California Trip- Day 2

On the second day, we woke up bright and early because of the time difference. I was able to head down to the very nice gym and get a run in. When I was done, we headed down to a restaurant in the hotel for breakfast. After our yummy breakfast, we decided to head to the beach again. I wanted to spend a couple of hours there. We again rented an umbrella which made it very nice to just sit and relax by the water. We were at Huntington Beach which is VERY clean and nice. Since it was a Monday and early, we practically had the beach to ourselves. I had a great time playing in the waves with Ashlyn. It's been almost three years since I have been to the ocean and I have missed it!

We discovered that the babies liked to stand holding the umbrella pole.

Ashlyn was having a great time playing in the sand.

Dawson playing with his feet.

There is that tongue again.

Ashlyn had a great time being buried.

Ashlyn's adorable little footprints in the sand

She just couldn't get enough of the water

Ella is an adorable beach girl too!

On our way back to the room, we snapped a picture of the sign in the front. What a great beach experience and great hotel!

We headed back to our room and bathed the kids in an attempt to get all the beach sand off. We checked out and were very sad to leave the beach. We were now on our way to Disneyland! On our way we grabbed lunch and the all of the kids took a really nice nap. We found our hotel but weren't able to check in yet. The hotel was not nearly as nice as the one we had stayed at the night before, but it was in a perfect location. It was right across the street from the main entrance to Disneyland. It was a five minute walk to the park. We decided to head over to the park and buy tickets and then got to the Magic Kingdom. I was so happy to see one of my favorite places on earth: Main Street!

I just never get over the great feeling I get when I walk down Main Street. Since I visited Disney often as a kid, it brings back some of the best memories for me. I love I now get to make new memories with my kids.

We knew visiting Disneyland in July wasn't the best time. But, with me returning to work, we had no other choice. I have to say it was a lot more crowded than I thought it was going to be. It was also in the high 80's which made it feel even more crowded I think. Disney does an amazing job of controlling crowds and keeping everything running smoothly. The crowds just meant we had to wait in line longer for rides. Ashlyn was very confused by this concept because when they went in February, they just walked on every ride. The Fastpass system is amazing and without it we wouldn't have been able to ride anything. Some of the lines for the big rides like Indiana Jones were 90 minute waits! We rode a lot of the rides aimed at small children and those rides were were able to get right on which was nice.

The first ride we decided to ride was the Jungle Cruise. Ashlyn really liked it last time she was there. She loved it again this time. The babies seemed indifferent to it, but tolerated the ride.



The next ride we headed to was Pirates of the Caribbean. You know it's busy in Disney when you have to wait 30+ minutes for Pirates. We decided to wait and the air conditioning felt very nice! Dawson was asleep when we first got on and I thought it might scare him if he woke up. He woke up in the first minute or two at a very dark part. It didn't phase him a bit. He just sat up and looked around and enjoyed the ride.

Katy and Ella on Pirates of the Caribbean

After Pirates, we just had to stop and get some Dole Whip, which is some of the best stuff on earth. Since it was now late afternoon and the peak of the crowds, the Dole Whip line was 20 minutes long. We still wanted our Dole Whip and waited in that line too. It was worth it! So refreshing and good.

Ashlyn enjoying her Dole Whip

We grabbed a quick dinner in the park and decided to go check into the room and get settled in. We wanted to try to keep the babies bedtime as close to home as possible so their sleep schedules wouldn't be messed up. We got the babies to sleep easily. We had collected some Fastpasses earlier in the day for the big rides like Splash Mountain and Space Mountain. Since the park was so close to the hotel, my mom offered to babysit while Katy and I went back over and rode some of the big rides. It worked out perfectly and we ended up doing it every night. It was great because Katy and I got to ride all of our favorite rides and didn't have to leave my mom with all three kids waiting at the park while rode.