California Adventure, March 10th 2009

Last week we had the opportunity to go to California with most of the Heileson family to visit Madeline, Brytton and Evie. We had so much fun. We had the chance to go to Disneyland and California adventure, and Huntington beach. It was such a blast. I have separated the trip based on the big days. I took so many pictures and so I wanted to show them all based on the days that they were taken. The weather while we were in California was perfect. It was warm enough but not too hot. The lines were not the long either. We actually had it really good because of Jacob. We were able to get a handicap pass for Jacob that took him on a lot of the rides right up to the front of them. If the ride was not wheel chair accessible the whole time you took the pass up to the front of the line. We never waited more than 10 minutes when we could use it. It was so nice. We were able to get 6 of us on with the pass. We also had Madeline and Brytton who were so awesome about watching the smaller kids so we could ride the rides. They have season passes to the parks and so they have been many times and they wanted us to ride all the rides that we wanted to. It was so nice.

Walking to the parks.

Jacob and Kaelen in the stroller. That stroller saved us because we used it all the time. Not for Kaelen though but for all the other kids and Jacob.

Rachel in line for Toy Story Mania. It was a really fun ride. It was 3D and so it made it really fun.

The kids waiting to watch "It's Tough Being a Bug." I wish that I had pictures of the kids after wards. Hallie and Jacob hated it and screamed and cried during the show. They absolutely hated it. It was kind of funny.

Rachel and Aunt Rachael in line for California Screamin. It was an amazing roller coaster that goes upside down. Rachel LOVED it. I was so proud of her.

Picture of us on California Screamin. I love Rachel's face. She looks pretty scared.

Jacob in line for Grizzly River Run. The kids LOVED it. They loved getting wet.

Jakson, Rachel and Hallie on Grizzly River Run.

Rachael and Jacob on Grizzly river run.

Kids so excited about the ride so far.

I love the kids faces. They were about to go down a waterfall.

I love this picture of Gloria. I had to post it. Angie took it just as they were heading down the waterfall. I love her screaming.

Kaelen and Enoch.

Grandpa Heileson and Kaelen.

Kaelen on Monster Inc. ride. He loves the rides that he could go on. He would sit watching everything and would have the biggest eyes. I loved the Kaelen could go on tons of rides with us.

Elasta Girl. She was tall.

Handy Manny.

We tried to go on Tower of Terror but the three kids totally freaked out at the introduction of the ride and so I took them off the ride and we ran into goofy. The kids were extastic to see him. Jacob told goofy all about being scared to go on it. Goofy told him that he was afraid to ride on it too. That made Jacob feel a little better because even after we got off the ride he was crying that Dad was on the ride right then. The introduction to the ride really scared him.

Rachel and Hallie watching the Pixtar Parade. Enoch and I didn't watch it because we were riding Tower of Terror at the time. The kids really loved it though.

We couldn't leave without getting a picture of Rachel in front of the "R". They have the word CALIFORNIA spelled out. It is really cool.

Rachel, Hallie and Jakson infront of the "R".

Disneyland

Wow what to say about Disneyland. We LOVED it. The kids loved almost all of the rides especially Splash Mountain. They were able to ride it 5 times and even one time there were no lines for it so they got to stay in the log and ride it again. The only ride that was not liked very much was the new ride where the submarines are located. It is the Finding Nemo ride. It was really cute but Jacob hated being in the submarine under the water. He cried and kept saying that he wanted to get out. It was pretty funny. I was amazed that he cried on this ride that Madeline's little girl Evie (who is 2) loves. He didn't even cry at the Haunted Mansion. I think that helped though because we told him before that it was all fake. So when we were in the elevator part at the beginning and his cousin started to cry he kept saying don't worry it's fake. I guess that he did cry too at the end of Space Mountain. I think that he was a little freaked out by it but he said that he felt sick. That was why he cried. The best picture though is from Space Mountain. You'll have to look at it. We laugh so hard every time we look at it.

Jacob rode every ride that we could ride except Indiana Jones. He was really mad that he couldn't ride it. He loved the Star Wars ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Light Year, hmm every one but the two that he cried on.

It was so fun to watch our kids be so excited about the rides. They had so much fun. We also watched the fireworks show that was awesome. They did fireworks and music to all of the big rides in the park. They were amazing. And then of course Tinker Bell flew to the castle in the sky during the fireworks. (Not a job for those afraid of heights)

The weather at Disneyland too was a little cooler than at California Adventure. It would cloudy at times and then the sun would come out and we would be warm again. We did wear shorts though and sweaters most of the day.

While we were in California Kaelen got really sick. It started Tuesday. He had a high fever the whole time we were there and he would cry all night. I was so glad to have my back pack because i carried him in the most of the time. He would sleep in that and if I was riding a ride he would sleep on somebodies shoulder. I felt so bad for him. I was surprised though at how happy he was considering how sick he was. Well from the lack of sleep for Enoch and I we both ended up getting colds. I got mine while in California and Enoch got his after we got back. When we got back to Idaho Falls I took Kaelen to the doctors and he had an ear infection. No wonder he cried all the time and no wonder Tylenol would only help so much. Poor baby. He got on a prescription though and is great now.

Yahoo we get to go to Disneyland. Kaelen had just learned to lift his arms up and do "yahoo". It is the cutest thing. He will even now make a noise that sounds like "yahoo." He does it all the time.

Our family in front of the Castle at Disneyland.

Getting on the submarines for the "Finding Nemo" ride. (Remember the submarines family)

Jacob crying on the Finding Nemo ride. He isn't very happy

This is the all time best picture. I love Jacob's face. If you look at all of our faces and then his it is so funny. We love looking at this. We laugh so hard all the time. Rachel looks totally freaked out in this picture too.

Enoch and Jacob on the "Autotopia." Jacob was too afraid to drive.

Rachel and Angelene on Autotopia. She did drive and she was crazy.

This is a video of Rachel driving the car. Enoch and Jacob are behind us. At one point the camera goes crazy because I was turned around filming and Rachel jerked us around a corner and I fell into the seat. She really was a crazy driver.

The Buss light Year ride.

Mattahorn in the background.

My kids in jail. Doesn't this picture look familiar to the Fisher family.

Jacob is so cute in this video. I love his reaction to the door.

Our family with Mickey.

The family ran off to go on some rides and Rachel and I hung around to get a picture with Minnie. Rachel looks so cute in this picture.

Riding the Carousel.

Mom and Kaelen riding the carousel.

Enoch and Kaelen cuddling together.

Riding Splash Mountain. This was actually taken just after we went down the big waterfall.

Splash Mountain.

Jacob very excited to go down the waterfall. We were just heading up the hill to go down.

The best picture ever. Enoch is faking it. He screamed like that for all the pictures. He is really not that scared. Rachael Blackburn and Gregorie are riding it for their first times. Rachael looks so excited and Gregorie looks terrified. She looks like she's about to cry. Man I just love this picture.

Getting ready to head on to Pirates of the Caribbean. This is the only picture from it. We loved the ride. It is totally different now. The waterfalls are in different places and Jack Sparrow is in it now. Really cool.

The Haunted Mansion.

Rachel in front of the Castle at night. She and Jacob both got hats. Rachel got Mickey ears and Jacob got a baseball cap that he could wear on all the time.

In front of Mickey at the entrance to Disneyland.

Rachel and Jacob together.

We had the best time and we miss it already. If we could go back next week we would. We LOVED it all.

Huntington Beach

On March 12th we went to Huntington Beach. It was a pretty windy and cold day ( in the high 50's, maybe even warmer. brrr :) ) but it did not stop the kids from getting their clothes wet. Kaelen loved his first time at the beach. He totally loved playing in the sand. I was impressed until he grabbed a huge chunk of sand and put it in his mouth. Blahh. The kids loved collecting shells, playing in the water with their clothes and running around.

I love the look on Kaelen's face as he touches the sand with his feet.

Kaelen walking on the beach.

Jacob all wet from the waves.

Kaelen playing in the sand.



Cute video of Kaelen in the sand.

Rachel, Jacob, Hallie, Collin and Ella looking for sea shells.

Angelene, Enoch and Kaelen.

I really like this picture of Rachel. I think that it's a cool picture.

Rachel looking so pretty on the beach.

Collin, Hallie, Ella ad Jacob in the water.

I thought that this was a nice picture of Enoch.

Rachel and Jakson collecting shells.