FRIDAY
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| Alexa, Jaq, Seth, Mason and Anna |
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| Lots of driving for Dad |
Car RIDE...but happy with the final destination.
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| Crazy car face. |
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| Met up with Tallie, Jim, and Gaven at the hotel after dinner |
Highlights:
Surprising the kids that they were going to Disneyland with their cousins
Disney Scavenger Hunt to reveal the treasure and Mickey Mouse Pancakes
Kids did amazing on the 7.5 hr. drive
Only one bathroom break for the kids (2 for mom) all the way to CA
The elevator up to our hotel room (Seth ask's me "Does Disneyland have rides like this?)
Total excitement at the hotel and for this unknown adventure of Disneyland
Stayed at the Tropicana which is literally right across the street from the entrance
Only takes us 5 minutes to walk to Disneyland and Cal. Adventure
Lowlights:
Sick cousin Mason with a super high temperature and coughing all night
Not being able to play with cousins much cause they were sick
Left the beach toys home
Sadness for the kid that doesn't get to push the button on the elevator
The phrase "How much longer to Disneyland?" as we approached St. George and about every 15 min afterwards
SATURDAY
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| Okay, I was excited (i'm not going to lie, I'd been looking forward to this probably more than my kids....well they didn't know about it till the day before so yes, definitely more than the kids and I LOVE VACATIONS and DISNEYLAND) anyways, so I woke up early to find these two kids snuggled like this. |
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| Jaq blow dries her hair for the first time. She was fascinated by this blow dryer in the hotel room...? |
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THE infamous D-Land picture. I swear Seth was WAY happier to be here than this picture shows Our first Ride was The Buzz Light Year Ride.
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| Mr. Tater Man himself. Okay, why is there a Buzz Lightyear ride and a Toy Story ride? Hum..... |
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| We found Jesse when we swapped over to California Adventure |
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| Cute idea for pictures. I saw a girl do kissy-fish face up against the plexi-glas and I about threw up. Do you know how many people touch this thing? More Hand Sanitizer Please. |
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Nap time and luckily she did. |
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| Green army men. I love the little street shows they do. They are so fun. These guys were great. |
Phineas and Ferb Dance Party...I'd never heard of them but my nieces and nephew LOVED it!
There was some splash park in Bugs Land and my kids seriously could have stayed there all day. They loved getting wet and they did...trying to dry out their underware as they sat in a stroller the rest of the day was a little more challenging.
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| Okay, you're probably wondering what is with all the crazy poses from Seth? I asked him, Seth what's why are you posing all crazy and he said "Mom, its my I'm-in-DISNEYLAND-pose!" Hilarious. He seriously didn't JUST smile the whole day. It was one crazy pose after another. |
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| Okay, Heimlich's ride is for babies...literally. It was slow so we took lots of photos. |
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| Jim, Tallie (my sis) and Gaven |
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| Cordelle and Jaquelle |
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| There's Krista, Alexa, Aaron and Zack (yea a ride he can go on) |
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| .....and Mason and Anna |
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| Flicks Flyers...yea, a ride I can go on being PREGO! |
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On Monsters Inc. Ride     |
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| Souvenir for the day... Mickey and Minney!! And man, did they love these more than I ever thought they would. A very good purchase. They hugged those and slept with them every night we were there. Love it |
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| California Adventure at night |
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| Waiting for Night one of World of Color! |
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| Everything looks cooler at night. |
Highlights:
Listening to a little conversation of Seth and Jaq as they lay really close to each other in bed before they got up. Seth says to Jaq, "Jaq, we get to go to Disneyland today. Are you so excited?" Followed by more giggles.
The smoothest day by far and it was a Saturday!
2 hours in D-Land where Seth finally got to ride the long awaited Star Tours Ride
Spent the rest of the Day in California Adventure
Seth loving Goofy's Flight School roller coaster (ended up riding it 3 times)
Fast Passes
Cordelle experiencing California Screaming
Cordelle experiencing the Disneyland "experience" with the kids for the first time
Street Shows - Green Army Men, Phineus and Ferb, Mickey's Live on Stage, Pixars Street show
Perfect weather...almost hot!
Fruit smoothies and churros
Seeing Sully from Monsters Inc scare people on the street
Grandma and Grandpa Mason got here!
Seeing The Incredibles at the Disney Pixar parade
Seeing The Incredibles at the Disney Pixar parade
Diner at Tony Romas
World of Color
Kids out within seconds after world of color
Best sleep of our lives
Lowlights:
Not enjoying Seth's excitement of Star Tours cause prego people are advised not to go on that ride and Cordelle gets super sick on rides like that. (Thank heavens he has a super cool Aunt that took him)
Toy Story ride broke down while in line (good thing we went back on Tuesday)
Cousins still fevery sick and coughing
Not getting great seats for world of color, trying to see over tall adults with kids on their shoulders
Trying to hold our kids for the 20 min show and then carrying a zonked out Jaq for 40 more minutes as we made our way back to the hotel (Seth was out in the stroller)
Probably used an entire bottle of hand sanitizer for my kids (Cordelle and I are both a little too OCD when it comes to public places)
SUNDAY
This was a rough day for us, so I didn't get too many great pictures, but here are a few of us building castles at the beach
Tallie made this hole at the ledge of the beach that connected with the top ledge and took turns pulling all the kids through from the top to the bottom.
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| Cordelle hung out with Seth once he fell into the ocean and was pretty cold. He didn't really want to do much after that. Not to mention he started getting a fever! |
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| Mermaids! |
Highlights:
Found a church close by in Anaheim
THE BEACH
jumping over waves with the kids
Sandcastles
Sunday family movie in the hotel
Tylenol and Ibprufen
Lowlights:
Well sure enough Seth caught the sickness and started shutting down at the beach
Seth fell in the water while jumping waves and couldn't get warm and didn't want to do anything else the rest of the day (turns out he had a high fever too)
Went to the wrong beach for a Sunday. It was so crowded.
Since Seth was sick and miserable we cut the beach trip short and just went back to the hotel.
103+ temperature left most of us getting little sleep
A little bout of frustration that sometimes things don't go like you plan them to :)
MONDAY
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| After the mere introduction to Minney the day before and the souvenir she got, Jaquelle was so excited to meet her in Toon Town Monday Morning. |
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| Long wait, but for the girls....it was worth it! Here's BELLE |
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| TIANA or as Jaquelle calls her Jasmine, cause she's never seen Princess and the Frog before. |
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| Ariel! Not the closest looking Ariel to the real one but with that red of hair she could probably look like Rosie O'donnell and still pass as the Mermaid princess. |
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Jedi Training! So Seth was still fevery and sick so his excitement wasn't all that I'd hoped it would be but he still LOVED this Jedi Training show and boy was it! We saw Darth Vader and Darth Maul, storm troopers and a real Jedi. SO FUN for him!   |
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| Jaq and Tigger |
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| Family and Pooh! (Notice poor Seth still shivering? We had bribed him to go on Splash Mountain just moments before. |
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| Ibprufen kicks in and he's not half bad. Finally a smile on board the pirate ship in Frontier Land. |
The Jungle Cruise. I always loved this ride. Its fun entertaining and the kids get a kick out of it!
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| Just LOVE these things (sarcasm). But the kids insisted and since Dad would've blown up chunks, it was up to me. |
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| Thanks to Aunt Tallie, Jaq got to meet her favorite princess. Thankfully someone wanted to wait the 45 min wait to see Rapunzel. |
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| There she is!! Jaq of course was ridiculously shy, but this Rapunzel was so sweet with her. She sat and talked to her for like 5 minutes which in princess world at Disneyland is a LONG time. |
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| They compared long hair, which they brought around to their faces to make mustaches (which I of course got all on video). |
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| My only regret is not getting Jaq's face when she ran back to us on cloud nine. This place truly was magical for her. |
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| I love that my kids love my mom so much. Here's Jaq and Grannie Annie waiting for the Disney street parade. |
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| No idea. |
And Now the Disneyland Parade!!
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| Excitement for some princess floats! |
The end. ( of the parade )
All the characters at the Fantasmic River Show!
Highlights
Waking up with the determination to make today a fun filled day (especially for Jaq) even if Seth was under the weather.
Jaq enjoying her first roller coaster (she's too short for almost everything else) in Toon Town. She was in roller coaster heaven!
Meeting Minney and Princesses all day with Jaquelle
Bribing Seth with an R2D2 light up spinning toy to try out Splash Mountain (he didn't really like it, but enjoyed his bribe prize)
Seth getting some medicine and coming alive a bit to enjoy the pirate ship and The Jungle Cruise.
Peter Pan, Toads Wild Ride, and a short nap for me during Its a Small World (that is the longest ride in the whole park)
Delicious Pizza and Salad in the park.
THE PARADE!! And watching Jaq during the parade.
Deciding at the last second to return back to the park with Jaquelle (we all left early so Seth could get some good rest) to meet up with the rest of my family for Fantasmic.
Getting an incredible view of the fireworks while trying to manuver the stroller at 8:45 at night through the crowded streets Disneyland. Lucky for us, the through traffic was diverted to go right up by the castle where pyrotechnics and fireworks were being shot off so we got a great show on our walk back.
Getting to Fantasmic just in time.
Aunt Tallie scored front row seats right in front of the river for the show so I was able to record the whole show for Seth to see later!
Lowlights
Seth and Dad were still asleep after a long night with high temperatures when it was time to go so we missed our early entry into Toon Town.
Poor Seth still wasn't 100% but was trying to be a trooper until it came time for more medicine which we religiously pumped him full of.
Early night in for Dad and Seth so Seth could get some good rest which he needed and I think helped him a ton!
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| Thought this was funny. I told Seth later that this was a picture of him "Forcing" Dad in his sleep. |
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| Yea!! The smiles and crazy poses from Seth are back! |
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| At this point, it was our last day so I just let the cousins play! (Jaq never did end up getting sick!) |
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| Worth the wait.....Toy story ride was a hit!! |
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| 3D glasses always make for good pictures! |
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| Cordelle loves the look of all these old school posters. Graphic Design Nerd Alert. |
Cute Pace Family in their 3D glasses
Anna and Seth
Alexa and I
Jumpin' Jellyfish!!
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| Seth totally relaxing, hiding from the sun under his new Star Wars Mickey Hat. |
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| Mom and Seth up on Paradise Pier Farris Wheel |
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| On the very top! |
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| Cordelle and Jaq |
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| And my FAVORITE picture from the trip. They are so cute! |
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| Got Jaquelle to snatch this pic of us, just took a couple of tries to get all the fingers away from the camera window. |
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| Cordelle was posing...but Jaq was not....oddly enough they had the exact same look on their face! |
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| Jaquelle and Dad at Ariels Grotto |
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| All of us at Ariel's Grotto |
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| Grandpa, Anna, and Grannie waiting for World of Color to start |
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| The boys playing starwars with all the glow sticks |
Night 2 of World of Color
TUESDAY
Highlights:
Seth is feeling better and his temperature is down!!
The excitement is back and Seth returns to Star Tours for the 3rd time with Grandpa Mason
The Toy Story Ride is fixed and it was a HIT!!
Super Relaxed day mostly in California Adventure
Seth and Mom go on California Soarin'
Premiere seating to the play Aladdin with everyone there. This show was fantastic!
Watching a carefree Jaq dance all over the boardwalk behind Paradise Pier totally oblivious of people watching and laughing at her. What happened to my shy little girl?
Seth convinces Aunt Krista to take him on Goofy's Flight School again
Luckily they still honor fast passes 3 hours after the allotted time
Family ride on the huge Farris Wheel (cant remember the real name). Of course we have to go on the outside non-spinning one for dad but it was nice and so cool way up on top.
Fancy dinner at Ariel's Grotto
Premium tickets to World of Color (this time we had fantastic seats right up front and saw so much more)
Lowlights:
Cordelle woke up sick :( and so we left without him. I felt so bad for him. Luckily we were still in our first line for that lame Nemo ride by the time he met up with us. Okay its not that lame but the 2nd time through it for me was enough :)
Ariel's Grotto dinner cost us more than all the other dinner's from the whole trip combined :)
Not many rides today....(but thats okay, I was overall happy with the whole day and trip)
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday was really just driving and more driving....and it did seem longer coming home. But we did stop in St. George and swam with Grannie in the pool at the condo they were staying at. Then Grandpa took us out to cafe Rio. It all came at just the right time. Even though we only had an hour left to drive....we needed to get out. Here's us at the pool.
