The Best of Both Worlds

On our second to last day in Cali - we went to both Disneyland and California Adventures.  I can't believe how lucky the kiddos were!  They were chosen for every event we participated in.  SO sweet!  Here they are participating in Jedi Training:

 

 

Aaron got to fight Darth Mal:

Krystal fought Darth Vader (and dropped her sword mid fight - in true princess fashion, of course).  But, she still feels sad when she sees the video, so I won't post it!  :)  One day - she'll love it, I'm sure.  It was really cute.  All the kids had a great time and loved every minute of their training!

 

We visited the Wilderness Area, which is really made for littler kids, I think ...

 

... But!!!  The kids got to see DUG from the movie "Up" - which was a character they were hoping to see.  They were not disappointed, and spent the rest of the day making "Squirrel!!"  jokes at each other  (Tyler included himself in that hilarity ;)).

 

THEN, Krystal was chosen to dance in the Phineas and Ferb show.  She was thrilled - and, I have to admit - the cuteness choked me and Ty up a little bit.  :)

 

We kinda like Phineas and Ferb over here at our house!

They had most of the kids dancing eventually.  I'm not sure if Krystal's face expresses how much fun she is having or not?  ;)  

 

Marissa was pretty pumped to get a "fist bump" from Ferb.  (Her souvenir choice was a Perry the Platypus shirt) - so, she really enjoyed the dance party as much as the littles - even though she refused to bust a move. 

Then the kids got to train to be toys with the little green army men.  That was great!

 

 

Taking the vow to be VERY good toys:

We surprised the kids that night with glow-in-the-dark face paint for the Tron Dance Party!  It was really cool!

 

 

We danced the night away - and had so much fun that I even ended up leaving my purse at the dance party (thank heavens I didn't have any money in it) - but LOTS of stuff!!  Believe it or not - it was turned into the lost and found, and 'most' of my stuff was returned.  All of my Mary Kay lip gloss (3 tubes!) were gone - and our sunscreen was taken.  Weird.

 

 

That seriously was an awesome night!!

Para - Para - Paradise

I do believe I averaged about 40-50 pictures/day while we were in Disneyland - and it's just too hard to pick and choose, 'cuz they all bring such great memories with them. So, here we go onto Day 4 of our trip .........

 We were VERY happy to have a stroller for Krystal. I have no idea why we were thinking she would be fine without one. That girl doesn't walk anywhere without begging to be held. What in the world are we going to do with her? No WAY did Marissa or Aaron still sit in a stroller at age 7. But - that stroller was a life savor for the trip, truly. We got one of the two that were left at Target in Anaheim - and saw many identical strollers throughout every day of our trip. haha.  OH - and the picture of Krystal in the stroller is her with the bubble gun she chose for a souvenir.  I was mad about it at first - but it ended up being really fun to have bubbles blowing everywhere while we walked around the park.  Magical!  ;)

 I couldn't get enough of the beautiful landscaping all over Disneyland. Planning six days at the park was the best thing to do - we were really able to enjoy all the little details:

 

We enjoyed resting our feet on the train rides.  :)  And - we LOVED Tune Town!  So many fun picture opportunities!

 

We loved how the "bomb"  really sounded like it was exploding when Aaron pushed the trigger. 

That Dog Pound ain't holdin' TyGuy for too long!

 

Krystal has always been such a poser.  Ha!  That girl ...

I love this "I work out."  picture of Marissa.  :D!

 

Honest truth:  I said to Krystal, "Hey - go stand by that little door for a picture."  Voila - ezpz - this is what I get from her:

 

Here's Marissa in true teenager form (except, I guess that nowadays it's more texting than actual talking)!  And - this is Aarbear "standing" at the little door for a pic.  Personality!!!

 

The signs all over were great.  And who doesn't love Pluto!?!  One of my favorite memories of Pluto is when Carly was "lecturing" her kiddos about something or other -- VERY serious -- and Pluto sneaked up behind her, mid-lecture, and tickled her cheek with his whiskers making her jump.  :)  That kinda threw any seriousness out the window.  It was funny.

 

Inside Mickey's house!  Aaron found a spot that he was right at home in:

We visited Minnie at her house too!

Inside Minnie's house.  So many cute things - a cake cooking in the oven, dishes whirling around in the dishwasher, pots and pans that rattle, flowers that grow - darling!  Here's Marissa sitting at Minnie's table:

And trying out her sofa:

The kids told me I needed to get a pic of myself by this sign, because it "represents" me so well.  hahaha!  Too true!  I've lived in Utah all my life - and 99% of the time I'm driving somewhere, I have to do some sort of turn around, because I've made a wrong turn ... or missed the exit ... or took too early of an exit ... or can't remember which direction North or West is.  Sheesh.  I'm a mess.  This sign fits me just fine.  ;)   And here's Kryssie Pie just enjoying some more time with her BFF:

 

Autopia!

 

And back to the Buzz-Light-Year ride again.  It was way fun!

We did SO many things that I didn't get pictures of.  All of the shows and entertainment in Disneyland and California Adventure are just spectacular.  I'm so grateful we got to see so many of them.  They were amazing.  Here we are eating our Dole Whips (I crave these every day!!!!) and waiting to watch Billy Hill and the Hill Billies - oh man - it was hilarious - and SO fun to watch.  They are incredibly talented.  It was probably my favorite.  We loved the parade too!

 

We really felt like we had a little taste of paradise our week in Disneyland!