DAY 8 - It was already Saturday again! We had one day of passes left for Disneyland and an early morning pass. We had not planned on going on a Saturday but it was actually one of the slowest days we were there. We went in an hour early with our morning pass to Disneyland and hit all the Fantasy Land rides again. We finally got to ride on Dumbo the Flying Elephant and Alice in Wonderland. We hit the Autopia ride again and the Finding Nemo submarines.
We let the kids hit all their favorite rides again. In Disneyland we went on the Indiana Jones ride finally. The kids went on the Tarzan treehouse. We went on Big Thunder Railroad again. Ava & I went to the Haunted Mansion which was decorated for Christmas - so the Nightmare before Christmas. We also went to Star Tours & Space Mountain. In California Adventure we went on Soaring Around the World, the Incredicoaster, Toy Story Mania, and Grizzly River Rapids. Of course, the time I went on it we got soaked/drenched again! We saw a few new friends this day that we hadn't seen before: Rabbit and the Beast. We also saw Buzz Lightyear while we were getting on the Toy Story ride, but when we came out he was gone!
Of course we had to hit a family favorite - Splash Mountain - again! We love this ride. We were already drenched from the Grizzly ride so we didn't think we could get any wetter. But we were wrong. Kinsley got drenched in the front seat.
By early afternoon we had ridden all our favorite rides again so we decided to go back to the condo for some swimming. It was a pretty hot day and we couldn't ride any MaxPass rides until later that night. We also wanted to stay out late and watch the fireworks so we thought it would be fun to take a break from the parks. It was really fun to go swimming for awhile in the hot afternoon sun. With swimming almost everyday, the kids had gotten pretty good at some tricks. Ava finally perfected her handstands. Dallin thought he perfected his diving. Which just meant jumping up and then belly flopping.
Kinsley was a little fish everytime she got in the pool. She wanted her dad to throw her up and we got some funny pictures. Most of the time she would belly flop but she just came back for more.
Kasen and Dallin wanted to do the same thing as Kinsley. Kasen kept saying, "Dad pick a number and if I guess it then throw me." So he'd say a number and Jed would throw him. He was just amazed at himself that he kept picking the exact number Jed was thinking. He was dead serious too about how amazing he was for always picking the right number. Oh boy.
Lots of fun. The kids decided to teach themselves how to "backwards dive". They are always thinking up some new game. I told them that's how you go into the water when you scuba dive. They said, "There's no way that's true mom we just made it up." They have a little too much of their dad in them I think. :)
After swimming and a little nap we headed back over to Downtown Disney. We finally stopped at the lego store. Kinsley had been dying to go there all week and we were always too tired at night. It had some really cool big displays made out of legos. We told the kids they could each get one souvenir from the park so they had been scouting things out all week. Kinsley ended up getting a stuffed animal the day before. Ava and Kasen decided on our last day to get the character drawings of themselves. Kasen wanted to be drawn as a basketball player for the Warriors schooling Kevin Durant. Ava wanted to be drawn scuba diving with Finding Nemo characters. It's crazy that they can draw these pictures and color them in about 10 minutes. Ava couldn't stop giggling the whole time so she didn't love how squinty her eyes turned out but it has sparked an interest in her to learn how to draw character people.
We had Fast passes for Cars again. This is such a fun ride! This and Splash Mountain were in everyone's top 5 favorite rides lists. Then the last ride of the night (and vacation) was Guardians of the Galaxy for Ava and I. They do something different with the ride after dark so we had to wait a little bit longer. The ride was awesome, but we ended up missing the fireworks. We were going to stay for the water show, but couldn't get close enough to see the water and the kids were sooo tired. It was about 11 pm so we decided to say goodbye to Disney and head home. We had such a fun time! If we ever go back I think we will do two days instead of four though. Three would be perfect, but you would have to do park hopper passes so next time (fingers crossed we can come back when Dallin is tall enough for all the rides) we will do two days - one day in each park. It really was such a fun time for everyone - probably Jed the least - but he was such a good sport and so happy everyday. I'm so glad we were able to go. If I had unlimited funds I would go to Disneyland every year!
DAY 9 -
Sunday we drove the entire way home. These were a few extra pictures taken during the week. The kids (especially Dallin and Kinsley) loved seeing the different displays in the condo lobby changed. Ava loved a giant picture of the beach we passed on the way to the elevator. Our Idaho beach girl.
We left pretty early to beat traffic and get on our way. It was a long drive, but the kids were all so tired from such a fun and busy week there was a lot of sleeping. Even Jed slept and let me drive which rarely happens so you know he was tired too! We made it home safely and even though we had a great vacation everyone was happy to be home and sleep in their own beds and get back into a routine again. As much as we would never want to live in California, we sure do think it's a great place for family trips!
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