Earlier this month, we took a big trip. Lots of driving, to end up in California.
It was magical being there with the kids.
They are all a pretty good age: no diapers or naptimes needed, they've got some decent endurance, are old enough to actually remember this trip, but young enough to think that most things are pretty magical.
At the beginning intro video, while you wait in line, Sallah tells the riders to keep their eyes closed or they'll turn into skeletons. Caleb took the instructions at the beginning of Indiana Jones very seriously and kept his eyes shut the entire ride.
Caleb always got to go on rides with someone.
Caleb was hilarious at Indiana Jones, for example.
Craig was willing to take photos - most of the time. As long as it didn't get in the way of the rides!
Grandma Maria paid for the kiddos' ears, and they loved being able to pick out their favorites.
Caleb absolutely loved his ears. He said he was "R2-Mouse-2."
Kyler's aunt had given the kids some American cash that we took with us and let them use however they wanted. Of course we came home with cutlasses...
...And light sabers.
So did I.
There was 7 of us, but I was never the odd man out. The kiddos would fight over who got to be with me instead...
Honestly, the sun in this picture makes me hot just looking and thinking about it...
We didn't wait in line for pictures with characters really, but the atmosphere itself is still so fun and magical.
Just walking down Main Street is a party itself!
And even going through security is fun when you've got employees trying to make everyone's day amazing!
It was HOT, and sometimes we were tired,
but we had fun anyway.
Waiting in line sometimes was almost nice, though: shaded and air conditioned!
Mom embroidered the kiddos matching shirts, which was nice. As cheesy as it is, I recommend matching shirts in bright colors. It makes it easy to find the kids in a crowd.
We spent 2 days at Disneyland, and were successful at pulling the sword out of the stone zero times. Looks like none of them are destined to be King.
We were, however, successful at getting my mom to ride the teacups!
I had her go with Caleb, because he probably wouldn't be as crazy with the spinner. I was correct.
Hey, look! It's all of us!
What a small world!
Canada is a part of this small world!
Caleb had no idea what to do but loved hitting buttons as they lit up.
We could see fireworks from the parking lot of our condo, so we did that.
Mom and Dad were really good sports the whole trip. Thanks! And Mom and Dad had a couple more days at Disney without us. Living their best lives!
I liked the smaller scale of California Adventure, and we had time to do almost everything we wanted.
The Red Creek Challenge Trail was really fun.
It's nice to have some time to just relax and let the kids play, between all the rides and walking.
And speaking of relaxing, sometimes you've got to go to the theatre and watch Donald Duck be ridiculous.
After all, it's got places to sit and air conditioning...
We (well, some of us) did Guardians twice,
and I convinced everyone to make a ridiculously cheesy face the second time.
Because what's the point of the souvenir photo unless it's cheesy?
Incredicoaster ended up being everyone's favorite, once we finally got on it!
(It was out of order, like, half the day, so it was the absolute last thing we did on our whole vacation).
...but where is Caleb? He was in the seat next to me, I swear!
One of my strangely favorite moments that is not in any way pictured was on the shuttle ride back to our condo for the night. We were exhausted and ready to be done. I could feel myself on the brink of becoming a grumpy mess and ruining things for everyone, myself included. But I decided to bribe the kiddos with an Oreo or two for the trip back. And once I got them out of my bag, I decided to just start offering them to everyone on the shuttle with us. It really made my attitude so much better to share and be kind, and brought smiles to the people around us.
I am grateful we got to go on this amazing trip, and go with my parents, too. It was exhausting (I might still be recovering...), but it was so worth it. Plus, Disney was hardly the only thing we did! Stay tuned for dolphins, mammoths, knights, the temple, pool time, and more!
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