After the Blackout

No, I'm not referring to the power outage we experienced a few weeks ago that affected millions of homes in Arizona, Southern California and Mexico for about 12 hours. I know lots of people have written about that experience and what they learned from it. I am not one of those people; I'm referring to a much longer blackout...the summer blackout days at Disneyland on our annual passports!  (What does this say about me and my priorities? I'm not sure I want to know.)

We were blocked out for most of June, all of July, almost to the end of August. Torture, if you ask Cailyn. (What's that website? First World Problems or something? Yeah, add us onto that one, right at the top of the list.)

Anyway, Casey and I took the kiddos up for a day the first chance we got after we were unblocked. Which just happened to be the same day that I had a flight out of LAX to go up to my friend Lindsey's wedding in Washington. So, I took the girls up, stayed for a few hours, and then abandoned Casey with five kids so I could catch my flight. By the way, this was about two weeks after she took my kids just about every day for a week, including a day with all 5 kids at Legoland by herself so I could pack for our move. I pretty much owe her my life.

So, here's pictures from the first few hours that I was there (:

Goofy was the first one we saw when we walked in the park; notice, Cailyn is showing him her Ariel.

Sweet Jack-eroo

The Mickey Mouse Club: Carter, Jack, Lainey, Rylee, Cailyn

This is my first real photoshop project! I had to merge two pics together so that you could read all the names on the hats. It's not perfect, but I'm pretty darn proud of myself (:

Carter loves Cailyn - such a sweet kid! What other 10 year old boy would hold a sassy 2 year old every chance he gets?

That was a month ago...so we're about due for another visit! We'll head up later this month to check out the Halloween decorations. It's a rough life living in Southern California.

Before the Blackout

The girls and I made one last trip up to Disneyland before our annual passes were blocked out for the summer. As we were getting ready, Rylee came across some lipstick

One of our main objectives on this trip was to go on the new Little Mermaid ride in California Adventure. The girls consulted the map to find it.We waited in line for almost 1.5 hours, but it was well worth the wait - the girls were thrilled!Then we met up with the Starnes clan. Love these kiddos.

Carter and Cailyn have a cute little friendship. He's such a sweetie, and she adores him!Laine and CaseyI got the girls Minnie hats with their names on the back, which I'd been meaning to do for a while.Me and Casey at the end of the day. So glad we've become friends!

Disneyland

For Ava's 5th birthday (how is she already 5?) she got a Rapunzel dress...

...and a day at Disneyland!

We started the day off having breakfast with Minnie and friends

After we ate, Dumbo was one of our first stops, of course!And then it was off to wait in line to see Rapunzel! Cailyn loved seeing her hair wrapping around the tower while we waited.

(who needs a prince when you have Grandpa to love?)

For some reason that I have yet to figure out, the merry-go-round is always a favorite at Disneyland!

I love that Rylee and Ava love each other so much.Riding "Small World"

Teacups

The parade was magical. Some favorites were the princesses,

Captain Hook (Cailyn still talks about how he's nice at Disneyland),

and...well, I'm not really sure what these are...human pinatas?

I have to document Rylee's favorite "pink jewel shoes" that she wears everywhere she goes and has worn into the ground.Apparently these rockets weren't designed to hold two middle aged people...but they sure were cute trying to make it work!

Grandma let each girl choose a stuffed animal:

Ava chose Bambi,Cailyn chose Ariel,and Rylee chose Minnie.Such a fun day!