Last Minute California Trip

Sometimes last minute trips are the best, and this was one of those. A few days before Thanksgiving I realized that Wyatt would only be free at Disneyland for two more weeks, and then I found a killer deal for a Newport condo on KSL, and you can guess the rest. I can't pass up a good deal + a free ticket, and Mark wasn't hard to persuade, so we decided to hop in the car and go the next week. We didn't think anyone would be able to come since it was so last minute, but Mark's sister Cami and her family came, his brother Tyler and his wife (the newlyweds) came for a couple days, and my mom flew down and stayed for a couple of days. It was so much fun to get to hang out with everybody, relax, and leave a blizzard behind for sunny and 70!

The kids on the beach. This trip has been a little tradition for the past few years - every Dec. or Jan. we have hit Disneyland and the beach with Brett and Cami and their kids. These cousins LOOOOOOOOVE eachother, and they make such fun memories each trip.

The castle all lit up for Christmas. If you haven't been to Disneyland at Christmastime, go! It is magical, totally decked out and lit up. This week was perfect because kids weren't out of school yet for Christmas break, so we got to walk on to almost every ride on two of the days we were there. Yay for no lines! It makes it a whole different experience.

Characters, characters, and more characters! One of the best parts of the trip was seeing Wyatt meet all of the Disney characters he loves. Three is a magical age to go to disneyland - he was just amazed by everything. He thought they were all real, and that was fun to watch.

His favorites, Chip and Dale. Mark shows the boys old Disney cartoons on YouTube all the time, and Wyatt LOVES these guys. He kept running back for one more hug.

We went to Disneyland 3 days (1 day too many, more on that later), and hit the beach and swam at the condo in between. Here are the boys collecting shells in the tide pools at Dana Point.

Wyatt pointing to something awesome he must have found. Notice the Buzz and Zurg in his hands. He got those at Disneyland and didn't put them down for the rest of the trip.

At the beach with Grandma Jill. It was so fun for us to get to have her here for a couple of the days! The boys of course adore her, and she was a major help with Wyatt.

Jax and Grandma on Main Street in Disneyland. Every night, they make it "snow". It's pretty cool.

Splash Mountain! Jaxson was finally tall enough to go this year and he LOVED it of course, along with Space Mountain and the Tower of Terror. He is our little daredevil when it comes to rides (not so much on other things :) ).

Mark is going to love me for posting this one. I just had to show that he is simply too awesome for Small World. Every year, he has to go on it because the kids love it. And every year he has that exact same expression on his face!

But see that smile? That is why we have to go on it!

My nephew McKay and my mom. Even though she isn't 'technically' his Grandma, that does't stop him from loving her! And I'm pretty sure it goes both ways.

Jax and MaKenna on Toy Story Mania. Best. Ride. Ever.

Cousins

Wyatt didn't cry on the Matterhorn (but he talks about the snow monster every single day, STILL, so that one might have been a mistake). However, he was TERRIFIED on goofy's roller coaster in toon town. He doesn't take after his brother, apparently. Above is a picture of him before the ride started, and below is a picture of him right after it ended...

Poor kid!

3-D glasses on for Toy Story Mania

So on the third day of Disneyland (too many, I am telling you), Wyatt wasn't feeling that great. He had hurt his leg and wouldn't walk on it, which somehow also made him pee his pants. So he peed his pants in the morning, and we had to buy $30 Disneyland warm-ups. They aren't even cute! But I make him wear them because that is the kind of mom I am. So he was kind of hard the rest of the day, and our Nanny/Grandma Jill had already flown home. The day was MUCH more crowded than the first day, and this made us grouchy because we had been so spoiled the first two days. By night time, we were all pretty worn out (except the kids, because that is how it works). We were walking across a packed Main Street to get to one of the restaurants for dinner, and I could feel myself start to go low. I didn't want to stop to check it right there because it was so crowded, so I waited until we got across that area. By then I was really low, and I told Mark I needed stuff out of the bag. He handed me a Snickers, which would have been fine if I wasn't so low, but sometimes it has to be faster sugar than Chocolate. I forgot about the juice and the glucose tablets, and insisted he dig to the bottom of the bag for Starbursts. And they WERE at the bottom, and then the wrappers had melted on them, and I was not nice about it. He was trying really hard, but I am not the most rational at that point, and I just wanted him to unwrap them faster! So anyway, we are in an argument at this point, I am still coming up from the low, we get our expensive Disneyland food and finally find a table in the crowded restaurant and sit down and....Wyatt peed his pants again! So fun. And then Mark said a swear word in front of all of the kids (if he didn't say it I would have). So see what I mean? Three days is one too many. At least it's funny now, right?

Besides that incident the trip was so, so, SO fun. The boys are at such fun ages, and we are so blessed to have fun families to hang out with and have a blast with! Oh, and we saw the Octomom at the grocery store. Does it get any better than that?