Day 4 - Disney's California Adventue and Ellen's Last Day

We woke up Tuesday morning and first headed to Disneyland where we went and rode the Buzz Lightyear ride. Adelle and I rode together and had a super fun time. You have laser guns and get to shoot targets on the ride. I got a super high score. We did the switch pass since Violet was asleep and Wes and Lydia got to go.

We then headed to Disney's California Adventure Park.
We ran into the Toy Story Army guys a couple of times in the day. They kept getting in our way :) We got fast passes for Soarin' Over California, Ellen's favorite ride, and then we headed over to Bug Land.

It is a fun little place where you feel like you are a little bug! You also can find many of the characters from Bug's Life.

We decided to go see the 3D show "It's Tough to Be a Bug". Right as we were about to go in though Violet's poopy diaper leaked everywhere!! It was good we had extra clothes, baggies, and lots of diapers and wipes. We changed her right in the middle of bug's land and got a few strange looks, but we finally got her all cleaned up and ready to go.

We got to wear more fun glasses! We had forgotten a lot about the show. I thought "hey this is a dark place to feed Violet". I had forgotten how involving the show is. Right at that moment Violet and I got sprayed by water and she started crying. Then giant spiders came down from the ceiling and Adelle started freaking out and hiding behind Wes, then Violet began to cry even more. Even Lydia was scared. It ended up being quite funny in the end. Everyone made it out safe and sound.

Adelle really wanted to right Heimlich's Chew Chew train. She had remembered it from when she was 3 years old. She wanted to get dripped on again by the giant watermelon.

I finally took a break since Violet was hungry and the girls ventured over the bumper cars on their own. Adelle was disappointed that Lydia had to drive. She had quite the sad face.

I think she warmed up as the ride went on though.

We caught a few more small rides in Bug's Land including this spinning lady bug ride. Violet was allowed to go on the ride, but wasn't allowed to ride on my lap which was odd. I had to balance her on the seat while we quickly spun around. It was very interesting to say the least.

Lydia and Adelle wanted to spin the car like the teacups, but found out it spins without any help.

We next went on Flik's Flyers where you sit in "food boxes" and fly up into the sky. We all crammed into one car and enjoyed the flight.

From there we headed back over by Soarin' Over California and ate our lunch. Ellen bought lunch and had to wait in a long line, so Wes, Adelle, Lydia and I enjoyed riding Soarin' all together while Ellen ate and watched our sleeping Violet. Ellen, Wes and Adelle then rode Soarin' over California. I love that ride :) It is so amazing to feel like you are paragliding over the California sites. You can even smell the beach and orange groves.

We caught goofy right after the ride. He is such a fun character.

He signed Adelle's autograph book on Adelle's head!

It was time for Violet's lunch so Wes, Ellen, Lydia and Adelle rode the Ariel's Merry Go Round.

After the Merry Go Round Wes, Ellen, Lydia and Adelle went on Grizzly River Rapids. I wasn't able to go since we had only gotten a couple of fast passes for the ride and I let everyone else have a turn. I was hoping to get to ride it before the trip was up, since I haven't done it before, but it didn't work out. Violet and I had fun visiting with strangers though. We really enjoyed meeting new people.

Ellen, Lydia and I then had a chance to go on California Screamin', a super fast roller coaster that takes you upside at times. Adelle and Wes weren't interested to go on it at all. Ellen, Lydia and I had fun though. Lydia screamed super loud the whole time!

We then headed over to the giant Mickey Ferris Wheel. We decided to wait for a car that swings back and forth. During our wait Adelle decided to make a wish and throw her penny into the water. I often caught her doing this during the trip, so I guess it is good she found so much loose change on the ground :)

I think Wes regretted his choice to get a swinging car. It really swung us around and he is afraid of heights. I was able to get some great video of us on the ride. It was chilly too way up in the air.

After the Ferris Wheel we caught a bite to eat, literally. We didn't end up choosing the best place that night. The portions were very small. At least we had snacks left over from lunch so we munched on those. We did end up with a great seat for the Pixar parade which the girls really enjoyed. I found it funny that we caught both parades without planning to. What luck!

Wes and Ellen never fully dried from Grizzly River Rapids, so they headed back to the hotel to change clothes. While they were gone the girls and I headed over to the Animation Studios. I feed Violet while the girls looked around. The great think about the location was the couches and the GIANT screen which displayed drawings and clips from various movies, set to music. I did get a little teary when I heard the song "When you wish upon a star". It made me think of my dad and I missed him.

The girls I decided to go to the Animation Academy class.

We had the opportunity to go inside an auditorium and to get instruction from an animator on how to draw Chip. I really enjoyed it.

It was fun to see the girls trying their very best to draw.

I saved their sketches and scanned them so we will always remember!

Adelle wasn't happy with her drawing. She was sad and felt like she was a horrible artist. We all reassured her that she is great and that everything takes practice.

Since we had met up with Wes and Ellen again we decided to ride Monster's Inc together. Violet loved looking around at everything and was really interested. An animatronic Ross was at the end of the ride. She can see everyone that is coming through and she said that she was going to keep our little monster (Violet). I let her know that she would be staying with us.

Since it was Ellen's last night she decided to treat all of us to ice cream! So yummy! We all had fun listening to the California music and eating our sweet treats.

Violet danced along to the music.

It was so great to have Grandma Ellen with us, and we were sad she was going to leave.

As the park closed we headed back to our hotel to snuggle down for the night.

3rd Day - Disneyland!! New Friends and Courage!

We were all super excited to start our first day at Disneyland!! It is honestly my favorite vacation spot. We entered the busy park prepared to have FUN! The very first ride we all went on was Star Tours, Wes' absolute favorite ride in the park. I waited at the ride exit with Violet. We got a rider switch pass so when everyone exited I was able to go through the exit with Lydia and we got right onto the ride. If you are ever going with smaller kids the rider switch pass is a must! I was still able to ride a ton of rides and the girls were able to ride several rides twice.

While they were on Star Tours I got fast passes for everyone for Space Mountain. Fast passes are another absolute must. We hardly waited in any long lines because we took advantage of this system, even though the regular lines were very long.

We had to wait a little bit for our Space Mountain fast pass time so my family humored me and we went to see Captain EO with Micheal Jackson. I had seen the show with my family as a child and I like Michael Jackson's music. I felt like I was stepping back in time.

It's a 3D show so we all got to wear our cool glasses! The seats even move around at times during the show which was fun. Violet absolutely was mesmerized by the show and sat quietly the whole time. The girls enjoyed it as well. Wes and Ellen probably will never have any interest to see the show again.

After Captain EO Wes, Lydia, Ellen and Adelle rode Space Mountain. Adelle was afraid but decided to be brave and try something new. She absolutely thought it was Awesome and said she felt like an astronaut. Lydia has no fear at all anymore and rides everything!! Adelle and I got ready to go on it, but then it broke down :( I knew I would have to try and ride it another time.

From there we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Violet was hungry so we hung out while everyone else went on the ride. One nice thing about having a baby at Disneyland is I got to rest once in a while and take in the sights.
The flowers are so pretty! They put so much work into the parks.

We then got fast passes for Indiana Jones, an absolutely amazing ride!! When I went on the ride with my rider switch pass I brought Wes as my guest. I felt like we were having a mini date!

I tried using this carrier with Violet that I had borrowed and found that it was a tad too small. Her legs started turning colors. I figured that couldn't be good.

We all rode the Jungle Cruise. Violet was fussing because the carrier wasn't comfortable which she was removed from promptly after the ride. The Jungle Cruise is a classic at Disneyland and shouldn't be missed, even if it is a little silly at times.

From there we headed over to the Pirates of the Caribbean! I love that ride. Everyone including Violet could ride Pirates. I love the start of the ride where you suddenly find yourself in the middle of night in the bayou, surrounded by fireflies and soft banjo music. From there you enter the world of Pirates! Violet held on tight when we went down the couple of drops that are in the ride.

We found Tiana and her group singing and dancing in New Orleans Square. They invited the little girls up to join in the fun. Adelle didn't think she was allowed so she just skirted the edge of the crowd. I kept trying to get her attention to tell her to go on in, but it didn't work. She was quite teary after it was over so we told her we would try again another time.

The weather was mild in the morning and evening, but quite hot in the afternoon. I tried my best to shield Violet, but she still got some burns on her arms and checks.

We headed over to the Winnie The Pooh ride which was so much fun. I didn't get a chance to ride it the last time we were in Disneyland 3 years ago. It is super cute!

We got fast passes for Splash Mountain and while we waited we saw Winnie The Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger.

Lydia and Adelle both got their books ready. I was glad that Lydia still wanted to see the characters. I know she liked the rides more, but she hasn't completely given up on getting autographs and pictures. She is growing up SO fast.

We weren't sure how Violet would like the characters. Turns out she absolutely LOVES them, especially Pooh! He loved her back and took extra time to play with her.

Violet kept trying to get to Pooh even when we were taking pictures.

From there we went to Tigger and Eeyore. Violet also enjoyed how fluffy and fun they were. Tigger made sure that I was in the picture. It was pretty funny to see him try and get me in there since he can't talk at all. The characters are great!
From there we all took turn riding Splash Mountain. Adelle was super brave, even though it doesn't look like it in this picture. We all laughed and laughed when we saw it and just had to buy it. I love my girls!

We next rode The Haunted Mansion, one of my absolute favorites. When I was a little girl I wanted to become a ghost so I could live in the Haunted Mansion. It was my dream! I know, I was an odd child.

Violet smiled everywhere we went and enjoyed charming total strangers. We were often talking to other people because she was so engaging with others.

While in line for the Haunted Mansion Adelle found a potato bug. Only my child can find bugs everywhere she goes. Oh, she also finds money everywhere she goes. I think she found over a dollar in change through on the course of the trip.

This potato bug was big!! I kept looking for his Mickey ears, but no luck. Adelle made sure she put him back before we went on the ride.


We were pretty hungry so we headed over to the French Market for dinner. Everywhere you eat in Disneyland is expensive, so we just tried to get as much food for our money. We LOVED the French Market and it was the best dinner find on the trip. They have excellent clam chowder in a big, hearty bread bowel. It warmed me up since I got absolutely soaked on Splash Mountain. I had ridden right in the front, which was amazing.

I was in a super great mood and was very friendly with all the staff which earned the girls the opportunity to become Honorary Citizens of Disneyland. The got special buttons to prove it!

We decided to ride Small World at Ellen's request and because Wes had never been on it before.

They have now added Disney characters in the ride, which made it fun to try and see who we could find. Wes snapped a quick picture of Alice and the White Rabbit.

We weren't planning on catching the parade, but just happened to after we got off of Small World. I love everyone's faces as they watched. At the end of the parade Mickey Mouse confetti shot into the sky and Lydia and Adelle had a fun time trying to catch as much as they could.

We did a little bit of window shopping and then we headed back to our hotel. We had had a very busy day and had a chance to ride most of the big rides in the park! We all slept much better after all of the fun!

Day 2 - On the Road and Downtown Disney

Sunday morning we got ready and zoomed over to the local McDonald's since our hotel didn't come with breakfast. By the way, never get orange juice with your breakfast meal. It doesn't come with it, which we didn't realize. We ended up paying $8 just for orange juice. Anyway, we found our way onto the freeway and headed out.

We made it to Anaheim in pretty good time. On the way though we did let it slip to Lydia that Grandma Ellen would be flying in to join us for a couple of days on our trip. Adelle had already figured it out earlier in the week from discussions. The girls were excited. We checked into the Fairfield Anaheim across the street from Disneyland and then we went grocery shopping. We bought stuff for breakfast and lunch for each day and figured we would eat dinner at the park.

While Wes went to the airport to get Grandma the girls and I hung out at the hotel and we discovered that Violet likes watching the portable DVD player as well, especially Shawn the Sheep.

Once Wes and Grandma made it we decided to head out to Downtown Disney (shopping district) to buy autograph books for the girls. I also wanted to buy a Winnie the Pooh for Violet. I had the funnest time showing her all different types of Winnie the Poohs. She laughed at each one, especially the big one, which I ended up getting. I think he is as big as her.
We then headed to the Lego store and we all had a fun time looking around.

Adelle really wanted her picture taken on the GIANT Lego. I'm so glad we did! It is one of my favorite photos of the trip.

We walked back to our hotel around 8:30 because Violet was getting tired and cranky and because we knew we had a big day ahead. We discovered that the fireworks are SUPER loud at our hotel when they go off from 9:25 to 9:40. I think they set them off behind Space Mountain which was directly across the street from our hotel. The explosions even set off car alarms. Violet didn't seem to phased though which was good. We managed to get some sleep despite the noise and snoring.

Day 1 -What happens in Vegas should Stay in Vegas!

We started our road trip Saturday morning with a brand new car thanks to the Toyota not passing inspection and deciding that it wasn't worth putting money into a car that has over 200,000 miles on it. We found the portable DVD player at the last moment and hooked it up, but later remembered that Adelle gets car sick, so it was on sparingly. Violet did pretty well driving and we made it into Las Vegas in the late afternoon.

We stayed at the Best Western Mardi Gras instead of directly on the strip. We got a killer deal; the best rate of the whole trip and the room was pretty nice! Wes and the girls had never had a chance to visit the strip so we thought we would venture out for a little while to see the sights.

We decided to drive instead of taking the hotel shuttle so we could come and go as we pleased. The "sights" began early. Lydia spotted a vehicle that was advertising for female escorts. She was shocked to see the girl wearing next to nothing. Adelle was mesmerized by some girls partying in a SUV with their mega drinks. We all caught ourselves staring which encouraged them to liven things up even more. I asked Adelle to stop staring and she said "I can't resist".

It took us a little while to figure out where to park, but we ended up making it to the the mega MGM parking garage. We started our innocent walking adventure. I assumed we needed to go through the casino to make it to the actual strip. We found ourselves in a large lobby and took some pictures in front of the lion statue.

From there we headed through the casino section. It was a Saturday night and perhaps that should have kept us away. Things were wild, from girls in skimpy bikinis, and men in next to nothing showing practically everything (including some pink tight shorts). We felt so out of place with our little family. We knew though we were invading on their territory. We ended up walking quite aways into the hotel until we realized we'd gone the wrong way and sure enough we had to skirt the casino floor again which this time gave us a view of more party people including an inflatable female doll. At least she was wearing a shirt. Lydia was clinging onto me with all her might and looked so uncomfortable.

When we finally made it to the strip we took more pictures, this time in front of the giant, gold lion in front of the MGM. We then made our way further down the strip to be greeted by characters ranging from Michael Jackson, a smoking Jack Sparrow, a shady Hello Kitty and a Disney Character that looking a little off. Adelle seemed thrilled but I kept her walking and advised her she would get to meet a lot of characters in the park.

We tried the M&M store but with our stroller it was somewhat difficult and we decided not to hit more floors of the store. Instead we headed across the street to see New York, New York. On the bridge we met quite a few homeless folks and their signs, including one that was doing "alcohol research". We headed into the shopping area of New York, New York to be greeted by more party people yelling, whooping and flinging their drinks around.

We quickly made our way back to our car and heaved a sigh of relief. Lydia said Vegas was completely awful and she never, ever wants to see it again. She appeared to still be in shock from the sights, which mostly had been missed by Adelle. With Lydia being almost 11 she was much more aware. I have been to Vegas before and have seen it's better sides. The only thing I can figure is that we hit it at it's bewitching time on a Saturday night.

We snuggled down in our room and listened to the monorail zooming by and the party continuing on. I was more than content to leave it behind to head to Disneyland the next day :)