California - Disneyland and Huntington Beach

After two days in San Diego, we headed up to Orange County where we stayed for the remainder of our trip. Our first day there we went to a somewhat secluded beach called Crescent Bay. The water was calm, the weather was warm and there were tide pools. It was perfect. We spent a couple of hours there just relaxing and playing in the sand. I only took three pictures there that mostly look like this:

On Wednesday, we went to Disneyland! I love Disneyland and can't believe I'm spoiled enough to go there with the boys two years in a row. This was Phil's very first visit and he actually liked it more than any of us thought he would. The weather was perfect, there were hardly any lines and the boys were well-behaved. And while we weren't able to ride all of the huge rides, we were able to get on the Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Carribbean (twice), Haunted Mansion, Tower of Terror, Soarin' Over California, Grizzly Rapids and lots of kids rides. It was totally fun, and we lasted from 9am to 9pm, along with Hillary and her three kids. We went home completely exhausted that night.

Our first ride was the Finding Nemo Submarine ride. That was our longest wait of the day at 15 minutes! Jack and Henry love that movie, so it kept their attention very well.

We took the boys on the Small World ride. I hadn't been on that ride since I was a kid, mostly because the music is so annoying, but Jack and Henry loved it. It was chaos in there, but it kept their attention for the entire time. Henry was mad when we had to get off the boat!

While dad and Auntie Hill went on the Soarin' Over California ride, I took pictures of the boys outside one of the shops. Jack was really excited about it! Actually, he wanted to ride on one of the decorative airplanes inside the shop and was mad when I explained why he couldn't.

of Main Street. What a great day! Big thanks to Hillary for getting us in and staying with us the whole day! We loved it!

Our last day in California was incredibly relaxing. We had no agenda and took our time getting ready to leave. That night we headed out to the pier at Huntington Beach where we grabbed a bite to eat at Ruby's, saw dolphins swim past us, and watched over a dozen surfers try to catch a wave. It was windy and chilly, but so gorgeous. I can't wait for our next vacation!