Part 5 - Universal Studios

Friday we went to Universal Studios, and we had decided to get the all-day meal pass, so we headed out early. Turns out that none of the places on the list served breakfast, so we didn't eat until 10:30 am. But then we ate well through the day.
This was another place where I really didn't get to ride many rides or anything, but part of it was poor planning-I didn't know the park was only open until 7 til I went to go on The Mummy ride at about 6:50 and it was closed. Sad! I'd been wanting to go on it forever! Still fun, though, of course.

Amie kept wanting to hold her sister... Alisa, not so much.


The classic Studios picture (all cut off-thanks random lady!) I think this is the only picture the entire trip that has all four of us in it together, though!

I guess I was done with the camera by this day...?

Part 4- Sea World

Thursday we went to Sea World, and of course it was the coldest day there.
*I think this is a good time to note that while the trip was amazing and we had lots of fun, everything in CA was smaller than FL and I wasn't expecting that.*
So we we saw some really cute shows (The Shamu show was open but still didn't have any trainers get in the water with them) and went on just a few rides. The crazies all sat in the splash zone at the Shamu show, but even though they gave me crap, I had a TWO MONTH OLD in the cold weather so we sat farther back by ourselves. We tried to find a beach for a fire on our way home with no real luck, so we barbequed dinner back at the condo that night.


The slippery eel ride with Oscar the grouch.

Flying fishes!

They had fun.


We all went on Journey to Atlantis, and Jeff and I took the prize for wettest travelers-completely uncontested, I might add.
Amie was so excited to go on this ride all through the line and at the beginning, then as it went higher and faster she hated it more and more.

Part 3-Family Day!

On Wednesday of our trip, everyone else had tickets to Legoland but we thought we’d need a break from a day at the parks, so we opted to have a little family day. It started with a presentation at our condo (we got $75 gift card out of it) then a little trip down to the beach, where we had a picnic lunch. Amie was super-cute, playing with her little bucket and shovel, but it was really windy so we didn’t swim or anything. She liked playing tag with the waves on the shore until the freezing water got her. :) We walked around the harbor a bit, and then went back to the room to rest. We then headed to do a little bowling, which was pretty fun, then went to our favorite event of the day. We bought tickets to Medieval Times, a dinner show. Kids are free if they sit on your lap and eat your food. We knew it’d be a little cramped with the 4 of us, but weren’t about to spring for $60 on a seat and plate that wouldn’t be used. As they seated our section, we hung back to sit on the end just in case. Well, unfortunately there was another group with a baby and they had a carrier, so they insisted on the end, too. We ended up sitting in a row that was not intended to be used, so we had lots of room, no one was behind us (optimal for fussy-baby-standing-up-time.) They even snuck Amie a few treats for her. If you’ve never been, it’s a blast. We were rooting for the yellow knight, who did really well, but alas, did not win. Our section was by far the loudest and most enthusiastic, though, and that made it really fun. We had an excellent dinner with NO utensils and the girls were actually really good. Amie and Jeff LOVED with a capital LOVED the show. It was a great time. It was probably my favorite day of our whole trip!

What we were SUPPOSED to be doing that morning, but no luck... details to follow.

The pretty harbor outside our condo.

Amie LOVES walking by herself.

That's how windy it was!


Awww

How cute!

She just loved that bucket and shovel!

One of the best dollars I ever spent!

She had this weird aversion to walking over the tracks on the beach.

Go yellow knight!

Random hugs are our very favorite.

Clapping and cheering her little heart out! So fun!

Our hero in the joust.

For some reason, Jeff loved this sign we saw.

Part 2-Disneyland

We left Vegas and ran into HORRIBLE traffic, (Spring Break, I guess) so we ended up all getting to CA late (hours late) and no one wanted to spend more time in the car, so we just moved in and vegged.

The next 2 days we spent at Disneyland, and it was fun! I have to say that it wasn't what I was expecting. Partly because of coming from Florida where it's all bigger and better, but also partly because of my expectations. I actually went on very very very very very very few rides the entire week. It was hard for me to accept it, but I guess that's just how it goes when you have a large group and you're responsible for 2 babies. Someday! Just the same, it was fun and our girls were really very good, considering. Amie got scared on the scary Snow White ride, but otherwise enjoyed going on the things she could. She was scared of all of the characters, but liked the few that she recognized when they were at a distance. She LOVED the parades and did lots of great dancing. :) Lisie did lots of sleeping in the stroller and a little riding in the front carrier. That's about it. :)

Amelie got these sunglasses for Christmas JUST for this trip.

Cheesing it in the stroller on the hottest day there!

Tea time with the girls! (Amie, Grandma, Dayna, Hannah)

Daddy watching on the sidelines.

Dancing - a little conga arm action during the Celebrate! parade.

At Ariel's princess dinner. Yummy food (except for the mushroom soup)

Cinderella

Snow White

Scared of Minnie up close, but Minnie's really her favorite. She named her by name all by herself!


A little candid princess action.


Mom and that little baby.


It's hard to juggle 2 babies... especially when you're standing by a girl that doesn't look anything like Ariel... ha!



Not really sure about this...

Well, if I can have your cane...

Nope, No I hate it.

Fireworks... in more ways than one. Oh!

Disneyland Trip! Part 1-Vegas

Most of Jeff's family (including us) all decided to go down to SoCal for a sweet Spring Break trip. We've literally been planning for almost a year. I know this because I was not even pregnant when we decided the date and everything, and I ended up having a 2 month old on the trip! So, needless to say, we'd been looking forward to it forever-that made it almost a little sad to go on it-now it's over. :(

But it was a total blast. I tend to get carried away when telling stories, so I'm guessing the report of the trip will come in installments that become increasingly brief, and it will take at least a few days. :) Bless you faithful readers.

We started out with a drive to Las Vegas (We had LOTS of kids, so we needed the break.) We stayed in a condo there (without Dave's family-they booked a hotel) and immediately got to swimming. The weather was actually pretty nice, but the pools were shaded and there was a breeze so we kinda ended up freezing ourselves sick right at the beginning of the trip. We ate at Cici's Pizza that night (we don't have this in Ut) and then most of us went to Circus Circus with our kids. Our condo had a shuttle service to the Strip, so we thought it would be a bright idea to take that instead of fighting traffic. So wrong. It dropped us off at Caesar's Palace, and when we asked an employee how far to CC, he said "Oh a quarter mile, maybe a half." So we packed the kids and made the walk. Oh, was he so, so wrong! Almost 2 miles later, Amelie was asleep (and super heavy) and we arrived too tired to be very happy about it. We did play some games and all the kids left with a toy. We also got to see the acrobat show they have. We knew that there was no way we could walk back carrying kids so we tried to get ahold of people not with us. Finally Jeff answered his phone (he was sleeping back at the condo with Alisa, didn't feel well) and said he'd come pick us up. 5 min. later, I realized I had the keys to our car. We then got ahold of Davey, and bless him, he left his fam to drive us all home. Long night. In the morning, I (sort of) made homemade donuts for breakfast. (I was the sickest of them all and went back to bed after I showed them how to do it. It was NOT fun, but I was glad I was sick then instead of at Disney.)

At Arby's on the way, I got Amie something from the 50cent toy machine. What came out was large and small matching tattoos of sparkly dolphins, so we had matching pretties. She refused to let me take a picture til later when they were already gross and peeling.

Grandma Chris with all the grandkids.

Amie's favorite toy throughout-the luggage trolleys!

Swimming to sickness!

Amie's hiding in the shadows... She thought it was so cool to go play on the balcony.

Photos of the girls

We got some pictures taken of the girls a few weeks ago. (Well, technically grandma did.) These are of Lisie at about 3 or 4 weeks and Amie at 16 months.

Here are both our lovelies.Our little Lisie. This is all we got, cause she slept the whole time.


A most perfect representation of the juxtaposition that is our Amie.


My fave.
So innocent.

The Messinator

Most meals, I just give Amelie her own food to feed herself. And of course, she's eaten some very messy foods. I just don't usually let the 2 events coincide for my own sake. The other night, we finally just let her go at it. Thank goodness we took off the shirt instead of just adding the bib.