Trip to Disneyland- Day 2

 The above picture is pretty blurry, but this was us getting ready to head to Disneyland for the first time!!  We were all pretty excited.  

 Rob and I tried on the Minnie mouse ears too!  

 There was lots of waiting in the mornings.  We had to get to the line with our tickets 30 minutes early, and then we got to go wait on main street for 30 minutes until the park opened.  But that was pretty much the most waiting we did the whole trip.  

 Grandma is a Disneyland veteran...so she led the way a lot of the time.

 The kids waiting in the crowds of people.  See the castle way in the back?

 The very first ride we went on was Alice in Wonderland.  Emery loved it and so did Riley.

 Next we did tea cups.  That was a hit!  Scott and Zac got their tea cup spinning pretty fast!

 The next ride we went on was space mountain which was changed a little from what I remember it being.  It's more star wars themed. This was Emery waiting in line.  She told me she wanted to go on it, but the dark tunnels were scary for her. She hated the ride.  Sadie loved this ride though.

 Star tours was a big hit.  It was Zac's favorite one.  I think we went on it 4 times.  He loved it!

 Waiting in line.

 I sat this ride out...it scares me.  ha ha.  But Sadie and Zac went with Uncle Scott.

 Riley rode with grandpa.  Emery was still a little bit traumatized from the space mountain ride.

 So we wandered around and found this cool Minnie mouse statue.

 Sitting break.

 I don't remember what all these rides are...pretty sure the above two are big thunder mountain.  And that was Zac's other favorite rides. 

 Splash mountain pictures.  The one on the left is funny.  Emery was terrified in the back...and zac's face makes me smile.  Then the one on the right was just me and my mom and brother.  I like my mom's yawning pose.

 Genie!! 

Rob took the littles back to the hotel and Sadie and Zac stayed and we went on more rides.  They kept up with us and didn't complain (much).  It was fun.

 Tea cups.

 Grandma helping keep track of kids.  We never lost any of them!

 

 It's a small world.  

 This was our hotel.  It was great!  The kids loved the fake snow and icicles.

 This was actually the night before we went into Disneyland.  Scott was missing from the picture, but a nice lady that worked at Disneyland took it for us.

 Cute Emery and Grandma.

 Uncle Scott and Grandma.

 

 Emery cried all through the Buzz Lightyear.  Everything was just way too loud for her.  

 Riley loved it though.

 

 Waiting in line for It's a Small World.

 Scott was there too!

 Scott and Grandpa were in front...

 Emery, Me, Riley and Rob took the next row...

And Grandma, Sadie and Zac held up the rear.  Emery really liked this ride.  

 Family pic in front of the flower Mickey Mouse.

Emery waiting in line for the Jungle Cruise. 

By about 6:30 we were really tired so we took the kids home and ate dinner and headed to the hotel to watch tv and go to bed.  My parents and Scott stayed at the park until it closed I think.  It was a great day and I think we walked around 10 miles.  Next up...day 2 at Disneyland!

Trip to Disneyland- Day 1

 Rob and I have been talking about going to Disneyland for a few years.  Finally we found a date that would work for everyone who was coming (my parents and my brother Scott) and booked a hotel.  We got a hotel room that had "two rooms" and three beds thinking there would be enough room to rent a roll away bed for Scott, but there wasn't really much room for that.  So Scott bought an air mattress, a pump and some sheets for pretty cheap and slept with his head under a table in my parent's room for three nights.  Ha ha!  Thanks for taking one for the team Scott!  In our room, Zac slept on the floor on a camping mat that my mom brought and the girls slept on one of the queen beds in our room and Riley was stashed in the corner in her pack and play.  It worked out great and the kids were so tired after every day at the park that sleeping was NOT and issue.  Everyone slept great. 

 This was actually the day before we left for California.  Both of these girls were sick.  Riley was very sick.  She had been throwing up at least once a day for the previous four days and she had zero energy.  We called our home teacher and he helped Rob give her a priesthood blessing.  The next day she did great in the car (I'm thinking it had something to do with the fact that she still had low energy, but nobody threw up in the car so that is a plus!) I was sure that Sadie and Zac would get sick and not be able to enjoy Disneyland, but they never did!  It's a miracle!  My mom and dad didn't escape so easy though...

 This was the view of Y mountain as we drove by early in the morning.

 My kids are really great travelers!  Sadie and Zac play together in the back and Emery and Riley hang out in the middle.  :) 

 Of course, right when we got to the hotel, we had to go swimming! 

 The pool was nice and refreshing.  

 And Riley loves grandma.  Whenever she left the room she would ask "where grandma go?"

We decided to walk down to see the entrance to Disneyland that night too.  We stopped at IHOP and ate dinner there (kids eat free!!).  The kids (and I) were so excited to go back to the park the next day and ride all of the rides!!!

This is a video of Emery trying to sleep in the car.  Ever since she moved over to a booster seat it is harder for her to sleep in the car.  Poor girl.  I couldn't stop laughing!

Tulip Festival

 A little over a week ago, Zac was invited to a birthday party of a long time friend.  They live in Highland, which is about 30 minutes from our house, but that was no biggie.  I was happy to drive him over there.  Then a few days before the party, my friend Laurel told me they had some free tickets to the tulip festival that I could use that night during the party.  yay!  I had been wanting to go, but not willing to spend the 20 dollars per ticket to take my family.  So after Rob got off of work, we packed up the family and drove him down and headed over to the Tulip festival.  We had to stop at a McDonnalds because Emery HAD to use the bathroom.  Rob ran her inside and let her go into the bathroom (it was one of those single toilet bathrooms) and then they came back out to the car.  We had just started driving when Emery said "I really need to go to the bathroom!"  I asked her why since she had just used the bathroom.  She told me that she didn't go because it was an automatic toilet and she doesn't like those.  Haha!  So I took her right when we got to the tulip festival. 

It was a rainy day, which was good because that meant the crowds weren't so big.  And the rain pretty much let up right when we got there.  My friend let us borrow some umbrellas.  I'm thinking I may need to get Emery one for her birthday because she just looked so cute holding that thing the entire time!

 She was happy that she wore her rain boots so she could splash in the puddles.

 A bench is always a good reason to take a picture.

We were looking down at the water and Sadie spotted some owls on the rocks.  Can you see them?  There is a mom owl and three babies.  They are so cute!

 We made it to the bottom of the waterfalls.  So pretty.

 Picture with the pretty purple tree.

 Family selfie.

 They had fun umbrellas hanging from the trees.  

 Look at these two cute girls!

 Sadie- age 8

 Emery-age 4

 The flowers were pretty, although they looked a little beat up because they had just endured a crazy hailstorm.  

We wanted to see the fish before we left but while we were trying to walk there, Riley kept on kneeling down and putting her head on the ground.  I thought she was just being difficult, but when we got to the fish, she totally threw up.  She had thrown up a couple days before but seemed fine that day.  Anyway, I didn't even have my diaper bag with me but we happened to run into some friends who were also at the fish area.  They used to be in our ward and the husband used to work for the church with Rob.  They let us use a ton of wipes and a bag for the garbage and hand sanitizer. It was a tender mercy that we ran into them...and bonus, it was good to see them!  Ha ha.  

Thanks again Laurel for the free tickets!