spring break 2009, part III: califonia adventures!

Dang, this has taken me long enough to get to posting! Because my mom and dad are California residents, we got a "bounce back" pass to get into the other park that we didn't go to the first time, so the Monday we were there we went to California Adventure. As luck would have it, Daren's mom, dad, brother Brett, and his wife Honnelore and their two little girls were there for the week too, so we all hooked up that day to go on the "adventure" together.

Last year we did the same thing with the two parks, but on the day we were supposed to go to Cal. Adventure, I got really sick. Daren ended up taking the boys by himself--they left at 10am and didn't get home until 11pm! I got the rest I needed, and they had a blast. The twins were still 3 years old then, and they all rode the Tower of Terror, (or "Tower of Terra" as Will calls it, to which Jake always says back to him in a very exasperated voice, "It's not Tower of Terra, it's Tower of Terr-OR!") and that's all I've heard about ever since. So my 3 year olds rode it before I have at thirty...something!

So the big day arrived and the first ride the twins wanted to go on was the Tower of Terror. Ben has refused to go on it again since last year, and true to his promise, and as much as we tried to persuade him, he wouldn't go--he stayed outside with Grandma Train and Elyse, who is just 17 months old while the rest of us went in. THAT IS THE FUNNEST RIDE EV-ER!! Will wasn't too happy about it, though, this year. By the end of the ride he was in tears, but I loved it. Not his tears, the ride!

We plowed ahead with the rest of our day. We had fun on the Monsters, Inc. ride, which apparently the boys rode over and over again last year.

This was a funny moment: Jake got into the taxi in the backseat and pretended like Ben was his driver as he ate his Cheetos. In turn for being Jake's driver, all Ben wanted for payment was a few Cheetos...and on he drove.

Wall*e--a favorite from this past year!

We eventually had to break for some lunch, and while we were waiting, the kids took the opportunity to check out the map to make a plan of attck after lunch was over!

And we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a photo with Mater and Lightning.

The Grizzyly Rapids ride was, hands down, Jake's favorite ride. It was only in the low 60's that day, so I graciously offered to stay behind and take pictures--wasn't that nice of me! After the ride was over, Jake and Will came running down the stairs and said, "Mommy mommy, you have to go with us!" So I reluctantly went, and fortunately I mostly stayed dry while the boys got soaked...and loved it!! Jake was pretty unhappy at the end of the day when the park closed and he wasn't able to ride it again.

The boys loved playing on the tug-boat thingy, or whatever it was. Will LOVED ringing this bell, which annoyed me and everyone else around, but he had fun.

Who's the real firefighter?!?!

We tried out the new Toy Story ride, and it is also waaaaay fun! I was sandwiched in between Will and Jake (while Daren and Ben were riding California Screamer), so I didn't get my own gun to shoot, though I did try to help Will. We recommend it--such a fun ride!!!!! And Jake in his lovely 3-D glasses.

We were there for the parade just before the park closed, and it was fun to watch, except for the 15 minutes the "Monster's Inc." float broke down in front of us so the same music played over..and over...and over. These are some of the fun pictures we took--The Incredibles, Toy Story, and Will's picture of his foot and mine! :)

What a beautiful sunset we saw on the way out of dodge. The boys are playing in/on the first A.

We messed around in a few of the stores as we left, so it was pretty late by the time we hooked up with the rest of the group for dinner at Mimi's Cafe. Will was pretty much gone in my arms in this picture, but it was such a fun day, and it was so fun to spend it with more of our family!