The Big Vacation!

I think I have all the pix that are worth posting to tell the story of our trip to Disneyland, California Adventure, and Universal Studios Hollywood. I plan to let the pictures tell the story with just a bit of narration on my part. However, for those of you don't know and are wondering where the girls are - THEY DIDN'T COME!!! David and I didn't get a honeymoon, we recently celebrated our 10 year anniversary, and he just graduated from optometry school. WE NEEDED A BREAK!!! We felt it was a well earned, well deserved break from the world, from reality, and, yes, from our beautiful babies. They were sent to stay with assorted grandparents and we left for a week to be together - alone. Or, as alone as you can be with hundreds and hundreds of other people!!! Now - sit back and enjoy, laugh, and maybe feel a little twinge of childhood...

Really? Do I have to say anything about this one?!
Love you, cheezball!
That's right, baby! I'm feelin' the magic!
The first ride we went on. They've added Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) now and he looks SO real! It was super cool! I don't think I mentioned before that it has been approximately 21 years since I've been to Disneyland and David has NEVER been! It truly was like being a child again - but with NO bedtime! :)

Gotta love that everything is shaped like Mickey!
Ahhh...to be a princess. What a life - just swimming around... I don't know that I really want a starfish stuck to my head, though!

There is this awesome Jedi Training Academy thing that they didn't have the last time I was there. We planned our lunch around it one day so that we could get really good seats and watch it! It was really fun to see all these characters I've seen HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of times (love you David!) come to life in front of me. And, none of the characters in this place EVER leave their character. They are ON all the time. Darth Maul would not stop looking at me like he was going to bite me and it made me giggle! That still didn't throw him off, though! He just stayed in character through the whole thing and eventually totally creeped me out! Especially his eyes...

This is more like it! I belong with the good guys! The Jedi were much friendlier.
Then David got caught by some Storm Troopers. Or Clones, or whatever they're called now...

2's favorite princess, Aurora, better known as Sleeping Beauty. That was her castle you saw earlier!
Hey! We remember them! We actually saw them in person a couple days later, but I only got a picture of them walking away. Not quick enough with my camera!
We had dinner at the Blue Bayou restaurant. It's located IN the Pirates of the Caribbean ride! The food was amazing! (so were the prices!) It was really fun and romantic.
Awww...who doesn't love Pluto?!

Before the river raft ride...And after!
Just a moment at California Adventure in front of Bear Rock.
David lined this one up perfectly, don't you think?!
This is the most horrible ride ever created. Don't go on it. EVER.

On the pirate island. It used to be Tom Sawyer Island. David was being attacked by...his own arm?!
Ok. It's Disneyland. You can't NOT do the Teacups!!! :) We rode Dumbo, too!
With Cinderella. She and Ariel are my favorites and I was so excited to get a picture with them!
This is one of my favorite pix of the whole trip! We were preparing for a perfectly normal picture like all the rest and then Goofy just jumbled us all up and we were laughing so hard! It is a truly genuine, happy photo!
Love you, Mickey Mouse!

K, do I need to explain THAT one?!

This is from the War of the Worlds set. I have a great picture of part of the plane, too, but I just accidently erased it and I'm not putting it back on! If you want to see it, you'll have to come visit! :)
Whoville from "The Grinch".
King Kong. This is pretty sad, actually. This has been here for a million years or more ;) and just this week it burned down. There was a big fire at Universal for those who haven't heard and King Kong was destroyed along with a bunch of other things. We were able to see it just in time. SO sad!
Ok - happy again! We got to meet Shrek! And he didn't even smell bad!!!David is a HUGE Simpson's fan for those who are unaware. He has been anticipating the opening of this ride for awhile. Unfortunately, it wasn't scheduled to open until the Monday AFTER we were there. We thought we'd go check it out to see the outside just for fun...AND THEY WERE LETTING PEOPLE ON!!!!!! They were in the process of testing out the ride and there were signs that said "this ride may work intermittently" and "not all aspects of this ride may be functioning" but we were so excited to be able to try it out!!! It was TRULY worth it! SUCH a fun ride! And, at least when we were on, everything worked just fine. It was so fun!

And here we are with the Simpson family themselves. Where's Maggie? Maybe with a babysitter...

We also got a tour of downtown Hollywood. The Walk of Fame, a couple stars' homes, etc. This is the Kodak theatre where they've had the Academy Awards. WOW! Where's my red carpet?

Thanks for stickin' it out all the way! Hope you enjoyed! Later, Ruth