OOPS!

I just realized that I went completely backwards in posting our California trip....well, at least in how you read it. To start from the beginning go to the post titled Our Fantastical Cali Trip and go backwards. Sorry, confusing for some, I know.

Day 9: One last trip to the ocean & heading home

Our last day we packed up the car and headed home. We were making the entire drive home that day so we figured we'd make one last stop at a little hike to an overlook over the ocean to get the wiggles out. It was really windy and cold with the major storm coming in that we were lucky enough to mostly miss. It was still so beautiful! I love the ocean!!
Kade did one last robot dance:Then we drove, drove, drove, making only three stops along the way. Our kids were awesome in the car! We stopped for a bit in Vegas to eat and get some more wiggles out by seeing the lion habitat at MGM Grand. Since we had a later start we didn't get home until 1 am CA time, which really meant 2 am UT time! We were completely exhausted for the next week, but it was worth it for all of the fun we had.
We had such a well-needed wonderful trip with our family with lots of genuine smiles and fun times. Many great memories were made. I love that we were able to go to Disneyland and celebrate our awesome McKade's 5th birthday. Now the countdown begins until Alexis's 5th...only 2 1/2 more years!!!

Day 8: Disneyland-Kade's B-day!!

Our last day of Disneyland was Kade's birthday. Being at Disneyland on your birthday you get tons of special attention. They give you a pin that says it's your birthday with your name on it & every employee makes sure they notice you. My kids love their birthdays at Disneyland! It also means that the birthday kid gets to mostly be in charge of what we do for the day. As soon as we got there, the boys split up to do did Kade's favorite rides, Pirates & Buzz Lightyear & met one of Kade's favorites, Buzz!
The girls started off with a wait to see the fairies (Lex was in heaven again!) & we also got to see a really cool Peter Pan.
















We had planned on doing Jedi Training for Kade's birthday but when we got there he had no interest in doing it. In fact, he down right refused! If anyone knows Kade, you'll think it's crazy for him not to want to be on stage or in something Star Wars. But since it was his day, we skipped it. We meant to go back later, but didn't get a chance. Bummer. We headed over to California Adventure & after stopping for a quick Monsters Inc. Pixar Parade that the kids all got to participate in by doing goofy faces we went to our meet 'n greet...it was Chip & Dale again. Of course Kade got some extra time with them.
















Then it was off to Kade's favorite ride there, Toy Story, but on the way we ran into one of his ultimate favorites, Woody!
The birthday boy & his favorite cowboy:I was honored that Kade wanted to ride with me on his favorite ride for his birthday!After that we ran into the Incredibles Pixar Parade. Sky, Nick, and Alexis headed on up for Incredible training! Wow-pretty strong kids we have there!








Us girls headed back to Disneyland to meet Rapunzel while Ben and the boys traveled all the way to the car to get a must-have, Alexis's blankie, which we had forgotten but she can't live without. Aren't they sweet? I think the boys thought the long trip sounded better than the long wait for Rapunzel.








We met up with the boys waiting to meet "Winnie the Poop" (what Alexis calls him!) & friends.
















We went over to Tom Sawyer's Island. We'd never been there before because it's always been closed. We had such a fun time there. The kids absolutely loved all the things to explore and play on.

















Kade's pick for dinner was pizza so we went to the Village Haus in Fantasyland. It was all decked out to look European and had Pinnochio murals all over. It was a fun place to eat.

McKade's 5 now!! How did that happen?!Mom & Dad sure do love our Kadybug!!!We again headed over to California Adventure (and in the process totally busted our stroller! Yikes!). Ben & Nick loved checking out ElecTRONica!!








We then got to watch World of Color...it was fantastic!!! Kade completely missed it because he had konked out in the stroller.








After Kade's snooze, he got a second wind and insisted we return to Disneyland for some more fun. The kid was wide awake and going strong for the rest of the night. Of course that meant until midnight! We realized on our way out that we had forgotten to stop at City Hall so Kade could get a special birthday call from someone special. When I asked him who it was he said "Grandma & Grandpa!" I guess Grandma & Grandpa must sound a lot like Goofy (that's who it really was)!!Happy 5th Birthday to our totally awesome kid McKade!! We hope you had the very bestest birthday ever!!

Day 7: Universal Studios

On Friday we went to Universal Studios with our Citypass. The kids loved walking down the red carpet to enter!







The kiddos got to meet a bunch of characters. Alexis was so excited to meet some of her favorites, Dora & "George Monkey"!
















Of course our entire family was excited to meet the gang:
There's not a ton of rides at Universal, but we did have fun on the ones they had. Kade loved the Simpsons ride & Skylar loved the Mummy. Nick forgot his tall shoes so we had to do the napkin stuff thing so he could go on the Jurassic Park ride. He barely inched his way in & was glad he did!















The kids thought that the studio tour was awesome because they could see where some films were filmed. I never knew my kids were so into Hollywood. I wouldn't say Universal Studios is the greatest place to go, but we had a fun day!!