Huntington Beach & Disneyland

We flew into the LA area pretty early on the 8th. And we had the rest of the afternoon to kill. So we drove out to Huntington Beach to fill up our souls with the joy that is any time spent at a beach. Jenna was in heaven building her sand castle. And playing in the FREEZING water with Casey, "Hurry Dad, run, the waterfall is coming." What a great afternoon.

 We spent the evening walking around Downtown Disney getting ready for the next day! You know, getting our game faces on. It was okay, we didn't do a whole lot of shopping, so it felt like we were walking for walking's sake. So we didn't stay long.

 We had an amazing time at Disneyland! It honestly could not have gone better. With this many people we have had trips in the past where a lot of time has been wasted trying to decide what to ride next, or where we are eating, etc. But this trip went so smoothly. We did split up for a little so that the Quarders could hit the new Cars Land in California Adventure. But otherwise we were together the entire time and went smoothly from ride to ride. We all felt like we got everything in we wanted to. All of the kids did amazing. None of them really napped, but were still well behaved. We had so much fun! 

 Jenna was absolutely terrified of the characters! Scared to death. Any time any of them came within 10 feet of us she would start to cry and say, "Hold you, hold you, hold you." until one of us picked her up.  She was a little better with the fairy godmother probably because you can see her face. 

As you can tell from her face, Jenna was a little unsure about The Pirates of the Caribbean. Of course, she promptly asked to go on it again as soon as it was over. 

 She started running out of steam during the firework show...

...and was asleep before the show was over. A day well spent! And she was fantastic. 

 

The next day we drove home with my mom. With a special stop in Barstow for some mustaches. Cuteness!

Disneyland - Day Two

Another GREAT day at Disneyland. I really do love this place. Jenna got a new Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal from Grandma Lor and she was in heaven. 

Jenna was NOT a fan of the characters, but loved playing in Mickey and Minne's houses. Chloe was tall enough to go on the roller coaster in Toon Town. She was in love...arms in the air, screaming at the top of her lungs. It was so fun to watch! Cooper was so happy to see Buzz Lightyear on the Buzz Lightyear ride. We did hit California Adventure for a little bit today, but there weren't a whole lot of great stuff for the kids where there wasn't a crazy long line. 

Jenna kept doing yoga in the middle of the lines. It was the absolutely the funniest thing to watch. 

Disneyland - Day One

We had the funnest time at Disneyland today! The weather was a little cold and drizzly but not horrible. My cousin Dori, Bryce, and Jen happened to be there as well, so we caught up with them for a little dessert and a couple rides.

Jenna was a total ham. She loved dancing to the music on the rides, especially the carousal. She absolutely love Pirates of the Caribbean and Winnie the Pooh. She had a great time with her Grandma Lor and was such a dream. And honestly...does she get any better?

It was the so fantastic getting to share The Happiest Place on Earth with the Quarders! Chloe and Cooper were so much fun. My favorite thing was watching Chloe sing "I'm Wishing" from Snow White into the wishing well. It was just so tender!

Staycation...Day Two (Disneyland)

For day two at the big D, my Dad and his wife, Holly joined us. It was another fabulous day. These weather both days was great, the lines were not bad at all, and the kids once again were amazing. They were just starting to put out all their Christmas decor and it was so fun to see it all up. It was my first time that I can remember being able to see the winter decorations up. Jenna was especially intrigued by The Nightmare Before Christmas decorations they had in the Haunted Mansion. I also wanted to share the fabulous video of Chloe trying to figure out who's castle is in Disneyland. She starts out emphatically knowing it is hers and by the end of the video it really everyone's. So cute!

Staycation...Day One (Disneyland)

I realize that much to my disappointment, I do not still live in San Diego. But we are down there often enough that when my sister, Sara proposes a "staycation" I know she mean California. For our vacation this year we hit Disneyland, Sea World, have the Malan Thanksgiving, and ended the week with the joint first birthday party for Cooper and Jenna. There were WAY too many pictures to try and post them individually. I thew a couple collages together and I hope you can see the pics okay. So without further adieu I give you, our staycation:

My mom and her friend, Sara, as well as Chris' mom joined us for the first day at Disneyland. I must say, I LOVE Disneyland. Jenna had a pretty good time as well. We wore out all of the kids as you can tell from the sleeping stroller shots. I think the Winnie the Pool ride was Jenna's favorite. She also really liked to dance to the Pirates of Caribbean music. As the video shows...

Looking forward to day two tomorrow!

California he we come!

We got invited to California by some of our neighbors and decided to join them for a couple of days. We took Jenna to Disneyland and she was (as always) a total dream. She went on almost every ride with us, took great naps in her stroller, and was so cute. The lights and colors were quite fascinating for her. It was a great time!