Were Back!

We're back! And we had the time of our life!!

The 12-hour drive actually went by rather quickly! And much to our surprise, the kids didn't sleep in the car! (except Owen took about a 1/2 hour nap right before lunch). We left our house at 4:30 in the morning! We thought for sure they would zonk out half an hour into our journey... Oh well, they were just too excited! I can't blame them!

Right after checking into our hotel, we headed to Newport beach. It was cold and windy, the beach was abandoned, but we didn't care! We all got out and walked along the beach looking for shells. The kids just ran around and oops, they got wet! There were even whales just off shore for us to see. We didn't stay to long, because once the kids were wet, they were freezing. California sand is not like Florida sand!! It is dirty! It doesn't wipe off and it is sticky! So much for going out to dinner... We ended up just grabbing taco bell on the way back to the hotel. (The kids were naked in the car--good thing we brought towels with us!)

We woke up bright and early the next day-our first day at DisneyLand! We ended up spending virtually the entire day in FantasyLand and a sampling of TomorrowLand. Our favorites were Peter Pan, Dumbo, the Teacups, It's a Small World (after all), and Space Mountain (my favorite!!). I had been forewarned about Snow Whites Scary Adventure ride... But since that was the ride with no lines, everyone wanted to do it first. Myia and Taryn did NOT like that ride! In fact, that ride scared them so bad, they didn't want anything to do with the rides that were enclosed! I was surprized that Owen did as well as he did--he has a tendancy to get scared at movies. We finished of the day with the Parade! It was such a fun day!

The next day, it was back to Disneyland. Off to AdventureLand! Our first ride of the day was the Indiana Jones ride. We got really lucky, the wait was only fifteen minutes! The atmosphere in the lines was too real for the kids. Jared and Hanna started to get nervous. Jared was wanting to bail out even before the ride started. We were so surprized, this is the ride Jared was looking foward to! Well, it was a very intense, jerky ride! It was one of my favorites!! Not so high on the list for the kids! The heavens opened shortly after, and we pulled out the ponchos. I think the cold, rainy weather thinned out the crowds a bit. The wait in lines wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been! The kids absolutely loved Splash mountain! We went on that one twice in a row because there was no line! Owen was a hit and miss with the height restrictions. This is one he was allowed on. (I think he would have loved Space Mountain, too if they would have let him on...) Other favorites of the day were the Thunder Mountain, the Haunted House, Winnie the Pooh and Autopia.

We headed off to California Adventures the next day. Bugs Land was the first stop. Not to impressed, but the kids had fun! Everyone liked the bumper cars (even though they were VERY slow!) California Screaming wes the next stop. I even went on it. It was fun! But once is enough for me! I went on the Carosel with the younger kids about five times while I was waiting for my turn on the roller coaster. Everyone enjoyed California Adventures. It reminded us of the Tom Hanks movie Big. Spencer especially loved the Aladdin show that we saw. He says it was the highlight of the day! If you are ever there--SEE ALADDIN! We were only in California Adventures until about 7:30. After that, we headed back over to DisneyLand to do the things we hadn't done yet, like the Tiki Room, the Train ride, shopping, eating dinner, etc. We had broken off from the rest of the group before Aladdin. We had so much fun!

One of my favorite memories is watching the kids spend their money. Hanna bought a tiara, character acadamy art kit, key chain and pen. Jared bought three stuffed animals: Stitch, Crush (the turtle) and Thumper, a pen and a light spinner. Owen spent about $15 making "Disney money." (the machines that press a coin with an image on it) He also bought a treasure chest with chocolate coins, a pen, maganet clips and a light spinner. I bought an ornament for our Christmas tree and two silver charms for my charm bracelet. One charm is Minnie, it represents the years I lived in Florida going to DisneyWorld. The other one is a 50th anniversary charm to represent our vacation of a lifetime! I didn't even realize that Spencer hadn't bought anything for himself until we were on our way home. Next time I will make sure to give him time to look for himself. He said he wanted to look at T-shirts...

Well, sorry if I went on too long there! There is so much more I could have said! We truely had a vacation of a lifetime--I will never forget it! Thanks Pat and Daron for making it possible!! We are already planning our next Disney vacation in three to five years. We hope to have some friends join us next time!