Disneyland, Round 2

My favorite part of the trip was Maddie's face on the Mater ride at Car's land.  This alone makes me want to take her back right now

Couldn't get enough of the sand or the water

We rode this ride 4 times

Maddie was thrilled to run around California Adventure at night in her Elsa dress.  This may have been the highlight of the trip for her

Love these 3

One million pictures from Disneyland

Just kidding - it's not a million. It's a lot though, so I'm going to do this in 2 posts.

This was such a good vacation for us.  Beckham's first time flying, and Maddie's first time that she will really remember.  It was cute - she talked non-stop before we left about what kind of drink she was going to get on the airplane.  Josh's parents were kind enough to let us drag them along with us.  It was so fun having them there - the kids were in heaven and we felt so lucky to do this with them before they leave on a mission for 3 years.  We spent one day at Disneyland and one at California Adventure.  The rest of the time we hung out at the beach and the park and kind of just kept things low-key.  I think my kids loved the beach and the ocean almost as much Disneyland.  It was really such a fun trip.  

 The cutest dad ever in my unbiased opinion

 Madds finally at her home away from home

 She tells everyone she's from California and I think this is why

 he was mesmerized

One of the many churros we ate this trip 

happy girl on the teacups 

Day 2, outside of California Adventure

California (part two)

I probably could - and should - have combined this into one post, but I had the hardest time narrowing down pictures that I decided to just post a bunch in two posts. One of the evenings, we decided to head down to La Jolla Cove to show Madds the seals.  Despite a pretty bad fall and a scraped forehead, she loved them and kept calling them whales.  After we stopped and got ice cream and started driving back home (on the drive I discovered Josh's deep love for the top hits of the 80's and I loved it... he never stops surprising me).  As we passed the beautiful San Diego temple, Maddie said "It's a princess castle. I want to go there and dance with Daddy in a pretty dress!"  Obviously we headed straight there as that's a request that no one, especially Josh, could pass up.  She was completely in heaven dancing around the temple with her Daddy.  It was one of those moments as a family I hope to never forget.  

Family vacations with little ones are probably more work than vacation but totally worth it!  

California (part one)

After graduation we were ready to celebrate and decided to brave a 12 hour road trip with our new little family of four to southern California.  Maddie and Beckham were so good - everything went a lot smoother than we anticipated and Josh and I even said to each other on the way home how we would totally be willing to do this again in the future.  

We had so much fun.  It was one of those trips where you just aren't ready to come home when it's time to leave and you find yourself devising ways to make the trip last longer.  Josh turned down a job offer in San Diego, and it was fun to go visit where we were considering living.  We couldn't keep Maddie out of the waves but couldn't get her to touch the dry sand.  She's such a girl.  We hung out at the beach, went to the San Diego Zoo (more pics on that later), ate way too much, and just loved being together with no school or work or anything to worry about - other than two babies.

We had beautiful sunshine, perfect company (thanks C and Laur!) and have been planning our trip back since ever since. 

Cabin time

There's something about not having cell service that is really refreshing.

We spent the past week at the Featherstone cabin in Oakley and I'm already wishing we were still there - not one of those trips where you're ready to go home.  We played games, ate too much food, took long naps, stayed up late and so much fun.  Having someone constantly want to play with or entertain Maddie is also a huge plus.  

The cabin and surroundings are so beautiful and serene.  Part of me wants to live there permanently.

And the highlight of the trip, I unfortunately didn't get a picture of... but James knows how to pull of pretty much any item of clothing, no matter how small - "Join the Squad."