DISNEYLAND

We are loving this yearly Disneyland tradition we've had going the last couple of years with my family. This year Danny and Kyle both had to stay home to work so we decided to just go to one park for one day. We had five adults for five children, four of which were four and under, so it was a perfect plan. 

We drove down on Sunday and spent that evening exploring Downtown Disney. It was fun to buy our souvenirs beforehand so we didn't worry about it while walking out of the park the next day like usual. My little girls got their own Minnie Mouse ears this trip. Joyce wanted to match with me and Lydia chose the pink, princess ears. Lucy bought a charm necklace and Ariel charm. She thinks it will be fun to add a charm on each trip to Disneyland.

 

The next morning we arrived early and were there when the park opened. We headed straight to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which has been under construction for the last several years we've been there. It was Ruby and Lucy's first Disneyland rollercoaster-and they HATED it. Ruby screamed in compete terror and wept the whole time while Lucy just shut her eyes and looked miserable. It will be a couple more years until we can enjoy that ride again.

 We were on and off that ride pretty quickly so we headed straight for Princess Fantasy Faire to meet a few of our favorite ladies. 

Lydia was especially excited to meet Cinderella and Joyce was especially excited to see Aurora. Everyone got a big kick out of Lydia because she made this "I'm freaking excited" face all day long. Her posing was also pretty incredible.

 Then we headed to Fantasyland to ride the carousel, Dumbo and the tea cups.

 All day we took turns going on "adult" rides while the kids rode Buzz Lightyear, took lunch breaks etc. I was able to go on my favorite ride, Space Mountain, twice! I'm doing my special space mountain dance in these pics;)

 While I was riding space mountain one time the girls met Iridessa and Tinker Bell!

 I actually got out of the space mountain line the first time just in case Lucy was picked for Jedi Training Academy. I was so glad I did because after years of trying-she was finally picked! She was thrilled. She fought Darth Mall (sp?!) and it was awesome and terrifying. I'm pretty sure my little girls thought she was going to die.

 These not-into-rollercoatser-girls were much braver for Star Tours and loved it.

 Best part of the day? THE PARADE obviously. We camped out an hour early and got our favorite spot.

 Lydia did this face the whole time. Did it get us a lot of positive attention from characters? YES.

 Our enthusiasm also got us attention from the crowd! A super nice lady sitting across from us thought Lyd was so cute and that we were obviously having SO much fun, that she took some pictures for me. She came over at the end of the parade and got my number so she could text me the pics! Wasn't that kind?! I love these shots:)

 One of my best friends and college roommates Tiffany, works close by and came by that evening. It was so fun to catch up and ride rides with her:)

 We were exhausted by closing time. Ruby "fell asleep" on the tram ride and we all went back to the hotel and crashed, perfectly contented:)

Staycation

So this doesn't really qualify as a staycation, but when Becca comes to town it feels like a vacation from real life so it qualifies:) 

Our fun week began with Grandma Kay's 80th birthday party. She expected some cake and ice cream, but my mom surprised her with special decor and all of her siblings. They flew in from Utah that day and came out of our back room when Grandma came in singing our special Happy Birthday song in Danish.

The next day we celebrated my moms birthday at Grandma Kay's house-Becca arrived just in time!

These four girls have so much fun together. We walked around downtown and they loved holding hands. It was super cute-but annoying for passers-by:)

Gotta get an instagram shot of all the girls and our dad!

While Katy and Mom were at school Becca and I played. We went to Denica's twice to play with the trains.

And our big girls got haircuts.

And we traded illnesses. Poor Jane got roseola and felt miserable most of the week. The  one morning Lydia woke up throwing up. It took two weeks for everyone to throw up at least once.

Fortunately the stomach bug was short lived and we loved playing outside and hiking.

On Friday I kept Lucy out of school so she could enjoy a trip to the zoo with us.

While Becca and I helped Mom at school, Lucy was the teacher of this little class.

On Saturday some of us went to Sacramento to see the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Lucy and Ruby were so excited-they have every word memorized:)

The show was fun. The brothers were hilarious and there were some fun innovations with their songs. Unfortunately, Joseph was awful! We decided they cast him for his abs and NOT for his voice. The narrator was so-so. Becca and I just cringed when Joseph started singing though...awkward.