We only stayed a couple of hours, as Tim had made a date to go visit his aunt and uncle- it was just about the right amount of time, as Tim burned a bit. You white people, I swear!
Anyway- the kids LOVED playing in the sand. Hailey is a bit afraid of water so she wasn’t real enthused about that. Keegan was still pretty sick and it was a bit cool out- he wanted to play in the water but we didn’t let him do that for too long.
But the sand? A sure hit for both of them.
Monday we did Disneyland. We picked a fairly good day, the lines weren’t too long. Most of the rides had less than 10 minutes wait. The longest line we stood in, by far, was to the Princess Faire. Now this is a new attraction to me. Instead of just wandering around the park, the princesses all go into this little room and you wait in line and you get to see 3 randomly selected princesses. They take turns, so you never know who you’re going to get really til you get in there. So there we stood. For one hour. They oh-so-conveniently have a little shop right there beside the line and Hailey talked Grandpa into taking her over to have her face painted.
And then it was our turn. The first princess was Mulan. Hailey looked at her with a confused expression, having never seen Mulan, and trotted right past. We came to the next princess and Hailey just about wet herself. My dad videotaped this, I will be getting a copy as soon as possible. I think Hailey may have peaked at three and a half years old. She saw Cinderella, started jumping up and down, bounced for a full 3 minutes while Cinderella took pictures with the girls in front of us in line, and then once it was her turn, Hailey RAN to Cinderella and threw herself in to her arms.
It was the best moment of Hailey’s life, I think.
She was so excited that she was pretty much overwhelmed. She wouldn’t look up and she talked very quietly to Cinderella for quite a while. When we were about to leave, Cinderella took Hailey over and picked a (fake) flower off the bush there behind her and gave it to Hailey. Hailey was in awe. (Unfortunately, the breeze picked up her flower while Hailey slept later in her stroller. We are all very upset about that.)
Snow White was the third princess. They look like they’re good pals there, but the first thing Hailey said to Snow White after this hug was “Hi, my name is Hailey and I am three years old. I really love Cinderella!” Poor Snow White. Second-rate.
The kids had a great time at Disneyland and they both did wonderfully on the rides. Hailey was afraid of the Pirates for the first few minutes but she got over it and thought it was neat for the rest of the ride. Keegan really really loved the Small World ride. He kept shouting “WOW!!!” and pointing at things.
Tuesday, we went to the peir at Newport Beach and then along the little boardwalk at Balboa Beach. It was really a beautiful day, all clear and sunny.
There’s a ferris wheel and carousel at Balboa, Hailey thought they were cool.
But she really really loved the trampoline.
Higher!
Higher!!!!
Whew that was tiring, let’s go get some ice cream. Keegan was lacking in patience by this point, having watched his sister go on the trampoline but not having been able to go on himself.
Oh, all better!
After that, we walked up and down the boardwalk a little bit more, and then out Balboa pier. Then we drove back to Garden Grove and went to dinner with my grandpa and his wife, and then we went over to visit my great-grandma. The dude in the middle is my great-uncle. My grandpa was supposed to come over but didn’t for whatever reason so we never got to get a picture of all the generations together. I am a bit sad about that.
That was a long, long day. Especially after a long day at Disneyland the day before. A lot of walking and sunshine both days… I guess it’s a sign that I am getting old that I was actually ready for vacation to be over.
So Wednesday, all day, we rode home. The good thing about the vacation being exhausting was that both kids slept most of the day in the car- which is much preferable to screaming.
Now Tim is at work (night shifts), there is much laundry to be done, things to be put away, lots of unpacking, dishes are stacking up, and I feel fat and bloated from eating like a total heiffer the whole time and not having worked out for a good two weeks thanks to illness. Back to the grind. Just maybe after a little nap.
