Ariel's Grotto

One of the highlights of this trip! It was really cool and I totally recommend Ariel's Grotto. Especially if you have little girls that LOVE the Disney Princess. We really don't have anyone who is CRAZY for them, but it was cool anyway. The service was fantastic and the food was really good too. I was worried that the kids wouldn't find much to eat but they loved it. Plus not having to wait in line for a minute with the the Princess was all worth it. They came to the table and spent a lot of time posing and taking pictures with the kids. It was fun!

California Adventure

We said goodbye to Disneyland and headed to California Adventure. We had a lot of fun there and some not so much fun there! We had a blast going to Playhouse Disney because Logan and Lauren LOVE Mickey's Clubhouse and Handy Manny. So they thought it was awesome. Logan was yelling when it was over "Ohhh TOOTLES!" and it was very cute. I love the Bug's Life 3D show. It creeps me out every time, but I love it anyway. The crowds were so much better in CA that we could actually breath a little bit.

Now...for the not so much fun. BEWARE THIS PART MIGHT BE CONSIDERED TMI. But it needed to be documented!

Taelor had gotten sick in middle of the night and decided to stay at the hotel with mom and dad for the day. Which was the best decision because it was rainy and kinda cold. Then the next day Haden started puking and we tried to have him stay, but he was so sick so Karen ended up taking him back to the hotel. Then Lex started puking and so I took her back to the hotel and stayed with the kids so Karen could come back. Not long after that Cass called and said she felt bad and then Regan puked as well. So much for an exciting New Years Eve in California Adventure. We were all asleep by 11:00. The good news...it was only the 24 hr bug and everyone was good to go the next day. So we left our mark ALL OVER California that week. Haden left his mark in Adventure Land. Lex on the Vineyard in California Adventure. And Reg in the line for Tower of Terror and again on the plane ride home. Cass and Tae did good and kept it to the bathroom at the hotel.

Oh ya....did I mention we lost Taelor and didn't realize it for 1/2 an hour! More on that to come in the next post!

And They Lived Happily Ever After

This trip was a once in lifetime experience. We had so much fun and it was great to be able to experience Disney through the kids eyes. We had the best of both worlds. Small enough kids to go on all the kiddy rides and big enough kids to have a partner on Tower of Terror. We built memories that will last a lifetime.

Here are some things I don't want to forget that happened!

Mom getting stuck in the railroad tracks

Lauren LOVING the teacups

Giving Logan and Lauren their first taste of gum

Dad saying.."I don't know where I've been and I don't know where I'm going." Poor guy!

Haden and I have a great converstation while he stood over the toilet puking

Logan, Lauren and I playing while the rest were on a ride. We just talked and played pretend.

Cass putting the chocolate shell up to her ear to see if she could hear anything

Seeing Goofy take Logan's hand and walk him up to his house. Logan couldn't stop kissing his nose.

Logan also wanted to kiss one of the princess and it was so obvious she didn't want him to so she kept on patting his cheek. He wasn't easily let down!

Lauren and Woody

Spending time with my family and laughing so hard my stomach hurt

Lexi sleeping between Mom and Dad

It's A Small World

It's A Small World was by far my favorite ride. I know it is kinda cheesy but I loved it. For one reason...we all got to go together. And two it was so cool all decorated for the holidays. I love it!

Teacups and Dumbo

We finally found a ride that Lauren liked. She LOVED the Teacups! When she got off the ride she said to Jeremiah "I love that ride. That was fun!" Then she pointed at Alice in Wonderland and said "That ride is too scary for me." There are a few rides in Disney and CA that just make me sick. So I volunteered to stay out with the babies. One time I was playing with the kids while everyone went on Soaring Over California. And they would do roll call and say "where's Haden go? where's Lexie go?" (and on and on) And I would say they are on a scary ride for big kids only. Lauren would say "To scary for me? Yes, to scary for you. To scary for you Kiki?" Yes to scary for me too" Then when everyone got back Logan ran up to Ron and said "Ron! Did you see monsters and ghost?" I couldn't figure out what he was taking about and then I realized that scary to him means monsters and ghosts!

1st day at Disneyland

My sisters found this computer program called Ride Max that will schedule your day for you so that you can mimimize your wait in line time. We were all a little unsure if it would work because we were there at such a busy time. The #1 rule the program gave us was to be there as soon as the park opened. So our first day we were there bright and early, ready to go! The decorations were FANTASTIC! Even though we were finished with Christmas the decorations and music were so much fun and just beautiful!

So we followed the Ride Max plan and it worked great. We did EVERYTHING we wanted to do and we didn't have to wait for any of the lines. Lauren hated the first ride (Peter Pan) and she was so not sure the rest of the day. More of that to come!

Disney Here We Come!

This year my family decided to do a really low key Christmas and go to Disneyland instead. We had SOOO much fun. I wished that Drena and her crew would have been able to make it. It would have been perfecti if they could have come.

I took so many pictures while we were there! 256 or something like that. It has taken me forever to go through them all and to blog about it. But it was such a good time I wanted to make sure I wrote about it for memory sake.

We woke up the Sunday after Christmas at 3:30ish. We had 18 people going with us and we all stayed at Karen's house so we could make it on time. Everyone was in such a good mood even with the early hour. We were all pretty excited!

The airplane ride was great. We all didn't get to sit together but we were able to switch seats during a short layover in Las Vegas. Logan did get to sit with "my Ron and my Haden". And Lauren did sit with "my Kiki". The kids all did very good!

I introduced Lauren and Logan to gum and this trip. Sharla had told Lauren no gum, but when she wasn't looking I gave her the smallest little piece. I told Lauren to keep our secret. She promply turned to Karen and said Momma Karen! I got gum! Loud enough for Sharla to hear. Our secret was out. What are aunts for if to not give them the things their moms won't right!!