California

I am really late with this one, but we've been busy getting ready for Christmas and I have been adjusting to my new job.  I figured I better update it now before Christmas comes and I'm even further behind.

We had so much fun in California.  A huge thank you to Grandma EJ and Burny for making it all possible.  The Disneyland hotel was great, it was so convenient to just walk to Downtown Disney and hop on the monorail.  We spent everyday but last in at least one of the parks.  I loved that we were able to easily bounce between both parks.  Alli's favorite rides were the Tea Cups and the Matterhorn and Paige's favorites were Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain. This was a perfect time of year to go.  They park was all decorated for Christmas Disney can even make it snow on demand.  After one of the fireworks shows it started snowing all over the walkways.  Too bad our snow at home isn't like that.  I also loved the facts that there were hardly any lines!!


Club 33 was great and the food was amazing!  It's so hidden I would have never known it was there.  The inside is nicely decorated with dark woods and a very cool phone booth and french lift.  We had our own private little room for our group off 33 and the sign on the wall said max occupancy 33.  33 was all over the place that day.  The service was excellent and we left with some cool Club 33 gifts. I think Mike had a pretty good birthday.  I know he loved spending it with family and friends.

We were also able to have dinner with my Uncle Richard and Aunt Anita.  It was so good to see them and I'm amazed at how well my Uncle has done after his heart transplant.  I just wish I was able to see them more.

The day we went home we decided to head to the beach instead of the parks.  So we headed to the Santa Monica Pier.  This was Allison's first time at the beach.  She loved playing in the sand, but wasn't thrilled about putting her feet in the cold water.  

 We were able to sit in both the very back and the very front of the monorail when we went.  You get a pretty good view of the parks from those seats.

We also saw lots of Disney characters and the girls had fun getting autographs from all of them.  They loved them all. Well, Mickey made Alli cry because he covered her eyes with his huge hand and it scared her a little.  As we were leaving the area Mickey was in Alli was crying, "I want Minnie!"  Poor Mickey felt so bad and tried to make it up to Alli, but she wouldn't budge.  Love that red headed stubborness. 

 We had breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen on Mike's Birthday.  The girls loved it!!  It was a tad pricey for a buffet, but the food was good and so was the entertainment.  They had all sorts of Disney characters walking around and every half hour or so they would play music and the characters would dance with the kids.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.


Our Club 33 Pics....

 I love this picture of Alli.  As we were walking on the pier one of the random guys trying to make money put this bird in Alli's hands.  She wasn't sure what to think of the odd guy with all the birds, but humored him and me while I took a picture.  Paige on the other hand is always happy to see an animal.  We gave him a few dollars and off we went.  I love all the odd people you see at the beach!

We had an amazing trip that I will never forget.  I'm so happy for the friends and family that we able to join us, but really missed those that weren't able to make it.