CA Trip-California Adventure

After our late night at Disneyland I figured we couldn't really handle being up quite as early as we were on Tuesday, but the kids were pretty much all up by 6:30 anyway so we still got a good start on our day at CaAdventure! We got there and had a little hiccup with the tickets. The comp ones my mom had given us to use from her Disney Magic Music Days had expired and I hadn't noticed, so we had to go and buy more tickets, but I'm glad we did. We had a blast and got the full Disney experience.

We started off by grabbing fast passes to Radiator Racers and the Frozen show, then we went on the Monster's Inc. ride. Love it! Next we went to Tower of Terror. While Ian took the big boys on it Talia and Beckett and I walked over to Bug's Life Land and rode the ladybug spinners and the chew chew train. Then we used rider swap for me to take Talia and Weston on Tower of Terror. It was mine and Tal's first time on it and we both loved it! Talia was so funny holding my hand and acting nervous, but then at the end she was ecstatic! She's so funny with how much she likes thrill rides!

After we got off of that we met up with Ian, Dav and Beck and we all went on the bumper bugs. Next we headed over to Cars Land! The last time we were at Disneyland (6 years ago) Cars Land wasn't there. It was super fun. We went on the Mater ride, which was actually really great. Then we took a quick potty/snack break before we got in line for the Frozen show. Our seats were waaaay up high in the Hyperion theater, but the show was really fun. It was basically the whole Frozen movie boiled down to all of the songs plus essential plot points. We all really liked it and I thought it was quality theater (great sets/effects/musical talent).

After the show Davin really wanted to go on Tower of Terror again, so Ian took all of the big kids on that while I took Beckett on the Monsters ride again. Then we had lunch. After lunch we hustled over to Cars Land and Ian took the big kids on Radiator Racers while I took Beckett on the new Luigi dancing ride. Luigi's ride was pretty awful. Very uncomfortable. Beckett was getting pretty tired by then too. As soon as we got off of Luigi I ran over and did Radiator Racers with the rider swap ticket with Talia and Weston. I loooved the racers! It was so much fun! Probably my favorite ride.

When we had finished in Cars Land we walked over to California Screamin and met up with Ian, Davin and Beckett at Ariel's Carousel. Ian and Weston went on California Screamin while I got in line with the other kids for Toy Story Mania. It was a loooong line that seemed never ending, but it did move pretty well. Beckett thought the giant Mr. Potato Head was pretty great. Ian and Weston caught up to us in line and we all went on Toy Story together. We had actually never been on this one before, but it was great! It was like playing video games all through the ride. Way fun.

When we got off Toy Story we walked around to the end of the Pixar parade route and grabbed a spot. We met up with Aunt Cindy and the Donovan family! They happened to be there that day too and it was super fun getting together to watch the parade. I love the Pixar parade because it's all the characters that my kids really know and love. I had been a little bummed that Beckett had slept through the Paint the Night parade, but he just loved the Pixar parade. :)

It was dinner time when the parade ended. Mom and Dad met up with us in Downtown Disney and picked up Davin, Talia and Beckett. They were tired and kind of done. Weston stayed with us to ride a few of the bigger rides. We got fast passes to CA Screamin. Someone had given us a rider swap ticket to the Radiator Racers earlier, so we headed to Cars Land to go on the racers one more time. Seriously so fun. Then went to grabbed some dinner in Cars Land. We ran into more nice people there who gave us an extra shake they had.

We were kind of stuffed after that. We met back up with the Brian and the big Donovan boys and sent them and Weston on California Screamin. They were so funny and planned to do "the dab" for their picture. Haha I love that they get along so well. Ian and I visited with Brian while we waited for the boys then we all headed over to Soarin. That was our last ride of the night. Ian had never been on it and they had changed the video since I had been on it, so that was fun. We decided not to stay for the World of Color water show since we were just really exhausted. We headed home. It was another really fun day and I felt like we got the full Disneyland experience and got to do everything we wanted to. Yay!

CA Trip-Disneyland!

Tuesday morning we got up super early and headed out for a full day at Disneyland! We were all pretty excited. We got there right when it opened and even had to wait a few minutes to get in the gates and then a few more minutes to get past Main Street. When we first walked in I popped into the town hall and got Beckett his 1st Time to Disneyland pin. The lady giving us the pin noticed Beckett's BB8 shirt and said if we wanted to do Jedi Training we had to go register first thing. I didn't even know you could register to be in the show, so that was super helpful. 

We started our day in Tomorrow Land since I figured all the big Star Wars rides would have the longest lines. Plus then we could register for Jedi Training! I sent Ian and the big kids on Star Tours first and went to register for Jedi Training, but found out the kids had to be there to register, so I took Beckett on the Nemo submarine ride while we waited for Ian and the kids to get back from Star Tours. They got registered for the last Jedi Training show at 4:30pm. We went ahead and went on Space Mountain using fast passes and rider swap. Then I took the kids on Star Tours again while Ian took Beckett on Buzz. The new Star Tours was so fun and the kids had to point out every single thing in the line. They loved it. The lines weren't too long yet.

After that I took the kids on Buzz while Ian walked over to Splash Mountain to get fast passes. We lucked out and someone gave us their Buzz fast passes while we were waiting in the outside line, which was super nice. Buzz is always a fun one! I walked the kids over through the castle to Fantasy Land where we only did the Dumbo ride. It was Beckett's only request. Ian met up with us there in the line. We lucked out again when the ride attendant miscounted and there wasn't room for Weston and Davin to go on the ride with the rest of us. They waited while Ian and I took Beckett and Talia on and then we all got to go again together. Beckett was thrilled he got to ride twice!

When we were done with Dumbo we decided we didn't want to wait in any lines for the little fantasy land rides, so we walked over to Splash Mountain. Ian took the big kids on it while I took Beckett on Winnie the Pooh. Twice. He loooved it. Davin wasn't a big fan of Splash Mountain and I didn't want to get all wet, so Ian used the rider swap pass and took Talia on Splash Mountain again while I took the boys on Haunted Mansion. It made Dav and Beck nervous. Davin didn't want to go on with Weston, so we all crammed into one car. I liked it. :)

We were all going to go on Haunted Mansion again but it ended up closing for a little while. We went on Pirates instead. It was a pretty long line but it moves fast. We all loved Pirates! By that time we were getting hungry, so I stood in line while Ian took the kids to the bathroom and got fastpasses for Thunder Mountain. We got corn dogs and chicken fingers for lunch in Frontier Land and just sat in the picnic area to eat. It was good to take a little break. We decided to go over to the Jungle Cruise after lunch. On the walk over to it Beckett fell asleep in the stroller, so I took the big kids on it while Ian hung out with sleeping Beckett. I love this shot I got of the elephant spraying the kids at the end of the Jungle Cruise!

Next we headed back to Thunder Mountain! Ian took Talia on it first. The boys and I ate fruit snacks and tried to find some shade. This was the only part of the day that we got hot. Then we used the rider swap and fast passes and I took the big kids on Thunder Mountain. Talia is such a daredevil and loves all the big roller coasters! It was getting close to time for the Jedi Training show, so we walked back over to Tomorrow Land. The boys wanted to build their own lightsabers for their souveneir, so we did that. Pretty exciting. Talia and Beckett each picked out a toy too. Beckett got toy story figurines and Talia got a Squirt stuffed turtle from Nemo.

We had a little time to kill before the Jedi show, so we went over to It's a Small World. Everyone liked it, especially me and Beckett. :) Ian took the kids to report for Jedi Training duty while Beckett and I saved seats in the pavilion for the show. It was so fun to watch the kids do the training. Talia was pretty clueless and kept waving to us. Weston and Davin were totally into it. All the kids ended up fighting the Seventh Sister (a Star Wars character I'd never heard of that may be made up?). They were a little disappointed they didn't get to battle Darth Vader. I was just glad they all fought the same bad guy. Love my little padawans!

After Jedi Training we went on Autopia then walked up to Toon Town to visit Mickey's house and get a picture with Mickey. The park was really crowded and we just hadn't wanted to spend the time waiting in lines to get pictures with characters, but I really wanted a picture with Mickey. Weston was super grouchy about having to walk to toon town and wait in line just for a picture, but we managed.

After the picture I sent Ian and Weston to save us a spot on Main Street for the parade. The other three kids wanted to go on the toon town coaster. It was a pretty long line for a little ride (40 minutes). When we got to the front I found out that I needed another adult to take Talia or Beckett since they were both too small to ride without an adult. Talia was about to go into full meltdown mode, but a nice dad in front of us waved one of his friends over and he rode with Talia. Whew! Crisis averted. I was kind of embarrassed but glad it worked out without a tantrum from Tal. I am so thankful for so many kind people that we encountered in the park!

We were all pretty tired by this point and it was getting close to parade time so we headed down to Main Street and found Weston and Ian. They had staked out a great spot for us! Weston was feeling better after sitting and resting and drinking water for a bit. We still had an hour and a half to wait, so Ian took the kids over to do the Jungle Cruise again (first time for Beckett) while I held our spot. When they got back we settled in and ate more snacks. It got chilly when it got dark, but as soon as Ian donated his button up shirt for Beckett's blanket he conked out in the stroller again. Just in time to miss the entire parade! The Paint the Night parade was so fun! A lot like the electric parade of the past, but cooler. We all really enjoyed it. Talia waved at the princesses and got a kiss blown from Ariel. :)

When the parade was over we moved out into the middle of Main Street to watch the fireworks. It was touch and go there for a bit if they were going to be able to do the fireworks, but I'm so glad they did! No one does a show like Disney and the fireworks were no exception. There was music and Tinkerbell flying over the castle and "real" snow and projections on the buildings lining Main Street. It may have made me tear up. So so good. We were all glad that we stayed late. We were bushed by the end and crashed in the car. What an amazing Disneyland day!!!

CA Trip-Memorial Day Weekend

We actually skipped the last day of school so that we could drive to California for our big summer trip! The last day of school is kind of a joke since the kids only go for an hour and ten minutes. They mostly just sign yearbooks and clean the classroom. Even so, the boys were a little bit disappointed. Luckily going to CA is a pretty good excuse to miss it. Friday was driving day and we made great time and got there around 4pm. We walked down to the park and played.

Saturday morning the kids played in the spa and then we got ready for the day. Grandma got out the kinetic sand to play with! The Henshaw's arrived around lunch time. We love getting to spend time with the cousins! When we were all together we went and got Thrifty's ice cream. It's seriously the best.

A little bit later that afternoon we all went to Medieval Times! Ian and I had both been once in high school. It was a super fun night! My kids didn't eat hardly anything, but they liked the show. Talia kept asking if the knights were dead for reals after every battle. Haha! Beckett got tired but loved the horses and there was a falconer too and he thought that was awesome. We cheered for the yellow knight. He threw a rose to Mimi. So fun!

That night the kids slept in a tent out in the backyard. This was Talia's first time sleeping out in the tent. She did pretty well, but they were all up super early. We went to church. The kids loved being visitors in primary. Some of our good friends were all in town for their mom's retirement party too so we hit the jackpot with catching up with people! Plus their kids were all visitors in primary too, so I think we probably doubled the primary with visitors. :)

That afternoon we played Plinko and Musical Bingo with prizes! It was pretty exciting. I was actually really impressed with the kids knowledge of the musical bingo board. Even Talia and Beckett knew musical terms like crescendo and forte from watching Little Einsteins. Dad made us a yummy dinner and homemade ice cream. We celebrated Mom's birthday a little bit early while we were all together. Us sisters gave Mom a drawing of Grandma and Grandpa Snowball for her birthday. She loved it.

We hung out doing what we do best (being lazy on the couch) and played some Quiplash. The kids got super into it. It's a fun game that you can play interactively from a phone or tablet. The kids camped in the backyard again. Monday was Memorial Day! The Henshaw's had to pack up and head home. We got ready that morning and went to visit grandparents. We saw Grandma Snowball first. We had a longer than normal visit with her since she was eating her lunch so we just sat with her until she was finished. She was doing pretty well and loved the drawing of her and Grandpa. I'm so glad we got to visit with her at home. About a month after our visit she took a turn for the worse and is now living in a homecare facility.

After we finished visiting with Grandma Snowball we picked up lunch from Taco Bell and took it to Grandma and Grandpa Olson's house. We ate there and visited with them for awhile. The kids colored and played with toys while we chatted. Talia gave Grandpa some good loves and we talked a little bit about the upcoming Dattage Family Reunion that our branch of the family was in charge of. It was a nice visit. We headed home in time to enjoy a rib bbq feast (thank you Dad!) with the Garcia's.

Dad also set up a BB gun target area along the back of the house and taught the kids how to shoot his BB gun. They loved it and got pretty good at shooting the little plastic army guys! Even Talia and I took a turn. Dean and Beckett (and Talia) played in the water table. It was the best Memorial Day!