Oh, how I love this place!! We had such a GREAT time on our vacation. It’s kinda sad that it’s already over and we’re getting back to normal life. But then again, without “normal life”, how would we ever really appreciate the vacations?! I’m already looking forward to the next time we can go back. So fun.
Here are a few pictures from around the resort. I kept telling Mike it looked like Hawaii; lots of lush, tropical bushes and trees. This is the view from our balcony.
The view out the lobby
At the pool overlooking our villa
This is one of my favorite of my boys. What a pretty view!
Madi kept calling these huge palm trees “jungle trees”. Now Max thinks that’s they’re real name :)
The first day after we got there was kinda stormy. So we were trying to figure out what to do. We ended up taking them to the Discovery Cube science museum and had a great time! The kids loved it. Here’s what Mike and the kids did with the pin wall.
The next day we had our first day at Disneyland. We went early that morning and then came home for a little break and dinner, and then went back for the fireworks. The kids favorite rides were Autotopia, Chip and Dale’s Rollercoaster, Buzz Lightyear, Soarin over CA, the Ferris Wheel, and the Mouse ride (Mullholland Madness?).
I was glad that Madi was so brave on the rides! We took them on Pirates of the Carribean as one of their very first rides. Mike and I were looking at each other the whole time like, “what were we thinking?!”. But they did great. Madi even rode Space Mountain TWICE! Which surprised me bc the first time after I got off of it with her, I asked her if she liked it and she said, “Well, not really. I don’t think I want to go on it again today or tomorrow”. But then like an hour later Mike was going to go ride it and she wanted to go too, so she went with him and said she liked it!
These were in the Princess Fantasy Faire
This was our second day, and the day we tried to go to California Adventure. We had a rough start, Madi got a blister (oh, the horror!), and then had an accident. I had forgot to bring a change of clothes that day, so we just packed it all up early and went home to relax at the hotel. We basically rode the Ferris Wheel and that was it I think.
Third day we did the early morning at Disneyland and stayed almost until closing. It was a really long, and really FUN, day!
A little video of the kids on Small World. Max was in awe. He was speechless the whole time. Haha, they loved that ride!
Mike and I sat behind the kids on Alice in Wonderland. It was cute watching them from behind and seeing them together. They thought they were big kids :)
I wondered if my kids would be nervous around the characters or not, but luckily they weren’t. They both always ran right up to them and gave them big hugs.
Madi on the way home
Max on the way home. I was surprised he could even stay awake!
One night for dinner we went to Ruby’s on the pier at Huntington Beach. Love that place! Although I must admit, that pier makes me about have a heart attack. There’s bars on the sides, but they’re totally big enough for a kid to fall through. The kids kept running ahead of us and scaring me to death. I kept telling Mike the plan if one of them fell over. And he kept assuring me that I didn’t need to worry and that he would jump right in after them. I might be a little neurotic. Haha.
Max doing the "I love you” sign. He’s got it down with his left hand, and he’s still working on the right hand. He’s a determined little kid!
Watching the surfers
A huge pelican was waddling around. Nothing fazed him, even my kids! Which is a shocker!
Blurry, but Madi chasing the birds :)
She sure doesn’t look very thrilled, but this was one of the kids’ favorite things. The Mickey Mouse live show.
While we were there Madi turn FOUR!! I can’t believe she’s already that big. So on the day of her birthday we took her to the Princess Lunch. Just yesterday she told me:
Madi: “Oh no Mom! The princesses didn’t eat with us!”.
Me: “yeah they did, we did the lunch with them”
Madi: “but they didn’t EAT with us”
Me: “oh you’re right! I bet they were really hungry afterward.”
Madi: “I think so too. Well at least they eat apples when they’re dying”.
HAHA, I was cracking up! I guess a poisoned apple when you’re dying is better than no lunch at all!
Cinderella, doing quite the pose!
At the hotel opening her presents. She was SO excited about her roller skates!
Twirling around in the nightgown from Grandma Nield
The last day there we kind of took it easy and hung around the pool. Max did SO good in his life jacket, and he has started really just swimming on his own. It makes me excited for this summer! He’ll do great at the pool.
Later that night we walked down to an overlook, and then went and got milkshakes at Ruby’s. It was a great end to an awesome vacation!!
Until next time, Newport!
