Adventures in California

We spent the past week in Anaheim celebrating Chad's birthday and graduation. Thankfully his 30th birthday coincided with his graduation so we could justify spending way too much money. We went with Laurel, Bill, and their three girls who are about the same ages as our kids. It was nice to have another couple to help watch kids so we could take turns going on the fun rides. We got a few crazy looks when it was our turn to watch the six kids (all under the age of 7). One lady told us we could do our own reality show if they were all ours. Here are a few of the highlights of the trip.

1. Saving money on the ticket by going on Chad's birthday. The added bonus was everytime a Disney employee noticed his button they wished him a happy birthday. Same rule applied to any teenagers standing in line with us. Great fun to watch my husband be embarrassed. Unfortunately that was about the only benefit. The birthday button did not come with a free pass to skip to the front of the line.




2. Lunch with the Princesses. If you have a girl and go to Disneyland be sure to have lunch at Ariel's Grotto in California adventure. The Princesses come to your table and take pictures. We saw Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, and Jasmine. They also teach a little dance to the room. G-man even got into it, even though he tried really hard not to enjoy the girly stuff.














3. Teaching Kiwi to pee in the Ocean. What is it with little girls and deciding they have to go pee 5 minutes after arriving at your destination.

4. Pooping adventures with Scooch. First poo fell out of his diaper in the lobby. We had left the wipes in the car and ended up wiping it up with an empty Goldfish cracker package. Then in a brief moment of diaperlessness he managed to lay one on the floor of our room. I blame Chad. This day also included a Kiwi pee accident in Laurel and bill's room and the Beach incident. It was just one of those bodily function full days.




5. Watching what a one year old finds fascinating: balloons and fish.

















6. Playing the little kid Shuffle at Legoland. They have so many stinking height restrictions at that place. It was a pain to find a ride in that park that everyone could enjoy. It seemed we were always trying to find more adults to go on the rides with the kids. Definitely something to try again when the kids are older (and taller).









7. Finding opportunities to take black mail pictures of G-man and "Sugar Plum" (she came up with her name herself). Sugar Plum is 9 months younger than G and about 4 inches taller. Her parents are quite tall and his parents are not. They had a lot of fun together, holding hands, whispering in each other's ears. Laurel got some good shots of the two of them with their arms around each other. G-man was looking forward to spending time with boys at the end of this trip.

8. Listening to G-man scream on Space Mountain. We had taken him on Splash Mountain and Matterhorn before this. After Space Mountain he refused to go on anymore Rollercoasters.










9. Watching these tow friends together. Two four year old girls walking hand in hand through the Haunted Mansion line was too cute. So was their reaction to the Haunter Mansion ride.











10. This picture. Classic. I wonder how many other people took pictures of my backside.