California - Day 3

We started the morning out all ready for Disneyland. We walked there and started to wonder if it was such a good idea. The Eads were coming to to spend the day with us at the pool. If we didn't get there early enough we wouldn't get chairs...or chairs in the shade. So, we turned around, went back to the hotel room and got ready for the pool.
The kids have a blast in the water!! The Eads got there around noonish. It was good to see them and meet the kids that we have never met before. Olivia was soooo cute and big!! Kaiya had a lot of fun with K.C. and Noelle. Ella and Olivia both the divas of their family had some fun with each other.

Looks like Daddy and Jett need a Tan!

All 3 of the kids absolutely love the water. Jett and Ella both cry when they have to get out. I had a ton of fun watching Ella go from hanging on to me for her life to telling me not to touch her. She is a big girl now and doesn't need Daddy to help her :(

K.C. going down the slide...

Noelle...

Next to Kaiya is one of her good friends from the Dance Academy (Elizabeth)

Yaaaaaa!!!!

Daddy's girls

Nap time at the pool for Jett Jett

Olivia and Ella having a good time playing with the squirt bottle.

Cirdan trying to find some shade. Whatever works!

Disneyland Hotel pool

Kaiya and Elizabeth

Ella going for it on the slide....

Kaiya's friend Ariel

Ariel here hanging out with Ella Rose

Ariel, Jasmine, Kaiya

Cool guy

Hahaha!

Olivia LOVED Jett and wanted to give him hugs

Twins!

After the pool we cleaned up and went to the Rainforest Cafe which is at Downtown Disney.

After eating we headed to Downtown Disney to walk around for a bit.

We ran into some of the other dance girls. FUN!

We couldn't end the night without some ice cream!

(Cirdan in italics)

Disneyland - Day 2

I don't think I mentioned why we went to California. Kaiya's dance team travels each year somewhere to compete in a national dance competition. This year it was Disneyland! We were really excited when we found out it would be California. We thought it would be a great location for a family vacation.
About a week before we left we received the schedule for Kaiya's dance's. I was pleasantly surprised to see that she was only dancing 2 of the 7 days we would be there. Both days she would dance only in the morning so we would have the afternoon to do what we wanted.
The 2nd day in California...our 1st full day...we woke up early to get to Disneyland before the crowd and before it got too hot. It was much hotter weather than we are used to in rainy Washington. The kids (including Cirdan) were excited to go on the rides. I was excited to watch and be in the happiest place on earth. It is pretty hard to have a bad attitude there (although if you asked Cirdan I managed to squeeze in a few moments ;). The music and the environment is wonderful!
As soon as we walked through the gates...
(Cirdan added to the blog...his is in italic)

That's right- we couldn't go play, we couldn't go have fun, we HAD to stop for a picture session or the picture Nazi (HEIDI) would have thrown a fit. Every 14 steps....Stop! We have to take a picture she says. NOT AWESOME! It is great when we look back though, it's fun to see all of the stuff we did. I would not remember half of it without these pictures. So I guess it is worth it..... just doesn't seem like it at the time :)



Our two princesses....one of Ella's favorite things to do was walk through the big castle. She was in Heaven the entire time we were at Disneyland.
The first character that we saw was...Peter Pan! We had to stop to get a picture. He was an...interesting guy....
And by interesting Heidi means a super flamer...and I have gay friends....nothing wrong with gay people...this dude was a super weirdo. Creepy Peter Pan from Never been normal land.

It was fun running into kids and families from the dance studio. Kaiya happened to be on the carousel the same time as Maya in her dance group.

Try Kaiya...try!

Teacups...one of my favorite rides! Hahaha.....she is not kidding, Heidi is 31 and she digs the teacups. She may just pee her pants if she went on the big kid rides.

Kaiya, Ella and I on Dumbo, Ella got a kick out of controlling the up and down motion of Dumbo.

Good thing the girls were still in good spirits right here. It was hot, we had been in the sun starting at around 8am. That was the absolute best thing about staying at the Disneyland Hotel- we could take a couple hours in the afternoon and get out of the heat, take a nap, feed the kids and get ready to back at it.

It's a small world...Jett's first Disneyland ride. It was nice to be in the air conditioning for a little while. Last time we were at Disneyland this ride was shut down while they re-did it.

We went over to Toon town and had some food to eat. Goofy came out for pictures and autographs.

Daddy's girl :)

Look at those guns! LOL

We headed over to California Adventure.While everyone went on the Monsters Inc ride I sat out with Jett while he slept.

Christmas card this year? :)

We decided to go back to the hotel and then go get some food.

We were in Downtown Disney and there was a freeze mob that was put together. A handful of the kids from Auburn Dance Academy were asked to join in. Levi is on the left, Chris Carrington in the middle and Chris Akana on the right. They held their positions for 5 minutes. It went off pretty nicely and was fun to see in person...ever seen a freeze mob? Me neither....There were about 50 people in on it.

There was this little Mexican food place in Downtown Disney. It was nice to find since most of the other restaurants are sit down (which means stand and wait for 30 minutes to sit down and eat). Since we stayed at the hotel that is part of Downtown Disney this place was a perfect place to eat. Yummy also!

We ran into the Carrington's while we were eating so we met up with them later that evening. The guys spent a couple hours at the Ridemakerz. That place was like Build a Bear but for guys. They could pick out all the different parts of a car and put it together. Remote control or model car.

I took Kaiya, Ella and Jett and we met up with the girl Carrington's.

Kamryn...a dancer at ADA

Kaylee, Starley, Kaiya and Kameron being silly.

We all met and got ice cream. I have never eaten so much ice cream as I did that week. It seemed to be a nightly trend to get ice cream and the Haagen Dazs.

Fun times!!