Spring Break 2011

We're back.  Had a wonderful time in sunny and beautiful California with our great friends.  We fit a lot in during our six day trip....beach house in Manhattan Beach, Hollywood, DisneyLand, Los Angeles....and now it feels good to be home!  The kids did great the entire trip.   Plane rides were good, car rides were good and they slept great every night.  It's getting a bit easier to travel with them now!  Below are some pictures from the trip. Enjoy!!


Waiting to check in at MSP. So very excited!

Our first glimpse of the ocean in Manhattan Beach. The kids couldn't wait to run to it.  So different than the snow we left.

5 seconds after this picture Griff took a header into the ocean....wet head to toe, tears flowing.  We had our first clothing change in a van at the ocean. Thankfully our suitcases were in the car!

The next day.  The kids had a great time playing at the ocean with Olivia and Drake.

The beautiful beach houses.

Abby's mad b/c I was asking her to move back...the waves were huge and kept pulling the kids in deeper and deeper. You can tell she isn't pleased I'm asking her to move closer to me!

It was a bit chilly but it didn't stop them from getting sopping wet.  Don't worry, we learned our lesson......we put them in their suits the next day.

Griff and Drake not only look alike, but like playing Angry Birds on our phones together!

Love their reflections in the water!

 See, swimsuits......and who cares that it was only 65 degrees?  Not these midwestern kids!

Bumming around Hollywood on our way to Disney.

Can you see the Hollywood sign???

Mickey and the kids.

Snow White's Star

Swimming the hotel pool at Disney.  It was FREEZING.  I can't believe Mike was in there with them. The water was actually heated and warm but the air temp was so cold.  They only lasted a 1/2 hour and came our shivering!

Waiting to get into Disney. We had a beautiful day....sunny and 75 degrees.

 See Miss Pouty Pants over there in the corner?  She didn't want her picture taken with her mom.

 "Hmmmm, where should we go when we get into Disney?"

 Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

 The twinners and Mike on the Dumbo ride.  Mike gets to ride all the fun ones :-)

 All Hannah wanted to do was ride on the Carousel.

Ah, the Princesses. Hannah was SO EXCITED to see them.  Abby actually was pretty excited, too. Griff asked every 5 minutes while we waited in line (which was almost an hour) why he had to see the Princesses.

But then he got a hug from Ariel and he was a happy guy again :-)

Riding on a train around Disney. A highlight for Griff.

This was on Tom Sawyer's Island. One of the coolest things we did there. We took a raft over and played on the island for awhile.  Lots of forts, treehouses, treasure, etc.

 On our way out we stopped for ice cream sundaes. Yum!

And then we had to hit one more ride for Griff.  He saw this rocket ship ride the second we walked into the park. We kept telling him we'd go back and ride it.....we thought he forgot. He didn't. So we were bone tired but we stood in line and he got to ride the rocket ship. And he was thrilled!

So that is about it......had a great time, but good to be home. Wasn't so thrilled to see the snow on the ground, but hopefully that will be gone soon!