California Trip

Warning - This was an awesome vacation and I had a really hard time picking the pictures so I just put a ton of pictures in. Also I was a little long winded, and I wanted to hear what the kids had to say so I asked what they liked about different parts of the trip too. So while reading if it says what one of my kids said, it really is what they remember about our trip.

The Moyes Vacation has been in the works for quite a while. So when Jeff and Ali moved back to Utah in May everyone knew that it meant Disneyland was just around the corner. My kids were so excited.

Travel Time:

We were driving and I spend a lot of time the week before trying to come up with clever games and activities to fill the time. The kids did great on the drive but my really smart mother in law realized how long it would be with 3 kids so we stopped in Vegas over night.

Ben said, "It was a little bit tiring, but no one complained. We had boxes that had toys and like things we could do so we wouldn't get tired. I thought it was a little long trip, but it wasn't too bad."

Abby said, "I don't really want to tell you about that part."

Vegas:

It was a well needed rest. That night we went to the strip to show the kids the Bellagio night water show and I am content if I don't go back for a long time. The kids didn't really realize exactly what was going on, but I felt so overwhelmed. But at least they loved the water show.

Ben said, "I loved the water show. I thought it was so cool. The water shot up way way high."

Abby was just so excited because she got to share a room/bed with her cousin Molly. I don't think she needed to do anything else that week and she would have been so happy. She thought it was the best thing ever.

Abby said, "It was so fun sleeping with Molly. I loved it."

Disneyland - Day 1:

The next day we drove to Anaheim and went to the hotel, parked our car, and got right on the shuttle to go to Disneyland. We were all so excited to be at the park.

Ben said, "I thought it was cool that there were little stones that had things one it. And I liked getting our pictures by where it says Disneyland let the memories begin and I liked the flag. Disneyland looked really big and I liked the map. I really liked seeing the monorail and wanted to do that."

Abby said, "I loved those pictures and they looked really pretty."

And we were so lucky to have Minnie Mouse right inside the front gate with a very short line.

Abby said, "Minnie Mouse was fun to take a picture. I wasn't scared I was happy."

Ben had already looked at the map and knew that he wanted to ride the train around Disneyland before we went on any rides.

Ben said, "I loved the train ride. I tried to see the Indiana Jones ride, but it was hidden in the trees, but it was still fun. I saw Mickey's Toon Town in there. We went around the whole park."

So after our round trip train ride around the park we went to the castle to check it out. Abby thought it was pretty great.

Abby said, "The castle was really pretty, like super pretty. Like the pretties place on earth."

But Abby's favorite was the roller coaster in Toon Town- she loved it. And as no surprise Ben didn't. Grace loved it too.

Ben said, "I thought it wasn't so bad when we went up the hill, but when we went down it I was so scared. I thought get me off of this thing because we were going sideways and there was a pond at the bottom."

Abby said, "It was so fast - I loved that. And it was so fun when it went fun I was like YAH! Cuz I loved it."

The kids loved the rides. We had to split up to ride the rides, but really they all wanted to ride with their dad.

Ben said, "We loved The Small World they sang a song that said 'Its a small world after all'. My dad said it was like the Pirates of the Caribbean but they sing the wrong song."

Abby said, "When we went in there I was like (open mouth). I was so happy. It was so fun and I loved when they sang 'its a small world after all ...."

We were able to see quite a bit on day one and it was a great success. So we crashed at the hotel that night and woke up early for round two.

Disneyland - Day 2:

We started off the day with Lynn and Kay and our kids were so excited to ride the rides with Grandma and Grandpa.

Ben said, " I liked the carousal. My favorite thing to do is to sit in the seat because I don't like to go up and down. So I always sit in the seat."

Abby said, "When I went up and down I loved it. I was like - I so love it."

Ben was very brave and went to the Haunted Mansion and Ben got a little scared he had to close his eyes and plug his ears almost the whole time.

Ben said, "it was a little scary, and I liked the ghost dancing. It looked a little bit scary for the ball where the girl was talking, but it didn't matter. I liked it just a little bit, but I was scared."

We finally rode on the monorail that my kids saw the first day and they were so excited. But it is about the most uneventful ride, but they love it.

Ben said, "I liked it and it was cool when we turned kinda sideways and we went under the tunnels."

Abby said, "It was fun sitting my Molly and Chloe. Someone told me it went fast, but it didn't really go fast, but I loved it."

The Parade:

The second night we got great seats to wait for the parade. Abby was so excited to see the princesses. The parade was so fun. Most of the main characters are on the float, but there were a lot of people dancing and walking around the floats that really interacted with the crowd. The princesses and characters really tried to wave to everyone and all my kids felt like they waved right at them. It was so great.

Abby said, "I loved it when I saw Rapunzel. And the princesses that danced I loved'

Ben said, "I thought the parade was really fun. Mr. Smee gave me a high five."

World of Color:

That night we went to California Adventure to see the new show World of Color. It puts the Bellagio to shame. It was about 45 minutes and they has so much mist they could show parts of Disney movie clips on the mist. It was unreal. I really loved it. Grace was too tired and crashed, Abby was awake but too tired to watch, she kept saying she didn't want to watch it. But like always Ben enjoyed everything and stayed up to watch it all.

Ben said, " I liked it because it showed pictures in the water and the water was all different colors."

Abby said, "When the water changed colors I loved it. When I seed Ariel and everybody I loved it. Cause I saw them."

Disneyland/ California - Day 3

Ben loves to have a map and know where we are going. He is always the one to chart our path and tell us where we need to go. So it was no different here.

When I have been before I never wanted to ride the submarine's because I thought I would be a little claustrophobic but the kids wanted to try it and I'm so glad. I thought it was so clever. I loved it and it was one of my favorites.

Ben said, "The Nemo ride was fun. We got to sit in a submarine and we saw Nemo and all his friends. It was really fun."

After Nemo Bryce and Ben took off with the boys to go to Goofy's Kitchen. While the girls finished up walking around Disneyland and then headed over to California.

Goofy's Kitchen:

Ben said, "I liked the dinner at Goofy's kitchen. There was peanut butter and jelly pizza and spaghetti pizza. I ate a cupcake, ( I didn't really eat much of the cupcake), icecream, and I forgot what else I ate."

..

Ben took some great snapshots of Ben around the park.

Ben said, "I liked Mater and Lightening because it them from Cars 2" The first thing Ben noticed was that Lightening had a different hood than in Cars.

Ariels Grotto:

Since the boys had brunch with Goofy the girls had lunch with the princesses. It was a little different than what I expected, but for my girls it was the highlight of their trip. They thought it was so fun to meet the princesses and take pictures with them. Kay bought them cute princess dresses and they looked adorable.

Abby said, "When I saw all the princesses come out and the yummy food and when I saw one of the princesses the princess was pretty. Snow White was my favorite she was my most most favorite. She was so pretty."

(Although I might have rethought sending Grace in a dress had I known that she would have Spaghetti and brownies - talk about a mess.)

Because of my amazing Mother and sister in law I was able to ride on the new Ariel ride. They went and stood in line for almost 2 hours then got a stroller pass for my family to ride. I think their wonderful to wait in any line for that long, but to top it off Megan had her 2 month old baby. Anyway it was a clever ride, besides the fact that it is my favorite movie. The animation is amazing and it was such a fun ride.

Abby said, "All the Ariels on the Ariel rides that singed I loved. When the witch came I was like (open mouth) and I was so scared. There was one thing about the witch I loved the picture of her I loved what she looked like, but that was the only thing. I didn't like her song - it was a scary song."

Disney Junior Show:

We thought our kids needed some slower down time, so we went to the Disney Junior show and it was so fun. They had puppets from various shows like Jake and the Neverland Pirates and put on a little interactive show. We had a blast.

Ben said, "I loved it when they told the story of Jake and the Neverland Pirates. And I liked the guy who was in the show. And I liked when we got all the gold debluims."

Abby said, "I like when on the Disney Junior when it showed part of Jake and The Neverland Pirates, the gold debluims, and the Little Einsteins."

Well we had an awesome trip to Disneyland and I think we all will remember this trip as being one of the best. The kids were so good and we really had a blast. My favorite memories are seeing Ben ride Indiana Jones (wish I had a picture) he rode it twice and both times he plugged his ears and closed his eyes, but he was so happy. I was so proud of him for being so brave. He still claims it is his favorite ride. Abby was so cute and willing to try just about anything. She loved the Toon Town coaster and wanted to ride it over and over. So then she rode the Materhorn with me. She didn't know what to think, but she didn't cry. Also by the end of the trip Abby would tell us that she was getting tired ans was going to take a nap in her carseat. She usually didn't fall asleep but it was so good for her to learn to fall asleep when your tired. She was such a big girl the whole trip. Grace would just crash whenever she could. She was such a trooper being dragged around and never getting a nap except in her stroller. She was such a good girl. But to see her at the Princess dinner was so funny. She was such a mess. Her Belle dress was darling, but her figure was a little big around the belly for the tight fitting dress. I had to have her suck in to zip it up. She was so excited to wear it. But one of my favorite memories is trying to load up in the bus at the end of the day/night to get back to the hotel. We had so much stuff and Bryce had both girls asleep in his arms and I am smacking people with my enormous stroller dropping stuff everywhere. And Justin and Megan had just as much stuff so Molly was sleep walking down the aisles. It was a sight to see. I bet people were just cracking up!

Ben said, "Mickey Mouse I liked because I liked his house and I liked his show. Because it showed different videos when the clock went off."

Abby said, "I was so scared to go to Mickey Mouse's house. But when I saw him I was so excited. I was like YAH I was so excited to get my picture taken with him. I was just a little scared at first."

Grace said, "I liked seeing Minnie and Mickey and Cinderella and eat dinner. I liked the rides I liked Splash Mountain. (which she didn't go on)

Drive to San Diego/ Padres Game

The next day we got up and left to head to San Diego. I thought for sure the girls would crash and sleep the whole time, but of course that wasn't their idea. So finally Grace crashed and took a little well deserved nap.

Ben said, "I liked the drive because we were going to the Padres game. But it was a long drive."

Abby said, "I like that picture."

As soon as we got to our hotel in Oceanside we had lunch then left to go to the Padres game. Which was the highlight for Bryce.

Ben said, "I liked it, but I still liked it since the Rockies won the Padres. But it was a cool game because we almost caught a couple of balls. Well I don't know if we almost caught one. It was cool because it was my first National league game. I have just always been to Raptors."

Sea World:

The next day we went to Sea World. It was great to walk around and push the stroller and not fill like I was being squished by all the people. I love Sea World and the different shows.

Ben said, "I liked the little car because it was like Shamu. I liked the Shamu show it was cool. My favorite show was Shamu and the dolphins. It was cool because they could do all kinds of tricks."

Abby said, "I liked all the tricks they were so cool."

Oceanside:

The day we were leaving to go home we woke up and got the kids ready to go home then walked to the beach for a few minutes. It was cold and overcast so I didn't think they would want to stay very long. I don't know what I was thinking the kids didn't want to leave they had so much fun. By the time we left they were soaked and I was stressed because everything was packed and I didn't even know where to find there clothes. It was so packed in the back of our Expedition. But for the kids it was great and they want to go back to the beach.

Ben said, "It was really fun. The water was kinda cold and I liked to run away from the waves."

We had such a great time and loved every minute of our trip. We all want to go back as soon as we can.