Disneyland/California

We had SOOO much fun on our little family vacation last week! It's taken me a while to write on the blog, but it's just been so so busy lately. Right off the airplane we did what any sun loving people would do, and went straight to the beach!


Crystal loves the beach and of course went straight for the water. She dug herself up some seashells and played in the sand and thought it was the greatest thing ever. Seth on the other hand, was not a fan of the Sunblock Lisa smeared all over his head and face and body. Next time she'll get the spray like Liz suggested. Once the sun started going down we decided to head out, and Crystal cried because she thought it was evil of us to separate her from the beach. Gotta love the evil glare:

We went to our little hotel, which we made sure was within walking distance to Disneyland so we wouldn't have to pay for parking. We all showered the nasty sand off, and got settled into our rooms. While we were taking turns showering, Crystal had a great time making faces in the hotel mirror.

Then we went out to eat at BubbaGump Shrimp. For anyone who's never been, the whole restaurant is centered around the movie Forest Gump. The food is good too, if you're a seafood lover, like we are. We ate a pail of shrimp as an appetizer, and Lisa ordered shrimp stuffed with Lobster as her entreé, and Scott got Lobster claws with fried shrimp in a bucket.



We were going to go to Disneyland the next day, so we went to Target to grab some supplies that would come in handy at the park. Crystal kept trying to put all the nice looking bags of candy she could find into the shopping cart when nobody was looking, but of course we caught her every time.

Now that Crystal is older, she was able to appreciate her trip a whole lot more. She especially loved the aspect of having her very own bed.

The next day we went to Disneyland, and within minutes of walking through the entrance, Crystal found Pluto. This was her dream come true!

From then on, we met one character after another...




Crystals favorite ride that afternoon was definately the teacups.

We met up with Lisa's brother Mike, and his wife Jenna, and Lisa's sister Denise while we were there. We did a lot of child swapping so we could go on some bigger rides. We hit thunder mountain, Pirates of the Carribian, Indiana Jones, and then Crossed over to California adventure for a little bit. Lisa's brother, Mike is a big fan of the Twilight Zone tower of terror/Hollywood hotel over there, so we went on that one. It's one of those rides that drops you, but it's cool because it's centered all around the Twilight Zone series, and you board a freight elevator in an abandoned hotel that "Malfunctions." It totally messes with your head, because it keeps dropping you, then shooting you back up, then dropping you. It scared the crap out of Lisa, which, of course, made her love it, and was one of her favorite rides.

Of course because our kids are so little, they got tired.

So we took a break in the early evening and went to Tony Roma's for some Ribs...

Then after the kids took a nap, we went back to Disneyland to catch the fireworks show. The half hour firework show was spectacular...and they even had a halloween portion of the program for the season. It was also one of Crystal's highlights of the trip.



Of course, just like the beach, Crystal cried when the fireworks were over too. Ahh the joy of toddlers.

The park didn't close until midnight, and now the lines were extremely short because most people didn't take a break in the middle of the day to let their kids nap...so while everyone else was going home with their tired kids, we had a blast with ours!
Crystal loved the Dumbo ride...

Another one that we were suprised Crystal loved was the haunted mansion...which was completly redone to look like the nightmare before Christmas with pumpkins and christmas decorations. It was really cute. Instead of singing statues there were singing pumpkins, etc. Looked just like the movie.

We also hit the winnie the pooh ride, Peter pan, and Pirates for a second time. By midnight there were no lines at all so we could just walk straight to the ride, which was fantastic. Everybody was happy.


So that was a great day.
The next day, we went on the Jungle Cruise so crystal could see some animals, here we are in line for that:

However we spent most of our time in California Adventure. Crystal wasn't bored though because there were plenty of pixar rides and characters to entertain her.

She loved the Monster's Inc ride, and we went to several Pixar shows like a bugs life 3D show, and a feature where the kids get to talk to Crush the Turtle from Nemo and ask him questions. We went on the tower of terror again, and then went on California Screamin, which was another excellent roller coaster from start to finish. We liked it so much we went twice in a row. California adventure is great for the adults, because there are a lot of interesting shows, and it has more carnival rides adults can enjoy. There were two other roller coasters we enjoyed there, along with lots of twirly rides, and a couple of other drop rides. Anyone who goes to Disneyland should definitely get the hopper pass and enjoy the rides at California adventure too.
Crystal took a nap while we tried some of the big rides:

But she woke up just in time to catch the Pixar parade...


We then went on a couple of other rides, including Soarin' over California, and then headed back to Disneyland. Before going home that night we watched Disney's Parade of dreams for Crystal. She really loved this parade cause she got to see her favorite people: Princesses.





Once again, Crystal cried when it was over. Here is Scott trying to talk to her and comfort her.

We let her out of the stroller to calm down, and she immediately found comfort in trying to pick some flowers when she thought nobody was looking...

All in all, we had a great time, and loved being able to spend quality time as a family together. We grew closer together as a family and as a couple, which is what family vacations should be all about. That night we went out to Eat with Mike, Jenna, and Denise at the Cheesecake factory, and then we drove to San Diego and spent our last night at our Wonderful wonderful friends Liz and Dan's house. Thank you so much again Liz, for taking us in for one night. We owe you one! You're mattress was so comfortable, we've already decided to buy our own just like it because of you! Unfortunately the camera was packed or we would have taken pictures. Crystal had a great time the next morning playing with Soren and Anders and chasing each other around the kitchen. Crystal was so happy to have other friends to play with. We had so much fun on our trip, that we're going this time of year every year, because the weather is perfect, and the lines for the rides aren't too long at all. Anyone want to plan for next October and come with us?? We'd love to go with a bigger group. (: