**This post was written a while ago, but I finally got around to adding pictures today. We took over 500 pictures, and it was tough to choose what to put on the blog! James also made a little movie of it, which is even more awesome than this blog post with pictures, but here you go!! PS. There are still TONS of pictures on here. :) **
In April, our family (plus DaNae and Kevin) took a little vacation to California. Well, I guess I'll back up a little... back to the beginning of December. James and I went to his work Christmas party. They have a raffle every year that consists of a range of different prizes. On our way, we debated whether we were going to put in for it or not, and decided, okay, why not? (The money is donated to a charity/people in need each year-not always the same.) We didn't think we'd win anything, because the odds were not in our favor by any means, I'm sure. (a couple hundred employees, hundreds of tickets going in each box-- we bought ~30-35 tickets total, and spread them between three or four raffle boxes. Odds in our favor: very low.) Well, the big prize was- you guessed it- Disneyland! (It was either Vegas or Disneyland, but when that's the option, who really has to decide between the two, isn't the choice obvious?!) I was telling everyone around us at our table how BADLY I wanted us to win the trip. (James and I had been in California AT the gates of Disneyland in June 2009, but opted out of going, since I was 7 months pregnant at the time... James had never been inside Disneyland, and I wanted to go and do it right this time!) If we'd been in a room with a regular 8 or 10 foot ceiling, I'm sure I would have hit my head when they said James' name! I was so happy! We got a trip for 4, 3 day park hopper passes, flight and hotel. For the next 4 months, that was almost all I could think about. It was kind of silly, but I was beyond excited. I even told James I'd be okay if that's all I got for Christmas.... (although, of course, it wasn't.)
We knew we wanted to take our girls with us. (After all, Kiely
is kinda obsessed with princesses!) Plus, since Charlotte's so young, and I'm still her food source, it would have probably been a bigger pain
not taking her. We also knew we wanted to take at least one person with us... It was honestly kind of hard to decide in a way... There were a few different people we considered, but we decided it would be great to take Nae and Kevin. Because of this, there were basically only two different times we could go: April (during Spring break) or the end of July/beginning of August when EVERYONE is on break, taking family vacations, and it's hot. Even though it's literally one of the BUSIEST times of the year, we chose April. (By paying for the extra hotel night, we were able to stay for 5 days instead of 4, and we are very glad!) And now that we've done it, I don't think I mind the crowds too much-- as long as the situation is right-- and I wouldn't go back and change my mind about when we went now, either. We got to see pretty much everything we wanted to, including shows that
none of us had ever seen that were completely amazing!
Day 1: April 9, 2012- Arrive, check in, lunch, and beach!
We flew in during the late morning, and weren't supposed to check in to our hotel until 3 or 4. Luckily, when we got there, a room was ready for us! We stayed at Desert Palms which is on the same block as Disneyland, and was about a 1/2 mile walk to the gates... not too bad! It was nice to be close, and it was a nice place to stay, too. (Free hot breakfast, a pool, and the rooms were nice, too.) It was a warm day, and we were excited to go to Huntington beach! We chose to take the public transportation bus system. UGH! Wow. I remembered it being crazy from when James and I went, but I guess I forgot how crazy some of the people are that ride it... It was a LOOONG ride with the crazies, and I would not choose to ride it again if I didn't have to. (Especially with my kiddos!) But, eventually, we made it to the beach. (In the late afternoon/early evening.) None of us really wanted to get in the water all the way, and Charlotte hated the wind, but we made the best of it, and had some fun while we were there for a little while. (We may have been there as long as we rode the bus to get there, even! :) When James & I were in California when I was pregnant with Kiely, the beach was much warmer that day, I think. But, we still had fun this day, too!
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| "Just me & my dad" |
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| Kiely & James' footprints |
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| Looking out at the ocean |
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| Our Family Footprints |
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| All of us! |
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| James & the girls (with Kevin & Nae playing in the ocean) |
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| Our family |
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| Kevin & Nae- Kevin had a little accident at work before we left- thus the bandaid |
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| Nae & Kev's Footprints |
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| Kiely's just a little cold. ;) |
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| All of us- close |
When we were all tuckered out, and our toes were sore from the sand, we headed back to the hotel, but decided that we would NOT ride the bus back, and went to a fancy hotel close by and asked if they could call a taxi for us... we ended up riding in their sweet Tahoe instead!
Day 2: April 10, 2012- First day at Disneyland! :) Happy Anniversary, Kevin and Nae!
Before we left for the trip, I had done lots of research about how to make the most of our vacation, etc... but I have to say, reading about it, and then remembering it all was kinda tough. I did learn how to do the FastPass thing, which was great, because it helped us get through rides MUCH quicker than if we hadn't learned the trick! Here's the secret: if you have little kids (or a baby with you) that can't ride on all the rides, it can be beneficial, especially during the busy season. Two of us would get FastPasses for one ride, then the other two would get FastPasses for another, then when it was time to ride, we got RiderSwap passes which would allow the two that didn't have the FastPasses for that ride to go through the FastPass line. AWESOME! James, Kiely, and Charlotte's very first ride at Disneyland was the Jungle Cruise. We got through quite a few rides, including some of our favorites: Pirates of the Carribean and Splash Mountain! Indiana Jones is pretty good, too. Kiely enjoyed the Winnie the Pooh ride, and even liked Pirates!... She wasn't so much of a fan of the Carousel, though. (She didn't like riding by herself, and her seatbelt ended up slipping a little, so she didn't feel quite as safe.) She loved, Loved, LOVED the castle! I'm pretty sure just about every time it was somewhat in sight or other times, too, she'd say, "Should we go see the castle?!" I loved to see her eyes light up! That day, we got to watch Mickey's Soundsational Parade.It was pretty cool, although Kiely was asleep most of the time, so that was kind of sad. We woke her up to see the "butterfly princess" (Tinkerbell) and she thought it was kind of cool, but she was mostly tired. We also went to Bubba Gump's for dinner that night for Nae & Kevin's Anniversary... I wasn't really all that impressed for the price we paid, but we did get cool light up cups! or flashlight cups. haha! ;)
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| Before we left for the park |
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| Getting ready to go!! |
Charlotte cut her first two teeth before we left (we had been hoping that would happen so she wasn't miserable on the trip!) She cut one the Saturday before Conference, and the second cut through the Saturday before we left for the trip!
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| Excited for their first time at Disneyland! |
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| Happy 2nd Anniversary! |
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| Waiting for strollers |
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| CASTLE!! |
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| Kev & Nae |
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| James & Crissa |
For some reason we didn't take a picture in front of the castle with just our family. :(
Jungle Cruise, Tarzan's Treehouse & Pirates of the Carribbean
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| Yoho! My Pirates! :) |
Lunch @ Plaza Inn, Soundsational Parade
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| Yes. She slept through pretty much the entire parade... |
End of Day/Bubba Gump's
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| Stuck on the train. |
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| Flashlight Cups! :) |
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| Shirt we thought about getting for Jaclyn... |
Day 3: April 11, 2012- California Adventures
When we first got into the park, it rained a bit, and since the line was short, we went on Grizzly River Run. We went on California Screamin, Soaring Over California, Ariel's Under the Sea Adventure, Toy Story Midway Mania, Monster's Inc, and our little family went on Mickey's FunWheel. We were sad we missed out on Car's Land (by a couple months is all...) but we still had a blast, and that just gives us one more reason to go back and visit someday! Our favorite thing of the day was World of Color! It. Was. Amazing. One of my overall favorites from the trip. Colorful water. 200 feet in the air. Movie clips projected onto a water screen thing. Fire. Music. Yes. AWESOME!!
(These pictures are out of order, but this was what our day consisted of.)
World of Color!
Hopefully this works!
Day 4: April 12, 2012- Second Day at Disneyland, last day in the Parks
By day 3 in the parks, I think we'd figured things out pretty good... I'm SO glad we had 3 days instead of just one or two! In the morning, we met some characters, and then went to see what Kiely had been waiting for: the Princesses! They have their own special location (and I think I heard that they might be changing that again, too, not sure...) and you stand in line, and get to meet them one-on-one (instead of having the long line behind you). It was pretty cute, and special. I think that 4 would be the PERFECT age to take a little girl to see the princesses. Kiely was a little shy, but it was still adorable, and definitely worth the time. We rode Star Tours, Space Mountain, It's a Small World, Finding Nemo, and I think we went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad that day, too... Kiely loved the Tea Cups, and I wish we had ridden them more! She thought they were great, and after talking to James' mom, she told us that was one thing she remembered from her trip to Disneyland when she was really little. We also did some repeat rides of Pirates, Splash Mountain, and of course, Winnie the Pooh. Our day ended with Fantasmic! which was also one of our favorites. Nae and Kevin were kind enough to take Kiely back to the hotel with them while James and I got some souvenirs.
Last Day in Disneyland!
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| Kiely LOVED the teacups! Wish we would have taken her on them more! |
Before & at Fantasmic!
The Souvenirs we bought! James & Kevin made the frames.
Day 5: April 13, 2012- Back to SLC
Our last day in California was RAINY! We were glad that we didn't decide to go to the beach this day! We had bought a stroller on the first day in the park to take back and forth from the hotel, and we went to the gates to try to sell it to someone... It didn't work out in the park so well, because everyone with small kids were leaving since it was so wet. We did end up selling it to a lady back at our hotel, though. We left that afternoon from the John Wayne Airport, and I think got back to SLC around 9 that evening. We stayed at Rebecca and Nate's (my aunt and uncle's house) that night so we wouldn't have to drive home so exhausted. (Thanks for the bed and breakfast!)
We had a wonderful vacation, and are so glad we were able to go! We probably couldn't have gone at a better time (despite the crowds). We look forward to going again someday, and can't wait!! :)
