WARNING: really long post about our trip to Disneyland!

This last weekend we took a little family trip to Disney Land and the beach. I was a little nervous and was not that excited to be going. Every time we go places, the kids seem to be less than nice and usually get sick and they dont do that well on long car trips.
Even if i wasnt all that excited, we began our 5 hour car ride on Saturday at 9 in the AM, right when nap time is suppose to be! To our surprise all the girls were so good, the twins took a nap, Grace played and watched movies, (FYI- when you have little kids and you go anywhere over a 10 minute car ride, get a dvd player!) and there was pretty much no crying!
Since i am a world traveler, I was in charge of directions and getting us there, and thanks to the navigation on my phone we got to our first stop, New Port Beach, with only getting a little lost!

After driving around and around to find a parking spot, we played in the sand for awhile. Grace was not about to get into the water, or even close to it. But we still had fun.

Mostly I think everyone was just really excited to be out of the car.

It didnt take the girls long to start playing in the sand, Alaynna loves dirt and had no problem covering herself in sand and also covering my towel at the same time.

We were just hanging out on the sand, away from the tide, when I was trying to take a picture of Kyle and Addison out in the water. Kyle started yelling at me, but i was trying to make his camera take a picture that wasnt blurry and by the time it was to late, the tide came up and got our bags and towel wet!

Grace thought it would be fun to cover me up, but i was kinda a mean mom and only let her cover the bottom half of me. Alaynna thought it was funner to uncover than cover.

After talking Grace into it, she let me bury her in the sand.

She was covered in sand for the rest of the day, Kyle was not happy that his clean car was full of sand and it will probably take the next 10 vacuum jobs to get all of it out. But we had fun and thats whats important.

I had to steal this picture from Laura, who has alot of cute pictures on her blog of this trip, ( she is the unofficial picture taker of the family )

Kaden and Grace have a "rocky relationship" He was on his mission till she was older, not long after he got back he picked her up and ran threw the sprinkler and her being a girl hasnt quite forgiven him yet. He is always giving her candy, or doing nice things with her and most of the time she loves him, but sometime the "nice" thing he is trying to do, back fires on him!!!

like this......................

He found this nice little cute crab and he had been holding it for awhile, after a minute Grace decided that she wanted to hold it to. So they put it in her hand and she closed her hand up so he wouldnt fall, and then it latched on and wouldn't let go of her!!! They ripped its claw from its body and then had to rip the claw from her finger, there was no blood or even a scratch, so i think it scared her more than hurt her. But i think the lesson learned with this is, dont pick up crabs and give them to 4 year olds, unless you want it to latch on to fingers!!!! 

We werent at the beach for to long, but it was just long enough. We had fun playing in the sand and none of the girls liked being in the water. Maybe next time when they are a little older!

After the beach it was 5 o'clock, and at our house 5 o'clock is dinner time. We knew we were going to go out to dinner but the girls couldnt wait, so on our way to the hotel we stopped at Del Taco! Graces favorite thing to eat right now is tacos and the twins eat anything. While Kyle went and checked us in the girls had a little taco party in the car, they all really enjoyed it.

We went to Garden Walks mall and ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., it was pretty good and fun! Then we just walked around, the girls actually ran around, till we went back to the hotel.

That night while the girls were crying cause they werent in cribs, this banging kept going on, I finally made Kyle get up and see what in the world was going on and it was the fireworks! I about went and found me some ear plug, but they stopped and the girls stopped crying and we all got a little rest for the big day ahead of us!

The plan was to get up and go right at 9 when Disney land opened, and we pretty much made it about that time. We thought that after a few hours we would walk back to our rooms and let the girls nap, but we were die hards and stayed the whole day!

Since we had the kids, we went in two groups on all the rides that they were to little to go on, (pretty much everything). While Kaden, Luke, Vance and Laura went on Indian Jones, the rest of us went into Tarzans tree house. Grace was really scared of  Sabor, the leopard, especially when Kyle tried to pet it and it growled and blew air at us, but she got over it and started to have fun.

The twins were so good, i think there was just so much going on around them that they were to intrigued to cry or fuss!

From everything i have ever heard about Disneyland, (yes this was also my first time ever going.) It is always packed and it is just a bunch of waiting in line, and dont get me wrong we waited and there was alot of people there, but not near what i was dreading it to be like! September on a Sunday is the time to go i guess!

All of us get motion sickness so instead of going on the tea cups we just took a picture in the one that doesnt move! This was about the time when Addison and Alaynna started to need a nap, so we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and they fell asleep, even if it was only for a minute or two, it helped!

After we ate lunch, everyone got a little more energy and alot happier!

We rode alot of rides, we seen alot of things, but alot of the day was just a big blur of seeing things, walking around, and just having fun!

One ride that i probably wont ever be going on again is the haunted house, lame-O!

We took the train over to Toon Town and got to see mickey house. 

Grace thought that was pretty cool and the whole day and well before we had even left our house, she told me she wasnt going to be scared and she was even going to touch Mickeys hand!

And she did! We all got our picture taken with Mickey himself, one of the highlights of the day for Grace!

I dont know if it is just my girls or if it is all girls about that age, but they love Tinker Bell, we watch one of her movies pretty much everyday at this house! So we were hoping to see Tink and the other fairys at Pixie Hollow, but we just missed them so we only got to see her from a distance and then after she had shrunk back in to a little fairy, ; ) we went and seen Pixie Hollow. Grace Knocked on her door but she didnt answer, so we got her some awesome Tink fairy wings and Aunt Laura got her the matching purse and gloves!

I think by this time we were all tired so we went and sat on the sidewalk and waited for the parade.
The twins found some people that were blowing bubbles and they loved it! I think they probably chased bubbles and ran around for at least 30 minutes.

Proof we were all tired, but surprisingly still all in good moods!

I had seen these frozen Lemonade things and really wanted one, but it seems like whenever i get a treat the kids always end up eating more than i do. So while waiting we all enjoyed this yummy frozen lemonade!

Grace was pretty excited when the parade started coming. You cant really tell from this picture, but she really was!

All 100,000 of us, minus Kyle waiting for the parade to get to us!

This was probably the best part of the whole day for me and Kyle, it is weird when you have kids what makes them happy is what seems to make you happy!
We got into a really good spot for the parade cause the dancers stopped right in front of us and did a little dancing number and all the characters got out and walked around.
The twins were really getting into all the music and everyone dancing around them, they were for real dancing and clapping and yelling. The dancers seen them so they were really cute and came over to us and talked to all the girls. Then out of no where Goofy came over! Grace jumped out of her stroller and had the biggest smile on her face, she got to hug him and everything, she was SO happy! I really thought she was just going to pass out of happiness, her smile was huge and it was defiantly my favorite part of the whole trip.

The dancers were really nice and came and sprinkled confetti on the girls and they thought that was cool, cause they were throwing it all over and smiling and screaming!

After the parade we went on Thunder railroad, Kyle was being a big baby saying he was going to get sick but i made him go on it with me anyways and he scram like a little girl! Mostly he was being funny, but he was a little scared so i think some of it was real!
We also had to do the Buzz LightYear  ride again so we could show off our awesome shooting skills, I think me and Kyle won, but it depends on who you ask probably!!!!

Kyle was worried that if we stayed to the fireworks the girls would just cry, but the twins were passed out and I didn't think Grace would be scared of these ones, so we stayed and we were happy we did!

We didnt get to see Tinker Bell close up, but we got to see her flying in the sky making the fireworks, and that was better than seeing her for Grace! She was in amazement! The twins stayed pretty much asleep after we picked them up and it was a great way to end the night!

We walked back to our rooms and past out!!

Monday was pretty uneventful, till about the last 100 miles of our trip home. Grace got a little bit sick and had an accident in her pants, Addison was having the opposite problem, and Alaynna scram for the last hour of the ride. But they were so good the rest of the trip that we forgave them!

We were all happy that Nancy made us make blankets and was nice enough to plan the whole trip and take us all along! We are excited for the next trip, in 2 years when Luke comes home!!