Happiest Place on Earth? Quite possibly...

We made it! Let the fun begin!

Elle was actually tall enough to go on most every ride, she even went on

Space Mountain and loved it!

Inside It's a Small World, one of my favorites!

The tea cups make me sick, so I sat them out...


After the girls and I were busy getting their faces painted, we walked over to meet Sam and Reese at the "Jedi Training Camp", which turned out to be one of the coolest experiences of Reese's little life so far...

We were careful to always go to things we wanted to see early which resulted in getting good seats for all the different events, so when Reese got called out of the audience to become a Padawan, we were so excited!!

They called all the kids up, put on their robes, and gave them light sabers, then they practiced special Jedi moves with their swords, only to be interrupted by Darth Vader, Darth Maul and Storm Troopers rising up out of the ground surrounded by ominous music and smoke! I wondered if it would be too much for some of the little kids...

Darth Maul was stalking around being menacing... here he is, growling at us.

Then, fantasy of all fantasies, each young Padawan got their own chance to use their newly learned moves against the villains themselves! Here's Reese, getting ready to fight!




After it was all over, they got official certificates saying they'd been trained in the Jedi ways and were only to use their skills for good. Reese could barely believe what had just happened to him and we left reminded of why Disney really is the best at what they do.



watching the parade at the end of the day, here,
Mary Poppins, being "practically perfect in every way.."

All the partying for three days straight did tucker us out, we were happy to move on to our beach day, till next time Disneyland!


The pose.

How he really feels...
Note, Elle still looks the same...

My Most Favorite, Ever!

The one, the only SHAMU!

How is this possible??!!

How would it be to have that as your job?Disney Land is great but I absolutely love that the kids learn things at Sea World and develop a sense of concern for the animals and the environment they live in.More incredible aerial acrobatics by the dolphins this time Sam, in amazement!Sea World has so many amazing things to see!

This was probably our favorite experience from the entire trip, we were able to get some time with one of the dolphin trainers and meet a dolphin up close and personal. Dolphins are so amazing!

This is Crush, the biggest dolphin in the tank at Sea World. He loved eating the fish and squid we fed him and spoke on command. He even did tricks for us! We couldn't believe how smart he was!
Dolphins also really love being touched and rubbed on their sides, this was Crush almost falling asleep while the kids gave him some love...


It was amazing seeing one of God's creatures so close, I think the kids made a new friend for life!

World Travels, kind of...

Unaware that we had the time to jet over to NYC? Well, we are pretty amazing... but the TajMahal? That's the magic of Lego Land my friends... It really was incredible, all exact replicas of the real deals... they even had the inauguration speech playing at the inauguration scene, it was amazing! Reese (and Sam for that matter) were in seventh heaven!

Reese has been saving for a trip to Lego Land for a while, as you can see by the worn off marker on his bag... he saved enough to buy his lego set when we got there which was his goal.. I'm proud of my little guy..

There Is Beauty All Around

I love taking pictures of trees wherever I go, there's always so many amazing varieties that don't grow here , this one though was my favorite, it was at Sea World, Tree of Life, anyone?

This one smelled so amazing, it was in Lego Land.

This was at Sea world, the color isn't great because it was getting dark, the flowers are bright red

The San Diego Temple is by far, my absolute favorite, at least for looks on the outside, I love how different it its from all the others, we got there as it was getting dark, so unfortunately, you can see the increasing lack of decent light picture by picture... but in the end, I was so excited to get our last parting shot of the temple after it was lit up, I got it from across the street as we were leaving!

The Beach

After our time at the beach in La Jolla (prounounced La Hoya) Sam and I decided that we need to live on a beach, it's just not fair to see it only a handful of times a year.... We asked our kids if we should move to a place close to the beach and the vote was a unanimous YES! Well, actually Reese had to be persuaded with the thought of living closer to Lego Land, but then he came around. I love seeing the kids being effortlessly entertained and learning to connect with their world. Being there really gives you a sense of wanting to keep our earth clean and the Oceans healthy so the kids can always enjoy the beaches, with their kids! It was absolutely beautiful.