Another California visit

We just got back from another fun, sunny, California trip. Our Disneyland passes expire in January so we thought since we already paid for them, we might as well take advantage and make one last trip.
We went the end of September because we also wanted it to be warm enough to go to the beach a couple days as well, plus I've always wanted to see Disneyland decorated for Halloween.

We left Friday evening after Greg got home from work and headed to Vegas. My Mom, who also has a season pass decided she wanted to fly down and meet us for the days we were at Disneyland and because McKay is not two, we thought why not just send him with her? BEST decision ever! McKay would have hated being in the car that long. My Mom and Dad were so kind to watch him for us.

Here we are, already to go!

We spent the first night is Vegas at Greg's cousin Katie's house. In the morning we visited with her family for a little while then headed to the airport and picked up Grandma Carole, who also decided to come with us! We had a great rest of the drive.

When we got to California on Saturday we went and visited some of our good friends from Eastvale. We hung out there for a few hours and had the best time! Our kids had so much fun seeing their old friends again!
After, we headed to Greg's brothers house in orange county for the next two days. We had a blast hanging out with them and the girls loved seeing their cousins again. We miss living so close to them.

On Monday morning we woke up bright and early, checked into our hotel and headed straight for the LAND! It was absolutely DARLING with all the Halloween decorations!

 Our first ride was of course Splash Mountain! Julianne was really excited to go........

 but as you can see in this picture, I think she forgot just how big the drop was and refused to go on it again the rest of the trip! (Got to love my mother in laws shower cap ;)

 The girls on Start tours

 The Haunted Mansion ride was re-done for Halloween to look like the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas." It was so cute! I wish they would leave it that way the whole time!

 Then the miracle of all miracles happened to these two little girls! A genius at Disney decided to make the Elsa and Anna line a fast pass! Normally when we would go it would be at least a 2 hour wait to see them and the girls (thankfully) NEVER wanted to wait that long so we never got see them. But now you go and get a fast pass for them in the morning and go back later in the day and you don't have to wait!!! Best idea ever!
The girls were soooo excited and they were so cute with them! It was pure magic in their eyes!

After we met Elsa and Anna my Mom and McKay arrived at Disneyland. We hadn't seen our boy in three days and all of us missed him terribly! We were SO excited to see him and he was SO excited to see us! 

 We took him on one of his favorite rides!

 All of us in front of the Mickey jack-o-lantern. It was an awesome first day!

The second day we spent most of our time at California Adventure. We went on Tower of Terror first thing! I LOVE this ride. We have been on it SOOO many times that now we can start doing funny things in our pictures :)

Brinley got to meet Princes Sophia! She was so thrilled. We all LOVE Sophia at our house!

 Our friends the Anderson's came and met us for a few hours. Amy (the mom) the kids and I all got to ride in the same car. And then the car we raced had my mom and Carole in it. While we were in the middle of our race (the best part) our ride stopped on the track for about 5 minutes. So when we were all done, the Cars workers let us go around again! It was so fun!

 Our Car

 My Moms and Carole's. Our car won ;)

 Greg and Brinley on Screamin'

Day Three. Greg took Carole to the airport in the morning while all of us got ready to go. On the way, our nephew Nate called and said he was coming and bringing Monet and Sabine. It was so much fun to have them come with us.

We went on Small World for the first time since getting our passes, because it was always closed.

 I forgot how much I liked this ride. It was so cute and they had added a lot of new things.

Going on splash mountain again. 

 Meeting human Ariel!

 When we went to get on Tower of Terror, there was hardly anyone on the ride so we got an elevator all to ourselves.

 If that wasn't cool enough after our first ride was over the lady in charge asked if we wanted to go again? Of course we said yes!! It was awesome!

 Brinley and Sabine on Screamin'

 The happiest boy in the world!

 Nate, Brinley and Sabine on Goofy's sky ride.

 Julianne and Monet. This is one of Julianne's favorites!

 She puts her arms up the whole way!

 This is her other favorite ride, Space mountain. They make into a Ghost Galaxy at Halloween. it was crazy!

 Gotta love a family pic in front of the Castle

 Eating cotton candy

 After our day was done we all went to Mi Mia's cafe. It was really yummy and the girls all got sit together at their own table!!! They thought it was soooo cool.

The next day my mom and McKay had to fly back home to Utah. We decided to take them to the beach before they left. McKay LOVED the water and ended up getting soaking wet! Luckily we had a spare set of clothes in the car.

 Brinley loves the sand!

 Cute Jules!

 We love the Ocean!

 Newport Pier

After we dropped my mom and McKay off, we went back to Dan and Mel's to stay with them for a few more days. We changed into our swim suits, got dinner and ate it at the beach by their house. SO Yummy! 

 So beautiful!

 The waves were HUGE and crashing right on the beach. The kids and Greg had so much fun running through them.

 Such a perfect night. The weather was amazing!

 Still my Honey!

The next morning we got up and wanted to do a full beach day! We ended up back at Newport because they had the best waves that day for boogey boarding. 

 Brinley really got the hang of it! And was out there forever with Greg.

 Julianne on the other hand is a lot like me and we just had a great time sitting on our chairs watching.

 Brinley digging a hole

 Feet in the sand is the best!

Building a sand castle 

 After our fun day at the beach we spent our last night hanging out with Dan and Mel's family. We ordered pizza and the kids swam in the backyard. It was an awesome night.
The next morning we were up bright and early and started our LONG drive. Thankful. again, that McKay didn't have to do it with us ;)
It was an AWESOME trip! We will miss our California vacation, but both Greg and I said more than once, how happy we are not living there anymore and how extremely happy we are living back in Utah!