Summer Vacation 2011

  So at the end of May my parents took us on Brylinns first real summer vacation.  We went to California and spent a day at the beach, a day at Universal Studios and 6 days at Disneyland.  I was worried she was going to be too young to enjoy anything, but she wasn't.  She had a blast, nothing scarred her.  The first two rides we went on were Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, both she enjoyed. 

We were so lucky that the entire family could work out their schedules so we could all be there. (just not so lucky that we all could get a picture together)   

My top 10 favorite memories...(In no particular order)

10.  It was so fun to watch Brylinn meet the characters.  Some she wanted to touch and be close too, while some she couldn't bury her head deep enough into my shoulder (For example at Universal Studios Curious George freaked her out, but Frankenstein was not a problem).
 

9. Brylinn falling asleep in her stroller late a night.  Some of my favorite times at theme parks is late at night.  So I was so glad she would just fall asleep, she would even sleep through the fire work shows.  It was great.


8. Getting to ride Dumbo, which was my favorite ride as a little girl, with Brylinn.  And getting to watch her enjoy as much as I did.  Brylinn had 3 favorite rides, the carousel and Dumbo were a close tie to 2nd, but her favorite ride was by far Its a Small World.  She would just lean over the front of the little boat and enjoy every 15 minutes of that ride. 

7.  Getting to spend a day with our good friends, Christian and Annie. They moved to California a year or so ago and we haven't seen them till them trip.  It was so fun to see how their son, Noah, had grown and let the two kids meet for the first time. We miss you guys.   

6. Believe it or not... standing in lines.  I probably complained about this while actually having to stand there but when I think back we had a lot of fun just talking and hanging out with everyone.  (I'll try to remember this next time I go haha)

5.  Riding a bike with Cody and Brylinn a long the beach.  The beach day, which in the past has been my favorite day, did not turn out that way.  It was freezing... the water felt like little needles.  But Cody was bound and determined to make this the best day possible, he loves water.  So he rented a wet suit with my Dad, while the ladies stayed cuddled up in blankets on the beach with Brylinn.  When I had just about had enough Cody came and got me and took me to rent a bike.  We rode up and down the boardwalk and ended up being the best part of the day.

4. The parade.  I really had no interest in watching the parade this go around... but by day 4 at Disneyland we had rode everything 5 times so it started to sound more appealing.  It was awesome.  Brylinn loved it, she would make her cute sounds anytime a character would get close to her.  It was so cute.

3.Of course getting to ride all the "big kid" rides. 

2.  Riding the swinging Farris wheel.  We were in this little cage with my Mom, Dad, Cody, Beth, Brylinn, Logan, Hunter and I (so quite a bit of weight).  And these cages would roll back and forth, so when you started to go over the other side at the top you would swing way out.  Well we saw this sign that said 800 lbs weight limit and we quickly realized that we were well above that number. (I think that was for this platform thing at the top though) Most of us were just thinking this is the scariest Farris wheel we have ever been on but Hunter and my mom thought it was the scariest thing they have ever done.  Hunter clung to my mom and cried "mommy" just like in Robin Hood, but with the fear a death in his voice and my Mom is holding on for dear life.  Definitely the time we laughed the hardest.  

1.  Getting to spend so much time with Cody. Brylinn and my family.  Now that we are adults it is so rare that we can all be in the same place at the same time, and I know as the family grows it is just going to get harder and harder.