Josh, Jenn, Ashton, and Emmy…

We got to spend three days hopping back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure.  What can I say, it was a dream!  We had so much fun and the kids were soooo good.  My mom came with us the first day.  It was so great to have her with us.  We missed you, though, Dad!

First we had breakfast at the hotel with a bunch of characters.  Ashton was in heaven!

Emmy was a little freaked out…Here she is trying to be brave.

We hurried straight to Pirates of the Caribbean but Ashton absolutely refused.  We thought that was strange since he loves the movie and loved the ride last year.  So we went on to the Haunted Mansion.  Ashton watched “The Nightmare before Christmas” all the way to California so we thought he’d LOOOOVE it, all decked out for Christmas with Jack Skelington.  Well, he HATED it and was scared all the way through.  Okay….so what did we decide to go on next?  Splash Mountain!  I LOVE Splash Mountain and Ashton was tall enough so we brought him with us, even though he REALLY didn’t want to.  Here’s a  picture of my poor baby being thrown into the briar patch…

And a video….

So, as you can imagine, he was way soooo scared of all the rides from then on.  We are the meanest parents in the world!  He was still brave and went on rides, but as we stood in line he would ask a list of questions that grew pretty long by the 3rd day…”Are there any tunnels on this ride? Any witches? Any spiders? Any waterfalls? Any bad guys?”

Anyhoo, here are just a few pictures of that first day with Grammy.

On Tuesday afternoon, we left my parent’s house and headed to Disneyland.  We took a trip down Jenn’s Memory Lane and drove by my old house in La Habra (hadn’t been by in probably 23 years), my Grandma Stewart’s old house ( I just wanted to SMELL the air and it did not disappoint!  Same as always!  Oh wowie!  I LOOOOOVE that smell!), and the La Brea Tar Pits.  We had never been to the Tar Pits and weren’t expecting much but it was pretty interesting.  We totally lucked out because it was Free Tuesday!  What the….AWESOME!

What are the TAR PITS, you might be asking yourself???  Well, right in the middle of Los Angeles are actual pits of tar bubbling right out of the ground!  They were there a BRAZILLION years ago and they are still there today, actually bubbling and oozing from the parking lot and random places throughout the park.  So some guy discovered some bones in the pit and then they starting going crazy and found a trillion other dinosaur, mammoth and other prehistoric animal bones….SEE?!?!?!?  I forget all the numbers and junk since it’s been a month.  If you want details, talk to Josh.  He remembers all this kind of junk.   What I DEFINITELY remember is trying to pull a metal bar out of the tar and how I was imagining it being my leg and how I was about to have a panic attack.  SCARY!  You do NOT want to die in a tar pit!

We finally made it to the Grand Californian at Disneyland.  We met Jason and Caroline Turner for dinner at C.P.K.  We hang out with them whenever we get a chance!  Even if it means ruining their family dinner by bringing our totally tired kids along.

We went back to the hotel to get the kids some sleep before the busy days ahead.  They were pretty cute all cuddled in their beds.  Ashton asked, “Mom, where are you and Dad gonna sleep?”

So after a couple months of training, the time came for us to drive to California to participate in the Long Beach Marathon. I must admit that while I was packing and loading up the car, the phrase “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter” kept running through my head. However, I certainly wasn’t calm as a summer’s morning. Every time I thought about running 26.2 miles, I would almost throw up.

We decided to go to Disneyland a couple days before the marathon, while we still had the ability to walk. I was sooo excited for this! We took Ashton when he was the same age Emmy is now and it was a blast. (How time flies, eh?) Kris and Cari came with us and provided plenty of entertainment for us and helped with the kids. We don’t go anywhere unless we have AT LEAST two nannies to help.

Ashton got to see all of his favorite characters, Captain Jack Sparrow (do NOT forget the ‘Captain’ part), Woody, Buzz, the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse gang. During the parade, when he saw Mickey and Minnie up on the top of a float, he jumped up and started waving like crazy at them and then blew them a kiss. Oh man, my heart just melted and I got a lump in my throat. It was so cute.

I volunteered to take videos instead of ride the Tea Cups. I really am getting old.

I’ve been to Disneyland praaah-bly ten brazillion times, but it is truly MAGICAL every time. I think it’s getting even better for me now that I have kids and it’s fun to see them so excited.