Part 2- Disneyland!

So the second half of our week was spent in sunny California at Disneyland! This was Jake's and my first time to Disneyland so we weren't sure what to expect. It wasn't what I expected but so much fun. Good thing we had the ride max experts with us so we went on lots of rides without much of a wait. I think the longest we waited was maybe 20 minutes. So the very first thing we did of course was go meet Mickey! We had been talking to Owen about Disneyland for weeks so he was all prepped and excited to go. So as we are waiting to see Mickey, I'm telling him that when we walk in the next door Mickey will be waiting and he can go give him a big hug. Anyone who knows Owen, knows that a hug from him is a pretty big deal. He doesn't just pass those out! Anyway, we walk in and O walks up to him all cautiously and just sticks his arms out and stands there waiting for Mickey to hug back. Mickey didn't see him so Owen was just standing there with his arms out and then he kind of looks at me. Then it was all over for any Disney character getting a hug from him. I think he felt embarrassed so he just came back and hung on to me. I love this pic because it shows O checking him out, but only from a distance. I felt bad for him, but really it was Mickey that missed out!

Owen and Tevon holding hands getting ready to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Like I said before, I didn't really know what to expect and one of the first rides we did was Pirates. Someone told me that I could take my babies with me on that ride. Great! Now all of us can go together...with the help of Grandpa Walker.

So we are riding along in this boat checking out the pirates and such. It starts to get dark and I can't see a thing. I'm holding Ali who is asleep and all of a sudden the boat goes down a big drop! Didn't see that coming! Poor Ali I think I squeezed a little hard because I was so worried about her. She jumped a little but other than that it didn't even phase her! In after thought, don't know if I would have took them on that ride if I'd known but oh well! They didn't seem to mind. (:

Aubrey decided Ali and Avery needed a pic with the Splash Mountain sign in the background as proof that their parents were crazy enough to take them to Disneyland when they were only 3 months old! We didn't take them on that ride...  

Here is our crew that rode Splash Mountain together. They all just got done laughing because the poor sucker in the front just got soaked!

Jake and I should have saved our money because I think Owen's favorite part of the whole thing was riding the shuttle to and from the park. He would sit there and say Wee! This was after our first day and you can see it on his face that we wore him out!

The shuttle actually gave me a lot of anxiety. This was probably the hardest part of the whole trip with our three little ones. The shuttle ran from our hotel to the park every 20 minutes so we had to try and catch it just right because it doesn't sit around and wait. We always had to have someone help us because we had all our bags, a toddler, two babies, a double stroller, and ourselves to get on. Sometimes the bus would be packed but people were always so nice and when they saw our "circus" they would always give up their seats or help us get our stroller on. Nice to know there are still good people in the world!

The next morning was a very early morning. I think we were up at 5 to feed the girls and get everything packed so we could be to the park and get in early for the Magic Morning. We walked in the gates and their was Mickey Mouse again! This time there was no chance of Owen getting out to say hello! 

Avery got to say hello though!

Owen loved the Small World ride. Once again he got to ride in a boat which he thought was great and this time I didn't have to worry about any big drops. I only had to sing the stinking song the rest of the day, lets be honest, I think I was singing it the rest of the week! He also really liked the Finding Nemo submarine ride.

Big Thunder Mountain- one of our favorite rides!

The entire time we were there, Owen was begging to go on the train. The only problem was, once we got on he was bugged because he couldn't see the train anymore! (: But it gave us a good chance to sit down and feed the bambinos.

Our last day in the park we did rides for Owen in the morning and then went over to California Adventure so we could ride some of the bigger rides. He didn't really care too much about Peter Pan, but he thought Dumbo was really fun and actually hit some targets in the Toy Story Astro Blaster ride. We saw Goofy but as you can see, he still wasn't sure about all the characters. (:

Ali loved watching the Dumbo ride

This was Owen's first roller coaster! The kiddo is so tall that he was almost tall enough to go on every ride in the park. He was tall enough for this one so I made him go on it with me. He got pretty nervous while we were standing in line and I was starting to wonder what he would do when we got to the front. He didn't get scared though so we hopped on and I kept telling him how cool and fun it was going to be. I don't know what he really thought but when I asked him afterwards if he wanted to do it again he said yes! We are in the fifth car back.

Over at California Adventure Owen saw McQueen and Mater which normally would have been the highlight of the day for him, but he was so tired and grumpy at this point that we just hurried and snapped a pic. Then we got to realizing that the poor boy was hungry! He wouldn't eat breakfast and then we were so caught up in everything that it was after one and he hadn't had lunch. Poor guy is just like his dad when he is hungry, a complete bear! Food cheered him right up though.

I absolutely loved being able to dress the girlies in sundresses. The weather was beautiful!!

We did some really fun rides at California Adventure. My fave was Soaring Over California which was kind of like a flight simulator thing. We also did the big roller coaster and the Hollywood Tower of Terror. When it was finally time to leave this is what our kiddos looked like...

It was such a fun adventure for our little fam. Of course we couldn't have done it without all the help. I have one more post to do of an afternoon we had at the beach, but Disneyland was definitely the highlight of the whole trip!

We Did It!!

Walker Family Vacation- Part 1

So I was very skeptical about making a 10 day, 2,000 mile, 40+ hour trip, with a 2 1/2 year old and 2- 3 month old twins. However I have to say I'm so glad we did it! It was so much fun and my kids are CHAMPS! They were so good in the car, in fact I think they were probably better than Jake and I. Granted we had alot of help from fam, without which, it literally would have been impossible. But I can count the total number of meltdowns on one hand. After this trip we feel like we can do just about anything! (: I wanted to break down the trip into different parts because I have lots of fun pictures and stories and I will get overwhelmed if I try to do it all at once.

We left on a Friday afternoon and drove as far as Ogden where we stayed at our friends house. Got up the next morning to cold, wet rain and hit the road again. Things were going well until it started to get really windy and then we hit a full blown snow storm. We had really bad wipers so it was pretty scary and I know we recieved lots of help through our prayers. We saw a HUGE wreck in the opposite lane with several semi's and at least 15-20 cars. It's the kind of thing that makes you sick to your stomach. We finally get to Cedar City where we are able to buy new wiper blades and of course didn't see another speck of rain or snow for the rest of the trip. We got to Vegas later that night, it was pretty cool to be driving in the dark through the middle of nowhere and then come around a bend and suddenly see all the lights of Vegas. We were very happy to be there!

We stayed in some condos that Jake's Dad has through his timeshare. We got in and got settled. Every night of our trip looked like this, Owen passed out in the middle of our bed, legs and arms sprawled everywhere and one or both of Jake and I taking an elbow or leg to the face at some point in the night. Ali and Avery are squished into one pack 'n play. Yes they were probably too big but we didn't have room to bring two beds. Their pack 'n play is pushed right up to my side of the bed so that when they stir I can lean over, give them their binki, and pray they will go back to sleep so I don't have to wake up and feed them. Sounds nuts but it was actually kind of fun to have all of us together like that. (:

The chickies in their bed.

 

Our stay in Vegas was pretty short but lots of fun. The best part was the pool! Owen was in heaven. It was a little chilly but we decided we could tough it out. There were several different pools, we mostly stuck to the heated ones. My fave was the lazy river. Owen just curled up on me and we floated around and around. So fun!

Chillin in the lazy river.

On Monday we did some great shopping and got some killer deals. I'm loving the outlet mall there. In the afternoon the boys all went golfing while the girls watched the kiddos. And then we switched that night and the girls all got to go to Phantom!! Due to some construction that we were unaware of we missed the first part of the show. But Aubrey was our Nascar driver and manuevered in and out of traffic to get us there asap. We only got dirty looks and honked at a few times! When we finally got to the Venetian we were at a dead sprint with some of the girls in heels (seriously don't know how we made it down the stairs without someone breaking their ankle)! Anyway, we got there just in time for my favorite song and the rest of the show was awesome! It was such a great night and we made some really fun memories. I still don't know how you missed that construction barrel Aubrey (:

The next morning we packed up and headed out to California! So this kind of what it looked like in our van. Yes I am a minivan mom at 24, it's kind of sad but after that trip the van is part of the family and I'm so glad we have it!

As long as O had his movie player he was good to go!

Ali and Avery catching a snooze in the car.

Stopping to burp and change the girls. Jake would pull over hop in the back and take one of the girls.

This is where I spent the majority of my vacation. Squished between the girls making dumb faces, singing annoying songs, and just trying to entertain the troops.

Double Blessings!

On February 21 Ali and Avery were blessed by their Daddy. My mom made them the most BEAUTIFUL dresses and they were so sweet during the whole thing. They had lots of family there to love and snuggle them. My fam stayed with us and we had a full house! It was so much fun but my poor little Owen was sick and struggled most of the weekend. He sure was a trooper for feeling so yucky though.

This is a 5 generation pic with Jake's Great Grandma, Grandpa, and Dad. How cool is that!

The girls getting adored by their cousins. Notice the looks of adoration and the cameras (:

Owie with his Aunt Em

Jack and Ali and Zack and Avery

Aunt Nat with the chuba-bubs