Day 4 in CA - 7/13/10

On our second day in Disneyland, based on the ticket we bought, we got to go in an hour before the park opened to everyone else. We went directly over to Fantasy Land. Our past experience has taught us that Fantasy Land fills up fast and ends up with long lines. So we went there first thing. The first ride of the day.....Dumbo!Marc using his muscles trying to get the sword out of the stone.
Then, of course, Samantha said "My toourn!".
Then fun for the whole family. Every one's gotta love the carousel!
One of Marc's favorite rides in Fantasy Land is the Spinning Tea Cups. The only person that will ever go on a spinning ride with him is Daddy......lucky Daddy! ;-)
Every ride we went on, no matter how bright and cheerful it was, Samantha went between being in awe and being a little scared. When we got to It's A Small World, she was ALL smiles!!
Our family at the entrance of California Adventure.
Being a Disney Visa cardholder, we were entitled to some one-on-one time with a character. Marc was happy to see Chip and Dale in the area waiting for us. Marc loves the way they play around with him.
Since we love Monsters, Inc we were excited to see that Sulley was out for photos.
While in a wilderness exploration play area the boys ran into the bears from Brother Bear, Kenai and Kodo.
We left the park for lunch and then headed back to the hotel for some resting time. I thought it was cute how both of my kiddos were cuddling with a Pooh Bear.
When we got back to the park we got there just in time for their new parade, "Celebrate in the Street". At different points throughout the parade route, the stop and encourage the kids to go out into the street and dance with them.
It was a very successful, fun day 2 in Disneyland.

Day 3 in CA - 7/12/10

Yay!! We made it to Disneyland!!!One of Marc's favorite rides in Disney World when he was younger was the Winnie the Pooh ride. So, we took Samantha on that for one of her first rides. She was a little unsure in the beginning, but when it was over she looked at us and asked for more.
Then of course we had to "steal" some of Pooh's Hunny.
Then we came across some of Marc's favorites. He was super excited to get to see Lightening and Mater!
The first character we saw was pilot Minnie Mouse. As you can see in the picture, Samantha wasn't too sure about her. She was really excited while we waited in line calling "Minnie, Minnie", but as soon as we got close to her, Samantha snuggled right n=down on my shoulder.
In all the times we have been to Disney parks I don't remember ever seeing Mr. Incredible out for pictures and autographs.
We watched a show called "Drawn to the Magic". It is a show about how when you use your imagination when you draw great things can happen. The three characters that starred in the show were Cinderella, Woody, and Sorcerer Mickey. Which one is Samantha so excited about seeing you might ask.....
Why, it was Mickey of course!!
After the show we got to go up and meet the characters.
Cinderella escaped before we were able to get over to her. :-(
I love these Mickey benches! So I had to take each kid's picture sitting on them at the end of our first day at Disneyland.
It was a GREAT first day! Weather was great, crowd size was great, wait time was great, and company was great!

Day 2 in CA - 7/11/10

Today we slept in (Yay!!) and then went and picked my father-in-law, Marc Sr., up from the airport. After taking the shuttle to the airport and picking up Marc Sr, we took the rental car shuttle to pick up our van. We headed back to the hotel and loaded everything into the van. Boy was it stuffed FULL! We then headed over to Santa Monica. The first thing we did was walk down to the pier. What a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean! Standing at the end of the pier you look out onto nothing but blue water!!After we gazed at the beautiful water, and seeing what we thing were dolphins coming to the surface for air, we strolled back down the pier.
We ate lunch at Mike's Pizza (a famous pizza company in NY), then wandered around the pedestrian mall. We ended our time in Santa Monica by eating some gourmet cupcakes from Yummy Cakes.

After some fun in the sun we headed towards Anaheim. We made a stop at Target for some food for the room, El Pollo Loco for dinner, and Yogurt Land for dessert. We then went and checked into our Disneyland hotel.

Day 1 in CA - 7/10/10

We spent today driving to Simi Valley to go to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. We decided we didn't need a van for our one day excursion, so we rented a car. Not just any car.......but a royal blue, Mustang convertible. Do you think my hubby is going through a mid-life crisis? ;-)The kids weren't too sure about it at first, but it quickly grew on them.
Samantha kept pushing the hair out of her face and saying "windy!".
We got to the museum about 1/2 hour before it opened, kinda unlike us. ;-) So we took advantage of the beautiful scenery. They had a mini rose garden that, of course we had to use as a background.
As we wandered around we found a Memorial site with the Presidential seal on it. What do you think, do we have future Presidents on our hands? ;-)
"Do you think we will shake my hand?" ;-)
Part of the museum was Reagan's old Air Force One, the actual thing!. It was pretty cool walking through the same plane the a former United States President flew on and made lots of important decisions on!
On the way back to the hotel we stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Chevy's. We first discovered Chevy's in Chicago 4 years ago while there celebrating Marc's birthday. It is a Mexican restaurant. When it is someones birthday, they sing to you, give you an ice cream sundae, and a birthday sombrero. We have celebrated his birthday at a Chevy's every year for the last three years (yes, we have 3 of the sombreros in our house). So, of course, Marc found one in CA for us to go to again this year. Samantha thought Daddy looked silly in the sombrero.

Then the kiddos had to try it on.
It was a good first day in CA! :-)

Day 7 in Denver - 7/9/10

Well, it is our last day in Denver. :-( Marc was finally able to get the kiddos to Dinosaur Ridge today. This is a place where they has found and preserved TONS of real dinosaur prints and bones. They rode in a tour shuttle for the first part of the exploration.Daddy said that their tour guide was great, very knowledgeable! Marc got lots of lessons while on the walk.
Daddy had the kids see just how much bigger a dinosaur's footprint is compared to theirs. Really makes you think!
The guide took this picture of Daddy and the kids before they left. That's a lot of footprints behind them!!
Well, we had a fabulous time in Denver! We had already packed the van up with all the luggage the night before so we would be able to go straight to the car rental return directly after they picked me up from my conference. We rented from Hertz while in Denver. When we pulled up to the rental area. One of the guys asked us if there was room for one more person to sit inside. Kinda confused, we said we could probably make room. Well, Hertz is trying out a new service in Denver. One of the Hertz guys drove us, in the van right up to the curbside check-in for our airline! That was awesome!!! Certainly made for an easier time getting to the airport and saved lots of time.
Now, it is off to CA!!

Day 6 in Denver - 7/8/10

Today was my second day of Steve Spangler fun! Marc was going to take the kids to a dinosaur place, but had some trouble finding it. He came across Red Rock during his explorations, so that is where he took the kids today.This is where the Red Rock Amphitheater is. Marc insisted that Daddy walk all the way to the top of the amphitheater. This is a panoramic of the view from the top.
I think both kids enjoyed climbing all the steps!
Peanut (and Daddy) just LOVE Steve Spangler. So I asked him if, when they came to pick me up at the end of the day, if I could bring them in to meet him. Being the super nice man that he is, he said "Of course!". When Steve introduced himself to Marc (Peanut), he was kinda stunned. He stood there speechless for a second. Instead of telling Steve his name, he said "We watch you on tv all the time!". It was so unbelievably cute! Steve was SO nice to Marc!
As you can see we all had t-shirts on about the Mentos/Diet Coke experiment that Steve made famous. He signed our shirts for us.
Steve gave Marc the "left-overs" of the stuff he used that day! Lots of fun color changing activities. I guesstimate that he gave Marc about $50 worth of stuff!
When you see Steve on tv (Elle and the Denver local news) he always looks like so much fun and such a nice guy. Well, it isn't an act, he really is truly that nice! If you ever get a chance to meet, definitely go for it!

While we were in Denver Steve did a tv spot about a new ice cream place that used liquid nitrogen to make a custom, homemade ice cream. We had to check it out one night and it was pretty cool.
This is the recipe Marc chose to make for his ice cream.
We all had a great day in Denver!

Day 5 in Denver - 7/7/10

I started my science conference today. Today did not go as planned for Marc and the kids today. While we were at Focus on the Family yesterday we noticed a bug bite near Samantha's eye that had gotten a little swollen. After consulting Nurse Aunt Missey, we began putting Benadryl cream on it. When we woke up this morning, her eye was almost swollen shut. So, I called the doctor and she suggest we give her liquid Benadryl. If there is no change in 24 hours, we would need to take her to urgent care. Marc had planned on taking the kids to a comedy improv story time. When he got there the whole building was closed, So he went back to the hotel and did laundry for me (what a great hubby!).
After I got done with my conference, they picked me up and we headed to get some dinner. Marc had read about this Mexican restaurant called Casa Bonita. We had heard that the food was horrible, but the entertainment for the kids was great! They had several mini shows off and on through-out the night. We saw a gun fight, a pirate show, a monkey show, and some cliff diving. Think my kids enjoyed the shows? ;-)
About the time we got done eating dinner, they called the kids to a back part of the building to hit a pinata. Each kid got to pick up lots of Tootsie Rolls.
Like I said earlier in the post, there were cliff divers, As part of the back drop of their diving there was a water fall. We couldn't resist getting a picture of the kids with the water fall.
On the way out of the restaurant the kids got to pick something from the treasure chest. They each got a Tootsie Roll and a play dollar bill.
All the reviews where correct....the food was awful, but the kids loved the atmosphere and the entertainment!
When we got home (hotel), I was instructed that I had to give a science lesson on the things I learned that day.
It was a great first day of my conference! After a day of Benadryl Samantha's eye looks much better!