Family Vacation Part 3

The 3rd and final day of our vacation started off in Disneyland. The MLB Allstar game was in Anaheim this year, so they had a lot of the festivities at Disneyland on Tuesday. The TV networks did a big broadcast from the park, and they threw a parade for all of the players, coaches and everyone else involved in the Allstar game. As we were walking up main street, the kids wanted to know why all the people were sitting on the side of the street. Chris and I convinced them that they were throwing a special parade just for us. They walked a good 30 yards waving to the crowd before they realized we were teasing them. All 3 of them had these big smiles on their faces and were doing the most perfect "parade waves" you've ever seen. Chris and I were laughing so hard we couldn't breathe, let alone get a picture.

Gotta love Mickey!

Surprisingly, Preston wasn't too impressed with Minnie Mouse. HA!
Me and the girls in Minnie's cottage
After a trip through Toon Town, we headed over to California Adventure. (It's basically MGM for those of you back home)
The girls were STOKED to ride the Tower of Terror and the California Screamin' roller coaster. Preston was NOT feelin' either one of those!!!!! They let us do a passenger switch on the Tower of Terror so the girls got to ride 2 times in a row. They thought they were pretty tough stuff!!! HA! I've ridden it before at MGM, and I was very quickly reminded why I swore I'd never do it again! It's sad when my 7 and 8 year old are tougher than I am!

Why can't all vending machines be this honest????
Preston LOVES Lightening McQueen. Everything this child owns has Lightening on it. To say that he was a little excited to meet "the REAL" Lightening and Mater would definitely be an understatement. However, he was extrememly disappointed that Lightening couldn't autograph his book. HA!
It should come as no surprise to anyone that Morgan LOVES Jessie!!!! We got soooo lucky to get this picture. We waited in line for 20 minutes, only for them to decide that time was up and that Woody and Jessie needed to leave when we were NEXT!! I BEGGED the guy to please just let us slip in.

Anyone that knows me knows that I LOVE FIREWORKS!!! The fireworks at Disneyland definitely do not disappoint. Morgan got so excited when Tinkerbell flew over the crowd and sprinkled her "pixie dust". Unfortunately Shelby missed it, because she was watching the the big fireworks. Silly girl!!!
After a VERY long day, we made our way back to our hotel and crashed before heading home on Wednesday. I don't have the best luck coming home from Disney, and this trip was no different. One time, Charon and I got lost on the way home and ended up just outside of TAMPA!!! (2 1/2 hours from home!) Another time, I fell asleep in the car and dreamed that we were going off the side of the road so I woke up and jerked the steering wheel, almost causing us to wreck. This time, I got sick!
Despite the ride home, it was an amazing vacation. The kids are at the perfect age to go. They were all big enough to ride all of the rides, but still young enough to appreciate the magic of the place. LOVED! IT!

Family Vacation Part2

Well this picture pretty much sums up the Sea World experience. The girls LOVED it!!! Preston...... not so much.

The girls were absolutely fascinated by the whales.
Preston was ticked off that we didn't get soaked even though we were in "the soak zone"

Morgan and Preston really liked the dolphin show and carried their stuffed dolphins ALL OVER the park.
Shelby just thoroughly enjoyed the frozen lemonade. I think she had 5 of them. My kids are WAY into the whole "punch buggy" thing. They got SOOOOO excited when they saw the "shamu punch buggy."
After our day in the park, we explored San Diego for a couple hours then made our way back to L.A. Sea World was fun, but not necessarily a place we'll be making a special trip to!
Part 3 to come.

Family Vacation Day 1

We've been wanting to take the kids to Disneyland for years, but have never been able to go. This year we finally made the trip!!! I've been to Disneyworld at least 50 times, but never Disneyland. We had a blast!!! I don't let my kids go to any kind of carnival (carnies freak me out), so they'd never seen anything like this in their lives. Preston was completely terrified on all of the roller coasters... while he was on them. When he got off he'd either say, "That wasn't too scary." or "THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!" but he had ZERO desire to go on the rides again!
We were a little concerned about going in the middle of the summer, but it worked out perfectly. Sunday was overcast so the weather was great and there was hardly any crowd whatsoever.

My little Princesses and the castle. Morgan was SO disappointed that Sleeping Beauty wasn't actually in her castle!When we were waiting in line to meet the princesses, this little girl latched on to Shelby. She was so stinkin' cute! She sat there for about 10 minutes showing Shelby all of her autographs and asking her questions.
What would a trip to Disneyland be without a princess make over? This is what Preston thought of the whole Princess thing..... This is actually one of my all time fave things to see at Disney. It always amazes me to see little kids fall asleep with so much going on around them! I have to admit that it melted my heart to watch Chris carry him around the park for over an hour.Doesn't every little boy have to try to pull the sword out???



One of the funniest things of the trip: Halfway through the Small World ride, Preston stood up in the boat, covered his ears and screamed "STOP SINGING THAT SONG" when that didn't work, he pulled out his Buzz Lightyear laser gun and started shooting all the robots. We were cracking up!!!You have to have the Mickey Ears! (I have to say, they have MUCH cooler ears now than they did when I was little)
FYI: When Disneyland says "Mile High Cake" they aren't kidding. Look at the size of this thing. Keep in mind that the plate it's on is a FULL SIZE DINNER PLATE!
Parts 2 and 3 to come.......