California Trip- Day 3

The next morning we were up bright and early as usual. We wanted to get to park right at 8:00 when it opened it hopes of beating some of the crowds. We were there when the rope dropped. We ran and grabbed Fastpasses for Splash Mountain and headed to Fantasyland. This is the area where all of the rides are for smaller kids. We rode Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, The Teacups, The Storybook ride, and It's A Small World with a very little wait. The babies were able to go on all of the rides (except for the teacups) and had a great time.

Group picture on a car from Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Ashlyn just loves the teacups.

Here we are getting ready to go in It's A Small World. Most people HATE this ride, but I LOVE it. It was my absolute favorite ride as a kid and it just brings back such good memories for me. I always have to ride it at least once. Ashlyn likes it a lot too.

This was towards the end of the ride, and we kind of got stuck in one spot for several minutes and had to hear the theme from It's a Small World over and over. I think it made Dawson cranky.

Ashlyn and I in Toontown

We didn't ride this ferry, but I think it is so cool.

We brought a double stroller for the babies to ride in. Ella really like the stroller. Dawson really didn't. He much preferred to be in the baby carrier attached to me. He is just so content in that thing. I'm just glad it's so comfortable.

We bought all of the kids Mickey or Minnie shirts. Here is Dawson's.

He looked so darn cute in it!

After riding some rides, we decided to take a nice break. We went over to the New Orleans area and found a great shaded table. The babies got out and sat in highchairs. This was Dawson's first time in a highchair and he just loved it. They sat in those things for over an hour just playing with toys.

Dawson enjoying his new freedom

While taking a break, we had to enjoy one of our favorite Disneyland treats, the Mint Julep. These are alcohol free and soooo delicious. I remember drinking these as a kid and they are just as good as I remember.

Along with our Mint Juleps, we had some beignets that were of course Mickey shaped and out of this world good!

After we ate lunch, we decided to go check out Splash Mountain. Ashlyn is tall enough to ride, I just wasn't sure how she would do. She took one look at the logs and the big finale hill and said, "I want to go on that!" My sister and I asked her a hundred times if she was sure. She kept insisting that she wanted to go. I told her there was a big hill at the end and she would get wet. She still wanted to go. We decided to go for it. I didn't realize it before, but she was able to sit in the very last seat next to me. She just loved the ride. When the big hill was coming up we warned her it was coming and she got excited. As we went down, Katy and I both looked at her and she had the biggest smile I have ever seen. Once we got to the bottom, the first thing she said was, "Let's do that again!" She is definitely my brave girl. She has been since she was a baby.

After our Splash Mountain adventure, we decided to head over to the other park, California Adventure. We were very excited to ride the new Little Mermaid Ride. It wasn't open in February, and Ashlyn was dying to ride it. It is a very cute ride and follows the movie plot. Ashlyn really liked it. Next, we headed over to the Disney Junior show. Ashlyn just loves Disney Junior. Her favorite show in the whole world is Little Einsteins. When she was getting ready to go to Disneyland in February, we found on the website that they had a live stage show that included Little Einsteins. I talked it up for weeks to her before she left. Well, when they got there and tried to go, they were told it was closed. Poor Ashlyn was so disappointed. I decided not to talk it up too much this time in case it was still closed or no longer there. We were very pleased when we saw it was still there. We also got there just in time to be the first in line. When they opened the doors we got front row seats. The show is very interactive and included all of her favorite shows. During some parts bubbles fell from the ceiling, tissue paper gold coins, and paper streamers at the end. I think the show entertained all of us. During parts Ashlyn was able to get up and dance. Ashlyn just loved it. I'm so glad she got to see it finally.

Mickey

Jake and the Neverland Pirates

Ashlyn with all the confetti she collected

After the show, we grabbed some dinner. Katy and I headed back to the hotel to get the babies to bed. My mom and Ashlyn stayed and rode the Little Mermaid three more times. The also rode Soaring Over California which Ashlyn also fell in love with. What a great day it was!

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.

California Trip- Day 1

Sadly, our vacation is over. We had an amazing time. I know that we are all very sad to be back home again. I have decided to post a separate blog post for each day of the trip since I took so many pictures. I got some great pictures and I think they will do a great job of recapping the trip.

Our flight left at 9:30 on Sunday morning. It was nice because it wasn't an extremely early departure time. The whole luggage situation was the only difficult part of traveling with three kids and three adults. We had 3 carseats, 2 strollers, and 4 suitcases. That alone was a lot to juggle and get from the airport to the rental car, to the hotel, etc. We even packed light, but babies just require a lot of stuff. Overall, the flight went well.


We had some time to kill at the gate, so we spread out a blanket for the babies to play on. They had a blast as usual playing together. It was nice that they got to stretch before the flight.

Ashlyn did a great job on the flight as usual. She just watched a movie on the Ipad. She even fell asleep towards the end of the flight. She is just like me, once she falls asleep nothing wakes her. She didn't even budge when we landed.

Here is Dawson on his first airplane ride. He did wonderful. The flight was about two hours and I think he slept about 90 minutes of it. I was happy because I was able to hold him and read some magazines and relax a bit. No complaints here! He seemed to enjoy his first airplane trip.

Katy and Ella eating at Tommy's

When we landed, we gathered up our massive amount of stuff, and headed to the car rental place. We hit a major snag with the car rental and it took almost two hours. We somehow managed to juggle all the kids and our belongings and keep them quiet and happy while all this was taking place. After we got our minivan, we headed to one of our favorite burger places in California, Tommy's. They have amazing chili hamburgers that are to die for!

We then headed towards our hotel. My mom booked us an amazing room at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort. She got us a room with an ocean view. The room was just gorgeous. The room had a balacony and this was the view from our balcony:


We were all in heaven! What a great hotel and what a terrific view.
As a treat for Ashlyn, my mom arranged to have cookies and milk waiting for her. Ashlyn was very pleased to see both. They came in a neat little wooden box that Ashlyn saved for her seashells she collected on the beach. After we got settled a bit, we decided to heat straight for the beach.
On the way to the beach, we decided to check out the hotel pool. Just like everything else at the hotel, it did not fail to disappoint. It was such a nice pool.

We literally just crossed a street and were right at the beach. Ashlyn immediately ran right to water and had a blast. She is just such a beach girl. She loves playing in the waves and in the sand. The babies seemed to enjoy the beach as well. We were able to rent an umbrella so they were nice and shaded. The weather by the beach was cool in the high 60's, so they didn't get too hot.

What an adorable beach baby!!!

My little beach girl.

Ashlyn showing off her silly side

This picture does a great job of showing how much fun she was having.

Katy and Ella enjoying the beach.

Dawson and Mommy

DeLorme family at the beach

I did put Dawson's feet in a bit. He seemed to like it.

Ella was having a great time

What a cutie!

A long day of travel and beach fun wore Dawson out!

After the beach, we grabbed some dinner at a really good sandwich place. We then headed back to the hotel for the night. We all slept good that night! (I think the fluffy beds and super soft sheets had something to do with it!)