Sunny California

*GULP* We did it! We took the family to Disnelyland California back in June. Initially Craig and I always thought we would go when Breck was more like 5. However, we are realizing we need to start making great family memories and having experiences before Hudson gets too old and is away at college. We only have 7 years until he is on his mission. Okay-back to the story-

We plunged forward used our frequent flyer miles to get us to CA for free. A patient of Craigs told him about and lent us the book The Unoffical Guide to Disneyland 2011. I'm glad I read this book. It gave great tips, explained the fast pass system, listed best times to go on certain rides....etc.

We decided to spend a day at the beach, day at Disney, day at beach, and day at Disney. I think that worked great for us to have lazy days in between. We took the advice of the book and got to the park when it opened & bee lined it to the major rides. We were done by 11:30ish and went back to the hotel to relax in the hotel pool! One day we went back in the evening and the other day we didn't.
Oh yeah, another tip I used was we all wore the same colored shirt.....no one got lost!

We stayed in a hotel that was in walking distance to the shuttle tram that took us to the fron gates.

Rylan wanted to watch and hopefully get picked for the Jedi Academy. He did get picked and was able to 'battle' Darth Maul!

I bought a mister at Target before our trip. That was an idea I came up with myself thank you very much. Wow! It was nice to have a cool wet breeze while standing in line. Plus, it kept Breck entertained! You know, I have to give credit to this little guy. Our great experience was in big part to him. Breck enjoyed all the rides we took him on. We loved Space Mountain. When it was over he wanted to do it again. He was too short for just one ride (Indiana Jones). You are amazing Breck!

The night we went back to the Park we stopped to watch the amazing fireworks.

In fact, we could see the fireworks from our hotel balcony. We got to see the fireworks everynight!

The hotel room was fun. They had constellations painted onto the ceiling. When we turned on the black light the ceiling glowed. The kids love staying in a hotel to begin with, so this was just an added bonus.

One of the evenings we hung out at downtown Disney and had dinner, saw the new Cars 2 movie, and checked out the Lego store....those were some happy boys.

At the first beach we went to Breck had fun putting sea shells in his shoes. So cute!

Well I had an added treat for this family vacation. My dear friend and former roommate Amanda Howell lives near Anaheim. She and her two daughters, Bailey & Grace, drove 2 hours to spend the day at the beach with us. It was a blast from the past to hang out for the day. Thank you Howell girls...we love you.