Our Trip to Disneyland!!!

This last week we (Troy, Mikayla, Morgan, Owen and I) went to Disneyland, Universal Studios, and Sea World. I am not really sure how to write this post. We were gone for a week and did a ton of stuff. I think that I am going to post pictures and tell you about the picture and maybe what we were doing. To sum up though we had a great time and I am glad that my mom and dad were able to come with us. We left Sam at home so that we could all go on the rides together. I especially want to thank Kara for keeping Sam for us. He was a bit of a handful but not as crazy as my parents new puppy was, at least I have that! Ok here we go. . .

This is all of us standing by Mickey and Walt, with sleeping beauty's castle in the back. The weather was perfect. 80 degrees the entire week. It was so nice to wear short sleeves again. I didn't pack any shorts though and boy did I hear about that the whole week!

As we enter the park who do we run into?!?! The one and only Goofy. I don't know if you can see it but Troy has his goofy shirt on. The kids loved to meet the characters, we didn't do too much character meeting though. We focused mostly on the rides.

And speaking of rides. . . This is us on Splash Mountain. So fun but I was sitting in the back with Owen who you can't really see but as I am sure you know there aren't any seat belts so I was positive that he was going to fly out of the log. I was holding on to him so tight I am not sure he was able to breath.

This is us on Space Mountain. Not Owens favorite. As you can see I am holding him in here too. I was afraid that he was hitting his head on the side. By the 3rd time we went on it he was a lot better and I didn't feel like I had to hold him in. I think that he has a new found love of roller coasters after this trip. He came off of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad saying "That was wicked awesome!!"

This picture best shows Owens driving skill on Mr. Toad's wild ride. I think we should change it now to Mr. Owen's wild ride.

We met Mickey Mouse

And Minnie Mouse.

The kids went to jail. (you do not want to know what they did to get in there! Lets just say that Donald Duck has an alarm system!)

We then headed over to California Adventure

.

This is us by their version of the "Golden Gate Bridge"

It really is a great park. They have the best roller coaster, the California Screamin'. That one was Morgan and Mikayla's favorite Mine and Troy's too if I was being honest. We went on that a bunch of times. Owen's favorite ride is a "Wild Mouse" like roller coaster called Mulholland Madness. He went on that one at least 8 times.

Our favorite ride as a family was the Grizzly River Run. We got so wet but laughed the whole time. On one of our runs Troy laughed at Mikayla because she got soaked by a big wave of water, then only seconds later got drenched himself. Now that was funny.

At California Adventure we got to meet Lightning McQueen

And Mater.

All in all we had the best time at Disneyland and California Adventure.

The last two days of our trip we went to Universal Studios and Sea World. Both were lacking compared to Disneyland, but we still had a great time.

This is us by the universal globe

This is a picture of the Beluga Whale.

They really are beautiful. And they are enormous!! You really can't tell from this picture. This one kept bobbing his head out of the water. It was so funny to watch.

I also love the Manatee's! They were huge. We don't have any pictures though because we went to see the Manatee's just after we had been on Sea World's rapid ride which takes you (slowly I might add) under a water fall. Just after that the sun set and being the most wet of the group I was FREEZING!!! We didn't stay long after that.

We really had the best time and I am so excited (if we can save up again) to take Samuel when he is big enough to go on all the rides. Thanks again to Kara!!! Love ya sister!!

Troy's Big Adventure!

I am so proud of Troy today. On Tuesday they announced that Troy was named Employee of the Quater. Which is a big honor in his company. He was given the award because there was on particular trip that he went on that was supposed be just over the weekend. But it turned out that there were a ton of problems and he had stay for 7 days, so counting the 3 days that we was in the office he worked for 10 days straight. They were so impressed with his willingness to be dedicated and sacrifice to get the job done. (Sorry bragging moment please forgive, moving on) So as a result of this they reward the winners of employee of the quarter the opportunity to go on a bobsled run up at Olympic Park. He was soooo excited and had a blast. He said that it was the most exhilarating thing he has ever experienced. And that he would totally do it again. Here are the pictures of him and his coworkers getting ready to ride.

The Bobsleds being readied, Troy rode in the blue one of course.

The Bobsled up close. They will slide down the run on their own if they are kept upright.

Troy and his Co-Workers


Troy ready to ride, you can see his giant grin even through the helmet.

Congratulations again honey you deserve it!!!

(I deserve an award too, it was Mikayla's birthday that week. The absolute worst week to have him gone. It's ok though, I will have to get my prize some other time.)