We went to Disneyland in early February for a joint birthday trip for Leo and Quinn. Papaw Richard came with us and it was a little retirement celebration trip for him too. We left on Saturday morning and drove straight through, only stopped 2 times! Our kids are really great in the car and we are very lucky for that. Quinn was so excited to go and it was all she talked about for weeks leading up to the trip.
This time we stayed in a condo complex right across the street from the parks and it was perfect. I am sure we will make one more trip to Disney before we leave Utah and we will stay at the same Condo, it was so nice.
We got in late Saturday and just unpacked the car and went to sleep. Then on Sunday we went to breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me. The kids absolutely loved it, even Leo! He got so excited when the characters walked by and he kept trying to grab their noses. They all thought he was cute (of course!) so I think that helped increase the amount of characters and the time they visited our table, they just loved him. Quinn had a blast too. Her favorite part was when everybody walked around signing and we all got to wave our napkins in the air. The food was pretty good also and it worked out great because Quinn wasn't 3 just yet so she was still free! This will be something we do every trip to Disney from now on, it was the perfect start to the vacation.
After breakfast we headed for the Pacific Highway and drove up the coast. We didn't have a set destination and just drove for a little bit enjoying the scenery. It was funny because when we did finally stop, it was the same beach that we went to our last trip to California! The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed relaxing on the beach and playing in the sand. Our condo had chars, beach towels and beach toys which made the trip more enjoyable for everybody.
We finished the day by having dinner with my college friend Layla and her man, Mark at a really cute and good restaurant near the beach. Both of my kids were kind of done at that point and they were a little crazy at dinner, I am going to blame this for the reason we did not get a picture! The dinner was yummy and the company was great! We enjoyed catching up on our lives and a delicious pitcher of Sangria (which is hard to find in Utah!). I really wish she lived closer because I miss her so much!
One thing that is on my 30 before 30 list was to unplug for a week. I decided to do this over our vacation and I think it is going to be a new tradition for all of our family vacations. I still had my phone and took it with me to the park in case we separated for rides and such and could still contact each other. However, for the most of the trip my phone was turned off or on airplane mode (so I could still take pictures without having to take my big camera). It was really eye opening to me how much I am used to being on my phone, especially in the car. The first part of the trip I felt myself wanting to reach for my phone all the time and then over time it became something I didn't really need or want. By the end of the trip I realized how nice it was to not have my phone and feel that I needed to check my email or text messages or see what was going on with social media. It was very eye opening for me and has changed my phone usage some at home also. I have started leaving my phone upstairs or in the kitchen when we are playing. It isn't something that I need to have on me all the time but I think in this culture of having to be connected all the time we think it is. One thing I noticed when not having my phone at the park was how much people are on their phones! While waiting in line for rides or sitting down to eat, parents were staring at their phones and not interacting with their families/kids. This is something I need to continue to work on, putting away the phone or computer and just being present. I do think I will "unplug" for all vacations from here on out, you should try it and see how relaxing a vacation can really be!
Beach time is good, life is good!
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