Soooo Many Pictures, and Soooo Much Fun on our Vacation!

We went on a week long vacation to Newport Beach, my favorite place on earth! We stayed here, and it really is as gorgeous as it looks!

As if playing on the luggage racks wasn't enough fun, we also...
went to fun family lunches!
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifAnd fun family dinners! (Robert and Michael spent quite a while comparing their facial features, trying to figure out if they have their Dad's eyes or their Mom's nose, etc.)
We also went to Disneyland!
Stanton had been longing to go on Star Tours, since it had been closed every other time we'd been there, and Noelle really wanted to go on the new Ariel ride, which was really fun, one of my favorites!
All of the lines were 60-90 min waits, but we never waited in line more than 10 minutes. We have our ways (:
The Jungle Cruise is one of Stanton's favorites, but this time the river guide asked if anyone could swim, and when Stanton raised his hand, he told him that everyone on the boat would use him as a floatation device when the boat sank. Stanton's face looked like this for the entire ride!
Noelle was in heaven hanging out with the princesses! We listened to 3 princess story times, and got to meet them all. I had to pry the bag of Baked Cheetos out of her hand before this picture though, but I didn't have much luck prying the orange cheese powder off of her fingers before she hugged Snow White. Luckily her dress is yellow so it will blend in well. I couldn't bring myself to look at the back of Cinderella's powder blue dress though.
She loved all of the princesses so much, but she refused to talk to Sleeping Beauty because she was too tall, and she wouldn't "smoosh" down to her level like the others. She said she doesn't like talking to very tall princesses because she can't hear them or see their eyes. I couldn't believe my daughter gave Sleeping Beauty the cold shoulder. She does have a point. Who doesn't like to make eye contact when you're having a conversation with a princess?
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifWe all really, really love Small World! And this time I learned that if I say, "Everybody!" after the first verse, the entire boat will join and sing the chorus with me!
It was very fun! That song is right, it really is a world of laughter!
We also spent a couple days at the beach! We played a lot in the sand, dug and found a lot of sand crabs, and collected a lot of sea weed. Stanton and I also chased birds, and found the only bird on the beach who couldn't fly.
Robert also finally convinced me to go deep, deep in the water with him (I am a terrible Minnesota swimmer and always freeze to death in the ocean and manage to lose my sunglasses and whine about chugging salt water and getting sand in my eyes) and it was soooo much fun! I got beat up by the gigantic waves, but we had a ball together! I think he was proud of me for attempting something other than dog paddling.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifEverybody loves a beach day!
Grandpa spent lots of time playing with the kiddos. He and Stanton went for a "very long, adventure walk where they jumped over the water and talked really much!" Stanton said it was just as much fun as Disneyland!
Grandma had lots of Baby Winston time!
Oh, and we buried Uncle Michael deep in the sand. That was really fun too!
We also went to Legoland! Winston and Rhea liked the little rides.
And Stanton and Noelle are starting to really love the big kid rides!
We also saw the amazing, enormous Star Wars lego exhibit, which was like Stanton's version of heaven!
Then we went on more rides. This little airplane one is one of everyone's favorites...

including Winston! He held on tight!
Once again, The Currys closed down another amusement park. We stayed until the very last second, but all that Lego fun had us all a little tuckered out!
We also went to the Long Beach Aquarium, which is sooo great! I held a real whale tooth, and we learned that a Blue Whale's tongue, just it's tongue, weighs as much as an elephant! Holy cow!
We also petted baby tiger sharks, no joke!
And I got bit by a bird too. It didn't hurt very much, and I deserved it. I was trying to get it to drink out of an empty nectar cup.
I love these kids! They loved seeing all of the sea horses and sea otters and sea turtles and sea lions! It was a really great time!
Noelle was sad to leave the tank full of Nemos. I can sympathize!

She was even more sad to leave California! I think we all made this face at the end of our trip!
It was so perfect getting to spend so much time with everyone, and doing so many fun things: swimming, going on a picnic, walking around Balboa Island (with a jacket on), going to Pat and Oscar's, playing Balderdash, making (and spilling) non-alcoholic pina coladas, riding the carousel at South Coast Plaza and watching Grandpa draw really good pictures of Stanton and Noelle with duck and dragon bodies to keep them occupied during church.
I couldn't be more thankful to be a part of such a FUN family, and I can't wait to do it all again next year!