California Trip

We have been looking forward to this trip for so long!  We took off on Wednesday and drove down to San Diego first.  We stayed the night there, then got up and went to Legoland

Scott in the dark blue shorts, Austin, Kate, Ty

They had these huge figures while we were waiting for them to open the park.

For some of the rides with longer waits, there was a play area with a bunch of legos and these slides, it made the wait so much nicer!

Our first ride (and longest wait of the day!!)--the Sky Coaster

Kate and Austin

Mom and Scott

 On the Lost Kingdom Adventure Blaster (interactive shooting game), probably my favorite!

Kate and Scott

Mom and Austin

Ty waiting for the older kids on the car driving ride

This was one of the kids' very favorites.  They got to drive cars around a little town with stoplights and everything.  It was so cute!

Austin

Scott

Kate

Kate, Austin, Scott on the Pirate Ship

This was a very wet ride the kids went on.  Here, you see them heading down a big steep drop off and about to get absolutely soaked!

After (Austin, Kate, Scott)

Ty and Mom hung out, walking around a lot while the older kids went on rides with Dad.  This was while the older kids were on the Technic Coaster, another of their favorite ones.

At the end of the day, Kate and I walked over to the Lego Friends Heartlake City.  It was pretty cute.

Worst sun position though

On a boat ride

We also walked through Miniland, where tons of buildings and cities were built with legos, also a special Star Wars area.  All of the figures were amazing! (Austin, Ty, Scott)

This was probably Ty's favorite!

Kate and Ty

Austin and Scott

Ty, Kate, Scott, Austin at the Capitol Building

The kids LOVED Legoland SO much!  They have been talking about it ever since and just had a great time there!

That night, we drove up to Grandma Packer's house to stay for a few days and recover from driving all day and a day at Legoland.

The kids each got to pick something out at Legoland and these two boys were so anxious to put their sets together (Kate opted to wait, think about it, and pick one out later) Dad, Austin, and Scott

Swimming at Grandma's pool (Dad, Kate, Scott, and Austin in the goggles)

Grandma Packer and Ty playing the drum together

Noodle Wars

We just hung out, played at the park, and swam the first day, then the second day, we headed out to Santa Monica Beach.  It was a pretty nice day, and so much fun.

Austin, Kate, Scott

Scott, Kate, Austin

The kids had so much fun running in the water, playing on boogie boards, looking for shells, and playing in the sand

This picture really shows how green the water was, kind of scary green, but we just hoped it was algae!

Kate, Grandma, Scott

Kate and Dad working on a major freeway interchange

Austin and Ty

Then, the kids decided they wanted to be buried. Kate first, then Austin thought that looked fun, then Ty thought it looked great, then Scott came over and wanted to be buried too.

Scott, Austin, Kate, Ty

Then, Austin and Scott had the great idea to be a two headed monster

 Kate wanted in on that as well, so here you have the three headed monster and if you look closely below, they are actually a snake.

Sunday, we went to church with Grandma, then headed down to Anaheim to spend the night and get ready for two days at Disneyland!

Grandma came with us the first day when we went to California Adventure.  It was so fun to have her with us for the day.  The second day, we went to Disneyland.

One of the highlights for Ty was meeting his favorite characters.  He is getting to a bashful age, but he loved meeting these characters and would hug them and give them a big smile,  it was so cute!

On the Nemo's submarine

Austin in the Captain America shirt, Scott in the orange

One of the funnest rides was Toy Story Mania.  You had to wear these glasses and shoot things in a carnival style game, the long line was definitely worth it!

Mom, Ty, and Austin

Another one the kids absolutely loved was Mickey's ferris wheel.  There were some that swing and some that stay still as they go around.  Ty and I opted for the one that stayed still!

Jeff and Austin on the swings

On the flying rockets

Mom, Austin and Scott on Ariel's ride

Dad and Ty, Mom and Scott on the caterpillar ride

Austin and Kate

Mom and Ty on the bumper cars

Dad and Austin on the bumper cars (Scott also went, but was too far to get a picture)

Oh, this was one happy boy!

We did this while Dad, the three older kids, and Grandma went on Radiator Springs Racing

Waiting to see Mater (Ty loves him so much too)

Dad, Kate, Scott, Austin, Ty, Mom

Grandma and Kate, Jeff and Austin on Tower of Terror

They had a really cute Pixar parade, it was so entertaining!

They rolled the ball into the crowd and you rolled it back

My one regret--we didn't get enough pictures with Grandma Packer, she was always busy taking our pictures.  This was on Toy Story Mania though and was so fun!!

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It had gotten very late though, so this was how we entertained Ty--gave him a phone, and all of a sudden he perked up

 Kate and I on Radiator Springs

At the end of day 1--everyone is tired, but not too beat yet (it was only about 8)

But they fell asleep fast and slept hard!

Day 2, we went to Disneyland, here are the kids on the Matterhorn with Dad

I think this is the Monsters Inc. ride

Scott, Ty, Goofy, Kate, and Austin

In front of Paradise Pier at California Adventure

Austin, Scott, and Mom on Autopia, the car driving ride.  Austin and Scott took turns steering and it was quite the bumpy ride!

Dad, Kate and Ty (you can see his hat) on Autopia

While the kids and Dad went on Indiana Jones, Ty and Mom went through Tarzan's treehouse.

Ty trying to climb the rope

Playing the instruments

Ty and Mom went to meet Tigger while the older kids and Dad went on Splash Mountain

Mom and Ty on the Winnie the Pooh ride

Parade in Disneyland

Mid-afternoon on both days, Ty took a little rest in the stroller with his special blanket and bubba.

That night was a late one at Disneyland--open til 10!  We had some delicious dinner (yummy Steak Gumbo Bread Bowl for mom) as well as tried a bunch of the yummy treats there.

We broke out the glow necklaces once it got dark.

Austin, Ty, and Mom ran over to Mickey's ToonTown at the end of the night to check it out

 Austin and Ty on a car in ToonTown

Austin and Ty

Ty finally crashed and fell asleep on my shoulder--pretty much unprecedented for Ty!

And even though everyone was so exhausted at the end of day 2 at 10 pm, we got a picture here.

That night, we drove about an hour down the road when even Mom and Dad needed to crash, then got up and drove home the next day.  It was such a fun family trip, so many fun memories!

Kids Highlights:
-Kate:  California Screamin, Radiator Springs, and Nemo's Submarine

Scott:  Big Thunder Mountain, Ferris Wheel

Austin:  Grandma, Radiator Springs, and Matterhorn

Ty:  Toy Story Mania, meeting characters