The happiest Place on Earth

The first week of June my amazing parents took our whole family on a trip to visit the famous MOUSE. It was a very much needed vacation and it was so much fun! There are two things I hate about these trips though 1. coming home and 2. there are always WAAAYYY too many pictures to post! My parents borrowed my dad's 15 passenger work van and them, holl and her kids,  Mike, Em, and Sam all drove together while we followed close behind. Jeff and his kids met us in Primm and then Jus, Ers, and Parley met us in CA. Some think that I am absolutely crazy but I LOVE ROAD TRIPS! I would rather drive to Cali with my kiddies then fly any day. I know I am nuts! But I think that is all part of the experience! I love long hours on the road just singing, laughing, talking and telling stories. I love the pit stops and the sight seeing! But I guess we are pretty lucky because our kids really do pretty good at driving. The ride home this time did seem extra long but I wasn't feeling well and my Max man had a pretty bad sun burn.

Mia found a new toy this trip she has decided that she loves IPODs so her and mad rocked out in the back seat. Our first stop was Primm Nevada. We stayed there and swam and played arcade games, and then headed to Cali. But of course before we could go all the way to Cali we had to make a stop in good old Calico Ghost town! It was SOOO hot and I think the only two people who wanted to stop were Mike and Holli but I am glad we did! We have pictures of us there as little kids and madi and Max still talk about that ghost town!

Later thast day we finally got to the hotel and couldn't wait to get near the ocean. So while waiting for the Iowa banks crew to arrive uncle Jeff, Ash, and Peyt and our family headed to the beach. The kids were in heaven! They loved chasing the waves and getting drenched when the waves caught them! After playing there for a little bit we headed back to the pool where granny deana had set up a little pool side cake and ice cream to celebrate Mr Parley (1), Ashley (6), and Brady (10) birthdays. We swam and ate cake and I just loved being there together with the whole fam minus Jenny!! :( Then we hit the sack preparing ourselves for the following day of Disneyland.

Tuesday morning we woke up early and headed straight to Disneyland. i wasn't sure how the day would go with Mia being so little and still napping. But it actually went great. She took a a good 2 1/2 hour nap in the stroller and we played all day and all night long. It wasn't too crowded for us either which was nice. It seemed like we were able to use fast passes and rider switch passes all day to get on all the rides that we wanted.

We really only had two goals of our whole vacation though and that was to get Max to fight Darth Vader and for Madi to go to Pixie Hollow! Both were accomplished by noon. So we  could have gone home! :) The kids loved every minute of it. It was fun to switch around and spend time with all of our cousins at different rides and such.

Madi's highlight was prob pixie hollow and being able to dance in the street parade! She was laughing and smiling so hard. And loved when they pulled her out in the street! She also loved the tea cups, the Alice in wonderland ride, and it's a Small World.

Max's highlight was for sure fighting Darth Vader and becoming a true Jedi and he also loved the Buzz Light Year ride.

Mia, just kind of sat back and took everything in. She learned a new word though and she would point at everything and anything and just say cool!

By the end of the night the kids were zonked and ready for bed! and so was mama and papa!

What a magical day in every sense of the world! Disney Land never ceases to amaze me!

The Next day was a beach day. We headed down to Hunington Beach and enjoyed pizza and sand digging. Mia LOVED the beach expecially the sand crabs (that I am still dry heaving when I think about Jeff swallowing one whole and live!!!!) All of us older kids loved watching our kids dig and play and some of us trying to body surf! I forgot how much I love swimming in the ocean! I could have stayed on the beach all day! It was heaven.

The next day was a Sea World day. After asking Max what is favorite thing of the whole vacation was he said,"I liked when that dolphin splashed grandpa Chewy!" We sat in the splash zone on the front row of the Shamu show and Grandpa Chewy got SOAKED!!!! Luckily Max,Mad,Mia, and I had a tarp. So we could just sit back and laugh as Grandpa was shown on the jumbo tron just dripping wet!

Friday we packed up and headed to Vegas. The kids loved staying in the hotels and begged us the whole way home to just sleep in one more hotel! It was such a fun trip.I loved every minute of it.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!!