Vacation!

We took our first vacation as a family at the beginning of October. We had so much fun! But we were so ready to come home when the time came! There will be alot of pictures of the kids. . . probably monotonous to some . . .but couldn't resist posting them all! We left on the 2nd and stopped in Las Vegas for a couple nights. There are probably a lot of Jada by herself because Jace was being less than cooperative and didn't want his picture taken. Such a terd. . .takes after his dad.

Here are the kids at the M&M factory. Got Jace in this one because he got to stand by the race car.

Jada's new M&M hat


Jace's new M&M hat.



Kids eating Panda and being silly.

We stayed at the Excalibur, which previously seemed to have more of a family-like atmosphere. I guess things have changed hence the scantily clad women dancing on platforms on the casino floor, in open view. Sheesh! We walked in the hotel (even before we saw the dancing women) and Jada immediately said "Wow, I've never stayed at a hotel like this before". Funny.

Playing air hockey in the game room at the Excalibur.

Pics in front of the Las Vegas temple. It was closed because it was general conference weekend.

I think I was giving him attitude cuz he wanted a pic of me by myself. Poor guy, not sure how he puts up with me sometimes. Love my shoes?


We decided to walk the strip with the kids and do some shopping. . . we walked from the Excalibur to the Fashion mall and back. Approx 5 miles. NEVER doing that again.

The kids sitting on the railing watching the water show in front of the Bellagio

Jace finishing up his breakfast (OREOS-breakfast of champs) on the car ride the morning we drove to California.

Kids by the front gate after we entered Disneyland. Jace wouldn't look at the camera.

Jada with Goofy after getting his autograph. Jace wasn't so sure about the characters and kept his distance.

Jace was way excited to see Mickey Mouse. . .and after waiting in line for at least an hour, he still had a melt down when we wanted him to get his picture taken with Mickey.

Jada got pretty much every character's autograph

Jada was picked to go up and dance in the High School Musical Show at California Adventure.

Jace checkin out Lightening McQueen

Jace and I on the bumper cars.

The kids shared the biggest rice crispie treat we had ever seen!

The Pixar parade was probably the most exciting part for Jace. He loves Cars!

The bus ride from the park back to our hotel.

Chillin

I think Rusty felt bad that Jada was always by herself in the pics with the characters.

Such a cheese!

Rusty's mom, Wanda flew in Tuesday morning to surprise the kids. She stayed for a couple of nights and we had a blast.

All of us in ONE teacup. Jace had a mouth full of licorice before we got on the ride and started laughing uncontrollably. I think he loved this ride.

Looks like grandma was a little nervous to ride Dumbo?

We bought Jace Mack from the movie Cars at California Adventure. He wouldn't let go of it the rest of the trip!

Jace wasn't happy until Rusty mounted his own horse on the Merry Go Round.

We ran into some old friends of ours while we were there. I took a pic as proof. Kinda hard to believe!

Slept with his mack truck too!

They picked Jada to go out and dance in the main street parade too!

Here we are at Sea World-watching the Shamu!

The kids were amazed by the Shamu show!

Grandma took a pic of us at the Penquin exhibit.

Checkin out the Shark Encounters.

Kids got soaked while petting the Dolphins. One of the dolphins flapped his tail fin and soaked the crowd.

Touching the Starfish.

The kids in their new Sea World shirts!

I took a pic of the San Diego temple on our way back from Sea World.

We met my cousin, that I haven't seen in over 10 yrs on our way back from Sea World too. We stopped in Carlsbad and had ice cream. The kids really hit it off! It was so good to see them!

Poett

Kaden

Taj

We walked down the street behind Coldstone closer to the beach.

Here's all of us!

My cousin, Scott, his wife Tammy and their kids one 6 yr old and 2 yr old twins! So awesome that our kids are the same ages too!

The next day we took a break and slept in and took it easy. We drove to Newport Beach that evening. The kids didn't want to leave!

Friday we went to Universal Studios. Here's Jada in front of the giant guitar!

The animal show was a huge hit.


And of course, the Mystery Machine!

Back to Disneyland Saturday morning. We had early entrance tickets. . . only way I would advise going on a weekend day!

We had breakfast with the characters and by now Jace had warmed up pretty well to the characters. The most expensive breakfast we ever had, but SO worth it!

Jace was asking if he could give him a hug.

Right before Pooh came over, Jace shrieked in anticipation. too funny!

Jace and I rode the space ships a couple of times while Rusty and Jada went on some bigger rides that Jace couldn't go on.

And Jada got her face painted!

We left the park around 10am. . . .while so many other thousands and thousands of people were packing in!

I took a picture of this truck that was in front of us on the street. It was full of oranges, grapefruit and watermelon. I just thought it was so odd.

Then we headed to Huntington Beach for the majority of the rest of the day. There was a pelican perched on the railing on the pier that everyone was sitting and watching.

Jace played in the sand the whole time.
Jada played a little in the sand, but mostly in the water. It was kinda chilly but she was such a die hard!


We had so much fun! The kids both said their favorite part was Disneyland. We went during a slow time so we didn't have to do a whole bunch of standing in line. It was nice. So glad to get away and so grateful we made it home safe!