Hey Mickey You're So Fine

We decided to get out of town and go to Disneyland for a week. Most of Chris' family made the trip as well. It was a very fun family vacation and fun to spend time with everyone. We had a delightful time.

Our vacation started after Provo because I had to take a statistics final exam there. And I actually passed the class. Hallelujah!

After that, my awesome sister-in-law had planned a family amazing race (like the show) for all of us who had to make the drive to California. It was awesome. She had all of these challenges that we had to complete at gas stations and 12 challenges that had to be completed on the road between specific places. Anyway, a big thanks goes out to Em for keeping us pretty entertained on the 10 1/2 hour drive there. We had to sing in the bathroom stall, dance outside the car while it was gassing up, and Kaylee wore a napkin hat into the gas station that she had made. Here are the hats that Chris and I made. Chris almost ran off the rode, but it was well worth it to accomplish the task at hand. Notice the lovely rosette. Who knew such beauty could be created from a Subway napkin?

Sunday night we finally arrived in Anaheim. We were up early on Monday anxious and ready to get into Disneyland. Monday we did tons of rides. Pirates of the Carribean was our first ride of the day. Kaylee hated it and I thought we might not get her on another ride, but we found the Winnie the Pooh ride soon after and redeemed ourselves. We did tons of rides including It's a Small World which brought back fond childhood memories. The girls loved the Snow White wishing well and were both singing into it. We finished off our day with the parade, which the girls also thought was way fun.

Tuesday we went into Disneyland and met Pluto, Goofy, Mickey, Minnie, and Chip and Dale. The girls lucked out being last in line for Minnie and Chip and Dale. Because they were last in line for Minnie, Mickey ran over and got in their picture too. How cool is that? Unfortunately neither of the girls are looking or acting as excited as their mother was in the picture.

After meeting all of the characters we headed over to California Adventure for a funfilled day. We went on Soaring over California which is my new favorite ride and also did Tower of Terror; it was definitely a thriller. Another highlight was Turtle Talk with Crush where Crush the Sea Turtle from Finding Nemo is on a screen and interacts with the audience. He picked on Kaylee to ask him a question and she asked if he ever had seen Ariel, to which the whole audience responded with an "Ahhhhhh." He told her that he hadn't but that he had met Sebastian. We also found out which Disney character we were most like. I was like Ariel which made my girls think I was so cool. Man it felt good :). Chris was like Gepetto and Kaylee was like Dot on Bug's Life.

Wednesday we were ready for some rest and relaxation. We went to Salt Creek Beach where we enjoyed a beautiful day. It was so nice because Ray, Chris' bro found out a nicer, less touristy beach from a friend of his who lives in CA. Hardly anyone was there. We played ultimate frisby and sand volleyball and saw a sea lion. I love the beach! The kids loved it too. Brianna was scared of the waves and would run away when the water would come up to her. Honestly I think the girls liked the beach just as much as Disneyland.

Thursday we went back into Disneyland and met the princesses. The girls loved it. They saw Cinderella, Jasmine, and their favorite Ariel.

This pic is of Brianna pretending to take a nap on a park bench. She is such a tease. She's always making us laugh.

Thursday afternoon, we went back to the hotel early and all took a nice long much-needed nap.
Friday we went and enjoyed a couple more rides, but it was so busy we didn't stay long. Here's Kaylee on Buzz Lightyear.

All in all, we had such a great time. It was so much fun to see the girls' excitement and to enjoy family time together. Now we're adjusting back to normal life. I went grocery shopping at our small local grocery store the other day and Kaylee asked me if we could go to the Disney section of the store. I just laughed. It might take her longer to adjust. :)