Monday, November 3, 2008

The Happiest Place on Earth.......A family Trip to Disneyland and SEAWORLD!





















Over the UEA break we took our long awaited and much needed family trip for 08" to sunny California. The kids loved every moment of the trip, but especially DISNEYLAND, CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE, and SEAWORLD. It was so fun to watch each of their emotions and joys as we rode rides, met princesses and other Disney characters, and most importantly laughed together. I couldn't help but think of my own childhood memories when I was a child and although much has changed since then I still remember how I felt....Happy! What a great place for kids to smile and dream. We could all use a little more of that in the world today. What a fun memorable trip.

Top 10 great things about this trip!

1. Jenna being the royal guest aka (birthday girl) who got to introduce each and every princess at a Royal breakfast. Gavyn was a prince, but was not interested in having any photos with the beautiful princesses. He wanted nothing to do with them! Snow White deemed him as BASHFUL! His father on the other had had a top two that he wanted his picture with!

2. Gavyn who was called on stage to be part of a production with Buzz and Woody. He got to say "REACH FOR THE SKY" and his name in the mic. I was worried he wouldn't do it but he did like a champ. He received a hand drawn picture of Woody. He loved it! Most the rest of the time he wanted nothing to do with the Characters....I think the costumes made him a little nervous.

3. Rides....we took the kids at a perfect age when for the most part we went as a family on each ride. None of this waiting around stuff! I love to be able to experience it all together. Gavyn was a trooper. He went on everything! Splash Mountain,Thunder Mountain. You name it he tried it!

4. Friends! Angie and Justin Merrill and their cute kids ventured down with us! It made it fun to have some friends to hang out with. The kids got along great and us adults managed to enjoy ourselves! We both found comfort in knowing we were not the only parents spending a fortune on Disneyland trip! It was all about the MEMORIES! Rick and Maureen G. and their 4 kids just happened to be in Disneyland the same time as us, we met up a few times too. We had an awesome dinner in Downtown Disney with 16 of us! There was never a dull moment since we we out numbered by kids, but the waiters were great and the kids loved, loved, loved the balloon man that made each child their very own something. G...a Sword ofcourse. J.....a princess crown, it was her special b-day! and B... great at fixing the balloons when they came undone.

5. Spending 12 hours visiting with my husband about everything under the sun, while the kids watched endless movies! Thank heavens for the DVD player and head phones, it would have been a miserable trip with our them. Don't let me forget the beautiful countryside, a drive along the beach, and a great book! Navigation... I don't know who we ever survived with out it. It was our best friend on this trip!

6. Seaworld! I didn't think we would be able to top Disneyland, but I think the kids enjoyed Seaworld just as much. It was fun for them to experience touching the dauphins ant other sea animals and Shamu is so huge and beautiful and inspiring!

7. Baylee realizing she was not to old to still BELIEVE in the MAGIC! Her new found love was trading pins with all the Disney characters/workers!

8. A sunset on the beach and yummy Chipotle's afterwards that reminded me of my favorite days in MN.

9. PERFECT Temperatures not to hot or cold. Swimming in the sun! Warm weather to bask in while walking hand in hand!

10. Enjoying the moment and the Journey along the way Together! Memories that will hopefully last forever!

Here is my list of not so great things about this trip!

Having our car broken into ...yes with my purse in it with lots of money$$$$$$ and cell phone, gift cards, ipods, and Nintendos all stolen. What a bunch of JERKS!
Long lines (just one of the nights in Disneyland I wanted to scream...there was way too many people!)
Paying Maddox price for a reheated nasty $12.00 hamburger!
Driving for 12 hours!
Exhaustion!!!!! Jayson and I were exhausted on this trip. It was hardly a vacation at all with zero sleep in time!


OVER ALL THE GOOD OUT WEIGHS THE BAD!!!! What a fun family trip! How blessed we are to have each other, and as the story goes.......
AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER..... THE END!

6 comments:

Rachel said...

What a fun trip! We LOVE seaworld the most at our house (mostly because Nate hates all the crowds at Disneyland) It's just fun to see the kids get all excited.

Lunch sounds good and Firehouse sounds even better! :)

And don't forget to let me know when you are having a sale on the stuff you sale :)

Jo said...

Looks like you had a blast on your trip! We hope to get our Kids there in the near future. Corbin is still saving all his pennies for a trip to the Ocean. We'll probably be up home around Thanksgiving if not sooner. Let's start planning the day after Thanksgiving shopping trip.

The McCulloughs said...

WoW! What a fun trip! There is just something Magical about Disneyland and it brings back such fun memories of when I was a kid! Sea World is such fun too! Sooo sucky about your car getting broken into! I am soo sorry, but at least the good outweighed the bad!! Nav. and DVD players in the car... what did we do without them??

The Ashcroft's said...

OHhhh so much fun! I was never a huge DL enthusiast, but that all changed when we took our kids. It is "Magical". We need to get ourselves to Seaworld though. Fun pictures. Sorry about the burglary, that sucks!

Bingham Family said...

How fun! I bet your still catching up on your sleep. I still can't believe your stuff got stolen. I'm so jealous. I hope I can do that some day for my kids! I went for the first and only time when Brance was a baby. FUN!!!

hi, it's me! melissa c said...

what a fun trip!! I need to do this with my kids! We never have yet but I want to. Great pics. I love the ones on the beach. You must have a really nice camera. It takes great pictures.