This week was our long anticipated trip to sunny California. When we arrived our room was not ready yet so we headed to Huntington Beach to play in the sand.
These guys LOVE the ocean and it was hard to get them to leave.
We stayed at the Peacock Inn right near Disneyland. It was a cute little room with a tiny kitchen and bathroom. I am kinda obsessed with Tiny House Nation so imagined this to be our tiny house. I could definitely live in a tiny house! My family- not so much.
Our first full day was spent at Disneyland & DCA. We hadn't been there for four years and we were all dying to try the new Radiator Racers ride in Cars Land. It did not disappoint. In fact it was one of our favorite rides. Leave it to Disney to think of every single detail. It was darling!
Then it was off to ride Tower of Terror. This is one of Ethan's favorites. However it kept breaking down when we were in line so the wait was a little longer than we hoped.
I love the pier in DCA.
Ashtyn was scared out of her mind on the Ferris wheel. We sat in one of the cars that swings and makes you feel like you are falling off. She held this motion sickness bag the whole time.
I am not a huge fan of the teacups- ha ha.
We took this same shot the first time we went to Disneyland so it was
fun to compare and see how the kids had grown.
Disney 2007
It's Disney's 60th anniversary so the castle was all decked out.
This was on Space Mountain- another one of our favorites. They had changed it for Halloween to Ghost Galaxy and I am not a fan. Gotta love Ashtyn's face.
Lunch time!
Getting ready for Finding Nemo. Whitney and I were off at the bathroom.
In front of the Grizzly Peak.
Each of the kids got to choose where we ate dinner one night and here is where Ethan chose. They are pretty darn good corn dogs.
More Cars Land
The kids were less than thrilled that we kept making them stop to take pictures.
Disney and teenagers is a whole different world.
California Screamin- Again check out Ashtyn's pose.
I love our faces in this one.
Disneyland was all decked out for Halloween.
We ADORE Disneyland!
This is the sign as you exit Indian Jones- I think it is a great message!
Splash Mountain has always been closed when we go to Disneyland and this time it was open so I think we rode it the most. We all loved it so much!
These girls had to get Dole Whips.
They changed the Matterhorn. They made it a lot more bumpy, fast and scary. You no longer sit two to a seat and you now have to be 42 inches tall to ride it.
The girls and I were dying to see the Paint the Night Parade so we grabbed a good seat early.
It did not disappoint. The music and lights and dancers were amazing!
We went to Disneyland three days. We walked over twenty miles between the three days. We loved every minute and we decided we need to not wait so long to come back.
The next day we went to Universal Studios. We had heard mixed reviews. A woman we say next to at the parade had nothing good to say about it- so we were a little nervous. We were pleasantly surprised! It was so so fun!
The Mummy was one of the most thrilling and scary rides we have ever been on. We loved it.
Transformers was Jeff and Ethan's favorite.
Jurassic Park was the best ride!
Optimus called us the "Blondobots".
Jeff loves the movie Apollo 13 so we had to take his picture with the stars!
It was pretty hot so we were glad they had these misters going.
My kids have never seen the Simpsons- so they didn't get much of this ride- but Jeff and
I thought it was hilarious!
On the Studio Tour. This was my favorite. The guide was so funny and it was so cool to see where they make so many great movies. They were even filming a TV show that we got to stop and watch.
The famous cars!
Jeff just loves the movie Jaws and since we call ourselves the JAAWES we had
to get a few shots of Amity Island.
Whoville
The Bates Motel was pretty creepy.
This was a set designed for War of the Worlds. It was an airplane wreckage.
It was so detailed and cool.
This is Super Silly Fun Land from the movie Despicable Me. Again it was so so detailed.
The show Water World was awesome even though we had not seen the movie.
My grandma is a huge Betty Boop fan so I had to take a picture of all the Betty Boop merchandise.
The kids had fun posing with the characters.
Gru's house.
We tried a Lard Lad Donut- From the Simpsons. There is a reason they call it Lard Lad- it was pretty sugary.
To get to the Lower Lot where all the big rides are you had to take three very long escalators. Ethan took the stairs each time instead.
We really loved Univeral!
On our way home we stopped at the LA Temple. It is huge and so pretty.
We were sad it was dark because we didn't get the best view.
We also missed seeing Beverly Hills because it was dark.
Friday was another beach day. Our kids are born beach lovers. They could have stayed all day.
Ethan wanted to be buried.
Whitney and I made a "sandman" and this bird took it over.
We rented a boogie board and Ethan took to it right away. He was killing it in the waves.
The girls enjoyed it too.
If you left any type of food out on your blanket and walked away the birds were ready to pounce. It was hilarious watching them fight over a bag of Cheetos's.
The guy next to us got attacked several times.
We could not get Ethan to leave. He loved it the most.
We spent our last day at the park.
A cute lizard we saw.
We rented a double surrey bike and took a little ride around the park. I want one now.
We had so much fun on this trip and can't wait to do it again!
