California Trip

In July we headed to CA for an extended family reunion for Sean's side of the family. Our BIL works for Disney and got us all tickets (15 total) so we could enjoy a magical day in Disneyland.  It was definitely the highlight of the trip! Somehow I managed to not even take pictures of anything else :(  Our kids (ok, us too) were giddy with excitement!

"Look Mommy! Here's my ticket to Disneyland!"

The first ride Ryker went on...

SPACE MOUNTAIN!

I kept telling him that it was dark, fast and a little bit scary. He kept insisting he wanted to go. All I could feel during the ride was his death grip on my hand. I was SO worried and felt awful! We got done and he said as calm and brave as could be, "Mom, that ride was a little bit too fast and a little bit too scary for me. I cried a little bit but it's ok. But Mom, I don't think I should go on that ride again until I get a little bit bigger."

Our next ride was Buzz Lightyear...much more age appropriate!

We ran into Mickey on our way to the Toy Story ride in CA Adventure.

We all had a blast together. It was so fun for Ryker to have his best buddy/cousin with him.  My MIL watched the kids so Sean and I could go on some rides together, we saw the Aladdin show, and ate delicious sourdough soup bowls.

Addy was a hoot. She loved walking around, people watching and going on the rides.

Around 3 or so, Ryker really started to melt down. We had only brought one umbrella stroller with us so he had been walking from ride to ride and waiting in lines in the hot sun all day. He was done, and so were we so we gave in and rented another stroller. Lesson learned!

After a day packed with fun and sun, Aunt Katie passed out glow sticks to all the kiddos!

Apparently they close down most of the rides during the fireworks. We killed time by trying on hats at Mad Hatters.

The major meltdowns started around 9pm, right before the fireworks...

but we decided to push through. We really wanted to stay until it closed at midnight. Sean met up with the teenagers in the fam to go on some big kid rides while we stayed back to enjoy the fireworks. The fireworks cheered up the kiddos and we went on rides until the park closed. Adelyn was asleep before we even left the park and everyone slept in the next morning. It really is such a magical place!

The next day we headed up to Big Bear for the family reunion. Beautiful place, absolutely horrible drive to get there. 

They had an alpine slide close by for only $3!

We spent the following day with family, shopping and swimming and headed home first thing Sunday.

I always L-O-V-E our California trips!