If everything goes according to plan, we have some BIG changes coming up for our family this year. Brian and I wanted to have an epic disneyland vacation because we aren't sure when we will be coming back. We really wanted to be present and happy and make it super memorable. The excitement leading up to this trip was big. We had to delay a month on fairly short notice due to some work conflicts. Adin was so devastated. Meg wasn't very devastated because that meant she got to go to her Valentines dance. Grace had no idea. She definitely got that something big was coming though because about two weeks before we were set to go she started asking frequently everyday if we could go to disneyland. She'd wake up in the morning and ask for it. It's hard to explain time to a two year old. Adin was by far the most excited. He could hardly stand it. He created the 6 days of disney to count down. He had a different activity planned for each day.
The drive down was really smooth until we stopped in Vegas for lunch. We enjoyed some yummy in and out then Brian walked with Gracie and Adin over to a pet store to give them some more time out of the car. Meg and I were supposed to drive the car over. Welll, I got in the car and the engine would turn over and then immediately turn off. :( I can't even tell you how freaked we were. Stuck in Vegas on a Saturday with our trip all planned and waiting for us. Brian came back and we noticed a Meineke car place in the same lot that was open. Brian was able to get the van there by keeping engine revved up. I wondered stores in the strip mall with three very anxious kids. After about an hour, the car place couldn't find anything wrong with it and it was running smoothly again. It was such a blessing. We were all praying like crazy. They think we may have put some bad gas in it or something...still not sure. The van was okay the rest of the trip. It didn't run smooth all the time, but it never stopped again on us and we haven't had any problems now that we are home.
The hotel we had booked for disneyland, was enormously expensive our first night there. We decided to stay somewhere else the first night. We stayed in a town called Monteray park. Incidentally that's one of our top places we would want to live if Brian ends up at school in California. We were able to explore the neighborhoods and get a feel for the area. Our first night we went to an authentic chinese food place. Everyone loved it (except maybe me who does not love chinese food). We thought Brian's fortune was meant for him with all our decisions coming up and his nagging fear that he's putting his family through too much by going back to school.
Our first day was a Sunday so we try to keep it low key. We visited a small aquarium right off of a beach. It was really fun and they even had touching pools.
Then we headed to the beach. We wanted to go tide pooling so we based our trip on when the tide was the lowest that day. It happened to be in the evening. I've NEVER been to the beach at night and I must say that I think I'll always insist we stay till the evening from now on. I LOVED it. The beach is magical at night. I loved watching the sun set over the ocean. Brian and the older two spent a lot of time searching the rocks for sea creatures and they found quite a bit of sea anemone. Brian was on a hunt for a starfish but didn't luck out. I adored the lighting for looots of pictures. It was just stunning and magical.
I need to get this image rotated and edited up (my photo editing software is gone and I have yet to get a new one). It was a great start to the trip!
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