CALIFORNIA!

We had the opportunity to go to California at the end of February. Jay's grandmother had passed away so we drove over for the services.. It was a nice time to spend with extended family and to remember his Nana and what she meant to him.

We had planned to go visit Nana over Spring Break and had told the boys we'd be going to Disneyland, since it's so close to Huntington Beach. We drove over on Thursday to attend the services Friday morning. We decided to take advantage of the weekend and have some fun with the boys. We didn't bring Conner on this trip for two reasons. First, 2 year olds don't really get the somber and reflective mood of a funeral service and we weren't sure how he'd manage. Secondly, with two big boys and two parents we made even numbers and were able to really enjoy all of the "big" rides with them.

Here are some pics of our trip in no particular order....

One of the big things you do when you're out of town and living in a hotel for 4 days..EAT!

Minnie's Character Breakfast - 21 dollars for adults, 11 for kids. Yummy buffet, everything you can imagine and we saw Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Captain Hook, Chip and Dale, Minnie, and Max from the Goofy Movie. Totally worth the money for the kids enjoyment.

Corn dogs on the Beach

Ruby's Diner on the Pier at Huntington Beach...yes my husband intentionally ruins decent pics by making himself cross eyed.

Dinner with family. Friday night .25 cent cheeseburger sliders=yummy.

Jays' mom, sisters and their husbands. Downtown Disney.

Moral of that story, if you're doing a weight loss challenge at work and you've lost 4.3 pounds in 3 weeks, be prepared to gain 2 back in one weekend!

Our boys looking handsome before the funeral. So grown up!

On to the Disney pics! Both boys first time. Lots of excitement which is so fun to see. They were great troopers, weren't scared of anything and hung in there all day!

Tigger attacked him from behind.

A rare whole family shot. (minus Conner...this is the part I wish he was there for)

Keaton's favorite character pic.

Hayden's favorite character pic.

Dad and the boys on the boat.

Me and the boys at the parade.

We took a ton more pics but I'll spare you seeing our beautiful faces over and over and over again. Disneyland was crazy busy because it was a Saturday but we got to ride all the big ones. Keaton's favorite was Space Mountain because it was fast. Hayden's was Splash Mountain. Before he knew what it was he volunteered to be first. The kid was SOAKED! Soggy pants the rest of the afternoon.

The day we left we spent an hour or two at the beach just enjoying the weather. We didn't get near that water but it was a nice day with the fam.

Despite the unfortunate reason for the trip, it was a nice family vacation for us. Our thoughts are with all of Jay's extended family. Wishing them peace at this time of loss.