Breeeeeeeee

[BrattyMeg]

welcome home!! How was your trip?? :thumbup:

[cindys732003]

Welcome Back Bree! :)

[kscwgirl]

Bree's back!!! Yay!!!!

[ZaCola3]

Welcome Home BREE!
We sure did miss ya around here!

[meems]

Welcome back!

Did you pack enough?

[joelsgirl]

Yay, Bree's back! {insert booty-shaking bunny here}

[tuneskids]

so happy you made it home!!! Hope you are having fun playing the Wii tonight! hehehee

[mrs_jb]

Welcome Back! Can't wait to hear about the trip!!!

[meganmecrazy]

Welcome back!!!! :) Let's hear all about it!!!

[ditzyscrap]

LOL, yup...I'm baaaaack!! :D

We had SO much fun, but the days were so full of things to do, we're all very wiped out right now, lol. I think we need a month to recover from trying to cram everything into 7 days!

Our trip started out pretty rough...just had a hard time with flights and luggage not arriving with us (thank GOODNESS we packed extra clothes in our carry-ons...it was SO hot in Anaheim and we had worn warmer clothes). But once we all got some sleep and settled in our hotel, it was much nicer... :) We DID get our luggage later that night, United Airlines actually delivered it to our hotel (and they'd given us loaner carseats since ours were still in Denver and we needed them to get to the hotel in our rental van).

Saturday we hit Disneyland and California Adventures...we spent MOST of the day at CA but were at DL until it opened and then back over there for the fireworks. Umm...highlights of Saturday was definitely the Pixar Play Parade (we got wet, and that was awesome because it was SO FLIPPING HOT that day) and Soarin' Over California. The fireworks were great too, but we were in a bad spot (right smack in front of a tree) and that was trying to get a place to sit almost 2 hours ahead of time...the kids didn't really like them because they were loud and scary in parts.

On Sunday we took the kids to Legoland...gotta say, that park is PERFECT for kids this age. Lots of walking, as in all the parks, but the rides were definitely geared towards their age group. And seeing so many things made of Lego was really cool, too! I definitely recommend that if you're in the area with kids between 3 and 7.

Monday was SeaWorld, and we started out with Breakfast With Shamu. We learned lots of interesting facts about the whales at SeaWorld (I didn't know that Shamu is their family name, there is no one whale that is actually "shamu", they've all got their own names). We got pretty close to the whales in that. We got to feed and pet the dolphins and we took in a few of the shows...the dolphin show, the Shamu "believe" show, the pets rule show and Seamore & Clyde. All the shows were awesome and the exhibits were all really nice too. The kids wanted to go on rides but they were too small for the ones there and we ran out of time, lol! We had to miss about 1/4 of the park and missed one of the shows we wanted to take them to (the Sesame Street one)...there just wasn't enough time! But what we did take in was amazing...I'd definitely go back!

Tuesday was the zoo and FINALLY it cooled off a little bit. The zoo was beautiful, but we got lost in there, lol...and by then we were tired so we took the bus tour around the park and took in as much as we could by early afternoon, then we did a bit of shopping and took off back to Anaheim so we could beat rushour traffic (it didn't work, we hit the beginning of it, lol).

Wednesday we hit the beaches...we got a guided tour and personal driver who took us to Newport Beach and Huntington Beach. I wanted to go swimming but it was chilly that day, so I never took our bathing suits. I did go wade in the water though, it was dang cold, lol!

Thursday we went back to Disneyland, and we thought it would be less busy because it was a weekday...but I swear it was busier than on Saturday! We didn't get in very many of the rides because we weren't organized enough and the lines were quite long (one thing I found is that they creatively hide the line in and out of buildings so you think it is shorter than it really is...lol), and we weren't able to get fastpasses for any of the rides other than Splash Mountain. So we missed out on all the adult rides (Pirates Of The Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, etc)...but did take the kids over to ToonTown to look around and made sure they did most of the rides they wanted to do. I think we missed a couple but we were SO tired and left right after the 7pm parade (which was also very awesome...I love the energy of them, all the singing and dancing and characters).

We flew home yesterday (Friday) and that was probably the most relaxing day we had, lmao...other than attempting to pack up at 6 am (I *should* have started the night before) and then getting lost on the way to the airport when our GPS stopped working. We had a long layover in San Francisco so we just chilled out at the airports for most of the day, and it was nice to just do NOTHING, you know? LOL!

For sure if you are thinking of attempting a whirlwind trip like this, I don't recommend it, lol...ONLY because you will end up missing so much. If we could have had 2 weeks it would have been perfect to see everything, do the rides, and have time to relax in between. BUT, in the end, we all had a LOT of fun and who knows...we may go back again when the kids are a bit older to redo Disneyland and California Adventures!

I think I took like 500 photos and then my MIL took at least 600, plus Trev's uncle has a few hundred from the trip as well...I think I'm going to be drowning in photos to scrap here, lol...I'll be scrapping this trip for the next several years. My goal is to have it done before we attempt it again, ROFL!

We met a few of the characters...Natalie was scared of the non-human ones, lol (can't think of the word for them), but DID go meet Pocahontas. We couldn't find any more princesses for her though. Mason got to meet Pluto, Goofy, Mickey & Minnie, Stitch, Baloo, Winnie The Pooh and Eyeore. We saw a few others but the lines were so long or they were just finishing up their shifts, we weren't able to catch any others.

I can say that I'm glad to be home...and I'm thinking I'm going to sleep this trip off for the next month!! LOL!

[Julie Billingsley]

Oh Bree, it sounds fabulous!! I'm so thrilled you got to go!

[jaylensmom]

Sounds like loads of fun...I'm taking my son to Disney next month...

[Libby Pritchett]

Good gravy, Bree! I'm exhausted after reading about your trip! LOL! I can't even imagine! Sounds FABULOUS though!

Welcome home!!

[nmartin1]

Wow, you're brave - packing all that in! It sounds like it was loads of fun though, welcome back!

[newfiemountiewife]

Bree, that sounds like an awesome trip!!! How exciting! Can't wait to see some pics!

[purple_colourz]

Hi Bree! Glad to know you had a great time! Can't wait to see the pics!

[meems]

wow, sounds like a great trip!

(I didn't know that about the Shamu name, interesting)

[mrs_jb]

Oh Bree, I'm tired just reading about your week! LOL! It sounds like you had a good time though and I hope you all get a chance to rest and recover!

[pbumbaca]

WHEW! What a trip! Sounds exciting but I can totally understand why you are tired! Can't wait to see all the fun pages you create, especially since I took 1200 on our trip to WDW and SeaWorld in Sept and I've got a ton more to scrap! ;)

[Penny Springmann]

Bree, wow, what a trip! It sounds fantastic!

[juliemarie]

Wow, sounds like a fabulous trip, but exhausting :)

[kscwgirl]

Bree, I'm tired just reading that!! Glad you had a fabulous time!!!

[ajf9597]

Welcome back Bree!!

[ditzyscrap]

Thanks, girls! Got some sleep and I'm feeling much more rested (as in, I can actually keep my eyes open for more than 5 seconds at a time, lol). I might be having an afternoon nap with the kids, though...we'll see!

[dabittymama]

YAY! Bree glad you are home and that you had a great trip. It sounds like its going to take a while to recover :)

[ashleyprugh]

i agree, i'm tired just reading about it. but, i'm glad you had fun. can't wait to see LOTS of pages with pictures from disney!

[crecia27]

Sounds exhausting, but the things life long memories are made of! Looking forward to seeing all the layouts

[Joan]

Bree, I'm tired just reading that!!Lol, yeah, me too!

Sounds like a great time, though, and you really got to do a lot! Welcome back, Bree! :thumbup:

[Dottie]

Sounds like you had a fantastic , but exhausting time!

[Stephanie Ogren]

Good to see you back, I was wondering how it all went :)

[Jenna]

Dangit, Bree... I didn't know you were leaving or I would have filled you in on all the character spots. C is 4 and loves to collect their autographs so we have some secrets ;) But it sounds like you had a BLAST! :thumbup:

[Amy Carey]

Sounds like a wonderful trip! Glad to have you back :)

[trudem]

Wow, being a local that REALLY makes me tired reading it! :blink:

So glad you guys got to do all that, and the worst thing that happened was losing your luggage. I've had that happen too (in London, all by myself!), and the nice thing I've discovered is that if they deliver it fairly quickly, the great thing is you don't have to lug it to wherever you're staying! ;)

Can't wait to see the pages/projects that come out of the trip! :)