san diego

after disneyland, we headed south to san diego 

with michael's family

we stopped on our way down at the san diego temple

 and then at a beach named la jolla 

where eleanor was not so sure about the sand in her toes

 it's a cool cove where sea lions lay on rocks

 and lots of people snorkle

 the next day we went to coronado beach 

eleanor was much more excited this time and was running ahead with the buckets

 hazel was excited, too

 michael made a sand castle and eleanor immediately sat on it 

 noah was loving it, too

 olive had me bury her legs so i turned her in to a mermaid

 and later michael buried her all the way

 i love how easy it is to take kids to the beach

they are so content to play in the sand all day

 a buried noah, michael and olive

and a happy hazel

 grandpa olson held on to eleanor for us 

we loved playing at the beach 

 do you see that tiny mexican flag? we didn't realize we'd be so close to mexico

we are so grateful for michael's parents

they put together this whole vacation

they took care of housing, disneyland, a rental van for us...everything! 

we are so grateful

it was so fun to see our kids play with their cousins

thank you grandma and grandpa olson!!

we made it home safely today and it feels so good 

to have the kids in their own beds after 9 days!!! 

disneyland (day three)

our third and final day at disneyland was so fun

we started out in mouse ears, of course

(funny story: michael, noah and hazel had mouse ears before we went from past gifts from grandparents so we planned on getting olive and eleanor some there but the price went up and was going to be close to $40 for them...so we passed)

 riding the morning train to toon town where the rides were kid friendly
and they got to meet merida, pluto, goofy, mickey and minnie

 mickey mouse

 goofy

  a churro!

 noah's very favorite ride was the toy story midway mania at california adventure

so we had to go a couple times

i'm not sure why he was pouting

hazel and olive were happy

 these two, too

  michael and his brother steven on the tram to go home for dinner

 we came back in the evening to hang out with my brother ryan

it was so awesome we happened to be at disneyland at the same time

so i wanted to go on at least one ride together to commemorate

my first trip and that he was there 

 we walked from california adventure to disneyland, 

had him take our obligatory photo in front of mickey

 then michael and the kids watched the fireworks (and loved them)
while ryan and i rode the matterhorn
and after that i watched the girls and chatted with ryan

 while michael took noah on some fun rides

like star tours, astro orbiters and buzz---just the two of them

 then we all met up and noah got to ride the tea cups with his cousins

and loved being with the big kids

all in all, it felt like our kids were a little young for disneyland

but they loved it and as tiring as it was, we loved it, too

day three was awesome

disneyland (day two)

 on day two we stayed at disneyland the whole day

we started with the peter pan ride which the kids loved
then noah tried to pull the sword out while the girls rode the carousel 

 then rode dumbo

 and space mountain 

hazel regretted riding it

 we got to see tiana

 and took a group photo wearing the shirts michael's mom made for all of us

pictured are michael's parents, his brother kyle, his brother steven with  his wife and 4 kids

and his cousin daryl with his daughter

the shirts definitely helped us spot each other

 michael and his dad took noah and hazel on splash mountain

while i let olive and eleanor nap in the stroller

 and we ate ice cream while we waited for the big parade

the kids loved the parade

 then we made the stroller hold all four kids while we walked home for the day

we didn't go back out that night because we were just too tired

disneyland

we started the first day at california adventure

we had so much fun with michael's family

and my brother ryan and his family there

 the cars ride was soooo fun!

 us with michael's parents in cars land

 eleanor was such a good baby the whole time

so easy going

 michael and avery (his cousin daryl's daughter)

hazel got cold feet so daryl took her off

avery didn't mind it at all

 noah and olive with mickey's teddy bear duffy

 noah and donald duck

 daryl was so nice and set up and paid for these girls to go to a princess lunch

i got to tag along, too

here they are with ariel

 with belle

 with cinderella (olive's favorite)

 aurora (hazel's favorite)

 and snow white

 they also got to see jessie and buzz 

 then we went to disneyland in the afternoon

we were excited! 

 these two are so cute

 then we took the kids back to the rental house

and went back without them that evening

and rode pirates, indiana jones, splash mountain..

it was super fun!