Are you still there?...it's time for Part 4

Day four is where we started taking things to the next level. We decided to make this day a complete day at Disneyland. No park hopping. Mom also got us to the park early enough to be first in line. It was awesome. She was secretly hoping that they would see us and ask us to open the park. No such luck, BUT then one of the cast members told her she just needed to let one of them know that we wanted to open! You better believe Mom had big plans for the next day!

 

The park didn't have many Valentine specific decorations, but Mom loved these benches. Cara was spotting Aurora and Snow White walking through the park at that very moment and was so excited!

Once again we finally got more of an empty park experience that we had been hoping for. Dad and us big girls hopped on Space Mountain and Mom went and got in line to meet the Captain. The line had always been too long before. She was so excited. (He's her favorite Avenger!)

We made it in time to meet Thor which was actually quite fun. Dad's favorite moment was when Thor asked "Who shall be the first to meet me?" and mom gave it one beat and shouted "US!" which was really funny because she was standing in the back! Thor loved it and asked "Who said that?" and Mom had to sheepishly raise her hand. He, of course, had us meet him first. It was awesome. Iva even kept rubbing her hand on his arm almost squeezing his muscles per Aunt Rachel's request.

Here is one of our pictures from Space Mountain. We got to ride it SEVEN TIMES never once standing in the stand by line. Mom was a wizard with our passes.

Two other big firsts happened together. Dad finally ate a turkey leg! He kept calling it an autopsy. It was delicious but slightly gory. Look at Cara's face!

Mom also got bold again and asked if we could pilot the Mark Twain River Boat and we got a big YES!

We signed the log book and got our official pilot's license.

Mom had been hoping to get us in to meet the Princesses and noticed first thing that the line said it was a 60 minute wait and she was really disappointed. We went back at 3:30 that afternoon and discovered a mere 15 minute wait! We doubled up and had Dad wait in the 30 min line for Rapunzel and it worked out perfectly and Iva was a doll! She would walk up to them, touch their hands, their dress, turn around and back  into them and wait for her picture. It was so funny. She did it every single one. Cara was so excited to be wearing the same dress as Aurora.

We worked the system again and went right back in line when they switched out Snow White for Mulan whose dress I was wearing! Once again, Dad waited in a long line for Merida and it was perfect. We came out just in time!

We enjoyed the show at the Golden Horseshoe for the first time. It was funny and we enjoyed the chili in a bread bowl.

We did our best to be one of the last people in Fantasy Land, getting in line for Alice just as the park closed.

We played around in Downtown Disney for a moment and even checked out the Lego store for our Lego Loving Preslar cousins.

Part 3...if you can believe it.

Our third day we finally got to start in California Adventure and get the chance to ride Racers. We ended up spending the whole day there. We never made it over to Disneyland. The park finally felt empty like a February day should.

Oh but first check out how I woke up that morning. Iva planted herself ON MY HEAD. I was too tired to care. Luckily we got to sleep in a bit this time.

We took Dad into Frozen Fun first thing which ended up being where EVERYONE ELSE went and so it was kind of a bummer. We figured out later that we could actually show up after 6 pm and it was emptying out.

We actually tried out the sledding hill this time!

Mom and her buddy.

Mom also surprised dad by buying him a Disney hat. He had forgotten his and the next three days were supposed to reach 85 degrees and above. We had to protect that cranium.

We tried to be sneaky and give Cara extra height to make it on Goofy's Sky School. It didn't work so Dad took her for a quick ride on the Symphony Swings to cheer her up. We rode the Golden Zephyr which we used to skip but now we love it.

We had been staying at Grandpa and Grandma Quaife's house, but they had been gone on a cruise. They came home Tuesday morning and joined us for dinner in Downtown Disney. As usual it was yummy.

On the way back into the park, Cara wanted to walk and so Dad gave Mom a ride in the stroller. He made her stay there until after going through security AND the main gate. Mom was bright red, but I think she liked it.

We met Anna and Elsa, I think, for the second time on this day. It was so nice. It wasn't quite the mayhem it usually was. We are still a bit sad that they moved into the Animation building. It used to be our very favorite secret spot and now everybody is in there. Oh well! This time when we met them, Anna was playing hide and seek with us and was behind a curtain it was very funny.

Here we are trying to pose like Anna and Elsa. We got those fun balloons from dinner!

Part 2

Monday morning we were surprised to learn that the park had slightly extended hours AND that schools in Anaheim appeared to have Monday off. We were a little bummed but that's because we always want to have Disney to ourselves. We will keep dreaming. We still got plenty of rides in and met plenty of characters. 

Iva acted so excited to meet Minnie and then did a drive by where she kept running. It was pretty funny.

Oh wait...I do want to say hi!

Dad taking his girls out for a drive.

Silliness while waiting in line.

We got to meet Fawn and talk about animals.

These are our best scary faces before getting on Tower of Terror.

Look at this silly girl. She loved the rides. All except Pirates. She's not a big fan of the drop into the dark. Daddy let her watch the parade while we were on Tower of Terror and she loved it! She waved and gave high fives to anyone who wanted one.

The Final Blowout...Part 1

Well it finally came. Our last Disney trip on our annual passes. It would be so fun to renew them, but lets be honest, even we could use a vacation somewhere else. But man, did we go out on a high note!

Quick editor's note: Mom and Dad didn't take as many photos as normal because we took the time to buy photo pass plus that allows us to keep all the photos taken by the Photo Pass people in Disneyland. You will just have to wait with bated breath until all 300 of those photos come back!

Mom and Dad planned four and a half days at Disneyland. It ended up being four days and all but one hour of that fifth day! (Our Daddy is a good man!) We stopped and played with Aunt Becca at a fun arcade near her house! It was neat and we can't wait to go back.

We woke up bright and early on Aunt Angie's birthday and headed out to Disneyland. We were so excited!

Iva LOVED the Dumbo ride. She would point to it and ask to go on. (Well ask in Iva language!)

I got to ride on Walt Disney's horse on the carousel.

We jumped over and had a character breakfast at the Storyteller Cafe. It was so fun. We got to meet characters who are never out and around the park like Brer Fox and Meeko and Kenai from Brother Bear!

We loved spending time together.

Iva was awfully brave. She kept trying to stand up or lean over the sides of all the high rides! People in line would squeal over her little pig tails. They thought they were so cute.

We got REALLY lucky with Disney magic. It was a Sunday so it was crowded and fairly busy in the parks and we took some time to play a fun basketball game with an employee who ended up giving us a pass that allowed us to skip a line at any ride! We of course used it on Toy Story's Midway Mania and were given BONUS magic of being allowed to keep the pass. We promptly walked over and skipped the line at Mickey's Fun Wheel, one of our very favorite rides!

We take this picture every time we are at the Lady Bug Boogie in Bugs Land. Thumbs in! Iva even started trying to do it!

Iva seemed to really light up at all the characters. She turned 15 months old during this trip and about two weeks ago just started JABBERING. No words, but very obvious complete sentences. It's hilarious.

When we met Anna and Elsa, I only talked to Elsa and Cara only talked to Anna. It was very funny to Mom and Dad. Iva was a little unsure.

Stay tuned....

So before Disney....

I know that you guys are just dying for all 300 pictures from our Disney trip (I'm not exaggerating!), but first we have a few photos from before.

Aunt Angie gave mom the idea to do fun Valentine's hair. We loved it.

More swimming in new swim suits...

And Iva got a MASSIVE goose egg at the daycare. The sweet daycare ladies were crying when Mom came to get her. They felt so bad. A kid pushed her off a chair and on to a toy. So sad.

Didn't slow that gorgeous babe down though. Later that day she was climbing and scrambling and scaling anything and everything at the park.

Okay now...we will start our Disney posts!

Exercise Fun and Changes

Guest post by Mom:

Our lives revolve around exercise at our house and I hope it's not in an obsessive lose your friends kind of way. I teach classes at the gym and Pete loves to run races. It's kind of hard not have our lives centered around it. But I also became a Beachbody coach just recently and so it has taken on an even larger role. In December, I started drinking Shakeology for one meal a day and I had such success on it that Pete joined me. He ordered the Insanity Max30 fitness program and has been faithful.

I lost the last 13 pounds of my "woman weight". I can't exactly say it's my pregnancy weight. It's more like the weight I put on as I became a woman who was going to get pregnant. It's been crazy! I feel great, but I also never thought this would happen. Maybe 7 pounds, but not 13. I'm most excited though because it helped me finally clean up my nutrition. I try and do some of Pete's workouts with him at home, but they are HARD.

The girls go to this awesome class called Fitkids at the gym. While I'm teaching, they go do fitness tests with Miss Chanda and try and run one mile during each class. They love it. It's so fun to watch these little kids run around the track.

Iva even gets in on the fun. If we pull out the yoga mats, this is what she does. The funny part is that we don't ever do yoga! Okay, I guess I did do a few PiYo workouts...maybe that's where she got it! Oh and I do teach the preschool kids some simple downward dogs. As I type this out, I'm starting to realize that it actually makes sense.

She is sometimes less helpful. She kept giving Pete extra weight during yesterday's workout. It makes it quite hard to finish!