CA Part 3 Disney Land Day One

The best part of the trip was 2 days at Disney!  We got up early (which wasn't hard for us being on east coast time) and headed to LA with minimal traffic.  We're just waiting to go in here, little did they know what was in store:)

 First thing we did was a Minnie Character Breakfast.  Aliyah walked in and Minnie was right there, I think we were all almost in tears, the kids were beyond excited and it was just so adorable to see their reaction!

Chip played peek-a-boo with her:)

He wasn't even scared!

Time to head in!

I love this picture of Max, kinda a perfect capture of how he felt the whole day!

We saw Olaf up there.  We could have seen Anna and Elsa if we wanted to wait in line for 3 hours so we nixed that idea and saw some other princesses and a Rapunzel show instead.

The kids' favorite ride was the Star Wars one.  Max loves Star Wars and Aliyah is kind of used to having to like what he likes.  It was pretty cool, and when we had to go back on it the 2nd day it was even a little different so that was neat.

We opted for the 30min wait for Ariel, Jasmine and Mulan.  Playing with their new R2D2's while we waited...

Aliyah love Ariel (though doesn't really watch the movie).  She was so curious to know if she would have her mermaid tail on or real legs:).  Guess she had to play the true princess role!

Headed on the Pirates ride, probably should have thought about that better first...kids were terrified and it is rather life like but the boat ride is neat.

Had some lunch and watched a comedy show.

We headed to the hotel late in the afternoon to rest a little and then came back and met up with mom, Kris and Wendy.  We took the train over to Toon Town to meet the star of the place, Mickey!

You get to tour his house first...

 Then the big moment!  The kids were so excited:)

We just happen to catch the parade on our way back across the park.  It was pretty neat and finally a chance to see the other princesses...

We kept on moving after a little.  The rides were empty because of the parade.  The teacup ride sits right along the route.  It was really a special moment getting to ride the tea cups while watching the parade, very "Disney" (of course it was easier to watch as we were waiting for the ride to start/getting off, than while actually spinning:)).

Before we headed out we hit up the Buz ride.  It was neat to get to shoot the bad guys but they did scare Aliyah a little as you can tell from her face.

 An awesome first day!

CA- Part 2 Zoo

We had an absolutely perfect day at the Santa Barbara Zoo.  The weather was warm and sunny.  The big bonus was being related to one of the keepers (sometimes part time, sometimes volunteer), Kris, who got us "behind the scenes".  We got to go into the back of the reptile room and touch some more snakes and see some kinda gross creatures:).  But the best part was after we watched the Elephant keeper give a quick talk, she invited us in the back to feed them (again, since she knows Kris).  They have 2 there and they're so neat.  It was really cool to get to see the one so up close and feed her.  She was on her best behavior!

There was nothing in the tree, Aliyah started refusing to be in pictures so Nate tricked her to be somewhat facing forward and holding still:).

This play place was neat.  You just slide down the hill on trash pieces of cardboard!

CA - Part 1

We are forever thankful for my mom using inheritance money for a "family reunion" trip to CA.  She flew the 5 of us out to visit Kris and Wendy and we had the best time.  We were blessed with beautiful weather, we made very comfortable in Kris and Wendy's home, enjoyed lots of great food and just a a really nice visit. 

Off we go!  (Kids did great on all the plane rides!)

Kris and Wendy's townhouse and complex is beautiful.  And so was the weather so any chance we got, we headed outside.  The fountain was a favorite place to walk to!

While we were there, Nate celebrated a birthday with home made ice cream cake, yum!

Did a little shopping:)

We enjoyed the local playgrounds and being outside, especially seeing GRASS, which we hadn't seen much of in months!

Enjoyed a trip to the cute town of Solvang too.

 We took a few trips to the beach.  It was nice to see a beautiful sunset, something we don't see often on the east coast.  We took a picnic dinner and bundled up.  The kids liked the rocky beach cause they got to throw the rocks into the ocean:).

Our family also visited a different beach another morning when it was a little warmer.  Max was brave enough to splash in the freezing water a little but it was rough so it made me nervous for him to get close.  The air was warm that day though and they enjoyed playing in the sand.

More snow

I write this post on the night before we could get up to 18 inches (I'll believe it when I see it) but we had such a pretty snow last week.  The kids were also excited because despite the several snow storms we have had this winter, this was the first with the heavy wet snow that you can make a snowman out of.  Aliyah was very excited to make her snow friends finally!  And it was so pretty!

We've sure not seen a lot of grass this winter....