Monday, May 21, 2012

Disneyland: day 2

Day 2 was a Magic Morning which meant we got in an hour early. We hopped on the Dumbo ride because otherwise the line is always long. On a side note of all my trips to Disneyland and I have never been on this ride. I don't feel like I'm missing out though.



Another action shot of Aunt Steph and Maeley. 
Maeley really enjoyed being with Steph on the rides and requested to sit by her often. 


Almost a full group shot but we are missing a few

Maeley, Chase, Parker and Uncle Marc

Zoe with Uncle Marc
By the way when our kids are talking about Uncle Marc because there are two of them they say their spouses name then we know who they are talking about.
One of the highlights of my trip was watching Zoe's excitement when she saw the princesses for the first time. Simply priceless. 


I love this picture. Zoe was so excited to meet Ariel that I'm sure her reaction is in response to Zoe.





Right after we got our pictures with Mickey he went on break. While we were still in his house he just came out of no where to head back to the front. It was neat to see him walking down the hallway of his house.

You can see Kim in orange in the middle of the screen with Chase, behind them is Derek with Parker and then Tama (aka Grandma) with Zoe.

After spending a few hours at Disneyland we headed over to California Adventure for the afternoon.

This ride was definitely more intense than I anticipated. Chase and Parker were completely oblivious to how intense it was. They enjoyed being up so high and looking out and seeing everything. Zoe enjoyed it at first but then she went from having fun to this is a bit scary to daddy hold me because I want off right now. Kim and I were taken back but its intensity that we were holding onto the bottom of the seat because there is nothing else to hold on to. We were also laughing so hard we were crying. Good times. 


Zoe got to have some fun with just Marc and Kari for a little bit in Bugsland.



Zoe was given that red lobster by a nice teenage girl while we were in line for Toy Story Mania. Zoe has played with it pretty much everyday since and loves it. She named it Crabby Crab.


Maeley, Chase and Parker with Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates

 Back to Disneyland to watch Mickey's Soundsational Parade.

One thing I love about Zoe is she always shows her excitement. 



Then back over to California Adventure for the World of Color show. We hadn't seen it before and we loved it. It's incredible! Wish I saw it again the following night.



It was a long day with getting in early and staying up late to watch the shows but it was so worth it. Chase and Zoe both fell asleep during the World of Color show. 

Friday, May 18, 2012

Disneyland: day 1

This trip was a family reunion with Derek's family. Derek and his siblings all live in different states and getting everyone together at once doesn't happen often. It was wonderful to spend time with everyone. I'm so grateful for family.

FYI- there are so many pictures from this trip its hard to pick only a handful from each day. 

Chase and Zoe being woken up to get ready for Disneyland.



Ready for Star Tours

Chase, Parker, and Maeley

Kim, Marc and Stephanie

This would have made a for a great family picture but Zoe was off with her grandparents.

I love this picture!

Braden and Maeley

Chase with Aunt Kimmy. 



Another favorite picture. Zoe loved the Finding Nemo ride, in fact she rode it twice the first day. Sadly we never made it back the other days.


Back row: Phil, Eunmi, Marc, Marc, and Kari
Front row: Stephanie, Braden, Parker, Chase, Zoe, Derek, Maeley, Melanie and Kim

Jones grandparents with the 5 grand kids however there are 2 on the way.

For the most part we stayed together the first two days and day three we split up. The weather was wonderful and overcast almost the whole trip. It went by way too fast though.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Funny story

When we were approaching Blythe, CA we decided to stop and get gas and have lunch. Of coarse the kids saw the big golden arches and wanted to go to McDonald's. Derek said, "It's closed." Leaving the kids to think  we had to find somewhere else to eat. Well while Derek was getting gas I gave other suggestions on where to eat but they were stuck on McDonald's. I then decided to make an agreement between the kids and Derek. If we ate McDonald's for lunch we would not eat there again the entire trip. Everyone was happy and we drove to McDonald's.

Photo taken by Kim with her phone

It was pretty hilarious to drive by seeing that McDonald's was indeed closed like Derek originally said.  We then ate at Jack in the Box across the street. Zoe was quite concerned that McDonald's was half way demolished and talked about all through lunch. 

When we arrived in Anaheim we drove straight to the beach. It was packed so we just drove to the hotel. I was really bummed because I wanted the kids to have fun playing in the ocean. Instead all they got was to see it through their window. Maybe next time, whenever that might be.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

We're back

We had a wonderful vacation spending time with family and having a blast at Disneyland. I'm trying to get back into the daily routine but I think part of me doesn't want too. We have so many pictures to sort through. I am definitely going to be making a photo book.

Derek took this picture on our last day there. Its nice to have a picture like this without random people in it.