Our California Adventure, Part 4 {The Real California Adventure}

Disneyland is really and truly one of my favorite places.  That's big of me to say since I've only been there twice.  I love the magic and the secrets that it holds.  For as fun as California Adventure is, it just doesn't hold that same magic for me.  I do enjoy going there though.

We had a fun day at California Adventure -- the great thing about it is there is a little something for everyone.  We managed to all do the Soarin' Over California ride {which was amazing}, the Ariel ride {about 10 times},  Monsters Inc., Bugs Land, Disney Jr. Live on Stage, and we did a walk through of Cars Land.  The guys did the Twilight Zone Tower of Tower {minus my dad}, the Grizzly River Run and Goofy's Sky School.  David and I took Liv to Turtle Talk with Crush {soooo much fun} and David, Ryan and I rode the California Screamin' ride.  We also managed to catch the Pixar Parade, meet Woody, Jessie, AND Jake, and we stayed for World of Color.

It was definitely a full day!

Our California Adventure, Part 3

Here are some of the fabulous brother took of us at Disneyland.  I'm so thankful that he pulled out his big camera to capture the fun we had there!

Sydney was not aware of the fun we were about to have!

She just found out we were about to meet Merida!

Learning how to shoot the bow and arrow after meeting Merida.

Sister lovin' on It's a Small World

Waving to the princesses during the parade.

Stay tuned for more of our California Adventure {at California Adventure}!

See Part 1 here, Part 1.5 here and Part 2 here.

Our California Adventure, Part 1.5

As I was going through my brother's pictures, I found some from their tour of Warner Bros. Studios and decided to share a few here.  Looks like fun - I may have to go next time!  Especially since they were on the set of Hart of Dixie....you know, in case we were to run in to Jason Street, I mean George Tucker, I mean Scott Porter.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Well, not around here it's not, but the temperatures have cooled down to the 80s this week, so my mind is definitely fast forwarding to the upcoming holidays.  Our Halloween costumes are ordered, our Thanksgiving plans are set and Olivia is already asking me to text her wish list to Santa!  And me?  Well, I'm already worrying about our coordinating outfits for Christmas cards.

The 2012 Holiday Collection for Tiny Prints is already out and I've thoroughly enjoyed browsing through all the gorgeous styles.  They have everything from traditional styles to very modern colors.  There is definitely something for everybody!

Here are a few of my current favorites {although it seems to change daily}:

I love the idea of having a space to write a little something about the past year.  

Such a great idea.

It is so hard to get a great picture of everyone in one photograph, so I love collage cards!

Oh man, I am a sucker for fonts, and this one has some of the cutest fonts I've seen.

If this ends up being our card, pretend like you've never seen it, mmmkay?!

So, are you like me and get extra excited about receiving photo cards in the mail at Christmas?!  Only a couple more months until they start arriving in your mailbox!

 Check out all of the Holiday Photo Cards at Tiny Prints and check out their Special Offers page too!

*This post is sponsored by Tiny Prints.

A is for Crocodile

Yesterday, Olivia turned 3 1/2 exactly!  Happy Half Birthday, Sweet Girl!  So, that means, as of today, we round up to FOUR.  #butnotreally  She's such a big girl these days.  Dress up is her favorite thing to do and she changes into no fewer than five outfits a day.  She's great at playing make-believe and retelling stories -- her imagination is out of this world.  And, it's one of my most favorite things about her.

She went back to preschool today after a 2 1/2 week fall break.  It wasn't easy on her going back.  It all started at home when I tried to tuck her braids under instead of just letting them hang down like she wanted.  It pretty much went downhill from there and ended with three adults trying to pry her off of my leg.  Two minutes later she was perfectly fine.  When I went to pick her up, she barely wanted to tell me anything she did at school.  This is pretty typical of her.  If I'm lucky, she will share one thing with me.  The teenage years are gonna be fun.

Anyway, today they worked on the letter A.  When I went in, Mrs. Susan told me that A was for Alligator and the alligator says Aaaaahh just like the letter A.  When we got home, I asked Olivia what words started with the letter A.  Her reply?  A is for Crocodile!  Ha ha.  I love that girl.

I took these pictures at Meridian Vineyards...where we were married....right before we made this Honeymoon Baby.   

Happy Half Birthday!

Our California Adventure, Part 2 {The Beginning of Disneyland}

I'm currently sorting through the 400 pictures my brother took, mostly at Disneyland and California Adventure.  I'm so grateful to him for taking so many pictures because I only pulled out my big camera once while we were there.  It was enough for me to juggle the girls and the double stroller and all of our snacks AND be the resident Disneyland expert.  {Well, David helped with all of those things as well...}  I did manage to take a bunch of pictures on my cell phone, so while I pick my favorites from my brother's camera, I'll share those with you.

You have to know that I love Disneyland.  Despite the 90+ degree weather we experienced and the fact that it was more crowded than I anticipated {but, nowhere near as crowded as it would have been during the summer}, there is just something so magical about Disneyland that it's almost impossible to not have an amazing time.

Even though we only spent one day at Disneyland, we were able to squeeze in a lot more thanks to the extra people we took with us and having a bit of a game plan beforehand.  We arrived as close to opening time as we could manage and spent the first hour or so in Fantasyland riding the Peter Pan ride and Dumbo.  From there, we headed over to meet Merida.  Olivia had NO idea that Merida would be there.  And, it wasn't until we were second in line before she saw who she was about to meet.  That was definitely the highlight of my day!

It's A Small World is always a hit, but our adventure in ToonTown was sort of a bust.  Minnie wasn't outside of her house and I didn't really feel like waiting to see Mickey (especially dressed in the Sorcerer's outfit), so while Dad and Ryan rode the Roger Rabbit ride, David and Olivia went on their favorite Gadget Rollercoaster.

I wanted to make sure that my brother and David were also able to ride some rides so we headed into Tomorrowland for them to ride Space Mountain and do the Star Tours ride after we did the Buzz Lightyear ride.  My dad was even brave enough to do Space Mountain, but I think that ride did him in. While the guys were getting thrown around, the ladies took a little break.  Olivia really wanted to ride the Finding Nemo submarine ride, but the line was entirely too long, so we chose to do Autopia instead.  We also ventured into the Innoventions area and {even though my brother left my mom and she was.not.happy about it} we loved the interactive Peter Pan story in the boys room.

The afternoon was filled with the Tiki Room, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, the carousel and a less than enchanting meet & greet with Rapunzel.  {I'm not sure if she was having an off day or what, but every other princess we have met at Disneyland has acted as if everything that comes out of Olivia's mouth is the most magnificent thing they have ever heard. I mean, isn't it?  Anyway, she sat with a very smug look on her face and her arms crossed the entire time.  She honestly seemed more interested in flirting with Flynn Ryder than interacting with Olivia who had waited over 30 minutes in line to see her. At least she smiled for the camera.}

By the time the parade rolled around, we were really ready to take a seat.  The parade is one of our favorite parts of Disneyland and it is pretty obvious why.

Seriously, with that kind of smile and excitement, I would take her to Disneyland every single day if I could!

A special thanks to my mom, dad and brother for helping out with the girls and joining us for the fun.  Can't wait to do it again!

{Stay tuned for more Disneyland pictures as well as some California Adventure pictures as well.}