy on the way down to drop Aiden off at Jeff’s parent’s house. It was soooooo hard to leave him. I had a minor break down in the car after we left. It was for the best though; he would have been so miserable on the long car ride and in Disneyland. We stayed with my brother’s family that night.
Tuesday we drove to Newport, California, checked into our hotel, and headed to the beach to take pictures of Jeff’s brother’s family and sister’s family who were vacationing there. We got there late, so the sun was fading fast, but we did manage to get some good ones!
Wednesday we drove down to Sea World. Jack told me on the way down that he wanted to hold a penguin. He didn’t get to do that, but he loved looking at them! He said they were his favorite. Makele loved the whales.
Wednesday night we met up with my brother, Landon’s family and sister, Shawna & niece Kylie in Anaheim. Thursday morning we took a quick trip to Angel Stadium where Jack ran the bases three times outside the entrance before I put a stop to it. I didn’t want him getting worn out before we even made it to Disneyland.
I didn’t need to worry about him getting worn out though. Both kids surprised me with their energy and running from one ride to the next. I could barely keep up with them! It was so fun seeing how excited they got when they rode a ride or got an autograph from a Disney character. 
We hit Space Mountain first. Jack did NOT like this one! Poor child, I think we traumatized him. He was gun shy on every ride after that and kept asking if it would be dark and go fast. Makele on the other hand, loved it and every other ride we went on. She and her cousin Chloe were inseparable. They rode all the rides together and laughed all the way through them. Jack’s favorite ride was Buzz Lightyear – he went on it 4 times! Makele loved Splash Mountain.
I could not get Jack to stand by Captain Hook for a picture!
It was so fun to watch Jack's face on the Jungle Cruise. The animals were so lifelike that he probably thought they were real. His mouth was open the whole time!
It was fun to see new Christmas decorations going up every day.
Jack loved trying to get this sword out of the stone - he tried 3 separate times and kept asking if he could go try again!
Thursday night we went to the Celebrate parade. Makele was brave enough to go out and boogie with the dancers.
The kids were so tired by the time we left – Jack fell asleep in the car eating his cheeseburger!
Friday we spent the morning in California Adventure after the girls got Tinkerbell’s and the princesses’ autographs.
We rode Soarin’ Over California – so fun! Tia was nice enough to take the kids to A Bug’s Land while Jeff, Landon, Shawna, Kylie & I rode California Screamin’.
After that, Landon, Kylie & I rode the Tower of Terror – one of my favorites. We made the mistake of taking Chloe in with us. They put you in a dark room before you ride the elevator and tell you a ghost story. It was way too much for poor Chloe and she wanted out. Jeff made the magnanimous sacrifice and took her back out (I really think he was just looking for an excuse!).
After lunch we went back to Disneyland. We made another dumb mistake by taking Jack in the Haunted Mansion. They had totally redone it since I had been there 10 years ago. I don’t know if it was just for the holidays or what, but it had the Nightmare before Christmas theme throughout the house. Jack was not amused. Surprisingly, Makele did okay on it. After that, we split up – Landon, Tanner, Jack & I took a raft over to Tom Sawyer’s island while the others went to ride the Matterhorn again. Jack loved all the pirate stuff on the island – I don’t know why I didn’t get any pictures! After that, Jack & I went to meet the others in Toon Town. My phone was dead, and we couldn’t find them, so we spent some time messing around in Chip in Dale’s (not to be confused with the male dancers, Shawna) Treehouse and visiting Mickey. Jack loved all the little things in Mickey’s house – I could hardly get him to keep moving! 
Wow, Mickey has a way of straightening that kid right up (note the difference between the picture above and the one below - ha, ha)!
After Mickey’s house by a stroke of luck we ran into everybody else and rode the roller coaster in Toon Town – another of Jack’s favorites. 
Then of course we had to go through Mickey’s house again so Makele could get his autograph and picture with him. 
After dinner that night we went back to California Adventure for the World of Color show. It was so amazing how they projected images onto the water.
Our whole group L to R: Jeff, Jack, Me, Landon, Tanner, Tia, Chloe, Kylie, Makele & Shawna.
We happened across the evil queen from Snow White. Once again, Jack wanted nothing to do with her - I thought she was hilarious!
We also visited Rapunzel from the upcoming movie, Tangled.
Makele on Minnie's bed:
By Saturday afternoon, we were all disneyed out. We went back to the hotel and rested for a bit. Landon and Tanner decided it would be a bright idea to play catch in the room. Here is the result - oops!
That night we took a short trip to the beach, had dinner, then tucked the kids in bed. 
Shawna volunteered to stay with the kids while Landon, Tia, Tanner, Kylie, Jeff and me went back to Disneyland for a couple of hours. We rode the Matterhorn while the fireworks were going off – so cool. We ran to Splash Mountain 5 minutes before it closed. There was no line – we ran right up and got on. 
There is a story behind this picture. On the second day we were on the trip, we all rode Splash Mountain. After, we were looking at the pictures of everybody. I saw one that was so hilarious – the guy looked totally scared to death. We were all laughing at it, when a guy behind us said, “Yea, I have to make goofy faces for the cameras on all the rides.” It was him! We thought it was such a great idea, and being the original people that we are, we started doing it too.
Kylie standing in the middle of the mass exodus after the park closed (I was wishing I had my tripod to make the picture sharper - oh well):
We drove all the way home on Sunday. I was so excited to see Aiden – I had missed the little cutie so much. When we pulled up, he was sitting with his grandma looking out the window. When we went in the door he just started laughing so loud and was so excited to see us. I wish I would have taken a picture of his face! It was great to hold him again and kiss his little face. He started tackling Jack over and over again – he was so glad to see him. Makele was a little miffed he wasn’t doing it to her - he must have thought it was a boy thing or something! A huge thank you to Jeff’s mom and dad for taking such good care of him while we were away!
Even though the trip down and back in the car was looooong and Jack got a bit (okay a lot) restless at times, I’m so glad we did it. The only time I have been to Disneyland before this was when Jeff and I went on our honeymoon. It was ten times better with kids. I loved seeing their excitement and how much fun they were having. It was definitely worth it!
No comments:
Post a Comment