princesses

“Happiest” Place on Earth Day 2: California Adventure

After an exhausting day at Disneyland the day before, we had a tough time rousing the kids on Day 2 for California Adventure. Our Dland Hotel extra magic hour for CA Adventure was an hour later than for Disneyland, and we didn’t need to be at the gate until 7:30, but even then, all the kids were still zonked at 7:25. We plopped three half-asleep girls in their strollers and zoomed over to the park, where we dashed over to the popular Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land. The wait later in the day was over two hours. Who would wait in line that long for ANY ride is beyond me, but apparently there are plenty of willing people out there. Again, we were grateful for the extra magic hour and took full advantage of the low wait times before the park opened and the crowds invaded.

Everyone’s favorite ride!

Meredith waited with me while everyone was on the ride– maybe next time you’ll be tall enough!

Meredith was sleeping in her stroller for our family pic.

Love Sammy’s belly poking out!

There were so many rides, playgrounds, and shows at CA Adventure that we didn’t even make it to half of what we had planned on in our original itinerary. We definitely wished we had another day there.

The rides in A Bug’s Land were adorable! The girls especially loved the bumper cars, Flik’s Flyers, and Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train.

Poor Meredith missed most of the morning action while she napped.

Daddy and Amelia.

Daddy and Samantha.

Everyone was hungry and overtired (a common refrain this trip) by the time we made it to our reservation at Ariel’s Grotto for our princess lunch.

C’mon Amelia, Ariel is your favorite princess of all time! I guess she was star struck.

Ariel’s Grotto was supposed to be another fun treat for the girls’ birthday, since they are obsessed with princesses at home, but when face-to-face in the flesh, they clammed up!

Meredith, on the other hand, was not shy about meeting her favorite princesses and I had to keep her messy little fingers away from their dresses and hair because she was continually trying to reach out to them.

We bribed the girls with dessert just so they’d stand near the princesses for pictures. At least Meredith and I had fun meeting them!

The twins eventually agreed to go up to the princesses, as long as they went together. Samantha would say, “C’mon Amelia, be brave with me!”

Would you like a snap pea, Belle?

Meredith enjoyed making a spaghetti masterpiece on the floor while watching the princesses.

Pigging out on the cute sea-themed desserts.

This is the KIDS’ dessert plate? Sugar overload!

No complaints from Sammy on the jello.

Meredith grabbed a handful of frosting when no one was looking.

While everyone was on the Soarin’ Over the World ride, Meredith found her new love– the splash pad! She was hilarious, chasing the water fountains and shrieking in delight when the water hit her face. We are going to have a blast at the splash pad this summer.

No swim suit on, but don’t care! I love it!

While heading back to the hotel for naps, Meredith spotted Mickey and begged to honk his nose to see how it felt compared to Minnie’s.

After naps, we saw Frozen, Live and thanks again to playing Grammy’s wheelchair access card, we had good seats without waiting in line for hours. Meredith lasted about halfway through, and Amelia was hiding in her seat through the first half hour, but we eventually coaxed her into watching. We couldn’t figure out if the live versions of her favorite characters in such close proximity, plus the noise, scared her or if she was being star struck and shy! Their favorite part was the fake snow falling down on us during the show! It was fun to see a stage adaptation of Frozen condensed into an hour with all of the great music and dancing, live. All of the adults loved it, at least and it was worth the wait.

Let it go!

The Redwood Creek Trail playground was the girls’ favorite out of all of CA Adventure and we wished we had more time there before the sun went down.

Ariel’s carousel.

The silly symphony swings!

The consensus was that we definitely needed to come back to explore more of CA Adventure! Meredith fell asleep in her stroller at bedtime again, and we all headed back to the hotel to conk out. We helped pack up Meredith’s stuff while the girls got ready for bed since she was going back to our house with Grammy and Grandpa for the night and next day so that we’d have one full day with just us and the twins at Disneyland. I’m sure Meredith woke up at home the next morning and was wondering if all the princesses, swirling rides and dancing animals had all been a dream!

Lots of love,

Lunar New Year, Daddy Daughter Princess Ball, Meredith’s Hazmat Suit, and more fun!

Between Meredith’s birthday and putting our beloved home on the market (it’s in escrow right now), the past few months have seemed like nothing but party prep, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, decluttering, packing, packing, packing and more cleaning. Keeping our house spotless for our Open House and showings amongst the constant chaos of three little tornadoes has been a full-time job and we’re completely exhausted. With house hunting and having to be out of our house for showings, it seems like we’ve hardly been home!

At preschool, the girls were excited about their Lunar New Year unit, with our dinner conversations being filled with talk of the Year of the Rooster and the girls boasting about being born the Year of the Snake. Meredith was born the Year of the Monkey, which makes so much sense!

One of the cool moms at school came and performed a traditional dragon dance, which I heard about for days.

Amelia (or Samantha?) trying the dragon on for size.

This mom even gave all the kids some “lucky money” folded into an elaborate shape. She is forever a hero in our girls’ eyes! Between that, and more lucky money and cool Vietnamese gifts/food from their friend, Parker, the girls have adopted this holiday as their own.

On a whim while Grammy and Grandpa were here for Meredith’s party, we stopped by the Lunar New Year festival at the OC Fair for some tasty Vietnamese food and the obligatory carnival rides/games.

Yummy freshly grilled lobster.

Samantha and Amelia’s favorite stuffed animals are always those they have “won” at carnivals… they could care less about anything we buy them.

Amelia and I put our lives on the line riding this sketchy roller coaster, which I still can’t believe I let them choose (let alone ANY carnival ride, for that matter). After one loop, one of the wood beams holding up the track slid off and the carnival worker had to hammer it back into place while all of us poor moms suckered into riding with our kids watched in horror and panicked. My mom said she took a video just in case we all crashed and needed evidence for a future lawsuit. Fortunately, we survived our daring carnival-quality ride!

Gathering water from the well.

Get to work, girls!

One Friday night, Jake took Samantha and Amelia on a Daddy Daughter date to a “princess ball” where they mingled with their favorite princesses, sang Disney songs to their hearts’ content and feasted on a princess tea of cookies and lemonade. Well, at least that was the idea. Although the twins had been talking about the ball for weeks, all the excitement, noise and characters were a little much for them and I was so disappointed when Jake returned, only to tell me they had left early because the girls had been crying to go home! Next time, we’ll just have the girls spend some Daddy Daughter time at Yogurtland with some cheap ice cream instead!

Samantha was a little starstruck meeting her favorite princesses, Elsa and Anna.

Amelia’s favorite princess is Ariel

Meredith was protesting the fact that she was not invited to the ball.

This is how we get our “snow fix” in the OC… our local park had a Snow Day where they trucked in snow and let the beach bums have at it! Being from Utah, this was all pretty pathetic, but the kids loved it and I didn’t have to shovel or drive in it. I have to say I really don’t miss it!

I can’t even really call this “sledding,” but the girls were thrilled.

As I was was combing through photos, I had to include this one! I officially gave a goodbye hug to my pump the week of Meredith’s birthday. We’ve spent a lot of time together this year. Farewell, old friend!

All of my neighbors/friends make fun of me and call this Meredith’s “hazmat suit!” Although she started walking a few weeks ago, prior to that, she was crawling all over the park (and tearing holes/permanently staining the knees of every pair of leggings she owned). When it was damp outside but not cold enough for a ski jumper, my solution was this beauty (thanks, Amazon!) I just slip over her clothes. She absolutely hates it since it inhibits her ability to crawl very fast, but it keeps her dry and dirt-free, without her over-heating. I have approximately two pairs of leggings Meredith has not managed to ruin, and I intend to keep them that way.

Meredith is setting a new trend in babywear, straight from the runways of China!

Her little waterproof booties that cinch with a drawstring over her ankles complete her fashionable look and keep her dry!

The hazmat suit is great for sliding!

We’ve had record rain this winter, which has been awesome for our drought and for the twins, who race out the door in their raincoats, boots and Frozen umbrellas at the first drop of rain.

Daddy met us for lunch one morning for Meredith’s first time at the zoo. I’ve never seen her so mesmerized before. It was as if she recognized all the monkeys as her true family!