The Magic Continues...

We all slept in this morning and it felt so good. We met Rustyn at La Brea bakery in downtown Disney for a big breakfast and then headed into California Adventure. Carson and I took Kamryn on Soarin', while Larissa and Rustyn took Owen to see Lightening Mcqueen and Minnie.

We headed over to the Tower of Terror where some of the kids braved the dreaded ride. Kamryn rode it when she was 5 and hated it, so she was wigging out in line. She still hates it just as much now as before, but I'm proud of her for trying. It still remains my favorite ride. Larissa took the other four kids to ride Monsters Inc a couple times. She said that Owen and Luke were fighting over what the car says "beep beep crash".. or "beep beep Vroom". Boys.
After riding Screamin' a few more times, Toy Story, the Golden Zephyr and the Mickey Wheel, we headed back to Whitewater for lunch (again). First, I talked everyone into stopping for a quick family picture. I am annoying like that.

Our Family

Uncle Rustyn and the kids

Tanner, Aida and their kids

Justin, Larissa and their Kids

The classic Toy Story box photo.
A quick nap at the hotel was all we needed to recharge us for our last night at Disneyland!

After riding tons of rides and searching for a place to eat, which proved impossible, we headed back to the hotel. That's when we decided we didn't want to go home the next day, and instead booked another night at the hotel and upgraded our park hoppers to a 5day pass. So glad we did!

Magic Morning and Family Day

Tuesday at Disneyland was a 'Magic Morning', where resort guests are allowed to enter the park one hour before anyone else. We rode the Monorail into the park at 7am and rode all the Fantasy land rides without lines. The first ride of our day was Dumbo.

Daddy and Owen on a "dreen one"

Kamryn and Rylee

Then it was time for the teacups! A classic ride that never gets old.
Since we had the "handicapped" pass for Owen, we were able to walk right on a lot of the rides without waiting. This enabled us to go on several rides over and over and over again. I love the look on Owen's face here... he LOVED to go "a round... a round... fast!"
When the rest of the park opened, we headed over to Big Thunder Railroad and Owen was once again, too short to ride. He was devestated. He kept saying "peas peas peas"... "Momma .. choo choo... peas!!!" It was heartbreaking watching him cry because he couldn't ride the "BIIIG choo choo".
The haunted mansion saved the day, as did Pirates. Then we took a spin on the Jungle Cruise. This is always a one time ride for me. I can go once per trip and I'm good.
Then waited outside of Indiana Jones while everyone else went for a crazy jeep ride. Thank goodness he couldn't see the Jeeps on that ride, or else we would have had a replay of saddness.

Owen passed out in his stroller between Indiana Jones and Space Mountain, so I took a few trips on the monorail. We met back up for a family lunch at Hungry Bear and then got soaked on Splash Mountain.

I am not a fan of Toon Town, but we headed over so that the kids could ride Gadgets Go Coaster. Owen LOVED it!! Here we are waiting for his second go around.
We decided to brave the 20 minute line for Small World and Owen wanted to stand in line. He walked the entire way and stood in line like a big boy. Another ride he loved. Check out Kamryn's pins. Larissa's family is into the Pin Trading at Disney and I always thought it was lame. Why buy pins and trade them right? Now I'm addicted. I was the one searching out cast members to trade pins with! Kamryn now has 13 Tinkerbell pins. Owen even got in on the trading, but he refused to trade any of his pins. "Mine!"

Disneyland closed at 6pm on Tuesday, so we decided to have our Simmons Christmas party back at the hotel. We had conjoined rooms at the DLH with Larissa's family, so we had plenty of room for pizza, salad and presents. The kids drew names for eachother and had a $10 limit to buy for eachother in the park (it's not easy to find something under $10).

Luke bought Owen a Buzz Lightyear Astroblaster... he loves it!!

Kamryn bought Rylee a Tinkerbell Pin and a big swirly sucker.Emily got Kamryn a Tinkerbell Pin and one of those GIANT pencils.

After an early morning at the park, we called it an early night. We all had SO much fun and were wiped out. Tomorrow.. we all sleep in!

California Adventure

We spent our second day at Disney's California Adventure. We arrived at the park an hour early to pick up our fast passes for World of Color. That meant, we had an hour to burn before the park opened.

Carson acting like a nerd in front of the Grizzly River waterfall.

Rylee, Connor, Tatum, Kamryn and Owen

This is a not so great family photo. Kamryn was crying because Carson picked her up and pretended he was going to throw her into the water. She was totally not amused.

As soon as the park opened, we went straight to Toy Story mania. They let us ride twice in a row because Owen loved it so much!
Kamryn was brave and finally tried California Screaming. She has never been a fan of thrill rides in the past, and she was freaked. Crying. She got off the ride and said "let's do that again!" I always say.. you have to try everything once. Owen was sad that he missed out on the roller coaster fun and spent time with Auntie Sussy on the carousel instead.

After the adults took a ride of Tower of Terror, we met up with the kids in A Bugs Land. Thankfully, Larissa is not a fan of that ride and took all the kids to ride kiddie rides.

The kids in line for the bumper cars. Owen couldn't reach the steering wheel.. we found it funny. He did not.
Owen was bummed again when he couldn't go on the Grizzly River Rapid ride. We watched for their raft to come down the waterfall and Owen loved getting splashed every minute.
There they are... getting soaked. Most everyone was soaked, so I jumped on and we all went again. This time Owen got to hang out with Grandpa and Grandma.

It was a warm day at 80 degrees...so we ate outside at Whitewater for lunch. Whitewater is our secret meal spot within the park. It's quiet and the food is reasonable.

Kamryn stayed with everyone and went to see Aladdin, while we took Owen back to the hotel for a quick nap and recharge. We went on the swinging gondolas on Mickey's Fun Wheel and Owen thought it was fantastic!! He giggled the entire way around. Kamryn went to ride Screaming a few more times because she doesn't do the Ferris Wheel.

At night, we settled in for the Pixar play parade and watched Owen go nuts for "buzzwoody", "mween" (Lightning Mcqueen), "Baby Boo", and the rest of his Pixar friends. I'm usually not a fan of parades, but this parade was so much fun!

After dinner in Downtown Disney, we went back to the park to watch the World of Color show. It was super cool, but the kids were tired of standing and we were ready to call it a night.

Our day at California Adventure was so much fun! We saw everything there was to see and more. I'm so glad our hotel was close to the magic, so we had a short walk before crashing for the night.