California Adventure

I had a "to-do" list for today but Eli woke up sick and so here I am. At 10:30am. In my robe. The good news for this morning though (besides the awesome rain we got) is that with lots of Giles family effort, we have secured a few beach camping sites for June :) Yea!

So last week we started off our Thanksgiving vacation going to California Adventure on Tuesday. Mom and Miranda decided to come too which made it twice as fun since we were able to take turns staying back with kids who couldn't/didn't want to go on certain rides. Plus, I loved just having a chance to spend time with them :)

I took Sadie to see Woody when everyone was on a ride she couldn't go on. She kept hugging him and earning "ahhhh"s from everyone in line. I think she was Woody's favorite kid for the day. His eyes have an extra gleam in them don't you think?
I'm so glad we decided to go to C.A. rather than Disneyland. There was plenty to do and it was less crowded. And I love the lights at night.
We also got to see their night show called "World of Color". It was really breathtaking.
Sadie and Randa enjoying the show.
Not an easy thing to capture in a picture so you'll have to go check it out for yourself :)
After it was over we booked it back to the "Woody ride" and got in line. It was the longest line of the day but so, so much fun. We all loved it. As you can see...
Ha ha- actually I told the kids not to smile so they'd look "cool" in their 3-D glasses:) They were so good the whole day. My mom was also very impressed by their behavior which made me feel proud :) I was a little nervous since we drove down Monday night and got there at like midnight. But it turned out to be a great day!

Holly got to go on "California Screamin'" and Sadie got to on "Soarin' Over California" for their first times with a little foresight on my part. I brought some old clogs of Emma's that have about a 2"...clog? on the bottom. It was kinda sneaky but worth it. In fact, even with the shoes, Holly got turned down the first time by a worker that measured her on the 48" sign. So we relented (Holly with tears) and I took her to the bathroom. When we came out I saw a new guy had replaced him and hopes were reignited. This time she got the pass! Extra sneaky. Dana sat next to her on the ride and kept a vice grip on her even though she was totally fine.

Sadie's clog experience was hilarious because the shoes are 11's and she wears an 8. So I ended up putting them over the shoes she was wearing. It makes me laugh to think about it because she could barely walk and each step in line was "clop, clop, clop" like a horse hoof. In the end, I'm not sure she loved the ride anyway because she kinda has a fear of heights and it looks so real. Oh well :)

It all worked out and thus our wonderful Thanksgiving trip was off on the right foot! :)