october was a big month for us.
Last February, Mana Ramey was at Disneyland with Karri, Jd & Chris for the Leap Years.
She decided while she was there, that a Ramey family trip was in order and called us telling us she was fitting the bill and we were going in October. So, 7 months of preparation went into this thing. We had a code word for the trip so that the kids would never find out, because we wanted to surprise them. It was "Asparagus" and Disney is now fondly referred to as such.
The kids never guessed a thing. A couple months before we went, Mana gave each family a jar to save up for our trip, in hopes that we could go next year. Never, ever did they think it was coming so soon.
I've always said that when the day comes that we take our people to Asparagus, I want to take them to Sea World too, because I love it there. Well, it just so happened, that Mana found City Passes with Disney, Sea World and Universal Studios all included. So, wishes really do come true! :)
The night before the "big reveal" we decided to kick off the trip with a little family din din.
Since we'd been in Smithfield the wknd before, we left Finley at my parents (bless their hearts for eternity) and told the kids we just wanted to hang and be able to do whatever we wanted for UEA without having to deal with Fin and her nappy schedule. They bought it!
Texas Roadhouse is a family favorite, and who knew, Monday nights are family night.
Face painting and everything!
They were so excited!!!
And I was so excited about these:
This day, I'd spent all day doing "laundry" so I told the littles. I'd been packing like a mad woman.
And around 11 that night, we had our scavenger hunt ready, and we were sooooo anxious for the morning to come so we could tell the kids!!!!!!!
We did nothing out of the ordinary, just got up, and grabbed the kids and told them to hang in the kitchen while we grabbed the video camera :)
They had no idea what was going on. We just told them Happy UEA, and that we had a little something fun planned.
1st clue:
Eat your breakfast!
Scarf it quick!
We need to hurry on a trip!
Head downstairs where clothes get cleaned, to grab something you'll most certainly need!
Away they went, to the laundry room, to find brand new luggage for each of them.
Mana had bought it for this trip in the summer, but we'd kept it a secret too.
They were sooo excited for their own luggage! And they about died when they tried to lug it into the family room and it was heavy, because it was packed full!
They were seriously perfectly content with new luggage! They thought that was the surprise.
#2 We've got your luggage ready to go, so head to where the tomatoes grow!
Outside they ran, as fast as their cold lil feet would carry them, to the garden. There, they found bags oozing with coloring books, crayons and busy things for the car. Karri refilled their "traveling bags" and it was fantastical!
#3 Now, with this stuff to keep you busy, run back inside to our warm hizzy.
Your final clue lies in the room you watch tv each afternoon.
Downstairs they went!
On the TV was this last clue: #4 Search high. Search low. Search everywhere.
Look under things, look inside chairs.
We love you.
Conli was the first one to find the loot. Under a cushion in the chair, were 5 passes to disneyland. It took them a second to figure it out, but then, what to my ears would appear screams of joy and rapture like we'd never heard before!!!!!
We couldn't tell them Mana bought the tix because they didn't know she was going, so we had to take all the credit for a day or two, but wow. It was wonderful. Conli burst into tears, and so did Max. Sawyer had tears in her eyes, but she kept it together. I wish I would've been taking pictures, but I was videoing instead!
So, we got ready to go, packed the car up, and we were off.
The kids were really great in the car. We stopped in Beaver for some lunch, but of course, we always do, and then headed on to Vegas.
Our destination for the night was Ty & Kacee's. Love them, and stay there every chance we get.
It was a quick visit, but still great.
The kids were sooooo excited they couldn't really sleep, but they did their best.
Sawyer really wanted to sleep with Cash.
And Milani and her were best buddies.
Max just couldn't handle the excitement!
But at 5:30 the next morn, we were up and at 'em.
Conli wrote us this sweet morsel on the way.
And created a wonderful nap time dark place.
Little did they know, that THESE guys were on their way to Sea World too this day. They slept over in Nevada, and grabbed Karri, who had just spent some fun days in Disneyland already, with friends.
When we FINALLY go there, were were soooo ready!!!!!!!
First stop=pics with the stuffed Shamu.
Then, we took some time watching the dolphins until the "surprises" were ready.
We rounded a corner, and Conli spotted Karri. Faster than you could imagine, she was off. Sprinting as fast as her cute lil pigeon toed feet would take her, straight to the surprise!!!!
Max and Sawyer caught on really fast, and caught up quick.
They. were. thrilled. is an understatement.
One of the first things Conli asked me after they found out we were going was if Karri was going to come with us too!
The first item up for business was the Manta. A crazy coaster that everyone was ready for. Unfortunately, things turned ugly when Sawyer discovered she wasn't tall enough. So, Karri comforted, and then Chris and I took her to the manta rays while the other rode the crazy ride.
Loved petting these! They're super cute! And super soft! And super huge!
One of the funnest parts, was the dolphin show. It was amazing. They had divers, and Cirque de Soleil types swinging and jumping and trixing all over the place! Karri took the kids to sit in the soak zone. Sawyer was NOT amused. They got pummeled. It was hilarious.
The best part was seeing Karri's conehead from above. She was the only prepared person in the whole Soak Zone with her poncho!
Max was chasing the animals with some other kids, trying to get as soaked as possible.
Luckily we turned those smiles upside down by visiting the penguins,
and pressing some pennies
Sawyer really loved the Sesame Street play place for the little people. This was her favorite ride, and lucky for her, Christ went with her.
Then we stopped and watched some cute dolphins play around.
And then, we heard these things and went to see what all the commotion was about. I have never heard such a sound in all my days. These things are horrid! But hilarious. They just sit there and blast you with the worst sasquatch bark you've ever heard, until you feed them! And his highness, up on that rock, was the worst of all. This never ending beeeeeep kept rolling off his tongue, but he wouldn't get off his perch to come eat. Wanted you to throw it into his mouth....whatever!
But never one to disappoint, Karri got some food for the kids to feed the beasts.
They had no fear. They were hungy!
Conli was not amused.
The shark tunnel ALWAYS freaks me out. Those things are huge, and scary.
And Max set off the alarm by getting a titch too close to this here skeleton.
Just some turtle love.
And our fam!
More sesame street fun.
Max getting soaked again.
Slurpees that they begged and cried for, and then hated....story of my life.
Shamu shaped pretzels for lunch!
And a lil sauce with her breadstick face.
Cool birds were everywhere.
And cool boys too!
We split ways and headed to a Sea Lion show while J, Brent and Max went to some 3D pirate adventure.
They chose wrong, cuz our sea lion show was hilarious, and fun, and awesome.
While waiting for it to start, this friendly "worker" swept up, and kept things clean, with his fake arm/broom, and squirted people with water when they weren't looking. It was so funny. I want his job!
The boys said their movie was lame.
I had no idea these lil guys could be so trained and funny! It was a riot!
Then we mozied over to the other roller coaster. It was getting a little more chilly, as the sun was setting, but Max and JD have no fear of frigid water and night cold, so they went on Atlantis.
we waited and played fashion fashion, and bombed people on the ride.
I wish you could see how drenched they were. Sopping, soaking, dripping wet. They paid $5 to sit in some full body drier to get dry....
Freezing face!
When they were ready, we went to our last stop of the day. The Shamu show.
The kids loved it. But it was BORING!
And Max, yet again, wandered down to the very front to get splashed every which way
He may have driven the rest of the way to Anaheim in no pants, and just blankets, but he wouldn't want you to know that.
We stopped at good ol Mickey D's for din din and then headed to the place we were soooooooo anxiously awaiting. Love driving around the bend and seeing this light up the night.
And loved pulling into our hotel, and seeing this across the street. What fun to sleep across the street from the tower of terror!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Surprises were waiting for tomorrow afternoon. We were so excited to get to California Adventure the next morning!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the perfect day.
