Hitting the rides early

Caleb loved this ride and just sat back against me and laughed.
With staying at the Grand California hotel comes the benefit of going into the park an hour earlier than the public entry time. We enjoyed going on this rocket 3 or 4 times in a row because their were no lines and no one waiting. This is my kind of riding rides.
We were also able to go on the "Alice and Wonderland" ride with no lines. Notice that we wern't in our ponchos. The rain was held at bay for about an hour for our enjoyment.
This was a cute shot of Vickie and Mike with Tanner snuggled together!
"Soarin" was another of our favorite rides. Both babies were sleeping in their strollers so Lisa graciously declined the opportunity to go on this ride of fantastic sights, smells and motion of CA. You actually do smell the orange mist going through the orchard. Amazing!
We rotated seats and rode for a second time...again the rain chased the lines away! Yah!

Dinner at Rapa Rose!

It was Michael Macias' birthday on Friday so we went out to a nice dinner at the Napa Rose, a 5 star resteraunt. I was a little nervous taking the kids there, but they did okay. The food tasted amazing!
Even though the kids were well behaved, we enjoyed dinner and leangered some after. The adults took turns taking the kids outside to get out some of their wiggles. Caleb found a bear on one of the outings and became friends.
"owee," Caleb tested out his teeth.
Then he found a "toot toot" on a poster.
Happy Birthday, Mike! You're a trooper for sharing your birthday dinner with all of us! He even shared his candle blowing. The desserts had chocolate writing on the sides. The chef was amazing and made his own ice cream. I had a sample of strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate. I've never tasted anything so yummy and I've had my tastes of ice cream!

Buzz light year ride was one of our favs

Nathan was so bored because he gave the shooters to Zach and I. The cameras within the rides were pretty cool...we emailed this to our hotmail account. Don't worry nathan got a chance to shoot later.
The buzz light year was a fantastic ride where you were laser gun shooting the bad guys for points. Zach was in heaven.
The lit up z in the background was one of the targets.
Here's Buzz facing down the bad guy at the end. Get him Zach!
Caleb even took part in the action. They look pretty lethal... watch out bad guys!
Zach too is getting awarded a medal of bravery for defeating evil. You are such a good shot Zach!

Rides!

The "It's a Small World" ride had just opened after being added onto. The kids were all eyes and ohhs and ahhhs.
The animal shaped hedges were pretty cool too.
Then we were off to Bugland. The early morning is catching up to MJ. The rain was nice in that it kept the lines down quite a bit. We were walking on to almost all of the rides.
Caleb couldn't ride this one and went on a ride with Grandma Vickie on a catapillar ride.
The Nebo ride was talked up alot, but it is definately a one timer for me. This line was long even in the rain. We are just going down in the submarine now.

We normally don't encourage our son to kiss strangers, but Snow White was an exception!
She looks kind of mad in this picture like she is scolding one of the seven dwarfs. Kirsten tries to win her over with a hug. She was really personable.
After making the rounds and taking lots of pictures, even Snow White was bound to get caught in a not so nice shot. The experience was amazing and the kids had a blast.

Ariel"s Grotto Princess lunch part 2

Caleb was getting a little overwhelmed with all the beautiful princesses. "oh my, here comes another one."
Zach didn't mind sitting on Princess Aurora lap. This Mickey shirt is one of Zach's surprise gifts that we got.
The Princess' were so real looking, Princess Aurora struck a pose for this picture with Kirsten.
Here's Kirsten with Princess Bell from the movie "Beauty and the Beast."
Zach was a little surprised when Bell took his hand for this picture. Isn't her dress pretty!

Ariel's Grotto Princess Lunch!

Kirsten and Jessie were so excited to go the princess lunch! All of us were excite to dry out a little and be indoors for entertainment.We came down a spiral staircase and Ariel was waiting at the bottom for pictures.
Here's one with Tanner's sprained leg in his plastic wrapped cast. What an adventure to keep it dry. Lisa and MJ, not to mention Tanner were good sports.
We were then taken to our tables and given fruits and cheeses to snack on while we ordered. Princesses were announced by a dressed up guy who sang and danced. Then the princesses took time to go around to each table for pictures. Zach does look a little tired.
Here's Caleb cheesin it with Cinderella!
After the kids got done with the main course dessert was brought out on a stacked train ( see the table in back) white chocolate sea shells were among them. Yummie!