Disneyland: Beach Day

So we told the kids YEARS and YEARS ago that when we finished the Book of Mormon as a family we would take them to Disneyland.  I think we had 2 or 3 kids when we first said that.  We knew we had a lot of time before it would happen given that each person would read 1 verse aloud a night.  The week before Asher was born, we finally finished!  And of course out of Lacey's mouth immediately comes, "So, are we going to Disneyland tomorrow!?!"  Um, no my dear.  Mommy is having a baby in like 2 days.  No, no we're not.

So they had to wait a little longer.  After talking to some friends, Dan and I decided to bite the bullet and just do it while Asher was still young enough to sleep everywhere we went.  So in February we looked at school schedules, park schedules, work schedules, etc, and chose the first week of May for our trip.  We wanted to avoid the crowds if possible.  (Ha . . . ha . . . ha.)

We stopped in Vegas on our way. (Jossy gets carsick, so we can never drive too far in one day, and that was pushing it.)  After visiting some friends, we drove to California the next morning.  We picked up our tickets, checked into our hotel a mile from the park (which we walked to and from every day) and went to Huntington Beach for the 2 hours left of daylight. 

The kids had so much fun playing on a warm beach as opposed to the freezing (but gorgeous) Oregon coast they'd been to.  Lacey was the only one who has a GIANT fear of the ocean and wouldn't even touch the waves with her toes.  There was a lot of crying that day on her part when we wanted a group picture.  She just couldn't do it. 

Our "group" photo

This was Asher's first beach trip.

He loved the noisy waves . . .

. . . but did not appreciate the feeling of them.

 Our kids had more fun that day and there was less complaining than any day at Disneyland.