Flying High

We have a little tradition for fall break. We like to leave town. This year we decided to be adventurous and fly to California. I was very excited to avoid the 6 hour drive with our toddler who refuses to nap in the car and a little wary of the unknown of flying with 3 children in tow. Although I have traveled by airplane many times, it was a new experience to fly with kids.

Pros:

pre-boarding

TSA lets you bring more varieties of liquids

it's super cute when the toddler yells "Ready.... Go!"

as the plane is taking off

Cons:

retying everyone's shoes after passing through security

hauling a car seat through the airport

Since our main destination was Disneyland, we flew into Orange County. After stopping to eat at Big Belly Deli (which we highly recommend), we hit the sand on Huntington Beach.

The weather was crisp,

but that didn't stop my crew from enjoying the beach.

After getting our fill of the ocean,

we enjoyed the next 2 days at the happiest place on earth.

I am still astonished that we managed to capture this picture of the 3 kids in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle without anyone else in it! Thankfully, there are some perks to having kids that wake up at the crack of dawn. (Although Rebekah's option of waking up at 2 am on the first morning was a bit overboard.)

It turns out that all 3 of my kids are adrenaline junkies just like their mom. They love the fast-paced attractions and are quite brave about trying new rides. Rebekah tried to jump ship on both "It's a small world" and "Pirates" because the boat ride was not nearly speedy enough.

Did I forget to mention that we were lucky enough to have Ryan's mom come with us on the adventure? It was the first time that my kids have been on vacation with Grandma and it was quite a treat.

Oddly enough, we also found our cousins at Disneyland! We had no idea they were traveling from Arizona and coincidentally we were at the park on the same 2 days. What are the chances? It was great to enjoy some rides with them and to settle in to see the Parade/Street Party with lots of music and dancing.

All of the kids loved the party atmosphere. Meagan and Rosalie joined the dancers a couple of times and Rebekah clapped in beat with the music.

Later that night, after our kids were sound asleep, we heard the fireworks begin. We had a great view from our balcony. There was a low cloud cover and it was amazing to see the entire sky change color as the fireworks lit up the sky.

*Disclaimer: I accidentally brought my broken lens on the trip (tip: toddlers and cameras do not mix) -- so all the pictures were manually focused on the fly. Armed with that knowledge they actually look pretty good!