Disneyland!

Both of the kids loved the beach. Sophia and Hunter just wanted to stand right at the water and let the waves crash over their feet. She kept calling it "the sea" since her only exposure thus far was the Little Mermaid. Liam liked digging in the sand quite a bit, and running full speed into the water (luckily he never went under). He was the only little one who liked the beach. I have mentioned his naughtiness and after a little deliberation (and having him sick over the weekend) I decided it was not due to the interruption in schedule like I thought but the lack of his usual amount of sleep. He went to bed later and didn't get the longest naps. If I had it to do over again I would drop everything at nap time and make sure he was in his bed asleep. He couldn't sleep very good this weekend due to being sick and he reminded me a lot of the child on vacation with us. Live and learn I guess, if only they were all the same...

Our condo was right on the beach, you could walk out the back door right onto the sand. We were about 3 blocks down the beach from Ruby's Diner which is at the end of like a mile long pier (maybe I am exaggerating). Main street was across the street form the pier and there were a bunch of little shops to browse. Sunday was our best day of the trip. We went to the beach and then walked down main street and just relaxed until Jake and Liam (the naughty vacation exile) had to go to the airport.

Sophia loved Disneyland. She was about 3/4 of an inch too short to go on some of the bigger rides but she LOVED the Matterhorn, the Teacups and Peter Pan. We waited in the eternal line (1.25 hours) to meet the princesses and that was the highlight of the trip for her. She got to meet Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Jasmine. I LOVE Disneyland and definitely feel the magic even as an adult. It was so fun to watch Sophie, the times she was so starstruck over running into different characters melted my heart.

We went to the Crush (from Finding Nemo) show and he wanted to talk to Soph. They brought the mic around and Crush asked her what her name was. She said "Sophiahall" in the tiniest little voice so he teased her for a minute and tried to ask her something else but she was too shy. I really recommend this show to anyone going to Disneyland with kids, it was so cute and Soph thought he was hilarious.

Probably Sophie's favorite part of the whole trip was having her cousins on call 24 hours a day to play with. Shaylynn and Kylie doted on her every second and she loved every minute of it. It was nice to spend time with my family, and amazingly we didn't get on each others nerves too bad. My only wish is to have my husband with me next time and to have no children under 3. I think Jake and I need a vacation alone after that one...

Sorry about all the pictures... I don't do slideshows because I eventually want to print this out as a journal/scrapbook, so bear with me :)


This one sums up Disneyland, you can see the wonder in her eyes while she waved at somebody in the parade. She was the cutest to watch during the parades, she got so excited to see everybody.





She loved all of the princesses, it was a long wait but she got one-on-one time with each of them. They talked with her and asked her questions and then posed for as many pictures as you needed to take, they were great! She was most struck by how bee-oo-tee-ful Ariel was. I can confidently say that all of the men were too :)


I love her face in this one, she LOVED this little Bug's Life ride.


I think Pluto is so cute with his paw up by his mouth like that.


She loves "the boy movie" so she was excited to pull the sword out of the stone. I think she really thought it was going to come out and something wonderful would happen.


Lucky daddy was brave enough to take her on the Teacups. I have never been on this ride since the spinny ones make me sick. She loved it.


We were on our way to the princesses when we ran into Captain Hook. She was really nervous but then when we were walking away she goes, "wow mommy, he was REALLY nice!" It is so cute how these people are so real to them.


A cute little picture spot in California Adventure.


Her and Minnie striking the same pose.


Cute Dopey.


I honestly think this is the only picture of any of us together. We had our hands too full with Liam to think about taking pictures.


Shay and Soph swinging on the beach.


My two cute boys playing on the beach. Jake and Pat had fun trying to Skimboard, and we had fun watching them fall in the water.



My favorite picture from the whole trip. She looks so pretty and beachy and I love her new bathing suit.