Disneyland-Day 4 and 5

As much as I hate to admit it, my favorite part about Disneyland was probably not Disneyland. I think that if I'd been there as a kid it might have more of that nostalgic tinge that others feel. But, for me, it was only as awesome as my kids thought it was. Which happened to be pretty awesome. But I can't really imagine myself ever going there without kids. And as far as amusement parks go, it's just so-so. But California Adventure, on the other hand, was ahhhhhhhhhhhh-some. And that is where we spent 100% of Day 4. There was rain in the forecast, so we were all geared up for it--but it was dry the whole day!! (until about 4:30, it rained for 8 minutes)

Highlights of the day include Monsters, Inc (4x, the girls loved it, loved it, loved it), all the rides at Bug's Life (including the little 3D show--awesome!), the Ferris wheel, Soarin' California, and my personal favorite--the Screamer. There is nothing in the world quite like going from zero to 60 in less than one second (i'm making up those numbers, but they can't be far off!)--i wish i'd had the stomach to go on that ride over and over--it's my favorite roller coaster ever!

We also saw the Aladdin show. The girls loved it. And the guy who played "Genie" was hilarious. I'm really glad people recommended this show--we probably wouldn't have gone otherwise

And, lucky for the little ladies, Cinderella was just hanging around for pictures right outside.

My kids LOVED having little playmates to be with the whole time. Grace and Kaitlyn hit it off right from the start. I'm guessing that they heard "did you guys know that when you were just little you used to play together all the time?" about a million times.

It was such fun day. It was so nice to be dry. And I just kept being amazed at how NOT tired we were. The girls walked almost the whole day, every day. I'd given them each three little "passes" to ride in the stroller because i was sure they were going to fight over it...but they actually didn't! They didn't even use all their passes :) But by 5pm that day the kids were hungry again, our snack lunches/apples/snacks were gone...so we headed to the Mission Tortilla Factory that's right there by Bug's Life. They give out the most delicious, fresh corn tortillas--about a billion times better than the ones you get in the store! And then we walked over to the Boudin Sourdough factory where the lady saw our famished children and gave them two MickyMouse sourdough loaves. Who knew there was free food to be had there?? leave it to me to find it...

And although Eliza didn't really care much about what we were doing most of the time, she did get REALLY excited every time we passed by the Ferris Wheel (in the background of this picture). She's also, apparently, obsessed with Mickey Mouse.

That evening my brother, Kevin, came over for a visit. He lives in L.A. now. Reid and I were spoiled for 3 years having him live near us in Boston. Grace knew him really well the first 14 months of her life. It was sad for me when, by her 2nd birthday, she'd already forgotten him. But she's finally to the point again where she completely knows him and took no time warming up to him. Both of the big girls were soooo excited to see him, it was very sweet. I think they just thought it was the awesomest thing to see an uncle right there at their hotel!

Our friends came over again (this night included the Gardners) and we all stayed up way too late, laughing, telling stories, having push-up contests and generally enjoying our time together. Our time with them went by too fast. These are people that I wish lived closer to us. (lucky for us, the Gardners actually go!!) I tried to convince them of all the reasons why Denver is the best place to live in all of the U.S. of A. Only time shall tell how good of a sales woman I am!!

Day 5 was the day we checked out of our hotel, picked up our rental car, attempted to go to church, and then drove down to San Diego to spend 2 nights with Anne and Rob-- good friends from our first year in Boston. Anne and Rob are two people that we could talk to for 2 weeks straight and never run out of good conversation. They've got something to say about every topic. And they've got stories. And it was so good to spend time with them! Back in November, when we bought our plane tickets, we debated whether or not we should come home on Sunday or stay through Tues. I'm soooooooooo so so glad we stayed longer--we needed some good game-playin', story-tellin', Rob and Anne time!!

Of course, we have no pictures with them. In fact, we were talking about photos with them, and Anne confessed that she has taken very few pictures of her kids in the past 2 years. She told us that her dad, who used to take tons of pictures of all his kids, decided one day he was done. He said "i'm tired of looking at my children through a lens."

Can I just say "amen" to that? I bet that the best moments of this vacation were not captured on film....because i was busy enjoying the moment...but now i can't remember the moment...because it wasn't captured on film. But there's still something to be said for enjoying the moment, even if it's forgotten years down the road, right?

Thank you, Anne and Rob, for putting up with us for 2 days!!