Wednesday, May 16, 2012

A Place Where Dreams Come True

 First things first. Scott found a job. After months of searching, interviewing, rejections and so on, he was offered a job at the Attorney Generals Office in Sacramento in the Correctional Law Department. We have been wanting to take Ada to Disney so to celebrate, we loaded up the car and headed out. There were some mishaps along the way. We were an hour behind schedule to leave so I was relieved once we were ready to go, but the car didn't start! The neighbor had to jump the car and we took it straight to our mechanic and replaced a leaking battery. Once we got to Anaheim, our plan was to purchase tickets off of Craigslist at a discounted rate. After finding out that we would have to leave our license with the guy and return our tickets to him afterwards I asked him if it was legal. He proceeded to ask me if Superman shares all of his secrets. I told him I would talk to my husband and get back to him. We did not go that route. An even better solution was to have Scott's Uncle purchase the tickets for us. Southern California residents get pretty big discounts. So we had him order them for us online and send the confirmation to Scott's email (This was all at 10:00PM. We had woken his poor uncle up) Well, the e-ticket never came until late morning the next day. Not going into all the details, after calling Disney and telling them our E-tickets never came, we found out that Scott's uncle would have to come to the park and pick up the tickets for us!! CRAP. Since Scott's Uncle was at work, we decided to make Wednesday a beach day and would call Uncle Craig after work. He reluctantly agreed to make his way to the park (Thanks Uncle Craig) to pick up the tickets for us, but lucky for him, the e-ticket arrived in Scott's email shortly after we left for the beach.. Phew. We felt so horrible putting him out and were so happy he didn't have to fight traffic and parking to go to will-call!
Anyway, we had a great time at Disney. Ada woke up at 4:50AM Disney morning cause she couldn't find her binky (Yes, binkies at naps and bedtime). Then she really couldn't fall back asleep and was back and forth until 6:45 when she was officially up. She had the widest smile on her face and said, "I'm SO excited to see Minnie!"
 On the trip down, grateful to finally be going (Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us borrow your wonderful Van)

 We were all ready for Disney our first morning when we realized we had the major ticket issue so we ate some donuts and changed into our swimsuits
 LOVE Ada's new suit
 Hanging out at Huntington Beach. It was so sunny just outside of Huntington, then we drove right into a wall of clouds. Surprisingly it was Scott who was cold and not me
 Playing in the waves

 After the beach we took the girls back to the hotel for naps (and me too) then hit Downtown Disney for dinner. Ivy loved the restaurant we chose
 The pizza was supposed to taste like Pizza from Naples, Italy. Since I have been there before I can say that it was close, but didn't quite hit the mark. Can't beat Pizza from Naples. Just can't

 Disney: We splurged...a lot and had "Breakfast with Minnie" and I will tell you what, it was worth EVERY penny. The food was good (buffet) and Ada was in HEAVEN. Random moment of the day. I ran into a guy that I went to college with. He took my sister out a couple of times.

 It took Ada some time to warm up to Captain Hook. Ivy dove right in

 She loved Minnie and kept going back to talk to her
 I think this is Dale. He kissed Ada a couple of times and she kept talking about that



 Ivy loved to grab the noses


 First ride of the day. Ada wasn't huge fan. When she got off she said, "Mom, that was a little bit scary." It made me feel a little bit sick. Poor Scott was in for it after one roller coaster. Some of the Foley Men  get motion sickness really bad.  We were waiting for him at the exit when he got off the ride and he was covered in sweat. He told me he wasn't feeling well and pretty much kept his eyes closed the whole ride and stayed in fetal position. In fact, his eyes were closed and his head was slightly down when the picture was taken. It was sad but funny. He felt a little queasy for the rest of the day

 Small World. Ada loved the dolls that shook their hips really fast.
 Sweet, sweet girl
 Ada loved the princesses


 Goofys House. Loved Toontown. It is so cute and so is that face!


 Minnie's House
 It was around 3:00 and Ada still hadn't taken a nap. You see a smile on her face, but she was slowly breaking down
 Getting ready for the parade. It was amazing. SO much detail goes into every character. I could have watched for hours (well maybe not hours). Although Ada was exhausted, she was totally sucked in. Ivy loved the parade too. She was chatting up a storm



 California Adventure was Friday. It was "Grad Night" for graduating Seniors so it was pretty packed. We went hard all day at Disney and took a little more time getting to the park on Friday. Ada napped while Scott and I ate lunch and fed Ivy. Isn't she the sweetest little thing? I can't get enough of her
 When we first got to California Adventure, I was a little uncertain if we were really going to like it. It was perfect though. We had a great time. There was  Mickey Mouse Club House performance that Ada loved! She talked about that show for the rest of the day.
 Bugland. Ada's face is classic
 "It's our family," as Ada likes to say when we take group pictures
 Ada was shocked to run into Jake from the Neverland Pirates. She was hoping that she would see Izzy too.

 After this picture was taken, we took Ada to a splash pad that she could get wet in. While we were changing her back into dry clothes (yes, out in public) Phineas and Pherb dance party came rolling by. There is a big stage with dance instructors (Along with Phineas and Pherb). Ada was so excited so we hurried to finish dressing her. When we finally got to the crowd, Ada charged right in. She was the only kid in there doing her own thing. She was dancing circles around all of the other kids and dance instructors and following Phineas and Pherb. What made this even funnier, is in my hurry to dress her in her cute shorts and shirt, I had accidentally pulled her stretchy shorts too high and had tucked her shirt right into the shorts. Hilarious.

We stayed until the World of Color water show. It was way past the girls bedtime and Ada crashed in the stroller. Funny story. On the LONG walk back to the car, we looked down at Ada and she was completely turned over on to her stomach in the stroller. She started whimpering so I picked her up. Big mistake. She was still half asleep and started screaming. She screamed and cried for the last 10 minutes of our walk which woke Ivy up and she started crying too. So picture us. Loading up two screaming girls, and trying to get everything in the van. People are walking by giving us sympathetic looks. One lady leaned over and asked how many kids we had in our car. "Two!" She was surprised to hear that. Ada continued screaming for another 10 minutes or so then crashed. Ivy cried for awhile longer too. Then Silence. We got to Scott's uncles house (We stayed with them a couple of nights) and quickly put Ada to bed. We all slept in the same room. Just as I was putting Ivy into her bed, Ada screamed. Freaked me out. I tried to comfort her but she just kept whimpering. When I finally got her to calm down, she told me that a snake had gotten her. Poor thing. That was my first experience with nightmares.
Anyway, we had such a great time. We finished off the week with spending Mother's Day with Grandma and Grandpa Foley and Doug and Jenny's family.
The time, energy and money put into this trip was well worth it. I couldn't have asked for a better week. I think the only thing I would do different next time (well one of the things) is to have one other family go with us so I could ride the rides with Scott (the one's that don't make him sick, anyway). Who is in?

8 comments:

cameron said...

TOO FUN!!! Yes, I love Ada's suit. Where did you get it? Second, SERIOUSLY... CAN YOU LOOK EVEN MORE GORGEOUS? NOPE! Third, don't you just love screaming children at the end of a fun day....

Emily said...

We're in! Dave's dying to take the kids again. We went when Isaac was 3 and Noah was 1. We rented a stroller at the park which was a HUGE mistake. We stayed at a Disney hotel so there was no shuttle, and we had to carry the boys home every night (usually they were asleep) about 2 miles. It was AWFUL. We went with my sister and her family and it was a BLAST hanging with cousins and trading off kids so we could ride rides together. Loved it.

Zoe loved looking at these pictures, especially the ones of Ivy. She's obsessed with babies these days. I'm so glad you guys got to go, and CONGRATULATIONS ON THE JOB!!!!

Boquinha said...

Congrats on the job!

Mark got VERY sick on some rides in Florida a couple of weeks ago. He says he still isn't feeling quite right. The Foley boys do indeed have something similar going on there.

We like going to amusement parks with one other family -- it REALLY helps.

Amy Lovell said...

If we only lived in California, I'd be all over going with you guys! Maybe next time?

Jennifer Lovell said...

Sounds like an exhausting trip, but worth it! You got a lot of fun pictures. I can't wait to go sometime soon.

Kelsey K. Hartley said...

I so want to take my girls to Disneyland! Looks like a great trip.

The guy selling tickets via craigslist sounds super creepy. There's no way I would leave my identity card with a stranger. His referencing himself as superman was both concerning and hilarious.

What is the price difference for So Cal residence? Having grown up in So Cal, I think it's funny that Nor Cal residence might as well live in a different state.

J Fo said...

Sounds like an awesome adventure! We would LOVE to take the girls! Emmy had never been and chats about it all the time. Greg gets majorly motion sick too! He has about 1 ride in him, then he's out of commission.

Your girls are getting so big. LOVE Ada's spunk. Wish I could have seen her dancing! Ivy's big smile just melts me. So sweet!

Callie said...

LOVE all the pictures! So glad you guys were able to go!