Disney February 2014

We took off towards Disneyland after school Friday which the girls had been on a countdown for weeks!  Don't tell the girls this...but after Eric checked into our hotel (Park Vue Inn) he gave me the key to do our first load of luggage.  While doing so I put gifts for each of the girls (courtesy of the Disney Outlet) out on their bed while they were getting their new suitcases from Christmas into the room.  They noticed a new Minnie Mouse stuffed animal and Minnie ears (ok, I didn't realize it until during our vacation that these were probably 'bride ears' but they were a great price at the outlet and knew the girls would love them) on their bed.  Needless to say they loved the fact that Minnie had personally been to our room to deliver their gifts.  Heee heee. 

Just arrived in Anaheim, California

If you happen to wonder, the girls are in bunk beds which was one of the options at the hotel.  Last year we did the two queen beds and I remember a lot of knees and feet in my back throughout the back (and those weren't Eric's). I was more than happy to comply this year with the bunk bed request.  At first, the girls wanted to sleep on top together but they wouldn't stop talking.  So, I moved Chloe to the bottom and Etta got the top.
We woke up bright and early for a day at the parks and we started out with Disneyland.  Everything I had read said resorts guests and three day park hoppers got a magic morning so when I showed up of course they said that excluded Military.  REALLY.  My face might have turned the color of my hair.  I told them that I could open their website and show them that three day park hoppers got in one morning and hour early and they let us in.  I'm still pissed about that.


Happy sisters

We started out with Etta's favorite, Space Mountain.  We then headed to Chloe's favorite, the Matterhorn, but it wasn't working and by the time it was working later in the morning the line was over an hour long.  The girls did want to do rides we skipped last year due to lines.  Yep, that included Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.  The girls even let us take them on Pirates of the Carribean which they both road at our feet last year!

Etta riding solo

Daddy riding with Chloe

We headed over to California Adventure for lunch at Ariel's Grotto.  The girls got to meet Ariel before being seated.  The girls were pretty excited!

Meeting Ariel at Ariel's Grotto

Our lunch hour was outside rather than inside which is tough on us pale people (perfect location to watch the fountain show).  Our table ended up being the first table that the princess stopped at.  The girls didn't do much talking, more staring than anything.  But, we got some great pictures of the girls with them.

Chloe and Cinderella

The girls with Cinderella

The most convincing princess of all was Snow White.



Snow White and the girls

The girls with Belle

Aurora and the girls

We kept hoping that one of the princesses from Frozen would be there so we could check that box off and not have to wait in line at some point in the trip.  Oh well.


Since it was later in the day by the time we were done we didn't get a chance to ride Cars' Racers which is my favorite but we did ride CA Soarin', Goofy's Sky School, Grizzly River Run, Maters' Junkyard, and the Swings.  I told the family that this year I was going on the Tower of Terror with or without them and the girls agreed to go.  Let me just say I was surprised.  Of course it was night time by the time we went on it and let's just say they were scared!  You can tell by the next picture.

Terror of Tower ride #1

However, they went two more times during our trip there and have to show you their faces in the next two pictures.

Terror of Tower ride #2

Terror of Tower ride #3

Yes it's a scary ride but they learned to cover their eyes during all the scary stuff and then enjoy the drop.

The next morning (Superbowl Sunday) we started out in California Adventure and it opened at 8am so we got an early start (yeah fast passes for Racers).  At first the lines were non existent so we hit Goofy Sky School again, then did the Toy Story ride for the first time (which was tons of fun), the swinging Ferris Wheel, and a couple other rides.  Eric told me to try California Screamin' as a single seat rider and I basically walked right on.  For an upside down roller coaster it was a smooth ride.

Why so sad Eric?

The second favorite ride, Goofy's Sky School



Last year the Grizzly River Run was closed for repairs but we got to ride it this time.  We didn't realize how wet you can get on it but luckily one passer byer gave us a Disneyland poncho which we covered both of the girls with.  We still got wet.  The second day we were smart enough to put in our rain jackets too so we stayed dryer but still managed to soak our pants and shoes.  The wait was usually only a few minutes and we road this more than any other ride.  Here's Chloe after conquering the ride yet again.

Loving Grizzly River Run

We hopped back over to Disneyland later the second day and rode some more rides.  This time the girls wanted to look cute during the Space Mountain photo.  I figured I'd surprise them too but then I covered Chloe's face.  Oops.

Space Mountain

Eric's parents drove up from Oceanside to have dinner with us Sunday evening.  We had some Italian delivered to the hotel so the girls could swim in the heated pool and hot tub.  They were in there forever and had a good break away from the park.

Our third and final day was Monday and both parks didn't open until 10am! We decided to split the day between the two parks again.  We got in at 9:45am (15 minutes before it opened???) and I went straight to where the Frozen Characters meet and greet.  I got in line for when they opened at 11am.  Eric and the girls met up with me at 10:30 in line and met both Anna and Elsa at 11:45am.  Now, if you are planning on going look to see when they arrive and plan accordingly.  By the time we were done the wait was about 3 hours long. 
One of the girls that met the princesses before us (maybe 4 years old) sang Let It Go to them.  It was quite impressive.  My girls however just wanted to say hi and get their pictures taken with them.



Anna and Elsa from Frozen

And for waiting two hours we figured we needed to get in there as well.

The whole family

One last goodbye

The girls stopped for very few characters, this was one of them.

We spent some time in Toon Town as well.  It's so cool looking!

The girls in Toon Town

Mickey and the Winterbottom family

Before leaving Disneyland we were going to ride Space Mountain one last time with a fast pass and it was closed with problems.  Go figure!  We did find a Fix It Felix Jr game in the store near the ride and had fun with that.  Plus, Etta decided to spend all her shopping money on Infinity for our Wii U.  Something the whole family could enjoy.

Oh yeah, Fix It Felix Jr!

We had a great three days at Disneyland and have no desire to go back for at least another year.  That's exhausting!

More of Maui

Most of our activities were at the resort since it's so much easier to make the kids happy when they get to pick between the beach, the pool, the slide, and the activity center.  But, there are a few things that should be done with kids while on vacation.  We were told by one of the ladies at the activity center that we should take the kids to Baby Beach which is near Whalers Village.  We decided to make a trip to the shopping center followed by finding the locals favorite beach.  Baby Beach is definitely meant for kids since a coral reef is far out and breaks the waves which makes for a nice calm beach.  After going to Baby Beach we realized that the kids' favorite part of the beach are the waves.  Because of that, they spent more time in the sand than anything else.  But my mom was happy with the calm water; it was much easier on her brand new knee. 

 

Enjoying the water and the sand.

 One night my parents had the girls do a sleepover in their room.  Boy were the girls happy.  That morning Eric and I got up early and went for a walk in front of all the resorts.  We found that there was a locals craft sale that would start a few hours later.  After breakfast we took my parents and the kids there.  Of course we made the girls walk.  It wasn't terribly far, but they acted like it was.  Here they are running ahead of us but together.  They look so cute.

One of our favorite activities during our vacation was a snorkeling trip.  We took the Pride of Maui to Molokini to snorkel around the volcanic calderas.  Eric, the girls, and I were one of the first off the boat and into the water.  Etta was having mask problems and didn't last long.  Chloe was doing great with me until we got a little shallower before she started freaking out.  It must have been too close for her even though it was a good 10 feet below us.  The girls and Eric went back on the boat and I told him to meet me at the back where the slide was.  It didn't take much convincing for Etta to go on it.  It helped that I waited at the bottom the first several slides. It was a nice big drop into the water!

 

 Chloe needed a lot more convincing then she only did it two times.  She was pretty scared.

Even Eric, my dad, and I took turns.  Ok, so a scream did come out of my mouth the first time down.  Boy does it throw you out there quickly.

We did get the girls in the water one more time after fixing Etta's mask and by keeping Chloe in the deeper section.  Unfortunately it was so windy out (luckily the crater blocked the wind where we snorkeled) that we weren't able to go to Turtle Town to snorkel.  We just ended up staying at Molokini longer.  It was still fun.  We did head to Turtle Town to look for turtles.  We did see two big sea turtles and the girls were excited.  Here the girls and I are on our snorkel trip.

Our last day in Maui was spent keeping busy before our red eye flight back home.  We stopped at the Maui Ocean Center which is only 15 minutes from the airport.  They give a great military discount!    It was fun and the girls had a good time.  In particular we got to see the big tank get fed plus ask questions to a diver in the big tank.  The girls loved getting high fived by the diver.

The hardest part of our trip was definitely the red eye to LAX followed by our flight to Las Vegas.  I have to say the USO at LAX was absolutely wonderful (once we found it) and made our long layover pretty easy.  It took several days for us to acclimate back to Las Vegas.  Both the girls ask if we can move to Maui.  Not unless the military wants to send us there!

Ka'anapali Beach Club, Maui, Hawaii

We got back from Hawaii the other night after a fun red eye and a nice long layover in LAX.  It's taken me awhile to get all the pictures and videos compiled so I can share them with everyone.  We were fortunate to arrive just 30 minutes before my parents plane so we hung out at the Maui airport with the girls just waiting to see their grandma & poppy.  After picking up our car rentals and making a big shopping trip to Costco (we had kitchens in our rooms and that helped save some money in the long run) we did the 45 minute drive to Kaanapali Beach on the west side of the island.  Let me just say, after hearing about the two shark attacks in Hawaii, I was glad we weren't staying in Wailea (the Beverly Hills of Maui).

We did spend a lot of time at our resort the Kaanapali Beach Club which my parents used time share points for us to have our own room.   The girls were more interested in spending time in the beach or pools than running around site seeing.   We were very fortunate to have an activity center where the girls were able to do crafts during the sunniest parts of the day.  You know us, very easy to burn even with sun protective swim suits and layers of sunblock. 

 

Etta made a necklace with shells and charms.

Chloe made an anklet.

 The resort has a handful of bird on display for several hours a day.  The girls always loved walking through the lobby to see and talk to them

 The girls' favorite Lil' Sid.

We were on the 11th floor and had neighboring rooms with my parents.  That made it easy to make meals with them as well as stop by and let them know we were coming and going to the beach.

Speaking of eating in, this has to be my favorite picture from the entire trip (mainly because it's one of the few Eric pictures since he was almost always taking the pictures).  Eric is relaxing with his burger and beer.

The second day we were there a lot of activities were canceled due to Hurricane Flossie.  Luckily it was mostly just wind and rain.  However, the hula lessons were canceled that day and the girls had to wait until the end of the week to finally get a chance to learn some hula.  After about 45 minutes, the group learned choreography for Sophisticated Hula and performed pool side for everyone outside.

Taking a break after choreography and before performing.

 The performance:

 I felt bad, Chloe didn't realize the instructor was across the pool so she watched Etta the entire time.

After hula dancing there was a water balloon toss.  Neither of the girls had ever done a water balloon toss so it was fun to watch the process.  Do you want to see what happens?  Watch the video below.

The girls did another craft after getting some coupons!  Chloe was set on this gecko, she had asked about it after making the anklet and wasn't going to let go of it.

I had to help with the second coat of spots.  Chloe enjoyed using the blow dryer as often as she could.  The activity center even glazed the gecko so it's all shiny!

Etta wanted to stuff her own animal.  They were out of the koala bear that she wanted so bad but ended up picking out a turtle, a great reminder of Hawaii.

She even dressed if in a bikini and swim cover.  All for a total of $20, way cheaper than Build A Bear!

 Here is a little pool with a slide!  Of course the girls enjoyed going down that every day.

 I had fun too :)

We went to our resort's beach a good one or two times a day.  The girls in particular enjoyed the waves.  We found one spot that was great for Bogey boarding or body surfing.  There was a lot of sand in our bathing suits every day.

You probably can't see it, but Etta is on a blue board.  She often went wayyyyy up onto the beach when she got a big wave.  Eric and I took turns too, it was so much fun.  Below, Chloe was playing in the waves with the sand.  Her favorite thing to do at the beach.

 Here we are (minus my dad) in the waterfall pool.  The girls enjoyed climbing up there and getting pelted with the water.

 

And finally, here are the girls feeding coy in one of the ponds.  They got to do this twice while we were staying there and always had fun watching the fish go crazy.

 

More pictures to come of activities away from the resort including a snorkeling trip!