The last few days of fun with family

Peyton loves model trains so we headed down to the model train museum at Balboa Park.  It was new for all of us and pretty cool!

It seemed like the museum was made up of sections that were put together and run by different model train clubs around San Diego.  They were each given a certain area in the museum and they would set up different towns, scenes, etc.

The kids loved it!

Here's a tall bridge over a mountain terrain.

 

And a drive in movie theater!

These three couldn't get enough of it.  They kept running from window to window saying, "Look at that!" :)

This room was by far the favorite.  It had lots of different scenes set up, a few you could push a button and control, and lots of men sitting behind the tables, controlling the trains.

Peyton was like the big brother.  So cute. :)

One of the trains had a little camera on the front which was hooked to the tv screen you see in the picture above.  We stood at the end of the track for quite a while just so we could get on tv. :)  Here we all are waving as the train catches our picture on the camera.

 

I was so impressed with all the scenery.  The train conductors put such artistry and hard work into the scenery to make it so life like.

Loved the train museum!

 

And we always love Balboa Park.  Such a beautiful place with old buildings and history.

 

Then it was time to head to Coronado Beach for some fun with Brian, Thithi and the kids. 

And a chance for Peyton to get one last look at the ocean.

Here's the McWilliam's clan.  We love seeing this gang and we're so exciting to see them again at Thanksgiving this year!

Garrett even did some boogie boarding!

Then we grabbed some sandwiches and headed to the park in Coronado for a concert.  I love this place because they have a play park right next to the concert.  The kids can play and we can listen and enjoy!

 

Ty just chillin'.

They all loved this tube that you can put your ear to...

and hear your friend way on the other side of the park!

The kids were pretty tired and everyone enjoyed one last night together before Carisa, Peyton and Grandma Dini took off the following morning.  It'll be a while before we get to see Peyton or Carisa again, but we'll see Grandma Dini in Phoenix for Thanksgiving as well.  Looking forward to it!

Long Beach Aquarium

After some brunch at Grandma Judy's house, we headed off to the Long Beach Aquarium.

 

Just as we entered, they were starting their diver discussion.  The diver is hooked up to a mic and talks about the fish around him as he feeds them.  Pretty cool!

Tatum did a Sea Horse presentation in kindergarten so she was pretty interested in the little Sea Horses. 

And Ty loves his "little squishies", what they call jelly fish in the movie Finding Nemo.

We all enjoyed the Lorikeet Forrest.  So many everywhere and you could buy this sugar water that they love to entice them to sit on your arms.

 

I think Peyton really enjoyed this.

These two were so cute!  They kept nuzzling each other, such love birds!

 

Even Garrett got into it. :)

 

Ty was fascinated by the shark tank.  Especially this saw shark.  Pretty cool!

And here's Grandma Dini petting a little sting ray.

You definitely wouldn't want to meet these jaws in the ocean!

Tatum loved the fun penguin area outside.  All in all, we had a great, educational time at the aquarium.  We headed home to San Diego after some lunch, another long but eventful day.

Disney time!

We drove up to Irvine the day before our Disney adventure began and we cooled off in Grandma Judy's neighborhood pool.

Look at these cool dudes chillin'!  Everyone needed to rest up and get to bed early since we would have a big first day at Disney the next day and it was going to start very early.  Since we were staying at the hotel, we got to enter Disney an hour before anyone else.  That meant we needed to leave Grandma Judy's around 6 so we could drive there, check in and get into Disney by 7 am. 

And then the moment had arrived.  It was time for Disneyland!!

Ok, so we didn't quite get in at 7, we actually walked through the gates at 8, but probably an hour or so earlier had we not started so early so that was great!

 

After checking into the hotel, we headed into Disney, ready to tackle all that we could smooch into one day.

And how lucky were we to have Mickey taking photographs right as we walked in!  Mickey is Aunt Carisa's favorite!

And Tatum likes Minnie pretty well too.

Let the fun in the happiest place on earth begin!

First stop, Space Mountain!

After the Buzz Lightyear ride, we went on It's a Small World, my favorite...

 

Grandma Dini loves lions so we had to get her picture with the lion bush behind her.

On to Toon Town and all it's fun!

Carisa took a spin in Mickey's car!

Checking out Mickey's fancy house,

 

and Tatum enjoyed his arm chair.

 

After a quick lunch we had packed and brought in with us, we digested on the train ride all around the park.

 

And how lucky that the Mickey show started just as we got off the train!

We headed over to a Woody show where we could see the petting zoo, trade some pins, and learn how to lasso...

And we ran into Mickey again!

And Woody and Jessie too!

For a small rest, we grabbed some refreshing frozen lemonade drinks and took a ride on the river boat.  If only they served Bellini's. :)

Then it was time to check into the hotel!  Tatum got to stay on her own little couch bed and loved this pillow.  A quote from her favorite movie, Cinderella.  The hotel was beautiful, and there were little hidden Mickey heads everywhere!

After a quick rest, we ran back to Main Street to catch the parade...

And after dinner we took a spin on my other favorite ride, Winnie the Pooh, and then headed over to watch the Fantasmic night show. 

 

Since the park was open till midnight and we wanted to make the most of our time, Tatum, Peyton, Garrett and I jumped on the Matterhorn and caught the end of the fireworks show just as we got off.  So beautiful!  Peyton loves trains and was fascinated with the Monorail so we took that back to the hotel and fell into bed at midnight.  A full day!

And just a few hours later, we were back in the swing of things, waiting in line for the new Cars ride at California Adventure.  Even though we entered that park an hour early, we still had an hour wait in line.  Crazy!

The kids were great sports and put up with all the lines as well as could be expected. 

 

And I think we all agreed that the ride was definitely worth it.  So fun!

While the others headed back to the hotel, we checked out another Cars ride, the floating tires!

Can you tell he loved it?!

And we got to see Lightning McQueen!

  

While Peyton and Garrett went on another roller coaster, Tatum and Grandma Dini went on the giant ferris wheel.  Too high for me!

Tatum absolutely loved being with her Grandma.  She waits all year for her visits!

  

We hit the Toy Story ride,

then cooled off in the Bugs world,

and then Tatum, Peyton, Garrett and I braved the Tower of Terror!  So scary!  Tatum wore her hat over her head the entire time, I don't blame her!

Ty grabbed a cat nap while we were gone, much needed.  Then we went to see a really beautiful play of Aladdin, nice and cool and very funny. 

Then it was dinner time and we headed to Downtown Disney and ate at a delicious Mexican restaurant.  And the balloon guys came by so Tatum asked for Merida,

the birthday girl asked for Mickey ears,

and Ty got a fire breathing dragon.  So fun!

Even though we were all exhausted,  we stayed to see the World of Color show which was awesome, and then hit some stores on the way out.

Good bye Mickey and Minnie!  And thanks Grandma Dini for an amazing experience!