Vacation 2019 - Disney California Adventure

When we first decided which passes to buy, we thought the three-day made the most sense for us; two days in Disneyland, and one day in California Adventure. Honestly, I could have easily spent another day at California Adventure.

We were in such a hurry to get to Radiator Springs!

We started out a little later in the day since the kids were exhausted from the day before, and the day before...

The Dog Walker thought of a faster way to get his wife there!

The very first thing we did was FastPASS the Cars racing ride in Radiator Springs, and I'm so glad we did! It turned out to be my most favorite ride of the entire vacation. Other people must love it too, because less than an hour after we FastPASSed it, the tickets were gone. I've always had a soft spot for Cars anyway since my kids have enjoyed them so much and the entire town of Radiator Springs was just amazing and so much like the way it appears in the movies.

After spending a couple of hours in Radiator Springs, my sweetie bought the kids some "turkey legs." He had been eyeing them since we got there and most of the kids thought they were pretty amazing. Then we headed for the Pixar Pier. The kids and my sweetie were riding on the roller coaster, but I would rather spend my time with the little ones on the Little Mermaid ride. It was so cute that I even went back for a 2nd time.

On Tuesday at Universal Studios, Baby Doll was disappointed that we didn't have time to ride the Jurassic Park water adventure, so I had promised her we would have a turn on the rapids ride at California Adventure. Curly even brought a change of clothes with him and carried them all over the park until our very last ride. Then he and Baby Doll went on it a 2nd time since they had so much fun getting wet the first time. I enjoyed it too, but we only had 2 more FastPASSes on it and they wanted to go again more than I did.

It is so difficult to get good pics on some of these rides; they begin so quickly, but I have a few for you. None of them are from the water ride...

 

Waiting for the Cars ride.

Just pulling out. Dog Walker looks a little nervous...

Vacation 2019 - Universal Studios

I'm getting so far behind!  The pace here is brutal!

Princess and The Frog decided to sit Tuesday out since they can get back to Universal Studios much easier than we can. We almost left Sport with them since his foot was hurting quite badly from the cut left by the stingray, but he wanted to go and honestly, him being with us made our lives much easier.

We brought along the knee scooter for my sweetie and his toes, but we ended up with Sport using it the entire day at Universal. On our very first ride, the host suggested we take Sport over to Guest Services and ask for a pass that would move him to the front of the line. We were skeptical at first, but then when we got to the Harry Potter ride with the 2-hour wait, and they took us all right in, we became believers.

Sport's pass actually made it possible for the kids to ride nearly every ride they wanted to and then some. Our favorites were the Harry Potter Ride, the Transformers, and Despicable Me 3. Since we have another full day tomorrow, I will just leave you with more pictures.

This was actually a dance party on the screen and of course the Dog Walker wanted to be part of it!

The End.

Vacation 2019 - Disneyland

After an entire day at Disneyland, I'm pretty exhausted!  OK, maybe not an ENTIRE day, but pretty close... we got there just after the park opened at 8:00 AM and we left at nearly 11:00 PM. My step counter logged nearly 20,000 steps and my feet hurt, but we had tons of fun.

My job was mostly to watch the babies, but I ended up going on way more rides than I had planned to. Baby Doll was insistent that we spend a little time together, just the two of us on a couple of rides, and eventually that happened with most of the younger kids.

My absolute favorite moment was near the end of the day. Most of the kids had taken off to go to the Matterhorn, so I took Tadpole and we went off in search of the Casey Jr. Train ride we had spotted earlier. He loves trains, but the start of the ride was difficult to find. After about 10 minutes of wandering, we finally asked someone at a food cart and then we finally made it. While we were standing in the relatively short line, suddenly fireworks went off to our left. I expected he might be afraid, but his eyes were big and round and he watched intently, occasionally glancing at me to make sure everything was still ok.

After a moment or two, fireworks began shooting up near the castle to our right. We were caught in the middle of the show that must have been absolutely amazing if we had been on the other side of the castle. Tadpole is only about 18 months old, so he doesn't talk much yet, but he was completely captivated even after we climbed onto the ride and it began to move. The fireworks didn't stop until we were already off the ride and standing near the gate.

We loved Disneyland and all of the craziness! I will just leave you with pics since we are getting ready to head off to our next adventure.

Sport and I were waiting to get off the Dumbo ride when I snapped this pic of Dog Walker.

Puppy Lover, from the Dog Walker's phone

Alone with mom. Baby Doll and I love Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Baby Doll in the most magical place on earth

Eating lunch in the Golden Horseshoe

Crafty, Sport, Dog Walker

Curly and I on the teacups

Curly and Scout

me and Baby Doll

Baby Doll and Crafty

Tadpole and Puppy Lover on the Teacups

It's a small world for me and my sweetie.

Curly, Pollywog, and The Frog

Princess and The Frog

Princess, Puppy Lover, Curly, and Tadpole

Vacation 2019 - Seal Beach

Today was exciting for sure, even though it was supposed to be our down day. We found a nearby Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and we all made it to the 11:30 Sacrament meeting. When we got back to the hotel, the kids wanted to swim, so we pushed back our plans to go to the beach until about 4:00.

It took us about half an hour to drive to Seal Beach, so it was definitely an adventure. The kids didn't seem to be too timid when it came to playing in the water. The Dog Walker wanted to be far enough out that he could easily float in the water and the others all wanted to be smashed by the waves. They would turn their backs and when they felt the wave was imminent, they would jump and let the wave carry them several feet.

Puppy Lover decided she wanted to bury the Dog Walker in the sand and she recruited all the kids so they could make it happen. The Dog Walker was very patient and he held very still until they had completed their task before he headed back to the water to wash off all the loose sand.

Baby Doll started gathering shells, and it wasn't long before we had a nice pile. After she wandered off, my sweetie invited me to join him for a walk on the boardwalk. We let the adult children know and then we headed off for a romantic stroll.

We walked all the way to the end and were on our way back when we got a phone call from the kids letting us know that the pickup truck that was idling on the beach would be taking Sport to the 1st Aide station for treatment since he had been stung by a stingray.

We picked up the pace on our stroll and we hurried to the 1st Aide Station so we could meet them there. Sport was pretty bummed, but actually he was more upset about his prescription sunglasses that had been swallowed up by a big wave than he was about the sting.

They had his foot soaking in hot water in a stingray bag and THAT is the treatment! The hot water is supposed to draw out the venom and then we treated it like any other small cut with a bandaid and Neosporin.

As we were leaving the parking lot, we caught a glimpse of one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. It was the perfect ending for our time at the beach.

And for tomorrow?
Well, most people don't come to Anaheim for the sunsets...