Our first family photo at Disneyland! It is right outside of the Jungle Cruise, if you can't tell!
Jackson waits in line to ride the train. He loves the dinosaurs he gets to see on the ride!
This is Jackson reading in the Baby Center at Disneyland. This was the first time I used this facility and I absolutely loved it! Troy was able to change Jackson's diaper while I nursed Madelyn. They have a private room for nursing mothers. On the other side of the wall is a play area with where Jackson and Troy read books while they waited for me to finish feeding Madelyn. I love when places make it easy to have a young family!
"CHEESE!!!"
On Troy's Birthday, we went to Disneyland really, really quickly to snag the free money they give on birthdays. What a great deal! We rode the train and then left to catch our flight to Sacramento. Jackson liked most of the train ride, but got scared on some parts (which explains the look he has on his face in the photo below!). I was 35 weeks pregnant on this trip.
My birthday was last month as well. The plan was for me and Michael (who is my twin, thus having the same birthday as me), Genevieve, Me, Troy, Jackson, and Jenni to go to Disneyland for the special day. Michael, sadly, got sick, and couldn't come, so Troy, Jackson, Jenni and I went. David and Robyn met us there as well. I got in free, so we put that towards our passes. Yea! We had a lot of fun, mainly because Jackson had so much fun and it is a joy to watch his face light up at Disneyland! He loves the train and is very found of Crush now because of the "Talking with Crush" attraction. He always quotes Crush by saying, "Duuuuude!"
Our family photo in front of the FAKE Christmas tree at Disneyland. Yes. That's right...the tree isn't real this year. It is plastic. Sigh. It just wasn't the same.
Jenni, Jackson and I in front of the tree...if you are worried that Jackson's feet were cold, they were, but that didn't keep him from pulling his socks and shoes off!
Jackson watched Fantasmic for the first time, and, boy, was he amazed! I don't think his eyes could get any bigger than that!
He couldn't smile for the picture because he was watching the show.
Jenni and I in front of the beautiful castle. They really did it up nice this year!
The fam in front of the castle.
"Wave for the camera..."
Jenni, Me, and Michael ---a rare sibling photo...w/o Timmy, though :(
I love this photo of Michael and Genevieve!
Me, Kirsty, and Jenni
Silly.
Serious.
The woman who was our Jungle Cruise boat operator at Disneyland on Friday told Troy and I that if we were going to have more kids, we would need more cameras. She said this because while we were riding the Jungle Cruise, I had the camera out snapping photos of Jackson, and Troy had our video camera out recording him. The Jungle Cruise is currently Jackson's favorite ride at Disneyland, which is special to us because Troy was a Jungle Cruise operator at one time. Anyways, this lady thought we were taking too many pictures and was obviously annoyed by it, even though she said somewhat sarcastically that she was "just kidding." My thoughts on this are if I have a camera, and want to take pictures of my child, I can take as many as I want. Most of you know that Troy and I like to be creative, so getting behind the camera gets those creative juices flowing! The truth is, I was annoyed by her comment and I had to vent. I am sure you all don't mind all the pictures I take! And, don't worry...I'll keep on taking them!
You may be asking yourself, "What is a staycation?!?". Well, to define it, a staycation, as I was told be Troy on Saturday, is when you can't go away for a vacation, so you stay near to home, but get "away" anyway. That is exactly what Troy, Jackson, and I did this weekend. On Friday morning, we headed to Disneyland and spent the afternoon there. Then we headed to the Hilton in Costa Mesa and checked in for a one-night stay. After checking in, we headed out to Corona Del Mar beach for our church's annual beach night. We stayed at the Hilton one night, and in the morning, we headed to Roger's Gardens in Newport, and to Ruby's Shake Shack at Crystal Cove. We topped that off with a Harvest High School Reunion to visit all of Troy's friends he had in the Harvest youth group back in high school, and a trip to Chick-fil-a. All in all, I had a wonderful weekend spending time together. Troy has been working on Tuesdays and Thursdays (teaching/lecturing), so I have missed him! Here are some picture from our "staycation." Enjoy!
Jackson looked awfully cute in these sun glasses...too bad he wouldn't keep them on!
Me, Jackson, Troy, Michael and Genevieve on the Train. This was Jackson's first time on the train and he was absolutely amazed by it!
Jackson and Uncle Mike
Jackson and Troy having some fun in the hotel room
Jackson was very excited about staying in a hotel room. The first thing he did was jump on the bed and squeal. The next thing he did was crawl from one end of the room to the other. After that, he discovered the sliding glass door.
Jackson looks into the sunset at Corona Del Mar
Pastor Robert shows off the rattle snake he killed and skinned on his property. He brought it to cook on the fire. Yum. The guys all said he tasted like chicken. I must admit, I had no interest in verifying that.
One of my favorite things to do at the beach...singing around the bon fire.
Me and my boy!
Genevieve and I
Kirsty and I
Kirsty and Jackson looking at the waves (funny...they both have the same expression on their face. )
The Autumn display at Roger's Gardens
If I were to buy a garden hat, I would buy this one.
This was the most amazing rose I have ever smelled! It's too bad you can't smell it!
Troy and I enjoying the relaxing ocean breeze while sitting in the gazebo at Roger's Gardens. Here is a random fact...the gazebo there is actually the original Disneyland bandstand. It was originally right at the beginning of Main Street, and was moved due to the fact that it blocked the view of the castle. It was moved several times to different locations in Disneyland, then finally moved to Roger's Gardens in the 70's.
The view from Ruby's Shake Shack at Crystal Cove
