Disneyland!

Better late than never...We had an awesome summer vacation! The Barnes' took the whole family (except Curt's brother/wife who couldn't come) to Disneyland in August! Seriously, so fun! I loved Disneyland before kids, but it was so magical with our little girls. We stayed in a hotel right across the street, which was so nice! We got to CA on Saturday, ate lunch at In n' Out, shopped a little, went out to dinner and relaxed. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday were our Disneyland days. We pretty much opened the park, and closed it up (except the first night), and loved every minute! 

Lovin the airplane ride! She had fun watching movies on the itouch and listening with her new Minnie Mouse headphones! 

Monday morning Brooklyn and Kylee got to go to the Bippity Boppity Boutique, where they got their hair, nails and makeup done. Brooke had been SO excited about these, and had being doing chores to save money for it for months. (And she did an awesome job at her chores, for the record!) They were so adorable in their dresses that nana made, all prettied up! And they loved it. Then it was time for some rides. Brooke is quite timid when it comes to "scary" things, so we had some tears, some kicking and screaming, but we made her go anyways (P.S. Snow White's "Scary" Adventure should not have been so traumatic..haha). But when we went on Dumbo (all five or so times), she was in heaven! She loved the teacups, the Ferris Wheel, meeting the characters, and especially having lunch with the Princesses. We would totally do that again. It was SO fun! Brooke was so full of energy, I was amazed! Curt took Bryn home each day for a nap, and 2 of the 3 days, Brooke and I stayed and rode rides and had fun. She was in such a good mood the whole time, no whining and was in awe at everything around her. She never got impatient waiting in lines and was so excited and happy the whole trip. She is seriously so much fun to have around. She's easy going, fun loving and genuinely is excited about pretty much everything. We tricked her into going on Radiator Racers in Cars Land..there was no crying, but there was also no way we could talk her into going a second time, haha. Tuesday wasn't exactly ideal as Curtis got sick (like throwing up super nauseous sick), so he missed out on the 2nd half of the day, but the rest of us had fun (even though we wished he were there). Nana and Papa helped a ton with the girls (we had two strollers, so I couldn't have done it without them), and we had fun riding rides and watching the fireworks.

On Wednesday, our "relax" day, we went to Huntington Beach. We were so excited to lay on the beach and chill, but we didn't anticipate that it might be windy. Like really windy! So after a few minutes of playing in the water, and building a sand castle, we decided being chilly and pelted by sand wasn't our idea of a relaxing time. So we packed up and walked around some shops and had lunch. Not the beautiful day at the beach we had anticipated, but memorable nonetheless! Bryn loved the ocean and Brooke had fun doing sand angels, so what little time we did spend at the beach was fun. 

Thursday was our last Disneyland day and we lived it up. We hit up all Brooke's favorite rides, filled up her autograph books by meeting lots of characters, and sweated in the 97 degree weather. It was HOT! But we were so busy having fun we didn't really notice (if it weren't for iphones, I wouldn't have guessed it was THAT hot!) We made sure everyone was drinking lots. I haven't mentioned Bryn much. That's because she mostly just hung out in the stroller. One day we even forgot to bring her shoes into the park so really didn't walk around at all, poor girl. She was such a trooper, and had fun looking at all the fun things going on around her. Next time we go (not for a while I'm sure), she'll be able to enjoy more of the experience. For being a very busy little girl, she sure was an angel and {mostly} liked the rides she was able to go on. She was most definitely NOT a fan of characters though..it's crazy how young kids learn to be afraid of things..almost innate. She wanted nothing to do them, especially Chip and Dale. The firework show on the last night was bittersweet. Bitter because the magic was coming to an end, but sweet because of all the memories made. I might have cried a little during the firework show :) We are so grateful for Nana and Papa for the wonderful trip. Brooke talks about it all the time, and loves looking at the pins she traded (one of her favorite things to do at Disneyland), and even asked one morning after she woke up "What are we doing today? Going to Disneyland?" Oh how we wish we could :) 

Friday we took the girls to Build-a-Bear in Downtown Disney to make a bear for a souvenir. Guess what bear Brooke picked?! Princess! haha. She had a lot of fun doing it and soaked it up. Bryn on the other hand..didn't care. And we knew she wouldn't but we still wanted her to have a memory (and she does love her bear). Brooke named her bear Aurora (very creative..since she picked out the Sleeping Beauty dress..ha!), and we named Bryn's bear "Pookie bear" since that's what Curtis affectionately calls Brynlee. We had a relaxing final day in Anaheim, albeit a bit bittersweet. We shopped a bit and just relaxed before getting everything packed up and ready to go.

We flew out Saturday (after a stop by Chick-fil-A on the way to the airport..my first time), and everything went smoothly with getting home. The trip was magical! I hope I always remember the look of excitement and wonder on Brooklyn's face, how she basically ran everywhere because she was so excited. How she noticed every detail around her and especially how her dreams came true meeting the Princesses in real life. Much of her little world revolves around Princesses and that was a highlight of the trip for her. We have told her that we hope to go back in the next 5 years...not sure if that is even realistic, but we will try our best! I love how the excitement and energy of children is contagious!