California part 2

Our California extravaganza continued...

On Breton's last day with us, we ventured over to Balboa Island and found a cute little ferris wheel we thought the kiddos would like.  I'm not quite sure what Addie thought, I'm thinking this face says pure terror?? She refused to take her eyes off the ground

Not even for a quick pic with her mama.

YAY we at least got one decent pic of all of us.

And this face: I'm about to barf everywhere?? I guess we won't be going on ferris wheels anytime soon. Poor thing. Lucky for us there was no barfing. Phew.

Trista and Audrey

Wayne and the boys

As you can see it was a dark and dreary day and started to rain just after we got off the ferris wheel, so it was a short trip to Balboa but we couldn't leave without taking a quick run over to the beach, Will and Sam were down on the beach terrorizing the birds...what else should we expect

We said goodbye to Breton that night as he headed home on what was suppose to be a 9:20pm flight but ended up being 11:45pm before leaving LAX, thanks to LAME delta. Luckily he made it home safe and sound and rolled into bed about 3:30am...just in time to start his Orthopaedic rotation a few hours later.

On monday we took a drive down to Huntington Beach and walked down the pier before grabbing a bite to eat. Trista and Josh met at Huntington Beach 8 years ago when they both lived there for the Summer, so we had to come back and check it out. Beautiful beach and really fun area. Addie was mezmorized by the waves and the little surfers down below.  Had it been warmer and not drizzling we could've had some more beach time, blasted rain. I didn't dare get her out of her stroller, I think the ocean below looked a LITTLE too tempting

***DISNEYLAND DAY 1***

Arriving to the Park! Yes I took a risk and brought Addie's very special blanket to Disneyland, call me crazy. I just prayed we wouldn't lose it somewhere. It is her MOST favorite thing in the whole world and will make her happy no matter what. So I was constantly looking down every second to make sure it hadn't fallen out of the stroller. It was also essential for her mid-afternoon snoozes, hooray for naps!

Right as we arrived, we ran right into Snow While as we were passing Sleeping Beauty's castle and had to stop to meet her

Dumbo ride

Tea Cups=serious dizziness

Mid-day nappers Addie and Ryan

Audrey elected to not take a nap

So I have to say, its a small world was definitely the highlight. They had seriously pimped out the outside and inside. The picture does not do it justice. The outside looked amazing and so magical. I think they'd done this for the Holidays, as a lot of the inside was tweeked to have a Christmas theme, but they should keep the outside like this always cause it was WAY cool

The entire clan!

minus my Dad=the photographer

Its a small world was also the highlight for Addie too I think.  She smiled and laughed and sat in amazement the 3 times we rode it. This was the most emotion she showed on any of the rides she rode.

Splash Mtn

WOOHOOOO!

Will and Sam were SOAKED from the waist down. Trista and I in the back didn't get a drop.

***DISNEYLAND DAY 2***

We opted to get the 3 day hopper pass, thinking we'd spend most our time in disney but wanted to venture over to California Adventure too. We spent most of the morning and early afternoon at Cali Adventure on day 2 but most of the rides were big kid rides, although a lot of the park was under construction with what will be some sweet younger kid rides to come (Cars, Little Mermaid, etc.)

Although California Coaster and Tower of Terror were a couple we were happy we hit cause they were awesome!

BUT We got to meet Sully!

LOVE this movie. Can't wait for Addie to love it too. She reminds me a bit of Boo with her piggy tails she normally sports and all her jibberish talk

Couldn't pass up the sweet picture opp below.

The faces of the kiddos crack me up, brutal honesty.  We were starting to drag a little bit at this point...

Day 2 napper- woohoo

***Disneyland Day 3***

We met the Mouse!

This was probably the one character Addie possibly recognized since lately she really started to like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, she'll get up and dance to it every morning

Got to tour Mickey's house and sit in his awesome chair

And the princesses! OH the princesses!

Addie probably could've done without since she doesn't know these princesses yet, BUT my other two nieces Courtney and Audrey really really loved this part. Especially cute Courtney. She was SO happy that she got a picture all by herself with Snow White.

Sleeping Beauty

Addie hugged Jasmine and blew her a kiss when we walked away. And she's never blown a kiss to anyone. So I'm thinking Jasmine is the front runner.

Minnie Mouse!

Yes we made the rounds!

Minnie's house was pretty darn cute and we probably wore out our welcome.  We even had a tea party.

And cleaned up after ourselves when we were through.  Addie thought this dishwasher was pretty awesome.

At the wishing well in Minnie's backyard.

Cute Addie was lovin it.

My nephews Will and Sam got picked out of a crowd of crazy boys to do Jedi training! And not just against anyone but against Darth Vader! (I think?) and some other scary armed Jedi's with lightsaber's

This was def the boys disneyland highlight

AND they taught Addie their new Jedi moves later than night. This will be essential if she ever runs across Darth Vader.

Day 3 getting wrapped up, on the little choo choo train with gma, I think this was the only ride I'd never been on before

Oh my little Addie boo.

She was a total crackup. Can't get enough of her.

We headed on home around 5pm after doing one last fastpass at Indiana Jones. We were all seriously BEYOND exhausted at this point. At least I know I was. 3 days of Disney just about did me in...

Some other Disney highlights:

-Pirates of the Carribean, everyone could ride it and we all loved it-

-gross food (except for the churros) that is all EXTREMELY overpriced-

-navigating 7 adults, 6 kids including 4 strollers through the park without losing anyone, thanks to cell phones-

-carrying 4 strollers on every train/tram and no children falling off the train/tram-

-seeing the daredevil side come out in Audrey and Ryan after Matterhorn and  toontown coaster-

And other California highlights:

-Pizookie dessert aka the most amazing dessert ever, we went back to enjoy several times-

-Addie having our whole table at BJ's rolling thanks to her late night delirium, this girl can get crazy when it gets past her bedtime-

-Knott's Berry Farm Chicken dinner=serious yumminess-

-life size chess game at our hotel where the pieces were as tall as Addie, they were Addie's new best friends-

We had a BLAST and can't wait to come back!