We had told the girls we were going to go to St. George for Thanksgiving. Well, that was partially true! The night before we left Cade told them, "well, we are only going to stay in St. George for one night." Which Emma and Reese complained in shock "but it takes us half a day to get there!" Then we told them it was because we were continuing onward and going to Disneyland! They were ecstatic and screaming. It was such a fun surprise.
We drove Tuesday evening to St. George and stayed the night. In the morning I took the girls over to the hot tub and we hung out there while Dad got some work done. Then we drove to California. The only problem was that everyone else in the country was driving our same way :(. Our 9 1/2 hour trip took almost 13 HOURS!!! It was a very hard drive. And to top it off, our DVD player broke at the very beginning of the 13 hours. I was not prepared as well for that so there was lots of being bored and whining going on. I was dreading the drive back SO much that Cade was awesome and sacrificed for the team- he missed out on going to the BYU football game Saturday night and drove us home through the night instead (which turned out to be a 9 hour drive...yay!).
The first full day in California was at California Adventure. The night before there was a huge windstorm and so many of the rides were down for the first part of the day. We weren't able to do as much as we normally would have but we still had an awesome time!
Some favorites were Soarin' Around the World (the girls all-time favorite) and the Grizzly River Run- they did each of those twice. Jane and Lucy's favorites were the Little Mermaid ride and the carousel and the explorer forest for kids. Except Lucy HATED the ropes that you had to walk over. I literally had to carry her over every single rope area. Nora went with Dad on the Incredicoaster and that was NOT her favorite. Poor thing. I don't think big rollercoasters are going to be anyones favorite in the family except for Dad.
The second day was at Disneyland. It was a magical day (once we actually made it into the park). Our first plan was to enter the park and go immediately to the new Star Wars ride. The problem was is that was everyone else's plan who entered the park. So instead of standing in that line for almost THREE hours we ran over to Fantasy Land and did Dumbo twice, Peter Pan and the carousel twice in the time that we would have been in line for Star Wars. Don't worry....Cade still got to do it at nighttime before the park closed so all of his dreams got to come true. And I didn't have to stand in that line for way too long.
Some of the favorites that day were Dumbo, meeting Minnie Mouse (for Jane), going through lots of shops, going on the Star Wars ride, Winnie the Pooh and Nora finally got to go on Splash Mountain! She loved it and would have gone a second time if she was able. Reese said this time it was actually kind of fun.
The last day was at Universal Studios to enjoy Harry Potter World. I'll be honest...if I could do it over again I would have let Cade take the older girls there sometime in the future without the littles with us. First of all, Emma had a cough and we weren't Sur they would let her in. We were supposed to show proof of vaccination or a negative covid test for all those 12 and older. She was just barely 12 but Cade and her stood in this ridiculously long line to get a negative covid test. But I entered security and then entered the park by showing my vaccination card and it was really easy to get in. So I called Cade and said "bring Emma and take a chance that they don't ask how old she is." I was already in a very bad mood at the point. I was exhausted from the few days before and wanted to go home :). Cade and Emma got in no problem!! I was so happy about that.
It was a short trip but we got to go on the main ride (girls got to twice), got butter beer and other yummy food, went in Olivanders wand shop and other shops, and enjoyed the ambiance. Emma was in heaven other than her nasty cough.
We left and stayed at a hotel while we tried to get Cade a nap. I took the girls to the pool but Benson ended up crying and crying for over an hour so that did not work. Then I took the girls and Benson to get pizza and walk around Pets mart for an hour and half. Cade finally got a nap and we drove the 9 hours home through the night. It was a much better move than the 13 hours there.
Overall, it was an amazing trip and all the kids did AMAZING. Benson did much better than I every expected. He slept well in the stroller and ate well and loved watching people. He never cried during the day...night was not great but we didn't expect that to change on our account. We are so grateful we got to have that family time together! Good memories.
