Spring Break: The Beach

We love the beach!  We were so excited to go a whole day there.  

 This is about as close to the water as Ryan got.  We were in California for 5 days and picked the hottest day to go to the beach.  It was still cold and windy.

 The wind and the cold can't keep these kids down though.  Gotta love Hayden exploring nasty seaweed.

 I love the beach but the sand is killer.  Ryan actually took a handful and put it in her mouth.  I had to hold her down and rinse it all out.

 Tyson and Taylor love jumping the waves.  It cracks me up because I would be out there for hours when I was a kid.  So fun!

 Hayden's favorite part was running and screaming every time a wave came.

 Jason is a lot braver than me and took the kids out.  I used the baby as an excuse to sit wrapped in a towel :)

 Taylor is Daddy's girl.  They were out in those waves forever.

 Sunbathing beauty.

 Jason and the kids decided to dig a humongous hole.

 And then they decided to put Tyson in it.  They laughed and laughed when he couldn't get out.

 We never remember which beach is good so I took a picture of the one we went to.  Newport had really close parking to the water.  It just makes everything easier when you are dragging all the junk you have to bring when you have kids.  I am also making myself a note not to bring any food to the beach.  I will leave it in the car and hopefully not have sand in our sandwiches again.  So gross!

 We walked along the pier to dry off a bit before heading to the hotel for shower time.

Such a fun day with this beach bum crew :)

Spring Break Disney

We went to California for Spring Break this year.  We were so surprised with how great the crowds were on Sunday.  Not busy at all!  We walked into Disney California and got pictures with characters and fast passes for Radiator Springs. 

 Our first ride of the day was Toy Story.  It is a family favorite.

 Most of the time Tyson refuses to ride the Merry go round but on this occasion he relented.

 Ryan & Hayden love the Merry go round and could be on it all day.

 Tyson begged and begged to go on the swinging gondola.  Taylor has to do everything Tyson does so off the 3 of us went while Jason took the 2 girls and Darrell on the non-swinging ride.

 Everything started fine and then the swinging started.  I have to say, we have been to Disneyland several times this year, we have been on the swinging gondolas several times also, the kid is a nut job.

 He was almost in tears and would not stop screaming so I of course took pictures of it.  I'm that nice of a Mom :)

 Just crazy!

 For the Easter holiday the parks hid character eggs everywhere.  You had to buy a map that came with stickers to put on the places that you found the hidden eggs.  So much fun!  The eggs were usually high up on something and kind of went along with the area you were in.

 We like to see the Talking to Crush show.  It never fails that Crush always asks to talk to Hayden.  They bring the mic over to her and no one can ever understand what she says.  3 times it's happened now!  I now sit on the floor with the kids so I can translate.

 We went down in the villains grotto for the first time.  They had this fun interactive game to see what villain you are like.

 We went back to our favorite Toy Story ride.  I can't wait till Ryan can sit by herself.  She makes the ride a little difficult.

 We tried the gondolas again and can you believe Tyson asked for the swinging ones?  I emphatically vetoed that!  We rode the still fun non-swinging one.

 We were winding down our day so we decided to head over to the raging rapids ride.  I hate going backwards!

 We got soaked!!

Off to the hotel to change clothes and go to bed.

April 12x12

We had a crazy busy day this month on the 12th.  (Thanks for the reminder text Suzie!)  

We are party animals and can't pass up an opportunity for fun so on our way out of town for the week we decided to go to Bass Pro Shop.  They were having their annual pictures with the bunny and Easter egg hunt.  We got there right at 11am and were pretty surprised how quick we got to see the bunny.  Ryan was not happy being told she couldn't cut in line to see the bunny.

 Aren't they adorable?  I am glad they aren't afraid and freak out.

 The crazy part was pictures started at 11am but the hunt didn't start till 2pm.  We hopped over to Taco Time/Subway/Burger King and had lunch.  And yes, we bought something at all three of those places.  Gotta love a big family who all love different things.  I can't complain though, they are all good eaters :)  Tyson & Taylor are sharing their cookies with Ryan.  Ryan is such a punk and will pick a "favorite" out of those two for the day and be totally rude to the other.  She usually picks Tyson which breaks Taylor's heart.  Ryan is not taking the cookies because Taylor is offering it too instead of just Tyson.  She is probably the meanest baby I've ever met.

 Then it was back to Bass Pro Shop for a little craft time.  They had ceramic eggs that the kids colored with markers.

 We still had down time before the hunt began so the kids explored the kid area.  Here are our cowgirls.

 We even found a few friends that came out for the fun.  I love all the eggs hidden in the store merchandise it's so funny.

 Two crazy boys.  They kept cracking each other up by finding eggs and then re-hiding them in harder places.  Sorry staff at Bass Pro Shop.  They are going to be finding eggs for months.

 Ryan had her own personal bag holder while she hunted.

 Hayden is always fashionable, even while hunting eggs.

 After all the egg fun it was off to California.  Ryan thankfully slept most of the drive.  Thank you Bass Pro Shop!

 Here is my car drive activity.  I get sick now when I read in the car but I can still cross stitch just fine.  Go figure :)  This is Ryan's baby blanket, I may get it done for her daughter. Maybe.

 We survived the crazy day and arrived at one of our favorite places to stay, the old Travel-lodge.  With Darrell we always get 2 rooms, that guy can snore to wake the dead.  The only problem is he has no short term memory and can't be in a room alone.  He will open the door and just roam like crazy if left to his own devices.  Ryan, Jason, & Darrell had this room and me and the 3 kids had the other.

Crazy busy day! But super fun :)