Our California Vacation!!

As you all can probably tell, I have been trying to catch up on posting things that I didn't get around to posting last year. 

I will probably be doing this off and on for a little while.

This past October we were fortunate enough to be able to go on vacation. We had a blast. I miss it.

I will tell you this, it is a TON of work taking a family of 6 on vacation. I am so thankful for my husband who helps me out a ton! I couldn't imagine being able to juggle everything and everyone around without him. He is pretty awesome. 

If there is any advice that I can give parents, it is this: DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT take an airplane that will have a layover. Fly straight through. Oh, and make sure to check your bags at the very first gate you get to. We didn't know until our first stop in Denver that we could check them at the gate free of charge. So, we drug most of our luggage off one plane and onto the next. It was fuuuun fuuuun fuuun. The kids were great helpers, and the layovers weren't that long, so it really wasn't that bad. 

The kids had a blast on the airplane. I packed each kid their own bag full of things to keep them occupied on the flight. They had coloring books, sticker books, crayons etc. We also had another bag packed full of snacks.

We stayed in Cali for 6 days. 

We did quite a bit while we were there. We were able to go to Mickey's Halloween Party,

spend 3 days at Disneyland/California Adventure, 

1 day at the beach,

 and 1 day at Legoland. 

If we get the opportunity to do a vacation like this again, I will make sure we are able to stay at least 2 weeks, and do 5 days Disneyland/California adventure, and do 1 day on 1 day rest at like the beach or hanging around the hotel swimming and relaxing. We were constantly going from before sun up to way past sun down. We will take our time next time, and see all that we want to see without feeling rushed or exhausted.

I feel like we were rushed, and we only got to see about half of the stuff (if even that) at Disneyland/California Adventure, and Legoland. 

We had a great time, and I feel very blessed that we were able to take this vacation. 

I will say this, after driving a mini van around all week while there, I wish we had one of our own. I love our SUV, but it's too squishy for us. The van was nice and roomy. So, if you see us sporting a mini van sometime in the near future, don't be too surprised. ;)

We made some wonderful memories together while we were there. 

I feel very blessed. 

My heart is full.

Our first night there was spent at Mickey's Halloween Party. Holy candy! They loaded us up, and we didn't even make it 1/3 of the way through. The parade and fireworks were awesome. This was definitely worth the extra money. So fun!

The next day we spent the day at Huntington Beach. Some of the kids say the beach was their favorite part of the vacation. It was a lot of fun. Next time I hope to try out Laguna Beach.

Everyone got buried in the sand except for me. I was busy feeding the baby at this time. While I was nursing Myriam, a bird flew by and peed on my neck. Yep, that's right, PEED on ME! I was so mad. Now I can't help but laugh when I think about it. It is kind of hilarious.

Oh, this bird! Let me tell you, I wished I was carrying a baseball bat when we encountered this bird. It was making me so mad. We had just gotten ice cream and were walking down the pier. The girls were slower at eating their ice cream. The bird kept swooping down trying to get their ice cream. It flew just a couple feet above our heads the whole time. I kept swatting at it. THEN it tried to poop on us!  I was beyond mad at this point. Every time I swatted at it, it would fly back up, then start the game all over again. I resorted to yelling at it. Yep, I was the psycho woman on the pier screaming and swatting at a bird while everyone stared at us. Ben took the picture of this bird. Every time I looked at it, I would think of how angry this bird made me. Now, I can't help but laugh.

The folowing 3 days were spent at Disneyland and California Adventure..... I love my little family more than life itself!

I love their silly faces..... Courtney had grabbed my camera and snapped this picture on the right just as Ben was giving Mady kisses. So precious :)

Look at those big luscious lips and eyes. Love!

Courtney was trying to hide her sucking her thumb in the photo on the left. Too cute.

Lots of mommy and Mady photos. She is definitely a Mommy's girl. Love!

He is so handsome! The pictures that were taken of him with the star wars characters were taken at Legoland. These statues are built out of legos. It was really cool to see all the things they had built out of legos.

California Adventure

My beautiful girls in front of a beautiful castle

I may sound cheesy, but Ben and my children are my happily ever after

Someone took this photo of Ben and our baby while the other kids and I were riding Luigi's flying tires

The famous Lightning McQueen driving down the road in Cars Land

And of course the famous Tow Mater

The girls and I riding the new Radiator Springs Racers ride. Thank goodness for fast passes. Ben had to wait in the fast pass line first thing in the morning just to get fast passes. They were gone so quick..... Note to self: Next time pull my hair back before going on this ride. My hair was blowing all over the place. I was trying to pull it back in a ponytail when Ben snapped this photo.

Ben and Marshall riding the Radiator Springs Racers ride

We did 2 character dining meals while we were there. This was the second out of the 2. This is at Goofy's Kitchen. We had fun, but I prefer Ariel's Grotto over Goofy's Kitchen.... When we were done eating and getting ready to leave, I couldn't find the cap to my lens. Ben, the 3 older kids, myself, and some of the workers were looking everywhere for it. We couldn't find it. As I was searching for it, Myriam got her tiny little hands on my leftover glass of milk that was still sitting on the table all too close to her. She tipped it right over. It landed right one me. So, I had drenched pants the rest of the night. Thank goodness this was our last stop of the night. Again, this is one of those things that I can look back on and laugh at.

I love Myriam and Mini Mouse's matching clothes. I did not do this on purpose. So funny. She was not a happy camper right here.

Ariel's Grotto. We had our picture taken with Ariel upon arrival

A photo with Mady's favorite princess while we dined- Princess Aurora

The kids with Cinderella

A picture with Courtney's favorite princess, Belle

The night just wouldn't have been complete without Princess Mini Mouse :)

Mini playing peek-a-boo with Myriam. Oh so cute! Myr didn't know what to think.

...................

.....So she decided to just grab her nose

Our dessert. YUM!

All decorated and ready for Halloween

Ben, Mady, and Courtney throwing up I love you signs while on the teacup ride. This has been my favorite ride since I was 8 years old. The 3 older kids and I went on it first, then Ben with Mady and Courtney. Marshall didn't want to go a second time, so he stayed with the baby and I.

Our last adventure in California. We went to Legoland the day before we flew home.

Waiting for our plane to start boarding at the John Wayne airport in California