Day2: Disneyland

We started our first official day in the parks by having breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen. Buffet style breakfast with some of the Disney Characters. It was a great way to start the day. And boy was Nathan excited to meet everyone. It was here that I first started to realize that it may be important to meet Pluto, since he kept yelling for him to come over with no luck. But he had a great time interacting with the other characters.

 Nathan had the most fun with the Mad Hatter. Seriously who would have known?

 After breakfast we headed into Disneyland to start the day. Of course we had to get a group shot at the entrance before we all took off in different directions. My mom order us all some family reunion shirts and they were a big hit. We were asked all day long where we got the shirts.

Because we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel we got to get into the parks an hour early everyday, but on the first day we planned on the breakfast instead. Since we wanted to do Fantasy land with a smaller crowd we started our day off in Adventure land. Our first ride of the week was the Jungle cruise.

                                                                Waiting in line.

 The kids waiting while the Adults take turns on Indiana Jones.

We then moved onto New Orleans square and rode Pirates of the Caribbean. Brady promptly fell asleep once we got in the boats. He had been struggling to fall asleep all morning so much noise and light. Pirates was the perfect atmosphere for him to relax. Of course Nathan hated the ride because it wad too dark and scary for him. But After lunch we rode Winnie the Pooh, he loved this ride. So much so that he told us he wanted to ride splash mountain with us. And at first he really liked it, that is until the big drop and then all he wanted to do was to get off. After that we tried to avoid taking him on any of the rides that might scare him. So after taking a cruise on the riverboat, my parents took Nathan over to tomorrow land while Dave and I went to the Haunted Mansion. I wore Brady in the ergo carrier during the ride and this was another perfect one for Brady to fall asleep in, yeah for naps! Then we headed over to join everyone else in tomorrow land. Nathan was having a great time with Grandma and Grandpa on the submarine and autotopia. It took me awhile to find Nathan but eventually I got to enjoy several of the rides with him. Nathan loved Buzz lightyear and the nemo Submarine ride.

We then headed to main street to watch the Soundsational Parade. Nathan loved it and was completely mesmerized by the music and dancing.

After the parade we ran over to Fantasyland and ended our day by riding the Casey Jr. train. Not a suprise that Nathan was most excited for the train ride. Then it was off to the Hotel, where Kerri was nice enough to get my boys to bed so Dave and I could go soak in the spa for a while.

Bell Family Reunion 2013

A couple weeks ago the whole family traveled to Disneyland for a week long family reunion. And we had a blast at the happiest place on earth. It was so great to be able to be there as a whole family. The last time all my siblings were together was at my brothers wedding and that was 4 years ago. I have a lot of fun to cover so I am going to break this down into several post. Beware the next few post are going to be picture overload.

DAY 1:

Monday morning we started our drive down to southern California. My mom joined us in our car, so that Corey, Yoli, and their two girls could all drive down with my dad. Luckily our boys travel well and the 6 hrs it took to get to the hotel went by pretty fast. Kerri made some bingo car games and we put in the Movie Cars for Nathan to watch.

                                   Nathan excited and ready to go.

We arrive at the Disneyland Hotel close to 3:30pm. After checking into our amazing rooms, we changed into our swim suits and enjoyed some down time at the pool.

                                      
These headboards were so much fun. When turned on they light up fireworks and play music. Just a small magical reminder that we were at Disneyland.

After the pool we headed into Downtown Disney so that we could get some dinner. After exploring for a while we headed back to the hotel for the night. Excited to start our adventures the next morning.

My Super Hero

This year I really wanted to make sure Nathan had a friend party for his birthday. He has been really into super heroes and asks almost every day to either wear his superman or batman shirt. So I decided a super hero party would be fun.
Since we were leaving on Vacation, I decided the best day for his party was about a week early on Saturday the 11th.
We started the party by having his friends create and decorate their own super hero masks. I set out markers, glitter, and stickers and let them go.

Then we had an obstacle course set up for them to run through.

                                             Everyone lining up at the starting line.

                                                           Aidan coming through the tunnel

                            Final part was to run through the cones and then down the small slide.

                                                                  Cousin Leah.

                                                  Liam took the obstacle course very serious!

Next we played the game destroy the bombs, Basically I told all the super heroes that they need to save everyone by destroying all the bombs(balloons) We then dumped all the balloons on the ground and let them go at it.

Next we played I spy with a small HULK figure. The kids had fun taking turns hiding him outside and searching for him. Then we served some cupcakes and ice cream, yum!

Finally he opened some gifts.

Beach Trip

Corey and family flew into California early for our family reunion so that their girls could spend a little extra time getting more comfortable with Grandma and Papa. So on the Friday before the big trip we made a quick visit to the beach. It was a little chilly but as always Nathan loved playing in the sand.

                                                 Nathan, Hailey, Leah, and Brady