Beach Day

It was so nice to take a break on Wednesday from the parks. We swam in the pool at the hotel in the morning.

Then painted nails. 

Then headed to Ruby's on Huntington Beach to get fries and shakes.

It is always so windy on the pier.

After that we ditched our strollers and carried the kids down to the water to check out the ocean.

They actually had a lot of fun. We didn't stay long. It was really windy and we didn't bring our suits or anything.

At the end of the night I headed to Chow King and got this dessert that I used to get all the time on my mission. It was just as good as I remembered!

California Adventure

Day two started out about as good as day one. Tyler was crying in the stroller before we even got into the park. While we were waiting for people to go on Soarin over California he was rolling around on the cement in a full out tantrum. I was so ready to throw in the towell and just be done with the trip.

Brandon's family was so good to help out though and watch our kids while we went on rides together. And I spent four hours in the hotel with the twins that day, they slept for the last three.

Cars Land was so cool. Everyone says it's cool so I thought we might be disappointed but we weren't. We loved it and spent a lot of time there.

This is how excited Mckinley was about going on the cars ride again once I finally came back to the park.

Such a great ride!

We took Tyler and Kallie on a few kiddie rides but they were still mostly just whiny and unhappy that day.

Mckinley loved Tower of Terror. At the end of our trip she said it was her favorite ride. She ended up going on it three times. I can't believe how brave she was and that she can go on more rides than me!

Love this shot of my boys.

Toy Story is always one of my favorite rides too. I'm so sad I only got to go on it once. 

Brandon took the twins home while Mckinley and I stayed for the World of Color show. It's long, but good.

That night we went to the hot tub to soak our feet and Mckinley kept getting out of bed and eventually crashed on Grandpa on the couch.

 

At this point, I think Tyler and Kallie had more fun in the hotel room than at the parks. We were so ready to have a day off!

Disneyland

Monday we went to Disneyland. It was definitely not the most fun day of our trip. By Monday night I wanted nothing more than to just go home and be done. Thankfully, things turned out a little better in the end.

This was Tyler the second we got into the park. And pretty much the whole day.

Tara helped everyone make these matching shirts that were actually quite helpful for finding each other.

First thing in the morning we went to meet some princesses. We knew Mckinley would love it and she did.

We got lucky and were able to ride splash mountain with a really short line. We were nervous about how Mckinley would like the bigger rides but she loved every one she went on and wasn't scared of anything.

After a few quick rides and meeting the princesses, Mckinley and I waited for an entire hour to go on the jungle cruise. She was in tears by the time we got on the ride and I wanted to cry but didn't. It was so frustrating. The twins were at least sleeping at this point and someone sat with them so Brandon could jump on last minute and go with us.

Mckinley had so much fun with her cousin Sam and all she ever wanted to do was ride rides with him. They had a blast together.

Thunder mountain railroad. Once again, we were a little nervous about how Mckinley would do but when it was over and I was ready to take a break (I get sick if I go on rides like that more than once) all she wanted to do was go on it again. So she did.

This picture is classic. Mckinley not looking, Tyler trying to get out of his stroller, Kallie with her hairband thrown away, no shoes on, and picking her nose. :)

I can't do the teacups but I'll get my picture taken in one.

I love Mckinley's hand waving to the princesses at the parade. We took a break in the hotel in the evening but went back for the parade and to meet up with my brother and his wife.

I love meeting up with these two every time we go to Disneyland.

I took the twins back to the hotel and Brandon stayed and waited with Mckinley for an HOUR for the Dumbo ride. So many rides were closed at Disneyland (Pirates, Indiana Jones, Small World, the carousel, and more) that it made the lines ridiculous for everything else. Even though this was supposed to be a slow week at Disneyland. We really didn't enjoy our day there all that much.

I wore my pedometer every day and it was fun to see how many steps I got.

Thankfully, after a good night's rest, we were ready to hit up California Adventure the next day.

Las Vegas Part 1

So we just took a week long trip to Disneyland. I have a lot of pictures I want to post so I am going to break it down into smaller posts.

Saturday, April 26th we headed out to Las Vegas to stay for the night and break up the trip.

The kids started out okay in the car but did not travel as well as we thought they would.

We had to stop at Costco in St. George and just walk around for an hour to give them a break.

We got to the hotel and attempted to swim but it was super windy and freezing so we didn't last long.

We went out and got some dinner and then headed to the Bellagio. I can't go to Vegas and not visit the Bellagio. I love the display inside and the water fountain show outside.

I kept thinking our kids were going to crash anytime since they basically didn't nap at all on the drive but they stayed awake so we were able to join the family and ride on the High Roller, the highest ferris wheel in the world. Jason's buddy totally hooked us up with a free ride. That thing is huge.

Here we are inside one of the huge capsules.

Gives you a pretty amazing view of Vegas.

We let the kids nap in the hotel the next morning before we headed out to California (my idea) which ended up being a horrible idea because we got stuck in traffic and it took us 6 hours to get there instead of 4. Super annoying! Our kids were so whiny in the car and I was so frustrated with the traffic that I was ready to sell the van in California and just fly home. Our trip did not start out well.

We eventually got to California though and took a quick swim in the pool before heading to bed. Oh, and Brandon also had to run to Walmart to buy another pack n play because we only brought one and the hotel charges $10 a night to rent one. Lame.