Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Celebrating 10 Happy Years at The Happiest Place On Earth!

The week after the Quilting Retreat at Aspen Grove, we headed off to California for a week. We stopped in St George on the way down and picked up my Dad, which was awesome, because we then had an extra set of hands to help with the kids. I must say, having a 1:1 ratio was perfect! Here are a few photos of our trip, in no particular order (because I am very bad at trying to organize them on blogger...)
We were worried about Tysen running off and getting lost (which actually happened a few days before the trip, at a soccer game- and scared us to death!) so Jim used his creativity and resources to rig a harness with some rope to tie onto T. It worked like a charm! T actually enjoyed putting on his "backpack" each day. The rope is doubled up in this photo, but it was actually long enough to hook one end onto Madi when needed.

Jim and I celebrated our 10-year Wedding Anniversary our first night at Disneyland. My Dad was kind enough to stay at the Hotel and watch the kids for us, so that we could go back to the park and spend some time there with just the two of us. It was so nice and relaxing! We first had dinner at the Blue Bayou, located inside Pirates of the Carribean. After dinner, we spent a few hours walking around and visiting the different shops in the park and hitting a few rides. It was so nice to do that without the kids! Unfortunately, the park closed at 9 since it is the off-season and we didn't get to see fireworks. But overall, it was a very romantic way to celebrate the first 10 years of marriage with my "knight in shining armor!"

Here is a group shot of us at Disney California Adventure, located just next to Disneyland. This was the first time we had been to this park, and it was a lot of fun. Many of the rides were geared more towards older kids, but we still found lots of fun things to do. 

We had 3-day tickets, and one of the days we were allowed to go into the park an hour early. We got to see many of the Disney characters there, which was fun. We only got a picture with Goofy, because to be honest, we didn't want to have to stand in line to meet them all.  

We rode on almost all the rides in the park! There's Jim and Aspen, on the river rapids ride at Disney California Adventure, getting thoroughly soaked- and having a blast doing it.
 Here's Jim and I on Splash Mountain! This ended up being one of Aspen's favorite rides, believe it or not. I think she is turning out to be a girl after my own heart- a rollercoaster fanatic!
We can't go to Disneyland and not take a few photos on the fire truck! 

The first day we arrived, we headed straight to the beach. It was overcast, and just a little bit chilly- but not too cold for this gal to get completely soaked in the waves, and have the time of her life doing it. Isn't this such a cute picture of her! She is looking so grown-up to me lately and I am not sure how I feel about that.

Tysen decided it was pretty cool to dig in the sand... 

... he didn't enjoy the feeling of the water washing the sand out from under his feet too much. Good thing Grandpa was there to pull him up! 

Madi wasn't too sure what to think of the sand. Actually, she had a blast rolling around in it. Literally. We did our best, but just couldn't keep her from shoving a few handfuls of it into her mouth. 

Here I am, trying to distract her by helping her put the sand into a bucket rather than her mouth.  

It was so much better to go to the parks for three days instead of just one. We were able to see and do everything that we wanted to, without feeling too rushed- and even had time to do many things more than once. Going during the off-peak season was definitely the way to go as well. Crowds weren't nearly as bad, and the weather was absolutely perfect. I'm so grateful that my Dad took the time to come with us. He was my roller-coaster partner and was such a huge help with the kids. It definitely was the Happiest Place On Earth and the best way to spend our 10-year Anniversary, and we are already looking forward to going back again soon!

4 comments:

Karissa said...

What a fun, fun trip!!! I seriously can't believe how grown up Aspen is. It blew my mind when we saw you guys. She is so beautiful and mature, it's crazy! We loved seeing you guys and were glad we could come.

The Perry Family said...

Happy Anniversary! Glad you had a wonderful time celebrating! Someday we'll get our kids to Disneyland - I just need to convince Mark. :)

Susan said...

Thanks so much for sharing! That really is the most beautiful picture of Aspen. I can't believe how quickly she's growing! I'm so glad you guys got to go for your anniversary! I love you lots!

Dave and Kathryn Dodds said...

LOVE the pictures! Your kids are so cute and it looks like a blast. I'm so happy about your 10 year anniversary! You guys make a fabulous couple! I'm so glad that I got to witness the "beginnings of greatness!"
Love you guys! We'd LOVE to come to Disneyland next year with you! Wish we could plan on it. One of these years we'll get to go, I hope!