Saturday; October 29, 2011
(and a little bit of Friday night!)
Our brilliant master plan was to leave for California at about 1:00 AM and drive straight through the night. Lee had the whole day off Friday, so the car was packed and ready to go, and then he went to bed at 5:00 so he'd be pretty well rested for the drive. Plans being what they are, that's not what happened! Lee came downstairs at 7:30 saying he couldn't sleep! We debated what to do for a while, and then we just decided to leave then. So we pulled out of the driveway around 9:00 PM! It took a bit of time, but eventually, everyone fell asleep...Except Lee, of course!
Here are Spencer and Michael sharing a neck pillow. Seems like that would negate it's usefulness, wouldn't you say?
We got to our condo at about 7:30 AM...A bit early, since we weren't supposed to check in until 4:00 PM! But they gave us a "guest" key, which would get us in to the pool and everything else BUT a room. It was nice of them, considering we were so early, but sadly, the only thing we really wanted (well, our sleepy dad wanted!) was a bed in an actual room!
Obviously we had some time to kill. But conveniently, this was the view from our (eventual!) room:
Yes. Condo, road, parking lot, beach. We walked down our side of the street to a bridge, crossed the road, and there we were. After breakfast, we figured since we can't go to sleep, we'd better just hit the beach. It was nice, watching them all get soaked. (In their clothes, because we hadn't planned far enough ahead to think to pull swimsuits out of the suitcases!) Spencer and Michael had a grand time throwing rock in the ocean, and finding sticks, to use as wands to "magic" the ocean. (I'm not sure what they were trying to accomplish!) The older kids loved running from the waves.
After everyone had their fill of the freezing ocean water, we decided to head back over to the condo. We decided to rinse off in the showers by the pool, and swim in some warmer water for a while. At least the pool had some lounge chairs, and Lee slept off and on for a couple of hours. We dried off and changed into regular clothes and then headed to the store to pick up some groceries.
Finally, we got our room key. We all headed up, changed, had some dinner, and then we put ourselves all to bed early.
Here's the sunset from our balcony:
After everyone had their fill of the freezing ocean water, we decided to head back over to the condo. We decided to rinse off in the showers by the pool, and swim in some warmer water for a while. At least the pool had some lounge chairs, and Lee slept off and on for a couple of hours. We dried off and changed into regular clothes and then headed to the store to pick up some groceries.
Finally, we got our room key. We all headed up, changed, had some dinner, and then we put ourselves all to bed early.
Here's the sunset from our balcony:
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Here are a few shots from Day One at Disneyland!
There were pumpkins everywhere...!
And characters from afar...
We couldn't miss Captain EO...I remember the first time I went there as a kid this was new! (Heather got a (purple?) Captain EO shirt on that first trip...) My kids are pretty big Michael Jackson fans, so this was a hit!
Us waiting at the Captain EO "ride". Michael spent part of the day complaining about an earache...luckily, it went away and we didn't have to have him checked out!
The Haunted Mansion was sporting it's "Nightmare Before Christmas" theme! I hadn't seen that before, and it was fun to see bits from the movie throughout the mansion!
Who has two thumbs and LOVES Splash Mountain? This guy!
Some pictures from one of MY favorite parts of Disneyland:
The Parades!
Mickey is actually playing the drums!
Sydney and I decided that if you are a dancer in the parade, and you don't get assigned to a princess float, you are kind of screwed in the costume department! (I especially like the party hats on these ladies derrieres!)
Mardi Gras masks? Peacocks? Who can tell!?
I love that Mary Poppins and Bert were riding their Carousel horses in the parade!
At California Adventure some of took pictures with our favorite characters!
There was only one ride in both parks that not everyone could go on. Michael was just a teeny bit too short to ride California Screaming!
So while Heather and I went on California Screaming, Lee took the rest of the kids on King Triton's Carousel!
The McAlister Family: Collect the whole Series!
We left the park, and headed out for our 30 minute drive back to our condo! It was a 2-bedroom condo with a sleeper sofa that slept another two. Lee and I took one room, Heather shared the other room with Syd, and the other 4 kids took turns on the sleeper sofa and sleeping bags.
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