Surprise!

Surprise #1 - The girls both got invited to birthday parties at the same time so Ansen and I scrambled like mad people to pack the car for a 9 day vacation before they got home.  They guessed we were going camping . . .  poor kids don't know their parents very well do they?  So we told them we were taking a break and going to Vegas to see  my cousin, Lyndsey and her family.  Everyone was thrilled!

My cousin Justin and his family were also there visiting so it was a full, fun house!  Here's Lyndsey and my kids together all looking pretty scrappy, but happy. 

Surprise #2 - We all had fun at Lyndsey's house so the trip seemed worth it . . . but who really wants to go home so soon?!  We should head to Disneyland!  They were shocked.  Olivia cried because she was worried about her stuffed animals and homework, but Ad and Drew were thrilled.  Liv came around after it settled in and we were on our way!

Surprise #3 - After we got to Newport Beach we hit up Costco and "ran into" Banna, Branda, Lisa and Matt. Ahhhh!  So exciting!

We'd all been driving for quite some time at this point with all the Vegas home to CA traffic.

And finally DISNEYLAND!

Here's a tip . . . a sucker cost $2.25 and will last pretty much the whole day.  We figured that out after buying several "tall snacks" (churros) for Drew.

I think that most of us decided that Toy Story was our favorite and we rode it again and again . . . and again.   

It probably should be embarrassing, but we were so into it that Ansen perfected a technique and got a score of 166,700. 

He also figured out the Buzz Lightyear ride with a high score of 255,000 . . . we rode that ride again and again and again too. 

Drew chose this as his souvenir, but later regretted it when he found an Ariel doll set. 

Ansen's favorite . . . the Tiki Room and Dole Pineapple Whip.

We're not really the wait-in-a-line-to-meet-a-character-and-get-an-autograph kind of parents, but we literally happened upon so many line less characters it was unreal.  We'd sit and they would literally walk right over to us, say hi and the line would form.  So we met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Buzz, Woody, Jessie, Burt (from Mary Poppins), and Mr. Incredible, took a picture and kept on walkin'.