Two weeks ago we were able to go to Disneyland for spring break. I know that I have said that Christmas is my favorite time to be at Disneyland but I was wrong. There is something about springtime there, it's amazing. Living in Utah it seems like winter may never end but when you get to Disneyland you realize that there is still hope for good weather. It's warm and sunny and happy, not cold and cloudy and depressing. I think that my favorite thing to do while I am there is point out all the different kinds of flowers. My mom had an amazing green thumb (she got yard of the week in Orem 3 years in a row!) and was always telling me the different kinds of flowers whenever we would go anywhere. Seeing and knowing all these flowers makes me feel close to my mom and I know its cheesey but I hope one day Olivia and Harris will be somewhere and recognize a flower that I have pointed out and know what it is.
Harris was so funny this trip. He abbreviated everything! So here are the kids on Mr. Toad, Pooh Bear and Casey Jun Jun. I didn't get a pic of him on his favorite ride Pi's aka Pirates. Haha! Silly boy. We did actually get to do Casey Junior twice this trip! We haven't done this ride in years because the line is forever long but because we were there during the week it was pretty slow.
Since there are 4 of us we take turns with each other on the rides. Usually these are the two rides we end up doing the most ; Splash and "Autop". Splash is my favorite and Autopia is the kids favorite especially at night.
The last few times we have been to Disneyland my dad has come with us. I was sad this time that he wasn't going to be able to be there because we were going during the week. Well Wednesday morning he called and asked us what ride were on. I told him that we hadn't quite made it to the park yet but we were on our way. After I hung up I thought that was a weird phone call and then it donned on me "He's Here!". Sure enough when we walked into the park there he was leaning against a light post waiting for us. I was so glad he came the kids were too. They immediately started fighting over who got to go on what rides with him. It was a great surprise!
This is poor Harris on our way back to the Disneyland Hotel on the last night. He was so sad. He cried all the way back to the hotel that he "wished we lived at Disneyland". It broke my heart. Usually the kids are fine with leaving because they know that we will be back sooner rather than later. I think that he wanted to stay because it is a familiar place to him and New Mexico where we were headed "home" to was still very unfamiliar. Thankfully after a good nights sleep (and we promised we already had the next trip back booked.) he was fine with going "home".
So another Disneyland trip has come and gone. Siiiigh. We had a blast as usual. Here are some pics of our fabulous time. This giant Mickey jack-o-lantern is so cool! At night it is lit up and flickers like there is a candle in it. Love it!
As you know we love finding new characters and this trip was no exception. We saw a ton of new ones (check the slide show) and were so excited! You can imagine Harris' excitement when we saw these guys. Jack and Sally. From his favorite show "The Nightmare Before Christmas". We were lucky to see them. They were only out one other time over the weekend.
As I said Harris' favorite show is "The Nightmare Before Christmas". At Halloween and Christmas they redo the Haunted Mansion to match the movie. So of course we have to do the ride a million times. It is very cool at night because the whole outside of the Mansion is decorated with jack-o-lanterns. I tried to get a picture but it is just too dark. So here is my cute family waiting in line for the ride.
Silly kids waiting in line for Haunted Mansion Holiday...again.
On Sunday my Dad joined us at Disneyland. It was his first time there in almost 20 years! Liv decided that sitting in the very front on Screamin' was the best way to reintroduce him to the park. Dad was a sport and did everything the kids wanted him to do. I'm pretty sure he had a great time. :)
How cute is this pic! Dad and Harris did Autopia together with Harris at the wheel. Dad came away with just some minor whiplash. ;)
Being goofy with Grandpa while waiting for Nemo.
Heehee. Poor Dad. He loved every minute of it. Really.
On July 29th we packed up Chet's car and headed out for Cali, road trip style. Since I hate to drive we made sure to make lots of stops along the way. Our first stop was in Beaver at the DFA store for some squeaky cheese and ice cream. (I remember stopping there with my family when I was a kid.) We continued on to Fillmore and went to the original state capitol. It was actually not as boring as I thought it would be. There were lots of really cool pictures of the locals that helped build the building and lots of antiques that family's who have lived in the area since the beginning have donated. After we had our fill of Utah history we made our way to Las Vegas where we spent the night at the Golden Nugget. Yep the Golden Nugget. We stayed there because they recently did a 30 million dollar renovation on the pool and built a shark tank with a pool around it and a slide through it. The tank went all the way down to the bottom of the pool so when you were under water you couldn't tell that there was a tank there! It freaked Harris out. He would go under and then pop back up as soon as a shark swam by and say "too close, too close!". We had a great time at the pool and got a good nights sleep before we finished our journey to San Diego. (You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.)
7/31
Solana Beach was our first stop in Cali. We spent the day with my dad playing in the waves, boogie boarding and building sand castles. Harris and Liv both did great on the boogie boards! They both got slammed at least once but got right back on the board ready for more. That night however both the kids had sand scratches on their tummy's. Liv said the cutest thing to me when she got out of the shower, she said "Mom, I have sand scratches on my nibbles.". Suppressing a laugh, I just smiled and said "I'm sorry, do you want the Neosporin?" Could she be any cuter?!
8/1
We went to Sea World two years ago for the first time as a family. While we were there we bought Harris a small stuffed Shamu that he fell in love with.(He's holding it in the picture with the Shamu character and it's in his shirt at the show. He had to show Shamu to Shamu.) He has slept with that Shamu every night for the last two years! He was so excited when we got to the Shamu show that he was shaking! (Sea World is like Christmas to him.) We went to both Shamu shows that day and got there an hour early for the second show. It was worth it! We were right next to Shamu! He was hanging out right in front of us for the whole hour before the show started. Harris was in Shamu heaven! It more fun to watch Harris than the show. His eyes would just light up every time Shamu would jump out of the water. Needless to say it was hard to leave. Harris was so sad he cried. It broke my heart, but I promised him that we will go back next year.
8/2
The San Diego Zoo is awesome! When we got there is was already lunch time and they were doing some of the animal feedings. We jumped right in line to feed the giraffes. The kids thought it was great and a little gross. The giraffes would stick their long blue tongues out and take the biscuits from the kids hands leaving behind a trail of slime. When we were done with that we made our way through the zoo with our map in hand. The next stop we made was to see the new elephant exhibit. It was awesome. It did a history of ancient animals in California. Like the Woolly Mammoths, and Saber Tooth Cats. (Which the kids are sitting on a statue of.) Which lead to the big cats and the elephants, obviously. We made our way to the Pandas and then the hippos which Harris had to sit on the ground and watch swim. That was cute because last time he was terrified of the hippos and wouldn't even look at them. I really wanted to see the Okapi. They are a giraffe and zebra mix. They are beautiful! Well, the San Diego Zoo is ginormous and we got lost trying to find it! When we did finally find it it was way in the very back of the cage eating! Lame. Oh well. All in all it was a fabulous day.
These are some pictures we took of the animals that we got to see. It was the Panda's 4th birthday that day. He was so cute! The Okapi is in the next picture. Can you see him? The Capybaras are giant rodents that love the water and were swimming around the whole time we watched them. And finally, the most awesome lion I have ever seen! He was gorgeous and knew it!
Chet's grandparents and great-grandparents (Liv and Harris' great and great-great-grandparents!) live in the San Diego area so we were fortunate to spend two nights hanging out with them. The first night we went to dinner at the Fish Market, it was wonderful. The next night we got together they were kind enough to invite us over to their house for a home cooked meal. Chet's grandma Cheryl is a wonderful cook! It was such a nice break from eating out. After dinner, Harris played ball with Papa Jay, his great-grandpa, and Liv learned a little bit of guitar from her great-aunt Lauren. (Who just turned 24.) I am so glad that we had the opportunity to spend time with them and look forward to spending more time with them on our various trips to Disneyland.
8/3
We never go to Disneyland in the summer (too busy!) but since we were in California and we have annual passes we had to go see the new "Summer Nightastic" . I really wanted to see all of the things that they were doing for it but some of them overlaped, so we chose the parade and the fireworks. The parade was kind of lame. I was very disappointed. It was just some dancers and some characters dancing around in the street and then riding around in these little chariot things. The fireworks, on the other hand, were amazing! They were the coolest fireworks I have ever seen. I did wish that they would have played more songs though. We also spent some time in California Adventure where Harris got to do Grizzly River Run and Mulholland Madness for the first time. He has been wanting to do GRR forever and he finally got to do it. Yay! Chet and Liv did Screamin and sat in the front which is their fave. I was happy walking around and looking at all the renovations they are doing. It is going to be so much better when its done! I can't wait!
It was a wonderful week! I am so grateful for the many opportunities that we get to go on vacations together. I look forward to every single moment I get to spend with my family.
