Spring Break 2013...Day 3

"DISNEYLAND...Day 1"

We woke up early this morning to get ready for our first day at Disneyland. I was so excited to see how Jaedyn was going to react to it all. We ate our breakfast, packed our lunches (we wanted to make eating cheap and have more money to spend on other things), got on the shuttle (our hotel is about a mile away), and made it to Disneyland. 

When we walked in, this funny guy was the first character we saw...

   ...my kids love Goofy!    Then, we saw this cute doggy and we couldn't resist going over to say "hi".      We walked down Main St. and made our way to the princesses castle. Jaedyn was in awe of it. It's safe to say she loved it.      The first ride we took the kids on was the Snow White one. We've never been on this ride and we thought, since Jaedyn loves Snow White that she'd like it. We were sooo wrong! She cried and screamed the whole time! In her defense, it was a little scary. We felt really bad that she got so scared. We were hoping this bad experience wouldn't ruin the rest of her day.      To try and make Jaedyn happy after that horrifying experience with Snow White, Josh took the kids on the carousel. I think that ride made Jaedyn happy again. The boys seemed to have a good time too. They all ended up going on this ride a few times throughout the day.          After the carousel, the kids tested out their strength together...they didn't do too well, the sword never came out. Oh well!      We then headed over to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride because the line wasn't long and that was a favorite of ours last time we were here. However, when we got there and were almost on the ride Jaedyn started freaking out, thinking it was like "Snow White" and she refused to go on it. So, Josh stayed with the boys because they wanted to ride it and I took Jaedyn over to get in line to meet some of the princesses. It's called "Fantasy Faire" and they have three princesses there all day to meet the girls. There was Cinderella, Ariel, and Sleeping Beauty. Jaedyn was so excited to meet them all, especially Ariel, she's one of her favorites. We waited for the boys before we went in to meet the princesses, but Jantzen refused to go in. Jaron was all for it!    Jaedyn was so excited when she walked in and saw Cinderella, it was so cute watching her light up...      She told Ariel that she's her favorite...      ...and she got a little shy with Sleeping Beauty...      After meeting the three princesses, Jaedyn immediately started asking about the others. Unfortunately we barely missed getting to meet Snow White, but we saw her walk by, and in order to see Belle (Jaedyn's other favorite princess) we'd have to go watch her show and we didn't want to make the boys sit through that, so we didn't.    Instead, we headed over to "Autopia" so the kids could drive us around for a change. The line was extremely long, but that's to be expected, so we sucked it up and waited. The kids had a blast driving the cars. I went with Jantzen, Jaedyn took Josh for a ride, and Jaron got to drive by himself...                  The kids all wanted to go again, but we didn't want to spend another hour waiting in line.    Next, Jaedyn got to meet Rapunzel (her favorite movie lately) and Flynn Rider. She was a little freaked out by Flynn at first, that's him she's keeping an eye on...      Then she warmed up to him and decided to let him in the picture...      After chatting with Rapunzel and Flynn, we headed over to ToonTown...      First up was the roller coaster. I'm not a fan of them, so I didn't go on it and Jantzen freaked out at the last minute, so he stayed with me. Jaedyn and Jaron were excited to go on it.      Jantzen chilled out in Jaedyn's stroller for a little bit...      ...then he found a tree house to play in while we waited...          Here's the other's enjoying their roller coaster ride. Jaedyn loved it so much, she wanted to go again but the line was too long and there were more things that we needed to explore.      Donald's boat was one of the things the kids explored...      They took a joy ride in a fire truck...      ...and got thrown in jail...          ...Jantzen tried to lift some weights...      ...and I blew Josh up!      After all our fun in ToonTown, we headed over to "Innoventions" in Tomorrowland because the boys wanted to explore the technology. We saw the "Asimo" show. He's a robot that moves like a human. It was cool seeing the things he could do.          The kids also spotted some fun interactive games they could play. One of them was "Fruit Ninja". Jantzen was up first and he did pretty good...      Jaedyn was next and she did awesome! She got a higher score than Jantzen did.      Jaron went last and he was so sure that he was going to do better than Jantzen and Jaedyn...      Guess what?!?! He didn't, Jaedyn totally kicked both her brothers butts!! It was funny listening to people around us that had been watching the kids play.  They were all commenting on how awesome Jaedyn did and that it was funny that she beat her older brothers.    One of the last rides we went on for the day was the "Buzz Lightyear" laser one. Jaedyn was a little scared to go on this one at first because it was dark. I think she was still a little traumatized by the Snow White ride.                      After the ride was over, Jaedyn told me how much she liked it. I was happy she wasn't scared. BTW, I totally beat my whole family...I had the highest score!!!    We made it just in time to get a front row seat for the parade down Main St. While we waited for the parade to start, one of the employees entertained us by guessing every one's ages, except mine. He said he learned long ago not to try and guess any girls age that is over 18. Anyway, he said he could guess ages within 2 years and said that he's hardly ever wrong...until he met us! He guessed that Jantzen was 10 years old...nope, he's only 7 and he guessed that Jaron was 8 years old...nope, he's 11...poor Jaron!    The parade finally started and it was fun seeing some of the characters that we hadn't yet seen. First up was Minnie and Mickey (we'll be having breakfast with them on Thursday)...      Then there were these two familiar fellows...          We saw Aladdin, Abu, and Genie...      Jaedyn got to see her favorite princess again...Ariel. This time she was wearing her fin, Jaedyn thought that was so cool!      There was Donald...      ...and the princesses again, but this time Jaedyn got to see Belle. She was so excited!      We saw Simba...      ...and Tiana, not a favorite in our house because of what her movie is about, so Jaedyn doesn't really know who she is.      Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, and Captain Hook made an appearance. We saw Peter Pan earlier, but no one in my family would go get a picture with him and I thought it might be weird if I did, so I didn't.      And last up was Mary Poppins. My kids don't know who she is either. I think I should make them watch her movie!      After the parade was over we let the kids have a treat, aka...dinner! Just kidding, we did feed them some real food later, this was just an appetizer. Jaron picked a churro, of course, and Jantzen had some ice cream. Jaedyn didn't want anything.          We took the kids to see the bird show in the "Tiki Room", they loved it, then we let them play around and explore in Tarzan's tree house before we left the park...          I think they had fun.    A little while after playing in the tree house we were all getting tired and Jaedyn was starting to fall asleep, so we decided to go back to our hotel. The boys didn't want to watch the fireworks, so we said goodbye to the castle and left.      Can you see how tired Jantzen is in this picture??? I think we were all ready for bed.      Our first day in Disneyland was a blast! Even though we are all tired, we are excited for another day of fun tomorrow.    Next up...California Adventures!!! After some much needed rest, of course!

Spring Break 2013...Day 2

Today we decided to spend another day at the beach, except this time we didn't play in the water. We went down to the Oceanside Pier to walk out on the ocean, eat some lunch at Ruby's on the pier, and enjoy the beautiful scenery. It just happens to be that this is the same beach where the volleyball scene from "Top Gun" was filmed...pretty cool, huh?!?! 

Immediately when we walked out on the pier, my boys started watching the surfers. I think they liked watching them wipeout.

   Jaedyn was being a little grump, I'm not sure why, but she wouldn't get out of her stroller...      This was my attempt at getting some family pictures (looking to the south), Jaedyn was still being a little stinker...          ...on the other hand, the view behind us was beautiful.    Since Jaedyn wouldn't get out of her stroller, Raeley decided to hang out with Jaron and Jantzen. They were loving being out on the pier in the ocean...      Here's our attempt at getting some pictures of us...          The boys tried their best to get Jaedyn to smile and be happy...      Jaron was getting really hungry and didn't want to wait for lunch, so he attempted to eat this dead fish he found on the pier. Just kidding, he really didn't because that's disgusting!      And here's another picture of all of us (looking to the west) before we ate lunch. At least this time Jaedyn's face isn't covered by her jacket...little stinker!      While we were waiting for our names to be called for lunch we did some walking around the pier. Along the way we came across this big fella...       He was sitting in the perfect position, just waiting for someone to walk by. We tried to get Jaron to stand underneath him so we could get a picture, but we wouldn't. Then, a minute later some guy came walking by, obviously not noticing the big pelican on the edge of the roof, and the bird pooped! Luckily for the guy the pelican barely missed him. That would've been funny if he didn't. Jaron was really glad he didn't stand under the pelican for a picture. I kind of am too because I didn't want to have to clean him up.      While staring out at the ocean I spotted something brown swimming around...      It was a seal. I've never seen a seal out in the ocean before, so I thought this was pretty cool and so did my kids.      There were a few guys that were doing some fishing out on the pier and they were keeping the fish they caught in a bucket of water. Jaedyn finally got out of her stroller to check them out. She was very fascinated by them...      Finally we were called in to eat lunch. While waiting for our food, the kids entertained themselves by putting together old fashioned cars...       ...then we enjoyed our lunch...it was so good...we like Ruby's!     Notice how red my boys' faces are??? They didn't get any sunscreen on yesterday at the beach so they got a little fried, especially Jaron...poor kid! I really felt bad for him.      After lunch, Jaedyn was a lot happier...      As we walked along the pier back to the beach we came across another pelican. My kids were afraid to get close to him, but Raeley wasn't. Maybe it's because she lives here.      The kids also stopped along the way to watch the surfers in the water. It was fun watching them watch the surfers because every time one of them would crash Jantzen would laugh hysterically. It was the funniest thing and you would probably agree with me if you've ever heard him laugh that way before.          Here I am with the princess. I'm glad she was in a good enough mood to smile for the camera. I don't have enough pictures of the two of us together.      Jaedyn ended up having a good time even though she was a grump at first. She was loving watching the waves crashing against the pier...      After spending most of the day on the pier, we packed up the car, said goodbye to Vickie, John, Amanda, and Raeley, then we headed up to Anaheim to check into our hotel. Tomorrow is our first day at Disneyland! I'm so excited to see how Jaedyn reacts to everything since she's never been there.    We have to get up early in the morning, so it's bed time for us!!! Good night!!