Rob here. It has been much too long since I’ve posted some of our around-the-house photos. These were taken on a lazy day in January (that’s right, January). Our kids are not always shiny and spiffy clean (I’m sure you really thought they were…). Sometimes they are a little less comely and are still wearing PJ’s at noon, especially at Cara’s age. It is important to get photos of them in their natural setting with random and goofy looks. I’d hate to forget all of the normal and less dressed up part of life.
Nice face Madi! I can hear her giggle in my mind just like when she finished this face.
Nate was doing some important screw tightening that day. On a side note some of our outlet covers were cracked as part of this routine and important work. Ha!
A suspicious look from Madeleine. I imagine I’ll be seeing more of these over the years.
Ah to dance. Mad’s favorite activity.
A classic, “help me” look from our youngest. I can also imagine her cry of alarm.
A couple of Sundays ago, on the spur of the moment, I wanted to take some pictures of my kids all dressed up before church began. We drove up the hill behind our chapel and sat them down with 10 minutes to get some shots before Sacrament Meeting began. It was too late in the morning for the sun to be in the optimal position for natural light portraiture and I knew this going up there, but I wanted to get some anyway. Just because.
Because of the light, the girls are all squinty. Nate, however, couldn’t stand the sun in his eyes and was physically unable to cooperate :)
Caroline wasn’t thrilled with the idea in general. Can you tell? That doesn’t make her any less cute, though!
Here, Madeleine is only pretending to be mad.
So, that was our super-speed, sunlit session! There are a couple other pictures here.
I can’t believe we only took ONE picture on our second half of the day to California Adventure. I guess we were just having too much fun to worry about stopping and photographing. I’m bummed about it, but I’m glad we were having such a blast. Unfortunately, we didn’t even get a chance to go on this ride, which is too bad, because it’s one of my favorites. By the time we came back for the afternoon the fast passes were finished being distributed and this ride probably had the longest line in the park at 60 minutes.
Grizzly River Run: Rob and Nate grabbed some fast passes for this ride earlier that morning. It was their first stop for the afternoon. The line was very short and they both had an amazing time. Both Rob and Nate got fairly wet and both had a blast.
Disney’s Aladdin—A Musical Spectacular: This was a full-stage production of Aladdin inside the large Hyperion Theatre. The kids and I went to this while Rob hit California Screamin. I wasn’t sure if Caroline would sit through the whole thing but she did. I’m not a “play” person, but I thought this was really fun. The special effects were great and there was enough going on to keep us all very entertained.
Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!: We all hopped on this ride which usually has a long wait, but didn’t at all. It was a little loud, but the scenery from the movie was cool.
ElecTRONica: Now I’d have to say that this was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. My kids have loved the movie TRON: Legacy for a long time. We always turn the Daft Punk soundtrack on VERY loud and dance, have battles, and ride light cycles around the family room. ElecTRONica is a night-time dance party at The Hollywood Backlot Stage area. As the sky went dark, the glowing, neon lights turned on, the music was turned up, and the dancing began. There was a DJ spinning, lit hula hoops (which I so enthusiastically rotated around my hips), and glowing lemonade was served up. The whole place looked just like the club scene from the movie. There was even a man doing tricks with a laser. We all had a blast. Rob and I would’ve loved to stay longer and dance the night away, but the kids were ready to go on a few more rides before we had to leave the park. Here is a video of the laser man.
Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies: These are bumper cars that the kids enjoyed driving. Madeleine was nervous at first and didn’t want to crash into anyone. After a few seconds she warmed up to it and started ramming people.
Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train: The kids thought this was pretty cool. You basically ride Heimlich around and drive through food that he has eaten. At each stop you get sprayed or misted with the scent of the food. The kids though this was hilarious.
It’s Tough to be a Bug!: Nate liked this for a few minutes but the 4D experience scared him a few times. He didn’t like it when the spiders started attacking from the ceiling. hehe.
By this time it was pretty late so we ate a really late dinner while we saw part of the World of Color show that was taking place on the water. We decided we needed to leave the park before the show ended in order to beat the crowds to the shuttle. On our way out, Rob ran into the Disney store to get Madeleine’s souvenir, a Little Mermaid doll set.
We all loved Disneyland and California Adventure. We are all ready to go back again soon. We always wondered why so many people go there almost every year. Now we understand.
