Grandma's Easter Party!

 Every year we have an Easter egg hunt and party at Grandma and Grandpa Wittke's house.  It's something the kids look forward to and even though we got home late last night and Mike had to work, we were there!  We had a fun egg hunt, fun and crazy games, yummy food and a lot of fun coloring eggs!  Thanks guys!!

Day 7...Driving....

Well, it's Friday and again we're back in the car!  We have to get home so that Mike can work tomorrow so it's "a drive it all in one day" sort of day.  We started after breakfast and just drove!  The kids did great.  We really only stopped for gas.  Sometimes I think that my kids do better in the car than I do.....I get restless.  We stopped in Cedar City for dinner and were home by bed time!  We did the drive in 12 1/2 hours.  I was shocked actually.  YAY for higher speed limits and no head winds:) 

This was such a great vacation. I am so sad to be home.  I love the time with my family without all of the normal life distractions.  The boys worked so hard with us to make the Harry Potter movie opening's work.  They were so good and so patient that we promised them that some of the $ would go to this trip.  And this trip was wonderful in part because of the hard work that went in to making it happen.  My boys always surprise me.  They are so sweet and thoughtful and appreciative.  They love being together too which limits the fighting :).  I ended this trip just feeling so blessed.  Disney is always great but without my kids it would just be another theme park.  They keep the magic and excitement alive and the love that we have as a family is what makes it so GREAT!  I love you guys!

 We had a great time at Disney but I was so looking forward to a day of exploring!  Mike turned to Google and it lead us to San Pedro CA.  We found a beautiful park right on the ocean. After exploring a bit we went into town and grabbed lunch and then headed back to find the cool free aquarium (BUT of course a donation would be nice:) it still only cost me $25 bucks!)  On our way there we got lost and ended up on the Long Beach race track....which is also a road.  Fun to see though!  We found the Aquarium and that was that.  Everyone was in heaven!  The coolest touching tanks.  The coolest workers.  THE coolest stuff in the Aquarium.  It's a "working aquarium" which means that they breed, hatch and send out to other aquariums, costal fish.  My favorite thing was the baby sharks in their egg cases.  Truly AMAZING! They had a bunch and they were all at different stages of development!  SO COOL!  We spent forever exploring and then we heard that they were doing a grunion hatching.  They had a ton of grunion eggs from the last running and we got to help them hatch!  They put a little sand with eggs in a baby food jar, add sea water and you swirl it around.  Then they hatch! The boys loved it. Heck Mike and I loved it too!  Once we were done we headed to see the tide pools.  BEST tide pools I've seen!  EVER!  We spent forever exploring.  Then we headed over to the sand to try to play in the water even though it was hoodie weather:)  That didn't stop us though!  Isaac and Matt both tried body surfing.  Everyone else had fun jumping waves and running from them.  MAN it was cold!  We were  diehards though and stayed until the sun went down!  Yes we are nuts but it was fun!  I LOVE time with my family!

Day 5 Disneyland...Early Entry!

 Today was our last day at Disneyland and it was our early entry day.  We were able to enter the park at 7am.  That was a little tough after a night of sick Nick.  I was really worried.  It got bad but by this morning he was alright again!  ANYWAY, we still got up early and made it to the park on time!  We ran right to Star Tours!  We had to put my socks in Nick's shoes again to make up that 1/4 inch:) The funny thing is that Star Tours isn't even a ride that you can "fall off".  ANYWAY, we hurried and ran to ride it again before the line got long.  I LOVE the new star tours.  It changes every time!  It was a winner with my whole clan!  After that Tyler, Matt Isaac and I rode Space Mountain again....twice:) It's not Mikes' favorite so he had no problem riding Buzz with Lucas and Nick during that time!  The second time on  Space Mtn. we stood in line with the Belt family.  Kinda funny!  Next we hit the other "big line rides"...the silly rockets and Dumbo.  Then we did Pirates.  The line wasn't horrible for Pirates but the stupid 20 year old sketty girls that kept trying to cut in line must have thought it was bad.  They kept trying and I kept blocking them.  Finally they managed to get one of them in front of us.  Then another. And another.  I wasn't to quite about how stupid I thought it was for adults to cut in line in front of kids!  Still irks me!  ANYWAY, I love Pirates.  The kids LOVED Pirates.  Lucas had been scared because it was dark but even he loved it!  We did Splash Mtn. again and Pooh .....Thunder Mtn. Railroad.  Ahhhh I love Disneyland!  I think that the highlight of the day was the BUILD YOUR OWN LIGHT SABER!!!  The kids were in heaven and spent so much time doing it.  There is no rushing art!  Or Light Saber building....Each of them was floating when we left that store!  We decided to finish up the rest of our shopping.  Each of the boys had their $ from Grandpa and Grandma and they had been looking everywhere we went all 3 days trying to find the perfect stuff.  Yesterday at California Adventure they bought jets and models.  Today they got their light sabers and Ty got a Star Tours shirt , Matt got a Disneyland hoodie and a few little toys, Isaac got a Disney shirt and , Lucas got a journal and a pen and , and Nick got Mickey ears and a Stitch pen and some undies and sweats....potty training leads to specific souvenirs!  They were all happy as could be!  The scary part came when we lost Nick in the Emporium.  We both thought that we he was with the other.  He wasn't in the store!  Mike and I both headed outside from different doors.  Mike found him outside, pushed up against a wall sobbing.  I am so glad that we push the "When you are lost stay put!"  Oh my heart.  I was so stressed!  I am so glad he was ok!  After shopping we did a few more rides and then grabbed HUGE turkey legs and went to scout out and save our spot for Fantasmic.  2 hrs is a long time to sit and wait.  BUT Ty and Matt took the kids to ride Pirates while we waited.  It's so nice to have big kids!  Mike took Nick to ride Buzz again while we waited but it was broken!  Oh my poor boy!    Everyone was tired but we all loved the show.  After the show we stayed put and watched the fireworks again.  It wasn't as good as when we sat in the middle of Main Street, but it was still good!  After they were over we stumbled back to our hotel and crashed.  OH I was so tired!  It's been such a great 3 days at Disney but MAN am I tired!

Day 4 California Adventure

 Today we went to California adventure. I knew that it was going to be a rough day.  Nick cried from the minute he woke up.  We decided to start with  monsters Inc. hoping it would help him cheer up.  We rode it twice because the lines where really short and Nick liked it.... sort of.  Then grabbed fast passes for Tower of Terror.  Mike and the 3 olders did that while Lucas and Nick and I hit the bugs life rides.  The little ones enjoyed those.  Our only hiccup was with the little bumper cars.  The guy running the ride let me through with the 2 little ones and then as we were getting on they told me that only 2 of us could go at a time.  WHAT? How do I do that with a 3 year old and a 6 year old?!? UGH.  So Lucas said he would wait while I went with Nick and then we'd try to switch.  I knew that wasn't going to fly but I was going to try.  THANKFULLY a mom that was riding alone offered to let him ride with her.  AND even more amazingly ....... Lucas agreed!  PEW!  After that we met back up with Mike and the other boys and Isaac and I went back to Tower or Terror.  Oh how I LOVE that ride!  Isaac was so funny.  He was more nervous the 2nd time around than he had been the first time:)  After that we hit the Bugs Life movie.  It's still one of the things I look forward to!  After that we went over to Soaring Over California...we had to cheat and fold up my socks and put them in Nick's shoes so he could be 1/4 inch taller and ride it with us!  IT WORKED!!  We decided that since Nick was ornery and only wanted to back to Disneyland and ride Buzz (that's all he's screamed all day long....I think we're sick) we would go to the "Playhouse Disney" show and then go stand in the forever long line for the Toy Story Carnival ride.  We loved it...he loved it and thankfully he decided to be happy for a minute.  The Playhouse Disney show was perfect.  Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Little Einsteins are his favorite shows and this was LIVE!  It made me so happy to see him so happy for a minute!  The Toy Story ride was AWESOME too!  PHEW!  We might survive this day yet!  Next we hit Ariels undersea adventure.  After that we decided to head over to California Screamer. It was awesome. It's my FAVORITE roller coaster.  I love love love it!  The kids loved it too which made me happy.  One of the funny things was when we ran into Tommy Morgan from Tyler's soccer team. Tyler thought that was kinda cool. We decided to see the Muppets show and then theTron show (so not worth the time....it was like a long trailer!) and then we decided to NOT stay for the world of color show.  I wanted to but it had been SUCH a long day and Nick wouldn't stop crying!  So we left and went for Indian food!  Then we went back and swam for a minute to try to relax.  And then Nick's breathing got bad.  Mike ran to the corner store for some meds.  UGH I sure hope this little ones makes it through the night without us trying to search out an urgent care!!

Day 3 DISNEYLAND!!

 I don't think that anyone slept last night!  We were all so excited that everyone was up at 5am!  We got there before gates opened and thanks to Jen Moss we went to the left when we got in.  The lines were non existent! Well....for a while anyway:) And after that we became very thankful for Fastpasses and child swaps!

We loved Jungle Cruise and Tikki Room.  Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain.  Lucas didn't like Splash Mountain.  Dark and Down Hill.  Not good for him:) Lucas and Nick and I rode Pooh's ride and met Tigger, Eyore, and Pooh!  Then we headed over and rode Peter Pan and the Train.  We ate soup for dinner and then watched the parade.  One of the best parts of the entire trip happened during the parade.  Lucas looked up and saw Peter Pan and said "OH WOW Look!  He is real!"  Oh it made my heart so happy!  I love the magic of Disneyland!  After the Parade we did snow white, pinnochio, and the teacups. Then we went over and did buzz again. Then nick and Luke did buzz while we did space mountain, with fastpasses of course. It was awesome!  One of the BEST parts of the day was the fireworks!  NO ONE does fireworks like Disney!! We sat right in the middle of Main Street for them and they were all around us!   It was so amazing!  Everyone was exhausted as we walked back to the hotel....Lucas and Nick were asleep by the time we got back!

California Day 2...Driving and The Beach!

This morning we got up early and got on the road.  The drive was great.  The kids did great and I think that it helped a TON that it was Conference.  I love technology and the fact that we could stream every session was PERFECT!  We made good time and got to California at about 2:00 California time.  It was to early to check in so we headed over to Seal Beach to walk around.  Timing was great.  We got there as Conference was ending.

We had a blast walking along the Pier.  The kids were amazed at the power of the ocean.  It was so pretty!  On one side of the Pier they had dredged the sand to make big waves for the surfers.  On the other side they didn't....guess what side we went to?  The big wave side!  Before long everyone had been knocked down and was soaked!  Nick was scared before long :) and he was just happy to sit and build in the sand.  I love the ocean and it was just so nice to sit and listen to it!  This week is going to be AWESOME! 

We walked back to the car and made the kids strip down while I found dry clothes.  Then we headed back to our hotel.  We checked in and decided to go visit the pool.....the "heated pool" was ICE COLD!  My poor kids jumped in and then, once they had their breath back got right out!  Before long everyone at the pool was crammed into the hot tub.  It was so funny and a great way to relax a little before crashing! 

I was worried that the kids would be to excited to sleep.  They fell asleep quickly....lets just hope that they actually stay asleep!