Family Vacation 9-10 Part 3

Disneyland's California Adventure-

Disneyland really is magical. The kids seemed to be memorized from the moment I walked back from check in with balloons and buttons for them. We walked around downtown Disney on Sunday night listening to the music, getting showered with cast members blowing bubbles and looking at costumes. The kids already loved Disneyland- and they had not been on a ride yet.

Monday was a classic case of my bad luck. I have bad luck. Really bad luck. Which is why when we booked a room in the hotel on the resort with Disneyland so we could be back and forth for naps and meals, we still had to walk and extra mile to get there because of construction. My bad luck is why the monorail was broken forcing us to walk another extra 2 or more miles a day. It is also why all this walking occurred in 113 degree - the hottest temperature ever recorded at Disneyland. Yes this is my luck. It was so hot obviously. That is an understatement. Had I known it was 113 degrees outside, I would have surely not allowed my children to be outside, but would have forced us all inside for the 1st day of our vacation for fear of heat stroke. So I guess it is good we didn't know until later that night. Thankfully it cooled down to the mid 90's for the rest of our trip.

The 1st thing we did was Ariels Grotto.
Character Dinning with Ariel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Belle and a singing Prince. Complete with crowns to decorate, and family style platters.
This was our big splurge for the trip, and I was so worried we would be let down.
But we were not. We will be doing a meal at Ariel's Grotto every time we go until Kate doesn't like princesses anymore (which will likely be never).
Even Sam was into meeting the characters and was flirting it up.
The kids loved this, and seeing them having so much fun made us love it too.
Kate had been telling everyone for 6 weeks (since I made the reservation) that she was going to eat at Ariel's Restaurant.














After our bellies were full and we had spent time with each character we were ready to finally ride some rides.

The Ferris wheel and carousel were the 1st rides we tried with absolutely no wait. We even got to ride a few times without getting off.



We ran into a few characters. Including Mickey, Goofy, Woody, Buzz and the Toy Story Army.


This is actually a picture of Goofy pushing Sam around in a stroller but it is hard to tell.



We got a nice Austrailian family to take a family photo for us.
I feel like the parks were full of Austrailians.
Australians, Mormon families from Utah, and people who were so obese they were using a wheelchair and got to cut to the front of the line because of it. It really irritated me.

We spent some time in the Bug's Life World, and on the few other rides our kids could do. If you see Kate anytime soon, ask her to make the ladybug face from Bug's Life.
We also spent a couple of hours resting and rehydrating mid afternoon.
More rides, some dinner and then it was time to wait in line for World of Color.

After his nap this 1st day, this guy got up, and went straight for his shoes then loaded himself in his stroller. He was ready for more.

World of Color was a movie music compilation projected on the water feature at California Adventure's Pier. We waited in lines for more than an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening to see it. It was interesting, but I don't think we would ever do it again. My advice would be to skip it, use those waiting hours for rides, and get home early so you can be rested for the next day. We didn't get home until almost 10:00. It was hard to keep the kids entertained during all the waiting- hence the cotton candy and glow sticks.

Day 1 of the theme parks was a success.

Family Vacation 9-10 Part 2

The 2nd part of our trip was our journey from Arizona to Fresno, and a three day stay at Jake's parents home in Fresno.
We were able to see most of Jake's immediate family here as well.
In Fresno, an open house was held for the newly weds. That picture is of Sam later in the evening ready for bed but playing with some dress heels.
Our children just love being on the farm. They dug in the dirt and played in the play house every minute they could. We were constantly covered in dirt.
We also were able to attend the General Relief Society Broadcast with my MIL and two SIL's.
And attend chuch in the Carther's Ward which we always love.
It was a nice break from vacation- even though we were still on vacation, we were in familiar beds, with access to a washing machine and didn't have to get in the car for a few days to drive.
Then it was off to Southern California.
The kids slept almost this entire drive.
When Kate woke up we told her we were almost to Disneyland. She replied. " I made a wish to go to Disneyland, and my wish came true"
That is what we were doing it for.
I don't have much to say about this part of our trip- nor did I take a ton of pictures. We were mostly just resting up for the fun ahead.

coming next-
Part 3- California Adventure

Family Vacation 9-10 Part 1

The 1st leg of our Freeman Family Vacation included driving to Mesa to attend the wedding of Joe and Ali (Jake's eldest bro and wife to be). This would be the 1st two.5 days of our trip.

Highlights of this trip included-

1- Seeing one of the most CAREfully planned weddings ever. Complete with welcome bags for traveling guest, family portraits, beautiful decor in at an amazing country club and a delicious spread of food and treats that was the perfect height for Sam to reach up for treats without seeing what he was getting. He kept accidentally reaching his hands up for something and getting hot tamales... which he still ate.



2- All the attention people give my cuties when we are not in Utah. This is vain I know. But in Utah, cute kids are a dime a dozen. In Mesa though, we couldn't go anywhere without being stopped over and over again. We stopped at a supermarket to grab something between wedding events, and we were looking pretty sharp in our matching wedding dress clothes, and some lady asked if she could take our family's picture for a local magazine. Yes... I agree... my family is beautiful.
3- Seeing a brother we have always loved, find a girl who we fell immediately in love with.
Of course this was the point of this leg of the trip. Supporting these two and sharing their special day. They made all the driving worth it by throwing one heck of a party, which still could never overshadow the beautiful ceremony in the Mesa LDS Temple that morning.
I now have six brother-in-laws and six sister-in-laws on this side that I love to death.

Part Two- Fresno, CA
Part Three- California Adventure
Part Four- Disneyland
Still to Come.

A Vacation in Numbers

4- states we spent time in
40- hours of driving, or more... we are actually driving home now.
23- members of Jake's immediate family we saw
9- days away from everything
3- days spent at theme parks
8- the number of people who asked if our children were twins
2- times we went swimming
113- degrees at Disneyland- all time heat record
37- rides ridden
46- Disney and Pixar character seen
4- the average number of hours we slept a night
2178- miles to and from our destinations
0- miles I drove- Jake is too kind
1- number of cones of cotton candy I limited myself to
2- number of wedding receptions we attended
100- the number of years it will take for us to forget this trip
2893- room number at the Disneyland Hotel
0- number of times the monorail was working
8- blisters and cuts on the feet of people who didn't ride in strollers.
368- pages of Jane Austen novels I read
306,000- my high score on our favorite Buzz Lightyear ride.
5- times the kids rode the Carousel- it was one of their favorite rides.
6- times I was brought to actual tears of happiness from our children's delight.
6- the number of rides Kate deemed scary and refused to ride again.
5- the average wait time for a ride. Sweet!
6- number of girls and princesses Sam flirted with
6- number of hours the kids spent dancing and shaking it
34- the number of dollars we spent on Disney Souveniers
227- pictures on my camera
1000000- funny things our kids said and did.

15- the number of hours I hope the children sleep when we get home so I can sleep and get all the laundry done and car cleaned out.

Hey... a dream is a wish your heart makes.

Mass amounts of pictures to come. I can't upload to this travel laptop. But be prepared. What was that number again... 227?

giveaway

I am hosting a giveaway over at ReadySetPlan.

It is worth taking a look at for sure.

3 year old reality

In the car after driving several hours.

Kate: Mom, we should fly. We should fly up to the sun to see Jesus. We could take a bird and fly, or we could take a flying horse, or we could take and airplane. I think we should take a flying horse to get to the sun. Jesus lives in the sun up high. I will get a red flying horse, and Sam can have a blue flying horse and we can fly all the way. Mom, you can't come. But we will hold on tight to the horses' necks so we can be safe.

A Little Bit Blue

It turns out the kids like blueberries.... a lot.

Dinner with Great Grandma

Pictures that make me Happy.

Because this guy loves the dirt.
And he is most positively the cutest little boy ever.
Notice that the hat was too small? Yeah so did I, but this guy only likes this hat. He got it out of his drawer, put it on his head and headed outside to play all on his own.
Today, Cola stole this hat from him and he chased around the yard until he got it, then happily placed back on his head dog slobber and all.
Hard evidence that these two occasionally get along.
They are smiling at each other and themselves for getting this baby toy out and playing with it.
Cozy in their pj's but way to excited and hyper for bed time.

My Charmed Autumn Life

This is what my life looks like at 3:00 pm on a Monday afternoon.

We spent the afternoon at the park.
We waited until Samurai woke up from his nap, then I threw on my green, light, zip hoodie, and packed my bag with a few snacks.

And followed my children up and down the slides {with my camera} for about 45 minutes.

Then I sat down. Offered said snacks to the crew.
They partook- then jetted back to the slides.
Leaving me with half drunk juice pouches and a single cracker with a single bite out of it sitting on my shin.

It was perfectly perfect outside. That is how it is when you live in the Heber Valley in the early fall.
I took it all in.
Along with the continuing squeals of delight from children who love the park.

My Charmed Autumn Existence continues.
It is a nice sequel to the Summer of Fun.








He really is going to bite his tongue off someday. I just know it.
I love how when Kate smiles, the corners of her mouth don't go up- the entire middle of her mouth goes up instead.
Check out Katerade's sweet new kicks.
She is loving her new black converse all stars with pink ties.
She is growing so fast lately and out of everything.
Sam is not too far behind her, so I anticipate that these shoes will be traded out with some red laces and given to the little man in the house by Christmas.