Fall Break

Two weeks of fall break went by too fast!!!  I could have used 1 more week.  It was just relaxing and fun to have the kids home for two weeks.   So the first week of Fall break, we celebrated Collin's birthday, then we went to California for a few days. The next week we organized, cleaned house, played, shopped and watched lots of movies.  Nothing like two weeks without a schedule.  It was great!
Here's the lowdown on our California trip -- We had been wanting to go since Spring Break this year, but it just never worked out with Kevin's work schedule.  He's been super busy with lawsuits in New Mexico so he's been out of town a lot!  Thankfully he was able to squeeze in 3 days of vacation during the kids' fall break so we could go.  We went to Knott's Berry Farm on Thursday then Disneyland on Friday.  Warning: picture overload, but hey, it's for my blog book so feel free to skip reading!

Knott's

We had Knott's almost all to ourselves on Thursday which was nice because Kevin and the kids were able to get on their favorite rides multiple times without ANY wait at all.  There were a couple of new rides and a couple that were not there anymore since we went a few years ago.  Kevin of course got on the Silver Bullet twice, almost got Allie to go with him the second time for $10 but Allie chickened out at the last minute.

I couldn't get on ANY rides at this park - they even got me booted off the kids' truck ride that was seriously not even bumpy.  Crazy.  I had fun just carting Maddie to all the rides in Camp Snoopy with Collin.  Collin was old enough on some of them to accompany Maddie so I just took lots of pictures.

Collin was a little scared to go on the rollercoaster rides at first - he liked the spinning rides better.  Kevin and Allie went their way and rode the thrill rides - the Jaguar 3x, the Supreme Scream, the Log Ride 5x, the Pony Express, and then Collin went with them on the Bigfoot Rapids which he LOVED, on the Wave Swinger 3x, and the Mexican Hat Dance (which is like the Mad Tea Party ride at Disney) probably 3 or 4x, and on the Dragon Swing (Collin's least favorite ride at this place).

Maddie didn't know what to think at first but soon got really excited to go on the rides.  She went on the mailbox, the airplanes, ferris wheel, and truck rides lots of times.  She wanted to go on the mexican teacups but wasn't tall enough to go.  She cried so hard!  Anyway, we grabbed a bite to eat at Pink's Hotdogs (yum!) and then rode a few more rides before calling it a day by 6 p.m.  That night while Kevin was browsing the news, he found out that a couple of hours after we left the park, 10 people had to go to the hospital due to a malfunction on the Pony Express ride.  We were so thankful it didn't happen while he and Allie were on the ride!

Disneyland

The best day ever!!  This day by far was the least stressful and most productive of all amusement park trips we've ever taken in the past.  Thanks to RideMax, we had all our rides planned before we left.  We chose all our favorite rides and Ridemax took care of scheduling them and maximizing our time at Disneyland.  It worked like a charm!!!

I had to get a shot of what the kids were wearing and wrote our cell phone numbers on their arms as a safety precaution (in case they got lost).  Here they are before we left for the day.

We were told to arrive at the park by 7:30 a.m. (the park opened at 8) - so Kevin dropped us off at the gate at 7:20 and went back to the hotel to wait for the shuttle (earliest time it left was 7:35).  By the time he made it back to Disney the lines were crazy but I was fourth in line to get in the gates.  Some guy in a motorized wheelchair cut in front of me (!) and since his ticket hadn't been scanned, it took another five minutes for me to get thru with my stroller.  The ladies at the gate apologized for the cutting in line.  Anyway, we got to our first ride (Peter Pan) just in time before the lines started forming and got all our Fantasyland rides done before lunch time!  We also scheduled our rides so that we had a break right when the restaurants opened.  So, we were first in line at Rancho del Zocalo's and got done with lunch before the restaurant got busy!

There were lots of people at Disneyland that day, but it was nice weather and since we didn't have to stress out about what ride to go on next and waiting in line forever, it was a VERY relaxing day for us.  I got on all the rides except for the big thrill rides - fun!! and since we were ahead of schedule many times, we squeezed in 3 more rides that were not on our schedule - Finding Nemo (which was the longest wait), and Kevin and Allie got on Big Thunder Mountain 3x!

In just one day, we were able to go on 25 attractions!  In the past we spent most our time waiting in lines or deciding which ride to go on next, and not even getting to ride half of the rides we wanted.  It was the best day ever and we can't wait to go again!  Ridemax was the best $15 we spent!

The attractions we "checked off": Peter Pan, Dumbo, Storybook Land Canal boats, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad 3x, Snow White's Scary Adventures, King Arthur Carousel, Alice in Wonderland, Mad Tea Party, Small World, Autopia, Space Mountain, Abe Lincoln Show (not a ride, but a great break!), Tiki Room (we enjoyed Pineapple Softserves after, yum!),  Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mark Twain Steamboat, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Finding Nemo, Haunted Mansion Holiday, Splash Mountain, and Winnie the Pooh.

Kevin's feet hurt by the time we got back to the hotel.  Mine surprisingly didn't, and the kids kept saying how time just went so fast while we were at Disneyland.  It was nice NOT to hassle with the parking lot when we got done; all we had to do was walk a very short distance and hop on the shuttle back to the hotel. It was the least stressful (I wasn't even stressed out at all!) of all family trips we have taken to CA!