Vacation Days 4-5

I know I'm being really slow to get these up! There were a ton of pictures to go through and it was actually pretty hard to get back to the time zone here. The girls did not want to wake up in the morning at all...which would be awesome except that we had to be up early for school every day. But...my plan is to get the rest of the vacation up and on here today or tomorrow. Gotta give myself some wiggle room. :)

So...after our SeaWorld adventure and our visits with family we ended up in Camarillo. One of my favorite places honestly. I lived there with my Nana for a summer and that's where I met Shane and for some reason it always feels like home when I go there. Anyway...enough nostalgia...at least for now. :) That next morning, Shane and Steve went golfing. All of us girls stayed at the house, lounging around in our pjs and hanging out for most of the morning. By the time the boys got home, we were all done up and pretty of course. Then we left all the kids with them and Melissa, Gracie and I headed to the Camarillo Outlets. Yay for shopping! Andrew and Nicole came by for dinner that night and then we all headed to bed early because the next morning we were going to DISNEYLAND!! 

Because Shane is in the Guard, we got an amazing deal on Disney tickets. Basically 3 days for the price of 1. So Monday morning we drove down to Disneyland. We got there around lunch time after traffic, parking and taking the bus over. :) I have to tell you that I was literally giddy with excitement. I LOVE Disneyland and I was so happy to be bringing the girls there for the first time. I was nervous about taking them on big rides. I just wanted to start with the baby stuff and then slowly move to bigger things after I was sure they weren't scared. Well...Shane had other plans! We went on this rocket ride first...pretty safe first ride. Then we met the princesses. So cool! The girls loved it. Then Shane decides to go on Splash Mountain. We got a fast pass for that so while we waited we went on Pirates of the Caribbean  The girls loved it. Natalie was scared because she thought they were going to shoot her...she kept ducking. But then they were both ready for Splash Mountain. I showed them the drop and kept asking if they were ready for it but they really wanted to go. Natalie went in the front, then Shane, then Heidi, then me holding on to Heidi because I just knew she was going to fly out and then Gracie behind me and some random kid in the way back. The girls loved it! I had to buy the picture because it was their very first real "big kid" ride. :) The rest of the afternoon we spent going on the rides and trying to find Disney Characters to give hugs too. When dinner came around we headed over to California Adventure. They have really good food!! We got some pretty impressive Mexican food for dinner and then went on more rides over there. We went on the Little Mermaid and the Giant Ferris Wheel. Heidi really really loved that one. It was a really perfect day. When the park closed we drove to our hotel so we could come back bright and early the next morning. :)

 Ready to go on some rides!

 Main Street USA

 The first rocket ride

 The princesses were so cool. They talked and acted like they were actually that princess. The girls really loved meeting them!

 Heidi was ready to be a pirate....ARGGHH Matey! :)

Loving our life at the moment :)

Look at my crazy family! I still can't believe my girls are such daredevils!

 Heading into It's A Small World. I don't care what everyone else says...I love it! :)

Going on the Winnie the Pooh ride

 We got the girls Mickey Ears to wear at the park. They were so cute and they wore them the whole time!!

Hanging out with Tigger...pretty impressive that they can sign autographs with those big paws!

Eyore

 Winnie the Pooh

 Shane was trying to teach the girls to shoot the targets but the rifle was too heavy for them to even aim it.

 The girls loved going inside the princess castle

 Steve and I don't do teacups so we just took pictures. :) Everyone else loved it though. I love how the pictures turned out...especially Gracie!

 The Little Mermaid ride...Shane was singing along

 At the top of the ferris wheel

Family Vacation

This was the best. vacation. ever!!! We have been planning this trip for so long and after the year and a half of Shane in school and working full time...it was totally needed! We had so much fun and fit so much in to such a short amount of time. I can't wait to do it again!

So our trip started early Thursday morning. The girls were so excited and they did such an amazing job the whole time. They loved being on the plane. They were absolutely perfect! They carried their own carry ons, walked through security like pros, watched movies on the laptop and played with play doh. Although they didn't sleep at all the whole day...to excited I guess. We got off the plane, got our rental car...a Ford Flex...so cool!!, and then hit up In N Out. It's always our first stop when we land in LA. :) We drove to Tustin to stay with Joel and Marilyn for a few days. She had a wonderful dinner for us and the Mix's came to hang out too. The girls loved finally meeting their cousin Isabelle. 

The next morning we headed south to San Diego to go to Sea World. It was an absolutely beautiful day. It started off overcast and cool so after spraying the girls down with sunblock I didn't do any of the adults. Big mistake! We all got sunburned. :/ But that didn't ruin any of our fun! We started out watching the sea otter show. So funny! The girls didn't quite get the story line but they loved watching the animals on stage. 

From there we went to see Shamu. The girls were so excited! They couldn't wait to get splashed! We sat in the second row of the splash zone. The girls were getting really antsy because everyone else was getting splashed and they weren't. Then all of a sudden a wave of water came over us. We were completely soaked! Then the girls were all...we don't want to get splashed! Gracie and I had the girls sweaters over our heads so we wouldn't get more wet and Heidi kept trying to hide under it too. :) We were all pretty drenched! Then we headed over to the Roaring Rapids ride. Heidi was too small but Natalie went with Shane and Gracie. Heidi and I watched from the bridge and took pictures. Poor little girl was freezing from being wet! When the ride was over we found this machine that you walk into and it dries you. Brilliant! The girls were much happier after that!

From there we went to the Shark tank. I got the greatest picture of Heidi with a shark swimming over her head. I thought the girls would be scared but they actually really liked it. Then we watched the dolphin show. That was the girls favorite. They loved watching the people swim with the dolphins and jump from those high platforms. It really was a neat show. They did so many tricks!   

After a very full day at Sea World we stopped at Shane's cousin's house for dinner. The girls got to play with their cousin Paloma and Lisa and Andy made us a wonderful dinner. We had a lot of fun catching up and the girls all loved playing together!  

On the way home, the girls both fell asleep in the car. When we got to the house we just put them in bed in their clothes. They didn't wake up even a little bit as we transfered them from the car. Then next morning they couldn't figure out why they were still in their clothes. Pretty funny. :) That morning we went out for breakfast with Tommy, Stephanie, her mom, Isabelle, Marilyn and Joel at this awesome place in Pasadena. It's called Barney's Beanery and if you are ever in the area get the California omelette...its super yummy. Shane got the bacon stuffed pancakes and they were really good too. Afterwards we went to the park to let the kids play. They kicked the soccer ball around and even threw the frisbee with some of the adults but I just laid back on the grass and enjoyed the weather. :) Our perfect morning/afternoon ended with ice cream at Fosselman's before heading to Camarillo for the next part of our trip. :)

Happy Anniversary!

This past weekend Shane and I celebrated 12 years...TWELVE YEARS!! Seriously...that just seems crazy! I have to say it's a weird feeling. It feels like we just got married but it also feels like we have been together forever. This year our anniversary was on Sunday...but since we live in good ol' Georgia...most good restaurants are closed on Sundays. So Friday we went to a really nice restaurant for a really nice dinner. I take that back...a fabulous dinner! We got lots of little things and shared everything. An heirloom carrot salad, french fries with garlic aioli, baked oysters with cheese and bacon, a side of smoked gouda macaroni and cheese, and then a main dish of trout over risotto.  A perfect amount of food to share! We even got dessert....a goat cheese cheesecake that was awesome! Everything was amazing. My favorite was the oysters by far and then the macaroni and cheese. I think we were so caught up in the amazing food we didn't even get a picture of us together!  I'm so sad about that...we looked really good! :)

Then Saturday while Shane was at drill and I was in Savannah with Sabrina, Natalie decided to yank out her tooth. Gracie was babysitting and she told Natalie that she would give her some candy if she pulled her tooth out and she did! Crazy kid! Gracie texted me this picture...

On Sunday, Shane had drill again and didn't get home till 3:30 or so. We had the girls with us so we went furniture "window" shopping. We want to finally get a couch for the playroom so we don't all have to sit on the floor. :) The kids had fun playing hide and seek with all the furniture. I found a couple cute couches for the playroom and this awesome chair that fit all four of us on it. Now I just have to convince Shane to actually buy one. :)

Then we took the girls out for dinner to an Italian place called Buca di Beppo. It was yummy...nothing like our fancy dinner but we had fun. Kids change everything! But I wouldn't change anything. I'm still married to the most wonderful guy every who loves me. We have an amazing (crazy) family and our life for the most part is pretty awesome.