California Trip Days 1 & 2

I have been wanting to take the kids to Disneyland for quite some time now and I finally convinced Tyler that we could do it. We invited our friends the Stubbs to go with us, since they have kids our kids ages we thought it would be fun for them to get to go with their buddies. Mindy and I worked very hard to get things perfectly ready and organized for the trip. We had everything covered from matching outfits for the kids each day, to special treat bags filled for each day with special matching stickers and goodies depending on where we were going to be that day. The girls had matching Cinderella dresses and the boys had matching pirate costumes. Our lists were made for everything we would need, sleeping accommodations were made for each place we would be staying. The count down chain was getting shorter and shorter and I was so excited I could hardly stand it. Then we got the phone call about Taylor and our gears and thoughts took a major shift. I feel guilty, but will admit that after the shock of it was over, I thought to myself, this can't be happening right now, we are leaving for Disneyland in four days. I knew of course that we would do what we needed to do to be at the funeral and wished that we could have been able to spend some more time with Tyler's family afterwards, but I was also very glad to have some alone time with my family after to just enjoy my kids and love them and appreciate them more. We got home late on Friday night and started packing and woke up early Saturday and finished packing and then hit the road mid morning as we had planned.

All loaded up and ready to hit the road!

We drove to Vegas on Saturday and stayed the night there to break up the trip a little bit so it wasn't so long. We wanted to take the kids to do something fun that night while in Vegas. Tyler and I went to the Rainforest Cafe on our first date and haven't been back to one since, so we thought that would be a fun place to take the kids to eat. It was good to be out of the car after about 6 hours of driving. This is our first family photo op of MANY to come on the trip. We are in front of one of the lions at the MGM Grand.

After what seemed like a forever journey through the maze of stinky casino's we finally found the Rainforest Cafe. We didn't tell the kids where we were going so they were really excited to see how fun this place was. They just kept starting at everything the whole time we were there.

Luckily I was smart and called ahead a few days prior and made reservations so we didn't have to wait in the forever long line when we got there. The kids loved looking at this huge aquarium during the few short minutes we did have to wait.

The animals were all really fun to sit and watch and listen too, but these stools are what I liked the best. i would love to have some of these in my house.

While we were walking through the stinky casino maze we passed this little rainforest gift shop and asked the guy who worked there where to go. He pointed us in the right direction and then handed us a coupon for this YUMMY volcano creation. (a $15.00 dessert totally for free that the four of us together couldn't finish)

After dinner we made our way to our sleeping destination for the evening. A few months ago I reconnected with a good friend from high school that I hadn't talked to in years, thanks to facebook. She had told me that her mom had remarried as was living in Vegas and if we were ever passing through and needed a place to stay, that we were welcome to stay there. So that is just what we did. It was so fun to see Pam again and reconnect with her and meet her new husband. They are such great people with such and amazing story. We were very lucky to have been able to spend some time with them and are so grateful to them for opening up their home to us. Pam's husband Paul even woke up early and cooked us a very yummy breakfast before heading back out on the road. Thanks again guys for a fun night and the great accommodations.

Sunday just happened to be Valentines day, so when we got in the car to head out I had little treats for Tyler and the kids sitting on their seats. I got together with some friends and we all made these fun bottles for our husbands. I love the way they turned out. I love you Tyler!!

When we arrived in Anaheim the thermostat in our car said 86 degrees. I was thinking that was a little warmer than what I was planning on and wasn't really prepared for such hot weather. Luckily it didn't stay that hot for too long and it ended up being perfect weather for most of the time. Really I was just glad to be out of the snow. Finally we arrived at our condo. I was so glad to get out of the car and get unpacked and settled in.

The kids excited to be there in their own room!

I thought this was so funny I just had to take a picture. Aren't these the smallest salt and pepper shakers you have ever seen. I even brought them home as a little souvenir.

The kids were so excited to be there and just loved being outside and able to run around in the nice weather. This picture is right outside our back porch of our room. I love how green everything is.

One of the first things the kids saw when we got there was the swimming pool, so of course that is all they wanted to do and bugged us all night until we were finally able to go and swim. First we went and got some groceries and came back and had dinner. We then went for a nice evening swim and came back and got a good night sleep for tomorrow the real fun would begin.