Disneyland December 2012

Rob's mom's (Janet) family was having a family reunion in California and planned to go over Christmas. Some things changed and we ended up only going to the first portion of it, Disneyland, and didn't end up going to Fresno to meet up with everyone else.
Rob's family were the only ones to go for multiple days but everyone else showed up on the last day, Saturday. It was quite the busy trip but we had a blast!

Going to California - Wednesday

We left early Wednesday morning and made the drive out to California. We had a few bumps along the way though. Number one was that the washer fluid had frozen. There was a ton of salt on the roads from the storm so five and a half hours later we had only barely made it to Cedar City. We were having to pull of every little exit to try and clean off the windshield. It also didn't help that the wipers needed to be replaces.
When we finally hit Cedar City we stopped at Wal-Mart and Rob's dad, Stan, bought some new blades. Windshield wipers are not hard to put on, but for some reason this one was not cooperating. After about an hour messing with it, we finally pulled around to the car part of Wal-mart and asked for some help. They messed with it and finally just replaced the wipers with another one. Apparently the 98% of cars it fit did not include the van we were driving. We were on our way again.
Rob and I sat in the back of the van and watched movies/played Xbox (by xbox, that's clearly only Rob!).
I slept a lot of the way and it was nice to not get car sick.
We finally made it to California around 7:30, so it took us over 12 hours. Google maps says it should barely take 9 hours. It took Rob and I around 7. It was a very long drive!

We got to the hotel and after switching the rooms around and got everyone situated, we were able to decide we were starving. Josh, Jessica, Caden, Rob and I headed over to Downtown Disney to eat at one of mine and Rob's favorite restaurants, Rainforest Cafe.
It was delicious and so fun to go out. It was a little chilly though and even in the restaurant with a jacket I was shivering! Thank goodness for warm food though.

Lights at Downtown Disney

Me, Caden, and Rob after dinner at  Rainforest Cafe

Me, Caden, and Rob after dinner at  Rainforest Cafe

Josh Messing with the Camera

As we waited to be seated for dinner, we walked over to the Lego Store. It was amazing. The only way we could get Josh to take our picture was if we posed as the Beauty and the Beast, but roles switched. It kinda looked like Rob was proposing though... he wasn't.

Rob and Caden in Downtown Disney

Caden in the car going to dinner

Rob in the car going to dinner

Josh driving us to dinner in Downtown Disney

In the Park

We had a 3 day pass to Disneyland. Rob and I didn't waste any time not being at the park. We woke up early each day and stayed until no earlier than an hour before closing.
The first day, Thursday, we woke up early and we were able to walk to the park with Jessica and her family. It was only about a 10 minute walk which was super nice.
We spent the first half of the day with his family and went on rides with them. We even lucked out to get a fast pass for the new ride in Cars Land (Radiator Springs Racers). It was never below a 2 hour wait to get on the ride.
We ate lunch with his family and then split off to do our own thing and go on the big kid rides. Throughout the trip there wasn't a single ride we missed that we wanted to go on. With the exception of Splash Mountain.
The weather was pretty good during the day, as long as you were in the sun. I wore a jacket most the time during the day though and at night added my second one. For leaving freezing Utah, it still didn't seem that warm.
Friday was a little busier but still not that bad. We tried to stay in Disneyland in the morning and move to California Adventures at night, then maybe making our way back to Disneyland for the end of the evening. It got really crowded in Disneyland to the point they were almost at capacity. The people in California Adventure were basically begging guests to not switch parks because it was too crowded.

There was one night that we were able to go on Toy Story Mania (usually about an hour wait) four times in a row because no one was there. This was also partially due to the fact that World of Color was going on. Rob's hand was even bruised the next day from pulling the rope and shooting so much.

Rob's favorite rides are: Tower of Terror, Space Mountain, and Pirates. (No particular order)
Brylie's least favorite rides: Tower of Terror, Space Mountain. (They make me sick!)

We still went on them plenty of times though.

There was a time when we decided we should do something funny for the picture on Tower of Terror. There was a young boy who was going for the first time and Rob and I decided to do the crazy eyes and just stare at him. Once he realized looking at the picture he was completely freaked out. I wish we could have gotten a picture of it but we didn't want his group to question us!

Friday evening we went back to the Rainforest Cafe with all the relatives that came in town for the reunion. Yummy! There were a lot of us crammed in a small space but we loved it! I was able to meet all his aunts and uncles and extended family. I only knew one of his uncles from that side before the trip so it was fun to meet everyone!

Saturday we were able to hang out with the family a little more and go around together for a little while. It was starting to get really crazy in Disneyland so Rob and I split off to go eat for a while. The crowd was insane and we just needed some time to do our own thing. We went and did the new Cars ride for a second time and then just some random rides in California Adventure. For dinner we met up with Jessica's family and ate at Tony Roma's.

Not so cute little side story. Rob said something at the table that I glared at him for (no one quite remembers what it was) and he decided to pretend that I kicked him. He did the full action and even spilled both our water cups. Jessica and Josh both thought that I really kicked him and would NOT believe me that I didn't really kick him and that he was faking it. It wasn't until Christmas when we were home that he finally admitted to faking it and everyone felt bad that they didn't believe me.

Rob and I enjoyed every single moment at Disneyland, besides the point where I was limping my legs hurt so bad! We were so glad we were able to go!

Space Mountain... Rob said for the picture we could kiss... not. Rude!

Mia and I waiting for everyone to get off Toy Story Mania

Baby Mia

Kyler and Jessica on Toy Story Mania

Kyler and Brylie on Toy Story Mania

Kyler and Brylie on Toy Story Mania

Robert and Caden on Toy Story Mania. They're shooting at us!

Rob and Caden on Toy Story Mania

Stan at Rainforest Cafe with the Gorilla (in the hat!)

Caden and the Gorilla at Rainforest Cafe

Waiting for Popcorn!

One of the days, Jessica and Josh took the kids home to rest, but Caden got to stay and play with us at the park while everyone napped.

One of the days, Jessica and Josh took the kids home to rest, but Caden got to stay and play with us at the park while everyone napped.

Player 1: Robert.
Player 2: Brylie.
Who won?

 

Rob, Caden, and Kyler posing with a tractor

Beach Day! - Sunday

 On Sunday I woke up feeling absolutely terrible. All night I was trying to not cough. It hurt everything in my body to cough and I just didn't want to do it. I also started feeling a little nauseous but didn't want it to spoil our last day. After we packed everything up, Rob and I headed to the beach while everyone waited for Josh to get back from his pilot test.

We went down to our favorite as of late, Huntington Beach. It is nice and clean and not too long of a drive.

When we got there a surfer walked up and gave us the parking ticket he purchased for the day. It gave us a few hours of free parking instead of us having to pay. It was so incredibly nice! After that we just walked on the beach to see what we could find.
We saw baby seagulls (cutest things ever... especially compared to their parents) and lots of sea shells.
With the sea shells we also found a whole clam! We wanted to open it up and see if there was a pearl, but didn't have the means to open it and didn't want to kill it if it was still alive. Rob threw it back into the ocean so it could live and in the process dropped one of my shoes into the water. Ugh.

Rob also found me a whole sand dollar as well as this weird shell that had little mini volcanoes on it. We didn't know what it was and tried to bring it home but it was too fragile and broke in transit.

It was a gorgeous day and even made me feel better with the fresh air.  It was the first time in a long time that we were at the beach without fog. The fog is really cool but I do love a sunny beach!

Clam found on the beach

crazy shell we found with "volcanoes"

Rob and I on the beach

Clam in the sand

Huntington Beach

It was bright

Very bright

Brylie on the beach

Huntington Beach

Rob on the beach

Cute boy.

Rob in the water

Brylie in the water

When we got back to the hotel, we loaded everything up and were off. We first made a stop at Downtown Disney so Rob and I could get our traditional shirts. We used to try and get something Disney but its too expensive, so we started looking in Quicksilver.
We also got some pizza and then started the drive.

The traffic was horrible and a complete stop in Las Vegas due to a huge car accident. Rob's dad was starting to be tired from driving and when we made it to Mesquite he pulled over to try and find us a hotel. All along we had planned to stop in Saint George at Janet's Brother's vacation home. For some reason Stan wasn't thinking it was a close as it was and was trying to get us into a hotel. Rob convinced him that it was MAYBE a 30 minute drive and then we would be there. So we drove the rest of the way to Saint George.

The house was so nice and we were so thankful to Uncle Robert (Rob's uncle) for letting us stay there. We would be super excited to go stay again sometime when we aren't so rushed.

The next morning we finished driving home in quite the storm. My parents both said that it was snowing terribly in Orem and that we needed to be extra careful. This kinda scared us but seeing as it was Christmas Eve we just wanted to get home!

We made it with the "horrible storm" that was bad but not horrible. It was so nice to be home and out of the car and being able to rest.  I brought the sickness home with me and got even worse and was so glad to not have to be anywhere or feel guilty for not using tickets/vacation time.