Happy 6th Birthday Addy and Colbie!

Wow- what a great celebration day Addy and Colbie had yesterday!
Woke up to pictures, balloons and presents, yippee!

 

 At school:
Birthdays signs awaited them outside of their classroom, so there were many screams of "Happy Birthday" right away to start their day!

I went back to school as I'm the library helper and Art in Action helper, and both happened to be on their special day.   In between, I was able to bring birthday snacks and a special story to read to the class.  Of course they were both Calendar Helper too, and had the birthday song sung multiple times throughout the day.   They were certainly happy campers when I picked them up!

After school, Nana came to play as it was a Thursday, and then Granddad and Lee Lee came too for a birthday dinner and present fun.   For dessert the girls requested a make-your-own-sundae instead of cake this year.   Everyone stayed up way too late, but oh well, it's a birthday!

 

 

Happy Birthday Colbie and Addison Rose!   We Love You!

Spring Break- Part 2- Relaxation!

After the madness of Disney for three days, I booked us a place in Avila Beach for two nights.   The kids and I had driven through this adorable seaside town when we took our Pismo Beach trip together awhile back.   We all have talked about that town since we drove threw it, so I thought now was a good time to actually go back and visit it.  Well, we picked the right time, as it was empty of tourists and truly relaxing!   The beach was perfect- waters to wade in, boulders for the kids and I to climb, tide pools for us to touch and look at, wind for our kit flying, and endless beach to play on...oh and cute little restaurants to eat at (breakfast at Fat Cat is amazing!).   We'll be going back to Avila Beach some day for sure, ideally for a few more days!

 On our drive home we stopped in Morro Bay and had fun at that beach as well.  We're big fans of the Central Coast it appears!  Our shell, sea glass and rock collection has doubled in size thanks to this trip :)

Spring Break!

We've owed a trip to Disneyland to Addy and Colbie for over a year, as we had promised them that we would take them when they turned 5 years old.  Given Josh's injury, we were not able to go when they turned 5, and they reminded us ALL year that we had to go when they turned six instead.  So, instead of a big birthday party with friends and a bunch of gifts, the girls chose to go to Disneyland as their party and big present this year.   We opted to only go into the Disneyland park for two days, which we will need to extend next time (but it is SO expensive!), so we had to pack in as many rides as possible to both days.  The kids did amazing, considering the enormous amount of walking necessary for a Disneyland visit (10 miles days one and 8 miles on day two!), and we went on 19 rides on day 1 and 20 rides on day 2...pretty amazing!   We took a few hours off back at the hotel each day as well, for a quick nap/ relaxation time. 
On Sunday afternoon after we arrived, we went to the pool of course, and then walked around Downtown Disney.   The Lego store was pretty incredible:

 

I booked our trip through Costco travel, and with it, we were given a "free" character dinner.  To start the vacation off with a bang, I booked our special dinner for the night we arrived.   It worked out well, as dinner time after a day at Disneyland is generally not the most energetic.   So we had dinner at Goofy's kitchen, and met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale...and special birthday song and cupcakes too!

Day 1- California Adventure.   A portion of this park is under major renovations currently, so we were able to go on nearly every ride without much of a wait.  We booked the new Max Passes, which were totally worth it as you can skip to the front of the lines of the big rides and save yourself hours of waiting.   We went in during Magic Hour, which is an hour before the park opens to the general public.  During that hour we were able to go straight to the most visited ride- Radiator Spring Raceway right away...and then rode it another two times!   The girls decided first thing on day 1 that they were not afraid of ANY roller coaster, so they jumped right onto everything without hesitation which certainly surprised us!   We spent most of the morning in CarsLand, and then went around to the other lands for the afternoon.   My favorite ride of the entire trip was called Soarin' Around the World which we found on day 1.   With one afternoon break, we made it until 9:00pm on day 1, through 19 rides, and just couldn't make it to the 9:45pm light show before pooping out for the day. 

 

 

  The view from the room was pretty amazing, so the kids ate breakfast and snacks overlooking Disneyland.

 The kids were given 5 buttons on this trip...pretty awesome!

Day 2- Disneyland.   Again, we went early for the Magic Hour which does really make a difference.  We went straight to Space Mountain and walked right onto the ride- it was SCARY, but the kids loved it (pitch dark super fast roller coaster).   We also signed up early for this special program called Jedi Training, which is first come, first served- 24 kids every hour get to dress up, train and then "fight" the dark side on stage.   I knew that Jake would love to do this, but then the girls insisted on joining him too, not have any idea what any of the characters are as they really haven't ever watched any Star Wars at all.   I was stunned when the girls agreed to put on Jedi hoods, and then walk out on stage in front of hundreds of Disneyland visitors to play along with the Jedi training show.   And THEN, each child had to fight either Darth Vader or Darth Maul by themselves.   I was ready for a complete meltdown, but all of our kids went up and did it!   It was incredible as there is absolutely no way that Addy and Colbie would have done that a year ago.    After Jedi training we tried to get to as many rides as we could.  We missed a few, and didn't have any time for any shows or other activities, but that is what they wanted to do!   We made it onto 18 rides on day 2, but also attended the Fantasmic night show as well as the fireworks, so I'm counting 20.   Phew...what a few days!

 We found the girls teacher Mrs. Mecchi there too!

 Last Disney day- the souvenir that each kid picked was a light saber of course, after their Jedi training class.   Can't wait to hear the sword fights every evening upstairs :)

Next post will continue our trip to Avila Beach and Morro Bay...