CALIFORNIA FUN!

We took a family vacation to California last week. I am still recovering...  ha ha ha 

It was a lot of fun but exhausting too. We decided maybe it isn't a good idea to take a baby who can't walk to Disneyland again. That being said, I'm so glad we could go and make memories together. We had a great time! 

Here we are on our first day all ready to go! So exciting!

Our first day we went to California Adventure. We got to the park before it opened and headed straight for Cars Land. Radiator Springs Racers! I couldn't wait for Braden to go on it because he loves the movie Cars. He was barley tall enough. On the way over we met Mater and Braden thought that was pretty cool. 

We used the child swap so the kids got to go on it twice, once with us and once with Grandma. I didn't get a great picture of the ride. Grandma even bought Braden these Mater teeth! 

Racers was a little fast so Braden was kind of skiddish for a few minutes. Paul took Susie on a ride alone and then Braden joined in on the next one. 

Clark was zonked out after the first few minutes in the park so he took a nice nap in his stroller. Yay! We really loved Cars Land! 

Here's a blast from the past-- Susie and I took a picture next to the same tractor 3 years ago. She was almost 3 in the first time we went, now she is 6! Time flies

We didn't spend too much time in Bugs Land this time, but we did go on this one with our cousins! They were fun to hang out with. Especially when they helped with the kids :) 

We loved King Tritons Carousel and the Little Mermaid ride. Clark was able to go on these with us. He didn't like the ups and downs on the carousel but he loved the Little Mermaid ride. 

I loved having my mom there. She is so fun to be around. She was so helpful with the kids and always up for anything. 

One of my favorite things in California Adventure was seeing Frozen Live at the Hyperion. It was AMAZING! Susie got to meet Elsa too in the Animation Studio. 

The next day was DISNEYLAND! I was so glad my sister Tiffany could go with us the second day. You just can't do Disney without her. All of my best Disney memories have her in them. She knows how to make the most of the Disney day and she is a true blue Disney fan so that's always fun. She even made sure I got some good castle pictures before we raced to Peter Pan's flight (which was already 45 minutes when we got there..) 

But it was worth the wait! I love this ride! And we made use of the waiting time, Susie read to Grandma and we took lots of pictures. 

We spent a lot of time in Tomorrowland. We did Hyperspace mountain which terrified Braden. I felt like an awful mom. When we were getting off the ride he said, "Mom I almost threw up." Poor kid. We went the Nemo submarines next which was a perfect follow up. 

I tried to talk Susie into the Jedi Training Academy, but to no avail. So we just decided to watch it. And we got to meet Darth Vader after. He tried to talk Paul into joining the dark side. 

We loved Astro- Orbiters too. Braden was nervous going on this ride. It looks like he isn't having fun, but he liked it, I promise! 

The kids and I had fun on Tarzan's treehouse while the big kids rode Indiana Jones. Poor Susie had a tummy ache so we were in the bathroom a lot with her. She was a trooper.  

One of the nicest things about the trip was the Paul volunteered to take the kids home early and I got to hang out till the late hours with these girls. It was the icing on the cake! 

Our last day in California we went to the beach! The kids LOVED it! Including Clark. He thought the waves were the coolest. He laughed and laughed and crawled towards the ocean, then raced away from it. It was so funny to watch. Susie didn't get out of the water the whole time. She had the best time and it was so fun to watch! We took some sand toys and they were a big hit too. 

Such good memories. The kids did great in the car thanks to movies and snacks. I'm so glad we got to go on this fun family trip! We will remember it for years to come!