Our California Adventure Part 2: California Adventure

The main reason for this trip was to take Brody to see Cars Land at Disney's California Adventure. He's so into it right now, and I wanted to take him before Lightning McQueen is no longer the coolest thing in his world. Cars Land did not disappoint. It was straight out of the movie, and Heath and I were equally as impressed and in awe as our little racer was.

We started out early so that we could get in line for a Fast Pass for Radiator Springs Racers. It's the hot ticket at the parks these days, and we wanted to make sure we got to ride it.

While Heath waited in line for that, the kids and I went ahead and got on our first ride.

By the time we were done there, Heath was back and it was time for the big moment...meeting Lightning McQueen. Brody had the biggest smile. This is a real car that rotates out every 45 minutes with Mater. Coolest thing ever. So glad we went while Brody still believes that McQueen is a real race car, with real eyes who talks. He even talked back. He would say "Let's take some pictures  and then respond when you said goodbye. Awesome.

It took a while for Madelyn to warm up to taking pictures, but Brody was loving it!

Then we rode the other ride in Cars Land, which was kind of a dud. It's was almost like a giant air hockey table, and you controlled your tire by leaning.

One of the best things I did before the trip was to buy the Photo Pass +! There are photographers all over the park, so you don't have to worry about taking your own family pictures. The photos were ready to download when we got home, and they came with a few extras, like signatures and borders. And, when I loaded them into google+ photos, it created these fun gifs for me! Love them!

Since Heath had missed the tractor ride, he rode it with Brody while we killed time before our Fast Pass window for Radiator Springs Racers.

After that our Fast Passes were open, so we tried to go ride RSR, but it was down! To kill some more time, we headed over the Bugs Land to ride a couple of rides, and Brody got to meet Flik! Madelyn wanted nothing to do with him.

After Bugs Land, it was back up, so we were ready to go ride!

The ride was AMAZING! Heath took a video on the ride at night, so I'll try to post that later. Madelyn was just tall enough to ride it! She wore her tall flip flops and stood really tall until she hit the bar. I was worried about it!

After we rode that one, we started to walk over to Paradise Pier. It was perfect timing because McQueen and Mater were changing spots, so we stopped for a pic with Mater.

Paradise Pier was a lot of fun. We caught a couple of rides before stopping to eat some lunch. Brody fell in love with a small roller coaster. That kid is a thrill seeker, for sure! On our way over there, we saw Phineas and Ferb and the Green Army Men from Toy Story!

After lunch, we had to let our food digest, so we caught the Disney Junior show, which was a little underwhelming. I was hoping for real people, but instead all the characters were puppets. It was a good little show though. Lots of special effects which the kids really liked. Brody was pooped and napped while we waited in line.

On the way to the show, Heath and Brody grabbed fast passes for the Grizzly River Run, so when the show was over, they went on to that. Madelyn and I went to find her some ears and a snack.

We got to the River ride a few seconds too late and just missed Heath and Brody. I had my camera out and ready when they came up behind us soaking wet! We went back to Paradise Pier to catch the other rides that we missed the first time around.

While walking around Paradise Pier, we happened on a Meet and Greet with Buzz Lightyear, but we were a few seconds too late, but that was ok, because Woody was coming up to replace him!

Then we were there just in time to find a spot for the Pixar Parade.

After the parade, we went to the Toy Story Midway Mania ride, which might have been my favorite ride behind RSR.

Brody really wanted to ride the Cars ride again, so Heath took him to wait for over hour to ride. Madelyn and I grabbed some dinner at Flo's in Cars Land while they rode.

We got to watch the neon lights come on, which was so fun.

We were done eating, and Madelyn said she wanted to "Put her butt on a fish". It took me a few minutes to figure out what on earth she was talking about. Then I remembered I told her we could go ride the Little Mermaid Carousel later.

By the time we were done with that one, Heath and Brody were done with their ride. Then it was time for the World of Color show, which I was really excited about. Heath and Brody grabbed a hot dog for dinner, but Brody crashed before he could eat it. And Madelyn wasn't far behind. So, we gave up our seats and watched a few minutes from the back. After we decided we didn't want to sit there with two sleeping kids, we headed out.

Stay tuned for Disneyland!

Our California Adventure Part 1

We had a GREAT time on our trip to California last week. I should have planned for two extra days, but the 5 days we had was good enough to get some quality family time in. I have about 500 pictures from our trip, so bear with me for a couple of posts as I try to record all of my favorite moments.

The adventures started bright and early on Friday morning. The alarm went off at 3:30 and we were up and on our way to the airport by 4:30. We were tired, but so excited, so the time didn't really matter. 

I had shirts made for the kids for the first 3 days of the trip by Leo and Lyla. They turned out so cute and we got so many compliments!

Our flight was on time and we arrived in LA before 8:00 am. We were thrilled to have a whole day ahead of us to just chill. We had a bus transfer to our hotel, so by the time we got there and dropped our bags off, it was almost lunch time. We walked over to Downtown Disney to browse some shops and grab lunch at ESPN Zone. 

After lunch we walked back through and decided to pick up our park passes so that we didn't have to wait in line the next morning. Then, it was time to hit the pool!

For dinner that night, we grabbed Pizza Hut from our hotel. We weren't quite tired enough after dinner, and it was too chilly to swim, so we headed back over to Downtown Disney. The kids on the other hand, were tired and crashed on us! We had to carry Madelyn because our double stroller doesn't allow both kids to sleep at the same time. 

We got back to the hotel and we were all in bed by 7:00 or so. We set the alarm for 6:30 the next morning, but we didn't need it. We were all wide awake at 5:00 (7:00 our time). And we were all too excited to try to go back to sleep! We grabbed breakfast at our hotel and were in line about an hour before the park opened. 

Stay tuned...

Phone Dump

I have a bunch of pics on my phone that I need to share. So please enjoy a couple photo collages from my phone pictures.

Starting top left (counter clockwise): 1. Jersey Boyz for dinner after swimming. 2. Sweet morning moment 3. We just got through one session of swimming lessons. This photo is from the first day. 4. Love this picture of Madelyn on the swing. 5. Madelyn eating a cupcake at a birthday party!

1. Brody in his soccer jersey the day he scored his first goal! 2. Brody stealing a bite of Madelyn's donut. We went to go get donuts because Brody was good at his Sunday school class. 3. Madelyn posing after taking her dance pictures. 4. Margaritas for Cinco de Mayo! We had Julie and Billy come over for a Mexican Fiesta to celebrate Heath's b-day yesterday.

We went to our friend Liam's 3rd birthday party on Saturday! 1. Madelyn and her boyfriend Liam. They were both being bashful, so this was the best pic I could get. 2. Brody posing with the photo props! So fun! Madelyn wanted nothing to do with it. 3. Brody and Liam's cousin in the Batcave with the Joker! 4. Brody as his favorite...Captain America!

Saturday morning I also had the pleasure of attending my dear friend, Nicole's baby shower! It was so fun and I was so glad to be able to make it! So excited for that girl to be a Mama!

We are busy getting ready for our vacation next weekend! We told the kids about it on Saturday, and I was a little disappointed in their initial reaction, but I was prepared for them to not fully understand. They are definitely excited! When I woke Madelyn up this morning she asked if we were going to Disneyland! We caught it on video, but unfortunately Madelyn decided to take her shirt off in the middle of the video to put on her new shirt, so I will not be posting it for the whole internet to see. I did catch this sweet video though a few minutes after we told them!

Take your Child to Work Day 2013

Brody came to work with me for a little bit last week! I had a meeting that afternoon, so I picked him up from school and brought him back to the office for me for a little bit before we went out to take some pictures of flowers.

Checking out the mowers in the super barn.

Throwing rocks into the pond.

Checking out the plants.

Brody explained to me that the sprinklers water the plants and then the sun helps them grow. He's such a smart boy!

Out taking pictures! He wanted to throw rocks sooo bad!