Vacation!!!

Vacation! A word that hasn't crossed my lips in about 6 years. The last time we took a vacation, it was 2005 and E and I went on a cruise for our anniversary. Sure we've had weekend camping trips - but not a real vacation. To say that I was excited was an understatement. The original plan was to just get the kids up and throw them in the car and not tell them where we were going. But then the excitement got the better of me and I couldn't wait to tell Ryan. So the Friday before we left, we told him that we were going to DISNEYLAND! And not only going to Disneyland, but also the the beach (it was his first time). He was SOOO excited - he could hardly wait. Too bad we still had to wait until Sunday to leave!

In all of my naivety, I had thought that we'd be able to gently wake the kids up, put them in their carseats and they'd fall back to sleep. Yeah - wishful thinking! lol. Here are a few pictures as we gas up in the early early morning.

They both look thrilled, don't you think?


There -that's better!



Proof of the early morning departure


Both kids did really well on the long drive down. We met up with my parents about an hour from their house in Santa Nella for breakfast. Of course Natalie fell asleep about 30 minutes from the restaurant and Ryan stayed awake the whole time.

After a quick breakfast at Denny's, we were on our way. We drove down to the grapevine - got out and got gas and let the kids stretch their legs before we made the last part of the journey.

We made it the hotel by about 1:30 or so and were disappointed that our rooms weren't ready. We had hoped to unload the cars before we headed to the beach. Since they weren't ready, we had lunch at McDonalds and headed to Huntington Beach. We had been warned that parking was EXPENSIVE but had no idea that it was $15 per car. Since I had no intention of spending a lot of time at the beach, we just parked on the street at the meters.

And here come A LOT of pictures!

Natalie: "Hmmm - what IS all of this?"

Ryan wasn't sure about it at first




Ryan loving the waves!!!


Natalie spent her time RUNNING down the beach and back up.  I LOVE this picture!


Taking a quick break


"What do you think son?"


Kisses for Papa (remember 'down the beach, up the beach'? She would run down to the water and then back up to kiss papa)

And now back down...

Ryan and Grandma


He was sooo cold

Waiting for the water to tickle their toes

You can hardly see Ryan but he wanted to catch a bird



The kids loved the beach. Ryan spent the entire time IN the ocean with Daddy. It really helped me convince E that spending 4-5 days in Santa Cruz next summer would be a good thing. Now to find the perfect beach house!!!!

After getting everyone changed and cleaned up, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.  Since everyone was exhausted and we were going to DL bright and early the next morning, I made the kids sandwiches while the adults went at got take out and brought it back.