Vacation Part 7: The End Of Our Trip

Our two week trip was coming to an end. Christmas was over, Sea World, Disneyland and everything in between had been done. We would soon be heading home. The morning after Disneyland, Jeff's parent took everyone to Denny's for breakfast for one last family get together.

The girls adored their cousin! They were constantly hanging on her and she was SO GOOD with them. She was especially a HUGE help at Disneyland. She was always holding on to at least one of them, if not two, and making sure they were staying with the group. I was still my neurotic self and making sure I could see them, but it was a help knowing that she was keeping such a good watch out for them as well.

Kendal told us that she was going to get married with this. I have a feeling that when the time comes, she'll have a totally different style of veil in mind. ;)

When we left CA, we headed back to my parents to spend a couple of days with them again before coming home. My Mom sat Payton on the counter while she was doing something and turned back around and this is how she found her. P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C!!!!!

Since we failed to take pics of everyone (except the girls) when we celebrated Christmas, we took some pics of everyone by the pond in their backyard.

We had such a fabulous time!!!!! We got to catch up with family and friends that we hadn't gotten to see in quite awhile and give the girls a memorable vacation. We enjoyed every minute of it, even the LOOOOONG car drive. The girls were amazing and it gave us a lot of time to talk and be goofy together. God has truly blessed our family and we are so thankful!!!

THE END...finally!! :)

until next time...

Vacation Part 6: Disneyland

Disney day had finally arrived. A day that had been talked about for THREE years was finally happening. Jeff's mom has wanted to take our family and Jeff's sister and her family for several years now and it finally came to be. I'm glad it hadn't worked out in previous years because I think all our girls were at a great age for remembering the trip. Unfortunately, we went on December 30th along with everyone else in California. It was crazy, packed, busy!! We still had a good time though. Thank goodness for Grandma and her motorized scooter! We were able to use the handicap entrance at the rides which made our wait time 20-30 minutes as opposed to 2-3 HOURS!!!!!!!!! Next time we go, we won't go at the end of the year.

Yipeeeeee, Disneyland!!!

A BUNCH of people that passed us would say, "Oh look! The cheetah girls are at Disneyland!" If I had a dollar for everytime that was said..... :)

Waiting with their Aunt, Uncle and cousins while the stroller and scooter were being rented.

In line for her first roller coaster ride...Indiana Jones. She was very nervous!

It's almost time for our turn

We're about to take off. She let off a few good screams during the ride, but at the end, she said she liked it and was ready for more. Bring it on!!!

Heading out on Pirates of the Caribbean

Payton LOOOOVED the roller coasters!!! Bransyn, unfortunately, wasn't quite tall enough for all of them, but the ones she got to do, she LOVED!

Bsyn pouting because she had to stay with Papa (he didn't do most of the rides) because she was just the teensiest tiniest bit to short and they wouldn't let her go. :(

Isn't that just pathetic?!?! I felt really bad for her, but not bad enough to stay behind with her! ;-}

She got in about a 15 min. snooze before having to get out for the next ride.

silliness

Fun on the teacups. The faster, the better!!

We had to get our pic with the "cheetah girls" :)

Grandma and Kendal and the flying elephant, DUMBO

Could they be any cheesier?!?!

Waiting in line for It's a Small World, where Jeff and his dad got into a little tiff. They pulled it together when his Mom told them to knock it off before they got us kicked out of "The Happiest Place on Earth". That would have been most unfortunate!!

Waiting for the parade to start. Because of it being so packed there, we didn't run into any of the princesses or Mickey or Minnie or anyone else wandering around the park so at least they got to see all of them here. I was kinda bummed not to get any pics with them though. Next trip...

Hard to see, but Kendal got high fived by one of Santa's reindeer. She was soooo excited about that. It even made Papa tear up a little! He's a softy afterall!! :)

Couldn't leave without getting the "Mickey" ears with their names. Although it's no longer just the standard black ears like it was when I was a kid. Now they have them in all sorts of different colors and styles, they light up and flash and blink. It's crazy! The picking out process took FOREVER!!! One would have their choice, but would change their mind by the time another one had picked theirs. After about 30 minutes, I finally told them that they had to pick one NOW or I was going to pick for them. You can see what they chose, good choices, I think!

The rest of the family had taken off back to the hotel, but there were a few more things that we wanted to do. Like ride the monorail. We got to ride in the very front with the "captain" on the first trip. The girls thought that was just way cool!! On the second trip, we were with the rest of the commoners. :)

The lights in a tunnel of the monorail. I thought it made a neat pic.

They had been begging for ice cream all day so we told them we would get some before we left. It was a great and yummy way to end the day!! They all zonked out in the car back to the hotel, which was only about a mile away, and went straight to bed. Clothes and all....I was thankful that it was a hotel bed and not their beds at home. :)

We had a fabulous day! Thanks Grandma and Papa, we love you!!!

to be continued...

Vacation Part 5: Mission Beach, Point Loma Seafood, Shelter Island

It was time to head out from our hotel and head to Anaheim, but before going there, we had some stops to make first.

They always manage to get a ride on the luggage cart

First stop....Mission Beach

Even though it was too cold to get in the water, I wanted them to at least be able to go there and see the ocean and walk around a little. They wanted to swim so bad, they just didn't get it. Of course, it didn't help that there were surfers in the water so they thought that if they got to be in the water, why can't we?! Totally understandable!

We didn't spend as much time at the beach as the girls would have liked, but since we still had to get back in the car and drive a few hours, I didn't want them getting too sandy. Not only would we have had to deal with all the sand in the car, we would have had to listen to them complain about having sand in their clothes the whole way. That would have made for an annoying car ride.

Second stop....Point Loma Seafood

When Jeff and I used to live in San Diego (Ramona, actually) and his parents were coming to San Diego for the day, we would meet them at Point Loma Seafood for lunch. It's not actually a restaurant per se, but more of a place where you walk in, place your order, then you can eat at cafeteria style tables or outside by the water. I have never been able to walk in where orders are placed because the fish smell is just way to strong for me. ICK!! While Jeff was ordering food for him and I and his parents (the girls were having McDonald's), the girls and I walked around by the water looking at all the boats.

The girls wanted to walk down closer to the water, but that didn't last too long before I made them go back up where there was railing. They kept running (Payton is even in mid run in this pic) and seemed to have no concept of how close they would get to the water and that one little trip up would send them over the edge. Maybe I was being neurotic and paranoid, but they were making me very nervous!

Back up by the railing where they informed me that we needed to get a boat. :)

Third stop....Shelter Island

We met Jeff's parents at Shelter Island to eat lunch and the girls could play at the playground there before all of us headed to Anaheim. It was a little windy, but the girls didn't care. They had a lot of fun and didn't want to leave. It wasn't until we told them that we were heading to the hotel where we were going to stay before going to Disneyland the next day, that they were willing to leave without a fight.

What a great place for a park! Absolutely beautiful!!

We made it to our hotel! The girls are shouting for joy because not only do they have bunkbeds, but they have their own TV and a glass slider that they could close off between our rooms. It worked out very well for me too because while Jeff, his sister and brother-in-law were in his parents room watching the Chargers football game, our niece and nephew were in our room watching TV with the girls. I was able to close off their room and they could watch what they wanted and I was able to lay in bed and watch what I wanted and relax a little.

to be continued...