Our Trip...

It is our last night at the beach house. Not so much a beach house, but a house on the cliffs overlooking the beach...It's been nice though. Everyone is asleep, and we are getting ready to leave in the morning. The girls (Haley and Kristin) and I are driving with my mom to Tulare, CA and she is doing a presentation for one of the schools there on Tuesday. Tuesday night, we are headed through Bakersfield on our way home. I am hoping I can drive all night, so we can be home late on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. I am anxious to be home, and get all my work done that has been piling up since I've been gone. Plus, the backyard is ready and waiting for the kids to play! AND, Erin is coming to visit on Friday! WAHOO! I find out in the morning if insurance is going to pay for Haley's formula...keep your fingers crossed...Anyways, back to our trip...

Disneyland was so much fun! (We ran into some people we had known from Oregon, Matt and Shannon Phair. It was fun to see how old their kids were. They moved from Oregon 3.5 years ago.) Kyle was tall enough to go on all of the rides. And he did. He didn't like Splash Mountain the first time, due to the fact that he got A LITTLE wet. And, he wouldn't look at me after Tower of Terror. He liked the rest. All the kids (except Haley) got to go on Matterhorn. Kristin covered her eyes the whole time, cause she was scared of the monsters, but she liked the ride. The favorite was Buzz Lightyear. Seriously, over 3 days, we went on it at least 20 times. It was one of the rides the WHOLE family could go on, and Troy and I kept trying to increase our points. For those of you who don't know, on the Buzz Lightyear ride, you are given a laser gun, and the whole ride has targets through it, and triangles are worth the most points, and if a target is lit up, it is worth more points. My highest was 110,000 points (I was an L-3 ranger - for those of you who understand Buzz Lightyear lingo) Troy's highest (I think) was 245,000. I think he lied. ;) Here's a picture that shows the cars and the guns...

The kids did so great! Really. Kristin had a few girl tantrum moments, but for the most part, the kids were good. It was so fun being on a family vacation, too! We did what we wanted, when we wanted, and we didn't have to worry about other people's schedules. Good times! We bought our Disneyland Trip package through Costco Travel, and got a free breakfast with the characters. Here's the kids with Minnie.

In Disneyland this year, the theme is: A Year of a Million Dreams. They were randomly giving away these necklaces that were called dream fast passes. On the tag on the necklace, they had little tabs, that were good for a fast pass at all the rides. So, basically you didn't have to wait in line at any of the rides with fast pass lanes. On our first day in Disneyland, I saw people with them, and trying Erin's positive thinking trick, I was trying to "will" myself a necklace. On our third and final day of disneyland, with no necklace so far, Troy took the kids on Matterhorn and I waited with Haley. When he got off the ride, 2 workers handed him and all 3 kids a necklace. They walked up to me, and showed them to me. SO NOT FAIR! It was me who had done all the positive thinking, and I didn't get one. It actually turned out fine, because there are very FEW rides we can all go on, and between stroller switch ride passes and fast passes, that whole day, we didn't wait in 1 line. SO NICE! We had gotten to Disneyland that morning at 8:00 and didn't leave until the park closed at 9:00pm. We managed to get on all the main rides at Disneyland and California Adventures in 1 day, with the dream fast pass. Here are the "winners" of the necklaces!

After our 3 days in Disneyland, we picked Jason up and headed to Santa Cruz for Michael's Wedding. While we were waiting to check into the Beach house, we went to the boardwalk. Since our kids wake up so early, we got there before it even opened up, and it was a little chilly. A worker there offered to take our picture.

Saturday morning, before the wedding, we headed to the beach. It was pretty chilly, but naturally, the kids didn't care. They got in the water, and played in the sand. They weren't happy when we told them it was time to go!

Here are the men before the wedding. Except for my dad, he had gotten kicked out of his bathroom, and was the last to get ready.

Here's a picture of the flower girl - Kristin. Maria's niece, Maya, was also a flower girl. She is a little younger than Kristin, and didn't understand the concept, she dumped her basket over, and there was a pile of flowers in the row, but it was so cute! Kristin did what she was told, a little slow, but she did it. Thanks for doing her hair, Katie!

Here's Mike and Maria. My batteries conveniently died immediately following the wedding, so I didn't get any good shots, but my dad did. Sorry I posted the picture of your eyes closed Maria, I just didn't have any other pictures!
The wedding was awesome. Maria looked fabulous. Mike looked as good as he could look (teasing...)The reception was a lot of fun too! Maria's family had made authentic Mexican food. There was dancing. Kyle was really irritated (to tears) that he "shakes it like a white boy". We'll have to work on dancing at home. Maria's nephews (that Kyle had been playing with all night) could really move. Congrats Mike and Maria! Love you guys! Sorry for the eternal post, but I knew if I didn't do it in one shot, it wouldn't get done!