So Cal trip, Part II

You'll understand the delay in this post when you see the massive amount of photos I have from the girls' first magical trip to DISNEYLAND!!! We were so grateful to be able to stay with Uncle Smylie who happens to live mere minutes from the park, making it easy to explore Downtown Disney one day and Disneyland the next. And best of all, Grandma Carol was in on the fun! The kids are at a perfect age to really experience the magic of a fantasy world come to life and the whole day was pretty much perfect.

Downtown Disney:

Having fun at the Lego store

These are for Little Mister C who LOVES Star Wars

The girls thoroughly enjoyed their first Build A Bear experience. Thanks Grandma Carol!

A pink Ariel bear, complete with red wig
Lucy loves her Snow White puppy!

DISNEYLAND!!

Maryn's favorite ride was Dumbo beacause she got to "soar." We rode this at least 3 times.

Aunt Betty and cousin Colette met us at Disneyland. Colette has twin boys that were born 4 days after Maryn - we call them the triplets:

Aunt Betty

Maryn and JJ rode Big Thunder Mountain
This is Lucy dancing during the parade on Main Street.
So impressed by Colette's ability to carry two 4 year olds!

Riding the monorail

Maryn got to drive!!! Scary :)

Lucy was plumb tuckered out as we waited for the tram to the car

The celebratory toast - we survived Disneyland!!

So Cal trip, Part I

Way back in April the kids and I embarked on a little road trip to visit my family in Southern California. We were gone for about a week and a half and managed to squeeze a whole lot of adventure into that time. The first part of our journey brought us to my grandmother's house. The kids LOVE their GG (short for great-grandma of course), and I am so thankful they are getting a chance to know this amazing woman who has been such a big part of my life. We then got to hang out with my brother and sister-in-law. Tom even babysat for me while I went to a baby shower for Chris' cousin Erica (whose baby has now arrived! Welcome to the world, little Z!)









Another great part of the visit was celebrating my dear friend Erin's engagement!!! Erin and I were in Girl Scouts together way back when and it is such a joy to continue the friendship we started all those years ago. Her fiance just happens to live around the corner from my brother, so we met up with yet another dear friend (and her husband and adorable daughter) for breakfast and play time at the park. Whew! I'm tired just recounting all of that! Speaking of tired, please disregard my horibbly puffy eyes in these pictures :)


We had an amazing time seeing wonderful family and friends. I miss everyone already!