Disneyland!!

I know I'm more than a month late, but I'm finally getting around to blogging about our trip to Disneyland. For those of you who haven't noticed the ticker on the blog, check it out. There is a reason for my tardiness. I'm starting to feel like I'm back in the land of the living (some of the time anyway), so I'm getting around to blogging again.

The kids knew that we were going to St. George, so right after Don's graduation we took off in that direction. By the time we hit Cedar City we were all done for the night, so we stopped and slept there. The next day we drove the few remaining miles to St. George and parked by the temple. We asked the kids what they wanted to do that day. At first they said things like, "Go to the hotel" and "swim". Then we said, no really. If you could do anything in the world, what would it be? The first thing Evan said was "Go to Disneyland". We acted like we weren't sure if that would work out not, but we were thinking about it. Then we told them and this was their reaction:

We got to Anaheim on Saturday evening, so we decided that we would wait until Monday to hit Disneyland. On Sunday we went to church, then we looked through some brochures from the hotel and found information about a hike. It really was the perfect hike. It was short, easy, and had breathtaking views. We found a perfect spot for a picnic to have lunch, then headed back to the hotel for a nice relaxing afternoon.

 This is our picnic spot ...

And the view....

I have to say that our hotel was fabulous. (Thanks Mindy!!) It was close to the park, had bunk beds (that were a lifesaver so that the boys didn't fight all night over the blankets), we were super close to the pool, and we had free breakfast and dinner each day. Well, we actually didn't eat dinner there the last couple of days, but that's just because I couldn't stomach the smell of the dining room. Seriously. It was worth eating the $45 hot dog meal from the park instead. 

 It wasn't worth the price of the hat, but we decided we should at least get a picture.

 On Wednesday we took a break from Disneyland and headed for the beach. It was sunny all the way until we got there, then it was completely overcast. We stuck it out and had a great time playing in the ocean until we were too cold. Even with the clouds, it really was a highlight of our trip. We headed out for lunch, then back to the hotel. While we were at lunch, the sun came out. Just our luck! :)

On the way home we decided to go through Zions National Park. They have really changed the way that things are done since the last time we were there. You can no longer drive through, but you ride a shuttle and get off where you want. We were a little worried about this, but it was actually very efficient. We never waited for long for a shuttle. And some very nice people that we met in the pool at our hotel gave us their pass to Zions (they'd already been and were leaving), so we didn't even have to pay to get in. We hiked a short hike to the Weeping Wall.

And....that's that. It was a truly fabulous first real family vacation. We had good and bad (like screaming in the car, Addie biting Kabe when he stole her spot in the stroller in her completely exhausted state of our last night there, etc.) moments, but overall I wouldn't change anything. I even had a breather from morning sickness while we were there. I thought maybe it was going away, but it hit me hard when we got home. I just look at it as a blessing that I was able to enjoy the trip. The doctor even gave me the go-ahead to go on all of the rides, no restrictions. I love that we created these memories and I love to hear the kids talking about it and reminiscing. It makes me anticipate our next adventures even more.