Summer Vacation Week 3 (part 1)

Thanks to Carrie and family for their very generous donation today!

Time for the start of week 3 and back to San Diego for more fun in the sun. Our third week was spent with Grandpa, Nana, and the Tams. We stayed at this INCREDIBLE home on Mission Bay...Grandpa and Nana's gift to us! Thank you very much!!

This was our view the first night. Sea World is located just on the other side of the bay so every night, we were treated to their firework show.

And we woke up to this beach. Yes please!

Matt and I decided to go down to the rental place and get a few paddle boards.

Time to head into San Diego.

We headed down to Coronado for some beach time, lunch, and a nice family style bike ride.

The next day we headed back to Lego Land. For those of you keeping track, this was our third time back...and no, it did not get old! This place is huge and had plenty to keep both the kids and adults happy.

The girls with their new bffs, Drew and Addie. I should pause to mention Addie right now. She is in the hospital recovering after another very difficult surgery. Addison (and all of the family) is certainly in our thoughts and prayers right now. Say a prayer for a quick and full recovery. We love you Tams! Stay strong!!

The girls already had their drivers licenses from our previous trip. They were anxious to show off their skills. I think Drew was doing laps around them though. I know they still had a blast.

Katy concentrating with her tongue out. Not sure where she gets that....

Self family portrait.

Thanks again Carrie and family for the donation!! We are at 10%! Keep it coming!

Summer Vacation Week 2 (part 3)

A 10pm donation from an anonymous person = blog post. Thanks for keeping us going.

Yep - back to the summer vacation pictures. Anybody bored of these yet? This is why it's taken me so long to post...a LOT of pictures to go through. Definitely worth posting...just very time consuming.

So we pick up our vacation at Disneyland. We just finished meeting Rapunzel and Flynn...just as the sun was finally coming out.

The rest of the day was spent going from ride to ride and meeting as many princesses as possible!

Thumbs up and curls...a good thing.

So we had heard of this relatively new attraction called the Princess Fantasy Faire. As a father, I had my doubts but this was pretty cool. If I was a little girl, I would have been in heaven...and it was obvious my girls were.

So Aunt Christin took another one for the team and stood in line to meet the princesses while we went into the theater to see what was going on. It quickly became apparent this was a good stop. Initially, the girls were a little unsure.

But then the princess parade began.

...and I think the girls liked it.

Total disbelief.

Then the princesses came out to interact with the kids. Again, the girls got a little shy.

So after the theater experience, we joined Christin back in line. This picture was strategic because I wanted to capture the d-bag that was standing behind us. ...and I think he knew what I was doing. Christin had a little run-in while holding our spot.

Time to meet some more princesses! Ariel again..

Belle.

Tiana from the Frog Princess.

Second half of the day, we went over to Disney California Adventure Park (I think that's what it's called). It has more of a grown-up theme if you haven't been there. Christin had set up a lunch with the princesses which turned out to be another top notch experience. We got this great shot of Lisa and I right before we went in to eat.

The girls anxiously waiting for another parade of princesses.

Let the parade begin!! And...guess who was in the booth right next to us? The triplets we met earlier in the day!

Snow White.

Not sure which princess this is....

Cinderella. Notice how Alyssa crown had just fallen over her eyes.

Cinderella thought it was funny.

Big hugs from everyone.

Sleeping Beauty.

Belle made the trip with us too.

My cousin who lives nearby came out and we spent most of the afternoon hanging out with him and his family.

I think all of the shyness had disappeared until we met Mr. Incredible. Suddenly the girls wouldn't go near him. Kind of funny to see them hiding behind Lisa.

Thanks Walt for having an amazing vision.

As it was getting later, we toured Sleeping Beauty's castle, had dinner, took on a few more rides and then positioned ourselves for the fireworks.

Awesome...

So the fireworks go off at 9:30 (I think). The girls are usually in bed between 8 and 8:30 every night so we knew we were already pushing our luck but it was pretty much the best day ever so we went all out. After the fireworks were over, there was a massive stampede towards the parking garage but Christin knew better. She suggested we wait it out and head back IN toward the rides and have a little more fun before heading out. She was right! While we knew the girls were tired, they still had their Disney game face on!

I'm thinking everybody had a good day.

To finish up the story, we stood in line for about 20 minutes for Peter Pan and then started to head back toward the tram to get us to the garage. I think the girls were asleep within a minute of getting off the ride. We had to turn in our strollers which meant Lisa and I had to carry the girls all the way back. Problem was that we had promised the girls on the way out that they could choose one thing at the store. Nothing we could do would wake them up! So I ended up carrying both girls while Lisa picked something out. I finally gave up holding them and sat down on the ground outside the store. Both girls were laying on the concrete with their heads in my lap...dead asleep. We made it back home, got the girls in bed, and they never moved a muscle.

I mentioned in an earlier post how each day the girls got to their breaking point and would have a meltdown. This was the only day (and by far the longest) that never happened. The girls were in heaven ALL day long! It was truly a phenomenal day and really made me a believer in the magic of Disney.

Happy Easter

Thank you Mary-Beth and Mike for your donations today!!

I wouldn't say we are on a roll yet but we are certainly making progress! If I haven't mentioned it before, click on the link to the right if you'd like to donate. We are going to need every penny this year to make it to our goal.

We had an awesome Easter Sunday! We went to church this morning with our friends which was really special. The girls were as cute as ever and...Lisa and I cleaned up pretty nice too! Unfortunately no pictures of us...but here are a few of the girls.

So an afternoon of egg decorating and The Masters later, we went over to some very close friends house for an Easter dinner. Again, it was a very special day. Several highlights from today but one I just happened to capture on video. Apparently Katy has never really been exposed to a Jack in the Box...until now. Funny how much entertainment this is for a 5 year old! Go ahead...try to watch this and not laugh! I dare you.

Thanks again for the donations Mary-Beth and Mike! I expect big things this week!!