Family Vacation Part 4

We went to Huntington Beach one afternoon after a morning at the parks.  It was so much fun!  Tony and I are both convinced we need to live by the coast now.  I have close up pictures of both Peter & Charlie, but Joey was moving so fast that I never got one of him!  Joey LOVED the ocean.  Both he and Charlie loved running into the waves.  It was so much fun to watch them!  (when I wasn't worried they would be swept up in the waves or eaten by a shark :) )

Huntington Beach

  

We ended our ocean afternoon, on the end of the Pier, with dinner at Ruby's diner. Amazing views!

The next day was our taking it easy day.  We decided we would just go with the flow and do whatever the boys wanted.  The boys really wanted to swim in the pool but it was overcast and chilly that day.  We went swimming anyway...In the hot tub mostly.

We loved the Rainforest Cafe so much we decided to go back and explore Downtown Disney more that night.  We hadn't gone in most the shops and fore sure had to visit the Lego store before we left.

We loved the lego store!  I want to go back again because our boys are in a major lego phase right now.  They spend hours and hours in their bedroom playing legos now.

We let the boys pick out one toy souvenir to bring home.  Of course they picked weapons.  That night the boys battled it out in our hotel room.  Charlie's Hawkeye and Joey is Boba fett - of course.

We had fun taking it easy, but we were ready for Disney the next day!

Family Vacation Part 3

Our first day at California Adventure was great!  We got there early and I ran, RAN with Charlie to Radiator Springs Racer and... we walked right on.  It was quite the thrill considering it was the one ride that consistently had over an hour long wait.  We loved it.  In fact, it was our favorite ride out of our whole Disney trip.  We really need to go back because Joey couldn't go on this ride either.  It's OK though because he got to meet lots of characters while he waited for us....

Meeting Lightning McQueen and Red!

We met up again and all waited in line to meet Mater.  It was awesome because Mater drove past us just before.  The REAL Mater.  The boys were dying!

The boys loved "A Bug's Land" and thought it was so funny to be little like a bug.  We rode all the little rides and even met Flick!

Joey was the most fun to watch during our trip.  He was completely entranced by the Disney magic and believed anything and everything.  It was magical.  Every kid should get to go to Disneyland when they're three!  Side note- notice his buzz cut?  I finally bought him some left handed scissors (he's left handed) and the first thing he did was cut a big chunk out of his hair.

Up next was the Junior Disney Live show!  The boys loved the bubbles and confetti that fell from the ceiling.  Overall I was so impressed with the Disney shows at the parks.  I didn't think the boys would enjoy watching shows as much as they did.

Prior to Disney, the one character we talked most about meeting was Buzz Lightyear.  It finally happened...

Later that night we saw the World of Color show and had Ghirardelli ice cream sundaes.  It was our first late night in the park.  Great day!

Family Vacation Part 2

When I was in 6th grade, my parents took my siblings and I to Disneyland.  It is one of those memorable trips from my childhood.  The funny thing is that if you ask any of us kids what we remember most we pretty much all have the same answer: "the hotel breakfast and fish in the hotel lobby!" It has become a family joke and I'm not sure why those two things were so exciting, but they were!

We decided to stay at the hotel from my childhood and guess what?  The boys loved the breakfast just as much as I did back then.  It was fun to recreate that fun memory with  my own kids!  Joey and Peter had multiple donuts everyday and Charlie loved the omelets with sausage.  We had big breakfasts and packed lunches to eat while in the park.

Since kids don't sleep in on vacation, we arrived at the parks nice and early every morning.  We spent our first day at Magic Kingdom and met Pluto right when we walked inside the gates.  Joey screamed, "I just want to hug him!!" until we got to give him hugs and say hello.  Meeting the characters was definitely a highlight of this trip.  We also lucked out had short waiting times the entire week.  That parking spot the night before really was our golden sign!

We headed over to Tomorrow Land first and rode the Buzz Lightyear ride over and over!  Peter and I rode it multiple times while waiting for Tony and the boys to ride Autotopia.  I think I rode that ride probably 12 times over the course of the week.  Peter laughed and laughed once he figured out how to spin our car and shoot the lazer gun.

Our first morning at Magic Kingdom was extra special for Charlie because....he was big enough to go on the Star Wars ride!  Tony and I both took turns riding it with him.  Charlie loved it!  On top of that, he got picked for Jedi Training during the Star Wars show.  The sad part was Joey had just rubbed sunscreen in his eyes when Charlie got picked.  So not only did Joey not get to go up on stage, but he had to get sunscreen out of his eyes.  I did buy him a $4 (what???) chocolate chip cookie to try and make him feel better.  

Charlie even got to fight Darth Vader up on stage!  It was so cute!  The show was super fun and Charlie got a little Jedi Certificate afterwards.  He was on cloud nine and talked about it the rest of the day.

Next was Toon Town!  We stopped for lunch and then met the mouse himself...

and Goofy!

We took an ice cream break that afternoon and watched Alice & the Madhatter play musical chairs.  Next we saw Cruella!  Charlie was really excited to see her until she came up to our table.  She told him to put his hands on his hips and smile at the camera.  Charlie, very seriously and obediently, did just that!

Charlie's nervous smile

waiting in line for Pirates of the Caribbean

Peter was such a trooper throughout the week!  We were so proud of him!

That afternoon we watched the Main Street parade and it was awesome!  It was a great chance to see all the characters in one spot. Elsa was looking at the boys and blew a kiss in their direction.  Joey turned around and blushed in a way I have never seen him do before!  It was so cute!

Peter loved the parade

After the parade we decided to call it a day.  We were sticking with our mantra and didn't want to push it too long at the parks.  We left and had dinner at the Red Robin down the street from our hotel.  We were on vacation and the boys definitely ate like it.  Translation: Joey had macaroni and cheese and soda every night, Peter pretty much lived on chocolate milk and Charlie had macaroni and cheese with chocolate milk...every dinner the entire week.  They couldn't have been happier!

Family Vacation Part 1

In April we took our big family trip before life got crazy.  Honestly, it was perfect.  Tony and I planned the trip months and months in advance.  The night before we left, I started to get anxious that it wouldn't go as planned.  You never know how anything will be with little kids!  Our mantra was "go at the boys' pace and enjoy every minute!"  I have to say, it totally worked.  We were relaxed, the kids were relaxed and we just had a blast.  

We started the trip by spending some time with Tony's parents and sister's family in southern Utah.  We love to see them!  We spent Saturday morning at Cambridge's soccer game ("Go Cambridge!!!") in St. George.  She's a great player!

 

After the game we went to get ice cream and have fun on main street.  Joey, of course, had to get strawberry.  He's all about strawberry flavored things these days.
 

St. George has such a fun splash park and carousel!  We need to go back.

  

Stopping to visit family was the best way to start our trip.  It gave us a chance to unwind, helped break up the drive (a definite must with littles) and we love seeing our family whenever we can!

The next morning we left for sunny California!  We were so happy we broke up the trip because the stretch from Vegas to California was brutal.  We had a dinner reservation at the  Downtown Disney Rainforest Cafe and we thought we would miss it, but the stars aligned and we made it just in time... and even scored the perfect parking spot despite the Disney craziness.  It was a sign our trip was going to go well!

Downtown Disney- we arrived! 

 Dinner was magical.  We were seated next to the fish tank and robotic elephants.  Best seat in the whole restaurant!  The boys loved the rainstorms, were a little scared of the robotic gorillas and were completely mesmerized the entire time.  It was the perfect way to start our Disney experience!

 

That night we explored Downtown Disney and let each boy pick out a toy to bring to the parks throughout the week.  Charlie & Joey each picked a Buzz Lightyear gun and pretended to shoot everything in sight throughout the week.  Best. Purchase. Ever.

Perfect night to start off our Disney week!