Last Few Favorite Rides and Downtown Disney

We eventually met up and did some final favorite rides together including Alice in Wonderland, Tea Cups (again-I think we rode those 10 times!) and Small World (I think Sadie rode it 6 times all together!) Then we headed to Downtown Disney to eat some treats and shop for souveniers. We gave the kids $40 dollars for the 2 days to spend how they wanted and I thought they did a good job choosing a couple of good things without any fits. Sadie picked a Cinderella figure set and Princess bath toys. Connor got his Jedi Mickey stuffed animal and Star Wars bath toys. It's always sad leaving Disney, but we know we probably will be back sooner than later!

Lego Darth Vader in the Lego Store

Cookie Dough ice cream from Haagen Daz

Tea Cups with Daddy

Sadie did take a little break for a nap for about an hour-thank goodness!

Small World one last time!

Disneyland Day Two-Connor Time!!!

Ryan took Connor to go do the things that he wanted to do while Sadie and I were doing our thing. They did Star Tours, Soarin' over CA, Autopia, Small World, Tarzan's tree house, the Rockets, Buzz Lightyear, Jungle Cruise, and even Space Mountain. He has inherited the Johnson gene of not enjoying roller coasters, so I was sooo proud that he tried it. Ryan said he looked like he was going to throw up when he got off (he does get motion sick easily)-so Ryan gave him 5 dollars to spend in the gift shop. :) He chose an adorable Jedi Mickey. I think they had some great "guy time!"

Jungle Cruise

Tarzan Tree House

Autopia

Driver's Licence in Hand

Even Connor enjoyed Small World!

Sadie Fun at Disney

It felt like we did quite a bit of "dividing and conquering" on day 2 so everyone could do what they wanted to do. Sadie and I took off for a few hours and just did whatever she wanted to do. We did the carousel probably 4 times. tea cups 5 times, Dumbo, Casey Jr train, Small world twice, went up into Sleeping Beauty's castle 3 or 4 times (she would have done that more-she LOVED it and really believed it was the real thing!), Snow White's Scary Adventure, and Peter Pan. It was fun just letting her choose what and where we went without having Connor's opinion. :) I didn't feel bad at all because I was 7 months pregnant and not able to do any of the real rides!

Disneyland Day Two-Characters!!!

We went back for one more day of Disney fun on on Wednesday which still left us with 3 more good days at the beach and hotel pool! Right as we walked in we saw all of these characters and had to have pictures with each and every one. I was a little surprised that they cared to wait and get pictures with them-especially Connor-but I think the pictures and smiles were worth the wait!

Donald and Con-man!

Goofy and Connor

The Fairy God Mother and Sadie- (She was so adorable and sweet to Sadie!)

The one and only Minnie Mouse

Pluto and the Kiddos!

Laguna Beach

After lunch and cupcakes we decided to drive the couple of miles down the road to Laguna Beach to just walk around and sight see a bit. We did not come prepared to go to the beach because the weather was not sunny or warm yet. As we drove, the clouds completely and it was gorgeous! The kiddos quickly stripped down to their underwear and had a great time playing at the beach until...Sadie stepped in a TAR!!! To her credit, it was a large piece that covered almost all of her foot...and it is a real bugger to get off, but she was quite dramatic and cried for over half hour until we finally packed up and left. Oh well! Good thing we had several "beach" days left on our vacation!

Happy Kids!

Sprinkles Cupcakes Part One and Two

One of our favorite stops in Newport is Sprinkles cupcakes. Ryan took the kids the first time while Anette and I had a peaceful sit down lunch. We wanted to go back for cupcakes after lunch and were told a secret word we could tell the cupcake gals to get a free red velvet with cream cheese frosting cupcake. We both scored free ones! I love free stuff-especially when they are that yummy! We went back for more cupcakes the day we left...they are the best!

Chocolate, chocolate for Connor

Sadie just got a frosting shot this time since thats all she eats any way!

Had to get a pink cupcake like "Pinkalicious"

I don't think life gets better than this!

Jedi Training

Connor was lucky enough to be picked for Jedi Training Academy at Disneyland the first time he tried. We had a few friends let us know that wearing a Star Wars t-shirt helps and also jumping up and down and raising your hands helps you to be picked. I was impressed that Connor went a little out of his comfort zone and try his best to be chosen-and it worked! He was all business and very serious the entire training session. He was able to test his skills against the one and only Darth Vader and did very well! It was all topped off with a cool Jedi Training Completion certificate. So fun!

Princesses

The highlight of Sadie's Disneyland trip was meeting 3 princesses. She loved them so much I sort of regret not waiting in line again to see of we could see more of them. She was not shy even for a moment! She walked right up to them and told them her name and that she had been waiting to see them! Sooooooo Adorable!

Jasmine (the least friendly of the 3)

Precious!

Showing Cinderella he princess shirt she was wearing!

Hugs!

Sleeping Beauty

DIsneyland Day One

We told ourselves that this vacation was not a "Disneyland Trip" but we were so close that we couldn't stay away. Besides, the weather was still really too cold to go to the beach-so what better way to spend a day???

Sadie on her most favorite ride (Small World) with one of her most favorite people!

We lucked our and saw Mickey with no line at all!

Our little "flower" in front of the beautiful flowers in CA adventure.

Got to get cotton candy! Sadie really doesn't like it, but had to get what her brother got!

Getting ready to take off on the 3D Toy Story ride !

Our First Day in California

Ryan and I decided we needed one last vacation as a family of four before our family grows this summer. We had such a blast last August in California, we decided to go back for more! We called Grandma and Grandpa Johnson and they decided they would love to come too! We stayed at the Marriott Villas that we toured last year on a time share deal and LOVED it! After a smooth flight from Portland, we arrived in California. Lance met us at the airport and we rented a mini-van (this was a huge highlight for Connor!!-He was obsessed with the automatic doors and sitting in the VERY back). We stopped at a delicious pizza place and then checked in. Ryan and I went grocery shopping together that night because the villas had full kitchens. I laughed because even that felt like a treat because we got to leave the kids with Grandma and roam around the fancy Newport Grocery store together. Its amazing how your idea of "fun" changes ever time. :) On our first full day...the weather was not so warm and sunny. The locals call it a "May Gray" day. We managed to still have some fun on the beach in Huntington and at Uncle Lance's pool. We also had some good Mexican food...which was high on my list of priorities for this trip! A good day...but we hoped for more sun in the days to come!

Connor Splashing his Uncle!

Lance is a really good sport!

Sadie and I preferred to just sit and play in the sand in our long sleeves! It was way too cold for my liking!