Our day to go to Disney had finally arrived! We were all ready to go by 9ish in the morning. We had breakfast at the hotel and headed out.

The shuttle from the hotel was really busy so we tried to drive and find parking. That didn’t work out too well because we thought the convention center parking wasn’t for Disney but we learned later we could have parked there.

So, Chinese Fire Drill was our choice in front of the park! Allison and Donnie dropped us off and they brought the car back to the hotel. They caught a shuttle back and we were all finally in Disneyland!!!

We went to meet Pluto at the front of the park to start off! We were all excited until Pluto was headed off prior to getting to meet him! We then decide to see what we could find and we ran into the marching band and a parade! Super cool and followed up with meeting Princess Aurora and Cinderella!

We spent time on some of the rides with Connor falling asleep in line of one of them! He was finally getting the hang of sleeping where he could with all of the trips we had made! After the rides, we took the girls to meet a few more princesses. They loved getting to meet them, get their autographs and get pictures taken with them. This time they got to meet Belle, Jasmine and Tiana (Princess and the Frog). Afterwards, we took a stroll through the gift shop where they got their faces painted and picked out a toy. Kiley got a doll that was two princesses! Ella picked out a Sleeping Beauty Barbie with a Horse! Thanks Auntie Allison and Uncle Donnie for spoiling them!

We continued our way through the park, meeting Goofy, making Mickey Mouse ears for each of the kids and eating lunch. We hit up the It’s a Small World ride (which the kids loved), a roller coaster for Donnie and I (which Ella loved) and then the famous Tea Cups (which Connor loved). We tried to hit up Space Mountain but the line was too long still. It was getting late at this point and Connor was super cranky. We decided to head back to the hotel to regroup. Allison and Donnie had to head back to San Diego for the night because they worked the next day. We said our goodbye’s (thanks again for everything guys!) and we got some dinner.

We headed back to the park a couple hours later to catch the fireworks. While waiting for them to start, Ella and I checked out one last ride which was a Buzz Lightyear Blaster Game. It was a lot of fun. We met up with Beth and the kids and caught a great firework show. Tinkerbell showed up in the night sky and that’s when Ella told us – “wow, this place is really magical!” That was our favorite part of the trip.

On Saturday, we decided to take it easy and try to just see more of San Diego. The kids weren’t on a regular nap schedule either so we wanted to let Connor and Kiley try and get some rest in the car. Allison had to work so we hung out with Donnie all day and he showed us all of San Diego.

We drove downtown, around some more of Coronado Island and ended up seeing Sea Lions at a beach in town (can’t recall the name at the moment).

I’ll never forget asking Donnie where Petco was (he knew that I was asking where Petco Park, Home of the Padres was) and Beth thinking I wad looking for a Petco Store! Too funny!

That night we ended up at a cool market and had dinner. We hit up Babycakes afterwards for dessert. They have the best cupcakes! We went back to our hotel and began to pack for the trip to Newport Beach.

On Sunday, we headed to Newport Beach to visit Uncle Glen, Brandy, Seth, Rena, Kyan, Tara, Joe, Ami, Austin and Brock. It was beautiful out and we got to spend some quality time with all of them. We played frisbee and soccer. We ate some great food too!

Afterwards, we headed to Anaheim. We stopped at Angels stadium and took some pics. We found our hotel, drove past Disneyland and went out to dinner. Allison and Donnie met up with us at the hotel, put the kids to bed and prepared for our Monday excursion to Disneyland!

On Thursday, we got a later start and ran some errands. We headed to the zoo right after and had a great time. We went on a guided tour, ate some lunch and walked around the monkey exhibit. We found the kids petting zoo as well and all three of them loved being with the goats! We too it easy at the zoo because the kids wanted to go swimming that afternoon. On our way out, we found a cool stand thar did hand print animals. We got one of the girls for their room. It’s a pink zebra and a purple hippo! We will post a pic soon!

Later that afternoon, we went swimming at the pool at our hotel, went over to Allison and Donnie’s, ordered pizza and the kids crashed there. Beth and I were able to hang out with Allison and Donnie for a few hours which was a lot of fun. We watched Idol and Mobbed. It was a good time!

Friday, we spent the day at Coronado Island and it was beautiful. We packed up for the beach and found a great spot next to a hotel on the island. The kids loved the water even if it was a bit chilly. Kiley got scared at first but came around in the end. They loved playing in the sand and were covered by the time we left. We got some great pics of the kids too!

We left in the afternoon and Beth and I got ready for our dinner cruise that night. We dropped the kids off with Allison and Donnie drove us to the cruise ship in downtown San Diego. It was a beautiful night and we saw a great sunset before getting on the boat. The kids did great at their house and Beth and I had a great time at dinner and dancing. It was a bit chilly but we shouldn’t complain considering the weather back home.

When Donnie picked us up, we wanted to take him out for a drink and we ended up at a local brewery. It got late quick and we had a great time. We took the kids back to the hotel and crashed after.

Well since the last post, we have been super busy! Let’s do a quick recap of each day!

Tuesday, we spent hanging out with family. We drove to the Marine base, Camp Pendelton on the way down to San Diego to visit Cousin Ami, Austin and Brock. We didn’t get the chance to see Cousin Joe but we will today. We went to the park and visited Oceanside for lunch. We had lunch on the Pier at Ruby’s. It was a great little diner and the kids had fun.

Afterwards, we finished the drive to San Diego and met up with Allison and Donnie! We went to Old Town for Taco Tuesday. We did some walking around and had a good dinner! The hit was the band at the restaurant where they sang the kids a song. Connor loved it!

Wednesday, we spent the day with Allison at Sea World! We saw three shows – Dolphins, Pets and Shamu. We saw some cool penguins and other sea creatures as well. The Sky Tower ride was fun and we ate on a ship wreck! The girls picked out stuffed dolphins and Connor got a cute turtle! The highlight for me was taking Ella on her first water roller coaster! She loved it and got soaked!

We tried to hang out at Allison and Donnie’s at night but Connor was super tired so we headed back early to the hotel and everyone crashed!