CALIFORN-I-A!!!

Get ready for the biggest blog post EVER!

We took a trip to California because these two:

(Picture taken by Tonja Merryweather)

FINALLY GOT MARRIED! Jeremy and Becca got married in Malibu, CA over the fall break from school. So we all went out there for their cute little Malibu wedding and then we got to play and have some fun! We left Tuesday after pre-school and went as far as Mesquite.

DAY 1: 5 hour car ride to Mesquite

We finally got on the road about 2:30 after making out first potty stop at Grandpa's house 10 minutes away in Pleasant Grove. The kids were totally AMAZING on the ride down. Nobody had to stop and go potty or anything. They watched movies the whole way down.

I was pretty cool for teaching Taylie this:

She has called them "duck mouth chips" ever since.

Luke and I played a great game of hide and seek...

It was great when he finally fell asleep. He didn't wake up until right before we got there, so for him, he didn't mind the ride at all.

We got to Mesquite about 7 and checked into our hotel. We ate in the hotel that was in the casino and then I took the kids outside because they wanted to see the waterfall and the fountains that were outside and I made them run around to get some wiggles out before we went upstairs to bed. Here they are sitting and watching a whole bunch of ducks who appeared out of nowhere.

DAY 2: 5 1/2 hour ride to California

The next morning right before we left the kids wanted to go and see the water again and I thought it was a good idea to let them run around before we got in the car.

After running around for a little while they found the ducks again. This time they were on land and so Luke couldn't pass up the opportunity to chase them.

...it sort of reminded me of a dog herding cattle...

Taylie and Grandpa

We got to our hotel in the early evening and it was early enough that Grandpa took the kids swimming in the pool with Grandma. Jake and I were able to unpack and set up camp and then we went out our balcony to take some video of the kids swimming. As soon as we were spotted, Luke demanded that I come and swim with them. Jake and I went down and swam for awhile. Pretty soon we were hungry so we ordered pizza to our room. He should have been our first clue that the people in CA were just a little bit fruitier than most...

DAY 3: The wedding and Disneyland Day 1

The wedding was out in Malibu at Point Dume beach. It was absolutely beautiful and there were not many people there at all so it was nice and secluded. I don't have any pictures of the wedding yet because I forgot my camera, but when I do, I will post them.

The day of the wedding, Taylie woke up at 3:30am and was puking her guts out (and the other end too...) she was up about every 10 minutes and was just SO sick. Jacob ended up staying with Taylie at the hotel and Luke and I followed Grandpa up to the wedding.

(Let me get this on the record: If you are the lead car with someone following you, you CANNOT blame the following car for missing turns! Anybody disagree?!)

Anyway, it took us 3 hours to get up to Malibu and then we had the cute little wedding on the beach. I was worried about Taylie, so Lukie and I headed back soon after the wedding. We did all do pictures and Luke, Uncle Jared, and I went down to play in the water bit. We weren't paying attention and got semi-clobbered by a wave, so we went home soaked!

By the way, it took me and hour and half to get home and it took my Dad and his crew 2 and a half hours...now, who did you want to blame for us being late again, dad?!

Once I got back to the hotel, Taylie was pretty much bouncing off the walls and she seemed much better. She got whatever it was out of her system and couldn't restrain herself one more moment. So after many months of waiting, we took her to Disneyland!

At first we freaked out because they said they couldn't find our ticket reservation but after a little bit of working on it they found us and got us in!

The first thing they wanted to do, was ride the train! Taking kids that young to Disneyland is a cruel lesson in patients.

Waiting for the train

"Mom?! Where is it?!?!? Oh no! This is terrible, it is never gonna come!"

(we had been in line for about 4 minutes...)

"Yay!" My cute little men!


We finally got on the train and took a ride around the park. They were not that impressed. :)

After the train we headed right to Toon Town, Taylie was convinced she was going to die unless she got to meet Minnie Mouse. As luck would have it, Minnie was home so we got into line to meet her

Just before Taylie exploded from impatience, we got to go inside and meet Minnie. Luke thought she was absolutely fabulous and just giggled uncontrollably and was happy as a pig in mud when he got to give her a hug!

After meeting and taking pictures/video with Minnie Mouse, we got to take a look through her house. The kids played with her stove and everything. It is pretty much the cutest thing ever. :)

After seeing Minnie, we had to go and see the one and only Mickey Mouse! He is Lukie's favorite! I am positive that the reason they are remodeling his house is because he is SO popular! First, you go through Micky's house, then to head outback to his garden, then to take a little tour through his barn, then the little screening room where they have some of the old Micky cartoons and then after all of that, you get to go back and meet Micky. *breathe!*

What little kid wouldn't love that, right?! Luke was so cute! Right before we walked out, he grabbed Micky by the face and kissed him right on the nose. You could just hear all of the people let out their own little "aww! How cute! That little boy kissed in on the nose!" It was precious.

We were starting to get hungry, so we were going to head across the street for dinner, but who should appear before us:

Yep, that's right. Goofy materialized out of thin air and we couldn't tell our cute little kids no when they asked to see him. So we waited in line...again. But yet again, it was so cute I was glad we did it.

Doing those things took us 2 and 1/2 hours. We went and got some dinner and then when we got back into the park, Grandpa and Grandma and Jared were there and Grandma had a bum foot so we got to use her "gimp pass" to get first priority on some rides. We went on a total of 4 rides before the kids were done for the day. We got back to the hotel and everybody bathed and in bed by 9:30-10pm. They crashed instantly. So did we.

Day 4: Day 2 at Disneyland

This was on the shuttle on the way to the park Friday morning.

I think he was still a little worn out from the day before :)

Luke is enjoying his first Churro, but really, what's not to enjoy?!

I am pretty sure this is my favorite picture of the whole trip! He wore these ears almost every momeny since be got them for him.

My little princess :)

My kids are totally addicted to Toy Story. They love it! We waited 1 hour for the Toy Story ride/game and after the ride (this is SO considerate of Disney...) you get hearded right into the Toy Story gift shop. It was so funny watching them, they could hardely believe their eyes.

Luke wanted a Sherrif Woody hat and Weezey the squeaky penguin

...and Taylie was in little girl heaven when we told her she could have a Jessie cowgirl doll.

From "A Bug's Life": Heimlich the caterpillar's Chew Chew Train

Me and Taylie waiting to get into the 4-d Toy Story ride/game

Dad and Luke

The absolute highlight of the entire trip was when we went to Goofy's Kitchen. Grandpa Brooks told us that we had to go and he was nice enough to send us so we could have the experience with the kids.

When you get there, the first thing they do is take a picture with Pluto that you can get as a little souvineer of the dinner. Then you get taken back to your table where all of the different charaters that are there for the day come to your table and spend some time with you and talk to the kids and let you take pictures and video. It is the single most adorable thing I have ever seen. To watch your kids have that much fun...it is absolutely priceless. To be honest, I cried a little bit.

They have pretty much anything a kid could want to eat. Taylie was partial to the peanut butter and jelly pizza and Luke was in love with pretty much everything. Everytime I tried to eat a corn on the cob, Luke or Taylie asked if they could have it, I felt glad that they were eating vegitables. The kids enjoyed various varieties of pizza and watermelon and corn on the cob while Jacob and I enjoyed prime rib, popcorn shrimp, cajun potatoes, rice pilaf, pork shoulder, baked salmon and pretty much any yummy thing you can think of. It was like food heaven for both adult and child. :) I won't even tell you about the entire area they have just for desserts...it makes me want to drool a bit.

The first character to visit our table was Princess Jasmine. Luke was absolutely mesmerized, Taylie thought she was very pretty and I appreciated that she was not bigger than her top.

When they come around , they just sit there and talk to the kids and spend as much time there as the kids want. She talked to Taylie and asked their names and asked Luke if he would give her a high five, which he did, but he also wanted to hug her. :) I am not sure if I should worry about the teenage years for this boy yet or not...

(this was Luke's permanent "cheese" face for almost all pictures)

Snow White was next. Luke was not as into her but Taylie thought she was pretty cool. Luke just wanted to share his corn with her, but she politely told him that she wasn't hungry. ;)

Then was Chip and Dale. Luke was all over them, he thought they were cool cause they were fuzzy. He loved to hug them. Taylie was just in awe over the whole experience.

And of course, last but not least, Goofy!

He came and visited with the kids for awhile and pointed at their fod so Taylie could tell him what they were eating.

It was truly amazing so see the kids so happy and get a chance to live in this little fantasy land that Disney has created for kids and families. Seeing the kids happy was the best part of the trip, hands down!

That night the park was closing early for Micky's Halloween party but we were not going to pay an extra $60 per ticket to get into the party especially when no rides were going to be going, it was just some big party. California Adventure was still open so we went over there after dinner and went to "Turtle Talk" with Crush the turtle. It was pretty awesome and the kids loved it. After that, we went to back to the hotel to play with the newley aquired toys and wind down for the night because the next day we were going to the beach!

There is still one day left and I will get those picts up as soon as I can.

:)

that's my boy

Before

After




7 minutes after the after...

Gotta love him :)

I'm in love...

...with my new boots!

Aren't they wonderful?

*happy sigh*

I also tried to score a pair of these babies:

...but they didn't have them in my size :(
They are called "tube flops"!

In a word: awesome :)