The Happiest Place on Earth!

Yes, Disneyland. My wonderful parents took our family to Disneyland last week and we had a blast! The entire trip was basically planned around Marin and the rest of my family members were pretty good sports about it. Warning: Picture overload ahead...

Day 1: Plane ride and 1st day at Disneyland

We thought we had better go straight to Disneyland since we had hyped Marin up so much about it and she thought the plane was landing in Disneyland. Our plane left pretty early, but Marin was wide awake, bouncing off the walls with excitement. She thought it was so cool that they brought her pop and pretzels. She loved the take-off. I kept looking over at her and she'd give me this huge cheesy smile and say, "I'm SO excited!"


Kate wasn't quite as thrilled, but she fell asleep before take-off and was an angel for the ride!


Next up, DISNEYLAND!!

Oh what a day! It was everything Marin had hoped for and more! She enjoyed herself thoroughly. She was such a trooper! My mom bought her a Cinderella dress and she put it on and wore it the whole day. She looked so dang cute with her little tennis shoes poking out of the dress!



Kate had a blow-out at every single day of our trip. We just kept collecting plastic bags from all of the gift shops to put her soiled clothes in! My mom bought her this little Mickey Mouse outfit and it was so cute, but we needed a red bow or something because little Kate looked like a boy! This is inside "It's a Small World" ride. They've really improved this ride since I was last there! Kate was completely mesmerized by it!



With my mom at the Sleeping Beauty castle.


Pixie Hollow


Blake was a good sport and watched Kate during a few of the rides. I can't believe he let himself miss out on the Peter Pan ride here!


The parade was so great that Marin wouldn't turn around for a picture!


Disneyland can really tucker you out!

We took the kids to our sweet hotel rooms (thanks dad), fed them, and put them to bed. My parents stayed with them while Mitch and I, Avree and Matt, Jaren and Callie, and Blake went back to Disneyland. We rode all of the bigger rides and had a way fun time. The park is open until midnight so that's how long we stayed. It was great, not busy at all. Blake totally kept us all laughing, he's the funniest kid ever.

Day 2: Newport Beach!

When I was growing up we vacationed several times to Newport Beach. It's such a beautiful beach and it's never been too crowded. It was sunny and warm (high 80's), we couldn't have asked for a better day! Mitch rented a surf board, I did a little boogie boarding. Marin loved it. We stayed all day and she never got sick of it.



Hang loose!


This is what Marin loved doing for hours. Just jumping the waves.


Building sand castles..Marin didn't really have the patience for this. I wanted to build an awesome huge one, but Marin and Spencer (my sister Avree's boy) would just knock them down.


My brother Jaren's wife Callie and Marin. Marin totally loves Callie and Callie puts up with Marin begging her to play with her like every second!


This was also a good time!


I boogie boarded for an hour or so, it was great. It is something sporty I can actually do! Funny story though: So my swimsuit bottoms were a little loose. I had been working at catching a good wave for quite awhile. My brother Jaren was giving me pointers. I have a hard time getting out to where the waves break because, well, I'm a wuss. So anyway, I saw this wave coming, it was just starting to form right behind me... I jumped on my board, started kicking, Jaren's giving me pointers "scoot up, point the front down!..." and I catch it. One small problem, my swim bottoms are around my ankles. I look around, no one's close enough to really see, so I ride it in, bare white butt in the air! It was great... until I got too close to a guy on the beach, at which point I bailed and jumped under the water and pulled my bottoms up. It was worth it. I love boogie boarding!


Day 3: Sea World and Phil's Barbecue

Well we had some camera problems (great, you're thinking, no more pictures!). Our camera broke and Avree took some nice pictures, but... Matt accidentally lost them. Luckily, Jaren and Callie took some cute ones. I just have yet to get them. We had a really fun time at Sea World. Marin thought Shamu was amazing. There were some fun rides too. Marin's favorite was the Elmo ride.

My favorite part of the day though was the ribs at Phil's Barbecue. I read about it online and we thought we'd try it and although we had to wait about 45 minutes and were all DYING of starvation after being in the sun all day, it was worth it! SO GOOD! Recommend it to everyone! Best onion rings I've ever tasted!

Day 4: Sunday, church, Richard Nixon Library
This was a great day to relax and enjoy ourselves. After Google Maps led us astray once (it took us to a golf course, not a church) we finally found a ward to go to. Nice that the church is the same everywhere... not that I expected it to be so different in Anaheim, but you know, it's just nice. After that the kids napped while my Avree and Matt, my dad, and I went to the Richard Nixon Library. It was super cool because we are all nerds. Sadly, we lost the pictures of us all outside his helicopter making the peace sign with our hands. Classic. The inside of the helicopter was so great. All mustard yellow and orange. It was pretty small too. Nicole (my sister-in-law history teacher) you would probably have loved it.

Day 5: Disneyland again and HOME!

This was the day I scheduled our lunch with the princesses. It was so fun, Marin was in heaven. She got to meet every princess (except Jasmine, she informed me!). The food was good too!



Conversation with Cinderella:
Cinderella: Hello what is your name?
Marin: --- (just stares)
Cinderella: I love your shoes! I'm always losing mine!
Marin: (Big smile) Oh yeah!
Then she gave Cinderella a hug! This is big for those of you who know Marin. She's not really a hugger.





This was definitely the day Marin got to meet a bunch of characters. I'll spare you the pictures of all of them, but here's Minnie. Marin was most excited to meet her (well, besides the princesses). Mitch took Marin on Thunder Mountain roller coaster and she wasn't even scared. She kept seeing the big roller coaster at Adventure Land and saying, "Mom, I want to go on that train ride!" It was a great roller coaster though.


And, this is how we ended the day again! We just took our sleeping kids out of the rental car and let them sleep in their carseats at the airport. Oh, and our flight was delayed 2 hours. We ordered pizza into the airport and watched The Office on Matt's laptop. And then I left my nursing pump bag at the terminal.. security found it and brought it to me but it took 1/2 hour. We finally made it home at 2 a.m.

I love vacations, but it sure is nice to come home and sleep in your own bed! Thanks so much mom and dad, what an amazing time!