Happiest Place on Earth

One of our many adventures this summer was to California. While we where there the cousins went to Disneyland and the grandma's and grandpa's watched the little ones. I was unsure if you could have as much fun without small children at Disneyland....you can. Maybe even more, maybe.

Let me give you an idea of how much we actually did. Disneyland and California Adventure rides open at 8:00am and close at midnight (for the regular paying customer). The shops stay open till 1:00am allowing you to grab that overly priced souvenir before leaving. Plus you will want to get there early to get a good place in line for the new Radiator Springs/Car ride (It has a name I just can't remember it). So if you add all this up you get potentially 17+ hours you could spend in one day at Disneyland. Did we do it? 

YES!!! 

17+ hours in one day (both parks)

18 different rides

4 rides twice

1 ride three times (Tower of Terror)

   -that's 25 rides in all

1 water/light show (world of color) 

1 giant corndog

1 hamburger and fries

   -lots of sampling of other peoples food. The clam chowder is a MUST next time.

1 souvenir cookie cutter

Normally when we go to Disneyland we catch a parade and/or the fireworks, but there was no time for that. We also missed a few rides. I would have liked to go on Peter Pan and Small World. But non of these things will make or break a Disney trip.

Here are a few of the pictures from this oh so magical day! Pictures are from Harmony's blog here. 

Just so you know, we are pros at taking good ride pics. Notice the leaning?  The perfectly time faces? Occasionally one has to ride the whole ride posed because even though we take good pictures sometimes we forget where the camera is.

 Unfortunately Hannah's head got cut off a little. It's also worth noting how wet I am before the big drop. It just goes to show that six grown people should not ride together.

This is one of my favorites it has our whole group minus Kim who gets a little motion sick. And the ride it much funner anytime you can be in the front.

The Tower of Terror. Possibly my favorite ride. I attempted to raise my hands and chickened out at the last second!

Everything in Disneyland is magical.

Trying to keep spirits up while waiting in line. Jess seems to be in full support.

Fast Passes. Why anyone would wait hours in line is beyond me. Just another reason why Disneyland is awesome.

One good looking group (missing Kim and Cory)!

The whole group

Summer Fun

Bennett and I have had a summer full of traveling. Unfortunately I'm not very good at taking pictures so here is a few.

The second trip to Utah this summer for uncle Kenny's memorial. 

Bennett sporting a Ken Oka Pull-Up Cord and a super awesome cape.

Cousin Aiko warming up after swimming.

 Back in Chicago for some 4th of July festivities and the beginnings of fantasy football.

Bennett loves Oreos!

Lincoln takes his fantacy football league seriously.

As league commissioner he recorded an interview with John Anderson on Sports Center

 The California trip was fun too. It was Bennett's first trip to the Ocean. He loved the water.

My brother and I shared a four course dinner. This was the first course about 50 clams

Second course clam chowder and salad

Fourth course three different kinds of crab, potatoes and vegetables

Awesome sunset on the beach

Waterfall Glen

Lincoln finished his first rotation on Friday so we decided to go hiking at Waterfall Glen. Bennett loves exploring the woods and finding bugs with his dad. But most of all he loves throwing rocks in the water.

We found some neat turtle eggs

Bennett the Bully

We are trying to teach Bennett how to be 'soft'. He hasn't quite got it yet. He also gets a little jealous when I hold another child. Here he is with baby Aiko.

Aiko is 6 months younger than Bennett. My cousin Harmony (Aiko's mom, pictured) is 3 months younger than me. It's fun to see the differences.

Kirtland

One of the things we were able to do while my parents were in town was go to Kirtland, Ohio. On the way there we stopped at the Indian Sand Dunes. There's more to do than we expected, we will definitely be going back.

Bennett loved playing on the beach.

The hotel pool. Bennett was so excited to swim he ran...this is why you don't run.

Newel K. Whitney Storehouse. Several revelations happened here, notably the Word of Wisdom.

For lunch we ate at a cute little diner. The Kirtland Diner. Bennett didn't want to use his hands

The Kirtland Temple. You're not allowed to take pictures inside, but it's super pretty.

This is at the John Johnson home. This is the room where D&C 76 was revealed (3 degrees of glory).

The John Johnson home where Joseph Smith was tarred and feathered and lost one of the twins. Also the original front porch where Joseph often gave Sunday sermons.

I love living in the midwest. There are so many early church sights to see. It's fun to stand in places that people like Joseph Smith have been. We had a great time in Kirtland.

Fun in Illinios

After the fun in Utah my parents drove the new van back with me. We stopped at lots of rest stops to stretch our legs.

This was at a scenic overlook in Nebraska (there wasn't much to look at). Bennett took a spill and scraped up his nose...

With grandma and grandpa in town we were able to go do some of the touristy things! Lincoln had a week off from school so we were able to play and have lots of fun.

The Architecture Boat Tour.

Twin Lakes park. There's a walking path right next to a golf course. We found 9 golf balls!

Lincoln Park Zoo

This bear made an appearance just for us. As soon as other people came he hid behind the bushes.

Garfield Conservatory, It's free and lots of fun plants to look at

Cousin Hannah came to visit so we went to Lego Land! Lego Navy Pier

I love these giant foam Legos. I want to get some.

Bennett's First roller coaster ride. It's more of a ride than a roller coaster.

Bennett's roaring like a lion!