Disneyland!

This last week we went to Disneyland!  We have been wanting and planning this trip for forever it feels like.  But the time finally came and all of us were so excited.  We went with some of Cam's family, his sister Are' and her family, Ethan, and his parents all came.

We left Saturday, first thing in the morning to drive to LA. Once we got all the cars loaded, we car-a-vaned the whole way down.  It was a long drive, but with the help of a couple of DVD players, the kids all survived quite nicely.  That night, once we got to the hotel, we attempted to put the kids to bed.  The three girls (Abby, Lexi, Piper) were all going to sleep on a sofa bed, and Colton was in a pack-n-play in the same room.  Let's just say, it took a couple of hours to get all four kids to sleep.  And even then, I was up several times that night with Colton, Lexi, or both.  Yeah, that first night was a little rough.  After that, though, either they had gotten used to the set-up or they were all just so exhausted that they usually fell asleep within minutes of laying down.

Sunday: Day 1 of Disneyland

Of course the must have picture at the entrance to the park.

The girls in the stroller.  We had a double stroller and two little umbrella strollers so we had somewhere for all four kids to ride.

Teacups.  One of Colton's favorite rides.  He was clapping and having such a blast.  You can't really see him, but Ethan is holding him.

Snack break

On the Jungle Cruise.  Lexi was so tired the whole day, but still pretty happy and excited for everything.

It took awhile to get everyone and everything packed for the day.  In an effort to save money, we packed lunches and snacks each morning to take with us.  Once we got there though, the girls were so overwhelmed with excitement.  It was so fun to watch their faces light up with each new discovery.  Cam's sister Cynthia that lives in San Diego came and met us for the day, which was really nice to spend time with them.  We stuck to mostly the gentle kids rides that day, and took it pretty easy.

Monday: Day 2 of Disneyland

Piper and Are' on Big Thunder Mountain

Minnie!

Minnie's house

Mickey

Mickey's house

A car in Toon Town 

Goofy!

Then Goofy came over and kidnapped Colton to get him in the picture too

Taking a few snack breaks while waiting in line to see the Princesses

Snow White

Jasmine

Aurora (or Briar Rose, that's what Abby likes to call her)

Tigger.  Cam took Lexi while the rest of us went on Splash Mountain.

The battery's died on the camera, but this is the only picture Cam got of Eeyore. 

This day we started off by seeing several Disney Characters.  Mickey and Minnie, and some princesses.  The girls loves seeing them, and getting their signatures and stuff.  Then it was time for a little bit more thrilling rides. Somehow, we convinced Abby to go on Splash Mountain (Piper didn't need any convincing, she's a thrill seeker :), and Lexi and Colton weren't big enough.  However, Abby was not a fan of the the ride.  The big drop was too much for her.  Next we went on Big Thunder Mountain, and Abby sat that one out.  But Piper went on it and LOVED it, so since the line was short, we went on it again, and Abby decided to give it a try.  Ummm yeah, she was terrified to whole time.  I think at one point on the ride she said "Why did Piper want me to come on this ride?"  Unfortunately, that just sent her over the edge, and she was pretty scared of any ride that either left the ground (i.e. Dumbo) or went faster than 2 MPH.  It didn't surprise me at all, she's a pretty timid little girl.  But thankfully there were still plenty of rides that she could go on and enjoy.

Tuesday: Day 3 of Disneyland

The girls wore some dressup clothes on the third day.  Here they are waiting in line to see Tinkerbell

Iradessa

Tinkerbell

Waiting in line for the Train

On the train

Colton on the train

Donald Duck.  For some reason, right before the picture was taken, Lexi got scared or something and broke down in tears and came running to me.  I think she was just so tired.

This day we kind of split up a little bit so the adults would get a chance to go on the rides that little kids can't go on.  So us girls would take the kids on a few rides while the boys would go on a ride or two, then we'd switch.  It worked out perfectly, and we all got to do and see the things we wanted to.  We finished up this day in the afternoon and headed back to the hotel and did a little swimming till it was time to start packing up to go back home.

Wednesday we drove home.  It seemed like a much longer drive home, and there were many stops and lots of crying.  But we're home now, and everyone had a blast on the trip.  It was so fun, and Disney definitely knows how to do it right!

Everyone's favorite ride:

Cam's:  Screamin roller coaster

Leisa:  Screamin roller coaster and Tower of Terror

Abby:  Ariel ride

Lexi:  Train, she called it the Percy ride. (everyday we would see several different train rides, but it wasn't until the last day that we finally rode one, and Lexi was SO excited.  She had been wanting to ride the train since we'd gotten there)

Colton:  Teacups (at least I think so ;)

Cool new park

A couple of weeks ago, it was a nice, warm morning, so we headed to this awesome new park in Saratoga Springs.  It is huge, and has all sorts of different play equipment.

Swings.  They had this one, but it was even way too big for Lexi.

Colton swinging.  Actually he mostly just sat in the swing.

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Colton's newest accomplishments

I've been meaning to update about this for awhile, but haven't gotten around to it.  But better late than never :)

A few weeks ago (I think it was actually while I was on the cruise)  Colton started pulling himself to standing.  Now he loves to stand, look out the windows, and reach all sorts of new things that have been unreachable till now.

Him standing, pulling all the toys out. (Ignore the awful outfit,  I think it was laundry day, and he was on his second pair of pants for the day, so I just grabbed the first thing that covered his legs :)

He also is saying a few words.  Uh-oh, and peek-a-boo, and hi.  Uh-oh is definitely his favorite, and drops everything just so he has the chance to say uh-oh.

He is such a little cutie!

Baja California Cruise, Part 2

Wednesday:
This day we stopped in Ensenada, Mexico.  Once we got off the ship in the morning we just wandered around the shops and then ate some lunch.

Michelle, Mom at lunch

Michelle and I shared a "Super Burrito" it was really big, that is only Michelle's half on that plate.  We were excited to get to taste some real Mexican food, but I'm not sure we picked the right place because there were hamburger's on the menu :)  The food was good, but nothing spectacular.

Mom, Michelle
Ensenada

The town wasn't at all like I expected.  It's pretty run down.   It definitely made me realize why the Mexicans want out of Mexico so badly.

Michelle, Mom, Me (in case you couldn't tell us twins apart ;)
This was a professional picture we purchased.  I took a picture of the picture to put on the computer  :)

The ship

Michelle
We goofed around a bit walking back to the ship to get on the bus for an excursion

Pose

Me
Pose

Michelle pretending trying to lift this huge anchor. 

After lunch, we had booked an excursion to a place called "La Bufadora" or "the blow hole". It was a place on the coast where when the tide came up it would create a bit of a geyser.  It was a beautiful area on the coast, but honestly not that spectacular.  However, I think we were just grateful to get away from Ensenada.  All there is to do in the town was hit the shops, and it seemed like most shops were selling pretty much the same stuff, and they are desperate for business, so all the shop owners are practically begging for you to come in their store.

The geyser behind us

Me, Michelle

Michelle
Pose

Me
Pose

Me

Geyser

That's where the water sprays up

Mom, Me

Beautiful coast

After the trip to La Bufadora we just headed back to the ship.  It wasn't supposed to leave port till 9pm, but we'd pretty much seen all there was.  We had dinner then wandered around a little bit, but we were pretty beat, so we crashed pretty early.

This was another professional picture taken on the ship.  We thought it was pretty funny.

Thursday:

Michelle, Me.
Reading on the deck.

This day was completely spent at sea.  So we had big plans to hit the deck, and relax with a book.  That pretty much went off with out a hitch, except Michelle and I got hit with a bit of sea sickness.  We hunted down some medicine, and that kept the nausea to a minimum.  We did manage another trip to the gym.  This time it wasn't busy, so I settled onto the treadmill and busted out some of the speediest miles.  It was SO much easier running at sea level as apposed to the altitude I'm used to.

That night after dinner, we saw another comedy show, and another dance/singing show.  They were so-so, but honestly we were just having so much fun spending time together, I think we could have been watching paint dry and still had an enjoyable time :)

Friday:
We had to be out of our room by 8:30am, so it was an early morning.  We ate breakfast than disembarked, went through customs, and headed to the airport.  We had no idea when we would be kicked off the ship, so we had booked our flights for the late afternoon.  However, we arrived at the airport at 10am, I got on an earlier flight, so I only had to wait 3 hours at the airport.  Mom and Michelle I think were hanging around the airport for like 5 hours cause it was too expensive to change flights.

Michelle
On the bus to the airport.  I don't know why she's so happy ;) 

Me
Much sadder having to say good-bye :)

It was nice to be home, and it appears as though Cam had everything under control with the kids while I was gone.

This is the dress I bought Lexi in Mexico.  They wanted to try the dreesses on as soon as they saw them.
She's also getting to be pretty photogenic too.  Here is her pose.

Abby's dress

Lexi just walked up to Abby and gave her a big hug.  She has been on a hugging frenzy lately, giving her hugs pretty freely :)

This was the shirt I bought Colton.

This trip was such a blast.  I'm so glad we went.  I would totally go on another cruise, but I definitely think I'll stay clear of any cruise going to Mexico, unless you like sea food, or getting drunk, there just isn't much to do.  The employees that work on the cruises are SO unbelievably nice and friendly.  They work hard to remember your names, and are helpful and smiling, that made the trip so much more enjoyable.  It was kind of a bummer going back to the real world and people aren't nearly as friendly (cough, cough, the airport, for example).

P.S I tried to put who's who in the captions.  Although I have no problem telling Me and my sister apart, I do realize we look very similar in most pictures.  We got asked constantly if we were twins the whole trip.