California Fun

I'm a little slow in posting this, but last week we spent 4 fun-filled days in sunny Southern California! We had such a fun time! Here's a run-down of our trip (with lots of pictures):

Tuesday night: Drove to Matt's sister's house and visited/stayed the night

Wednesday: Spent the day at DISNEYLAND!!!

"The Happiest Place on Earth"

As we were walking to our first ride, Buzz Lightyear came out and walked along with us! Zac was so lucky to be the first to get to meet Buzz (his favorite Disney character) that day!


Riding the Finding Nemo ride...a few parts were a bit intense for the boys (look at Kayden's wide eyes), but overall we all loved it.

It's no surprise that Zac's favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear ride. We rode it 4 times! Luckily, there wasn't really even a line.

Shooting the "bad guys"

We picked a perfect day to go...we were so happy that we could get on most of the rides with only a 5 minute wait! It was great...so great that we rode most of the rides that the boys liked twice in a row!

One of their favorite rides was It's a Small World...it used to be my favorite when I was little, too. No pictures from that one, though. :(

Matt's sister, Denise, and her kids came with us on Wednesday since they have season passes. It was fun to have them there with us. Zac had fun with his cousin, Josh, and since Denise was nice enough to stay out with Kayden, we even got to ride Space Mountain. Matt wanted to take Zac and Josh along. I don't think Zac will be wanting to ride that again any time soon. :) He says he "doesn't like the fast dark ride with lights that goes up and down and up and down really fast." He stayed out with me while Matt and Josh rode Splash Mountain.

Eating their suckers

Kadyen wanted in on the sucker fun, so Daddy got him his own little Mickey Mouse sucker. He was in heaven!

visiting Mickey Mouse



Zac had fun meeting all the Disney characters. Kayden, on the other hand, didn't care much for them. You can see him trying to push away from them in almost all of the pictures we have.

This one of Kayden and Tigger is my favorite "get me away from him" picture! :)

We had such a magical Disney day!

Before leaving the park that night

What a day!
As soon as we got to our hotel, Kayden crashed:

A tired boy after a long day at Disneyland. Isn't he sweet?



Thursday: Spent the day at California Adventure


As soon as the park opened, we hurried to the new Toy Story ride. We were some of the first there, so we got to get on as soon as it opened! We LOVED the Toy Story ride; it was definitely our favorite of the day. We rode it twice in a row then came back later and rode it again!

Matt and the boys loved talking to Mr. Potato Head. He'd talk to them, answer their questions, and describe what they were wearing. They thought it was so cool!


3-D glasses for the ride--it was such a fun ride for both kids and adults!



Lightning McQueen!

bumper cars

We enjoyed a basically line-free day again, and had a great time. One of the highlights for Zac was meeting Mr. Incredible. At the end of the day, we watched the Pixar Play Parade. It was fun because it had the characters from all of Zac's favorite Disney shows--Toy Story, The Incredibles, Cars, Finding Nemo, and Monsters Inc.!

We were all worn out after another long, fun day. We got some dinner and headed to Thousand Oaks to Matt's parents' house while the boys slept in the car.


Friday: Matt's parents took us on a day trip to Solvang

Friday morning we drove to a cute little touristy Danish town called Solvang. We ate at a Danish restaurant and had yummy ableskivers for dessert. Yum! It was fun walking along the quaint streets and looking in the fun shops and bakeries. My favorite part was the beautiful surrounding hills and trees. It was a gorgeous place and made me feel like I was really in a Danish town!




Zac's favorite souvenir anywhere we go--smashed pennies with pictures

Enjoying treats from the bakery

Zac found a cool hiding spot at the park


When we were done in Solvang, we took a gorgeous drive through the hills and woods to a nearby waterfall. The hike was only about ten minutes, and it was so beautiful! There wasn't a lot of water in the waterfall, but it was so pretty anyway. Zac was so happy to be able to run, climb, and play with sticks for a while.





(I made this for a digital scrapbooking class that I'm taking...)

On the way home from Solvang, we stopped at the beach to let the boys play for a while and watch the sunset. It was so pretty, and of course the boys had a blast in the sand.


Nice action shot--throwing sand in the air



We tried to keep Kayden's binkie in so he wouldn't eat the sand, but that only lasted so long.

By the time we left, he'd eaten handfuls of sand and was covered in sand from head to toe. I just wasn't fast enough to keep it out!

Yuck!!!



We ended our fun day with dinner at a yummy Mexican restaurant.


Saturday: Celebrated my birthday, had fun with Matt's brothers' families, and enjoyed the beautiful CA weather
Thanks for a great time, Grandma and Grandpa!