We left on the Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend and returned on the next Tuesday, in time for Caitie to go to school on that Wednesday. Her last day of school was on Thursday, May 28th. I didn't get pics of everything, but here are some pics of some of the things we did on the trip...
I took a quick pic of Caitie on the way from our hotel to Disneyland on that Friday morning. We had arrived at the hotel late the night before. It was the big 60th Anniversary for Disneyland, and it was the 24 Hour Event as well.
I also took her pic in front of the hotel we were staying at. Since it was such a big event, the 60th anniversary and the 24 hour event, when I scheduled our hotel, the one we usually stay at was booked for the first couple of days that we were there, so I had to find another hotel for the first two nights of our stay. We then went to our usual hotel on that Saturday night. This was a nice hotel, but it wasn't as close to Disneyland as the one we usually stay at.
We didn't get to the park entrance as early as we wanted to. Boy was it packed! The pic below doesn't show how bad it actually was. There were mile long lines at the entrance to Disneyland, and the lines for California Adventure were long too, but nothing like the Disneyland lines. We didn't get into Disneyland the first day, even though we found out later that there was plenty of room for people to enter, they just never let anyone else in after 1pm that day. We were bummed, and not too happy about that. We spent the whole day/night at California Adventure. There isn't as much to do at California Adventure, but we made the most of it. California Adventure is just across the way from Disneyland. It's a Disney park as well.
The first thing on the list... get the girls churros. They love those things.
We went on some kiddie rides.
We had fun on the bumper cars. Both Bailey and her daddy are in that bumper car (look for bailey on the right) Caitie and I were riding together in a bumper car as well.
We were on our way into Cars Land to get on the Radiator Springs Racers ride. That was the only ride in that area we hadn't experienced yet; mainly because the line was always so long, and it took a few hours just to get on the ride, so we would always pass on it, but we decided to go ahead and go for it this time.
Here is a pic they take while on the ride. You can purchase it if you want. I just decided to take a pic of the pic. Much cheaper. ha I'm in the front wearing the hat, Caitie's in the middle next to me, there's a nice gentleman next to Caitie. In the back is a lady, next to her is Michael, and Bailey is next to him. Can you see her? You can barely see the top of her head. ha
One of our favorite rides in the Cars Land area is the tractor ride.
I got a pic of Bailey and her daddy while on the ride. Michael was getting a pic of me and Caitie with his smart phone.
Caitie hugging our sweet tractor. ha
Bailey enjoying the sea creature carousel ride.
Bailey looking over the water at some of the bigger rides.
No, my girls aren't turning into aliens, there was weird lighting in the snack shop where we got yummy donuts. Caitie is holding the bag of yumminess.
And outside there were neon signs everywhere, so Bailey is glowing green. She's enjoying her yummy sprinkles donut.
The Monster's, Inc. ride broke down while we were on it, so we had to walk through the ride to get out. I took this quick pic while heading out. We all enjoyed being able to get up close to parts of the ride while walking through it.
This car and canoe was on display in the Grizzly River Run ride area. We love vintage cars.
Here we are on the tractor ride again. We traded off ride partners. I got a quick pic of Caitie with her daddy. Bailey and I were in another tractor. We went on other rides as well, I just didn't get pics of them.
This is the next day, Saturday. We finally got into Disneyland. I got a quick pic of the girls and their daddy at the entrance.
It was a nice, cloudy day. We're walking down Main Street.
One of our favorite rides at Disneyland is Splash Mountain. We go on it over, and over, and over again. I did the same here as I did the Cars ride the day before... I took a pic of the pic they take while you're on the ride. There are two girls in front, then Caitie, me with my hat again, and Bailey with her daddy in the back. If you look close, you can see the terrified look on Bailey's face. She wasn't too happy about the very high and long drop she just experienced. She said she didn't want to go on it again, but she did, and she ended up loving it.
We had just gotten off the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. We went in the Pirates gift shop. This hat fits Bailey... it's princess-like with the pink and tiara, but it's also black and has a skull and crossbones on it... it's girly and tomboyish at the same time. ha
Still at the Pirates gift shop.
We had lunch at the Blue Bayou Restaurant. Yes, we spent around $80 again for lunch. Crazy. But it's yummy and we love the atmosphere. We always ask for a table near the water, which is next to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. You can see the beginning of the ride from the restaurant (it's in the same building).
I always get a pic of the Mark Twain Riverboat.
We left the park in the afternoon to switch hotels. We went and registered at the Tropicana Inn Hotel. We got settled in our room, then headed back to the park.
We saw some of the fireworks while on our way to a ride. We don't stop to watch them since a lot of the lines for rides are short at that time, and we take advantage of it.
Bailey on the horse carousel.
This isn't the best quality pic; I should have used a flash. Bailey wanted to pose for me on the rock.
I thought this was cute. Bailey was helping her daddy button his shirt the next morning, which was Sunday morning.
We went to Disneyland again. I took a few pics of the girls with one of their favorite Disney characters, Ariel. They got her autograph too,
We went to Toontown. The girls like this roller coaster, so their daddy took them on it. I don't like it much. I got some pics of Caitie on the ride with her daddy, but they didn't turn out very well, so I only included this one of Bailey and her daddy on it.
The girls with Jesse from the Disney Toy Story movie.
The girls loved this petting zoo. It's no longer there. It's been removed to make room for the new Star Wars area that will be opening in a year or two. Bailey fell in love with this brown and white goat.
Caitie liked it too.
Bailey followed it everywhere it went. She didn't like it if other kids came up to pet it; she considered it her goat. ha
The girls with Woody from the Disney Toy Story movie.
This is the yummy treats they have in a gift shop next to the Splash Mountain ride. The girls got this yummy treat called Tiger Tails.
These are chocolate covered apples. I thought they were cute and decided to get a quick pic of them.
Another pic of the pic that was taken on the Splash Mountain ride. We're in the same order... two girls in the front, then Caitie, then me with my baseball hat on and my jacket hood over that, then Bailey and her daddy in the back. We always got the same seats due to there being four of us and Bailey wanting to sit next to someone instead of on her own in a seat.
I liked the Mark Twain Riverboat lights reflecting on the water.
This isn't the best pic... but I didn't get many of our late night trips to IHOP for dinner. Bailey was looking at the menu.
The next day, Monday. We went back to Disneyland. Bailey couldn't wait to see her goat again.
She didn't want to let him go.
Caitie and a sweet black and white goat.
It was hard getting her to leave the petting zoo. She was so attached to that goat.
Caitie petting a cute cow.
We ate lunch at the restaurant located near the Splash Mountain ride.
Let's take a closer look at that yummy lookin' beehive cupcake. Cute.
'
Two train engineers waved at us when going by...
A quick family pic.
Yes, it's another pic of the pic... blah, blah, blah. I'll let you find us in this pic. ha
On our way into the Haunted House ride.
We went over to the California Adventure park later that day. We wanted to go on the Grizzly River Run Ride. It's a water ride (did the 'river' part of the name give that away? ha) I had my favorite Skechers tennis shoes on, so we asked a sales person in a gift shop if we could have a couple of plastic bags to put around my shoes. Yes, we actually asked them this. They gave us a couple, and when we got on the ride, I put them around my shoes. They kept my shoes from getting wet. Everyone else was wishing they had done the same thing. ha They got pretty wet.
We got some snacks at the Cars Land area, which were put into souvenir containers. The 'oil cups' with soda, and the mickey mouse ears popcorn holder. We went on some other rides, including the Soaring Over California ride; we love that ride. We then left to head over to Disneyland for the rest of the night.
We enjoyed some rides and shopping at Disneyland. I took this pic on our way out of the park.
The girls got stuffed animals with some of their souvenir money. Caitie got Eeyore. She's always loved Eeyore.
Bailey got Thumper. We usually let the girls go souvenir shopping our last night at Disneyland. Bailey picked Thumper when looking around a gift shop near the Splash Mountain ride. When we went to get it, it was too late, the stores in the theme areas were closing, that only left the stores on Main Street. We looked in all the stores on Main Street, but none of them had Thumper. Bailey was pretty upset. Michael asked a sales person from one of the stores on Main Street if they had anymore Thumpers anywhere. We told her our situation, and she decided to call the store where we saw it, and they ended up bringing one of them to give to Bailey. They didn't charge us for it. That was so nice of them.
The next day, Tuesday, we went to the beach. I took this quick pic before checking out of the hotel.
We went to Huntington Beach, as usual.
It wasn't too crowded, which was nice.
The girls with their daddy.
The girls playing.
They love the beach.
I don't remember who Bailey was waving at... Caitie and their daddy are in the background in the ocean, so it wasn't them. ha
The water was cold, but Bailey didn't mind. She was soaked.
Caitie liked playing in the water too, but not as much as Bailey. It was too cold for her.
Bailey put on her daddy's jacket to help her warm up. Her jacket was soaking wet.
I like to get pics of seagulls.
The girls decided to share the jacket.
Cute.
My 'siamese twins'. ha :)
I got a quick pic of the Huntington beach sign on our way out. We then headed home. We enjoyed our Disneyland/Beach trip.
(see below for the 'moo' post and the 'oops...' post)
