The Wilkins

Family Vacation  2012

Lawes family, Cisliega family, and the Wilkins family

So Sariah and Matt promised their foster son John that they would take him to Disneyland prior to their court date to determine if they could adopt him. When Jill and I found out about it we jumped on in!  And I am so glad we did. We missed having the parents there, Max and Cindy's, and Erin and Tyden's families, but we still had a really good time. We all drove caravan style to California, with bathroom breaks, cousin car swaps, soda stops, and a little racing along the way. Luckily, we made it safely and stayed at a great Hotel called the Newport Beach at Fairmont. 

Ridin' in the swagger wagon!

Boys look so chill with their legs up,  watchin' Toy Story with their drinks, snacks, pillows, and stuffed animals...

1st stop...

DISNEYLAND
We had such a fun time at Disneyland. Danny and I only went on one "adult style" ride, Splash Mountain! I couldn't be so close to my favorite ride without going on it. We went to the Tiki Tiki room first since it's my tradition. They we went to Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Carribean. I forgot all about the first drop on Pirates, it freaked Hyrum out a little but then he had a blast and it's the only thing at Disneyland that he is still talking about 2 weeks later. We also went on the jungle safari cruise, and bought lots of yummy treats!   
Churro
Cream Filled Pretzel
Frozen Banana
Mickey Mouse Bar
Frozen Lemonade
Caramel Apple.... not this time!   WHAT???!!?? I was actually too tired to get it. Crazy! 

1st pictures at Walt Disney's Dreamland. It's so gorgeous here and the flowers smell great!

Had to hit up the Tiki Tiki room first thing. It's my tradition! Nothing puts me in the Disney mood quite like a bunch of birds singing silly songs, and totem poles doin' a dance.

All these amazing sites and sounds and our 3 stooges just want to play in the water!

The Haunted Mansion... Boys actually loved it after we got out of the creepy elevator

Tiny Toon Town
 We had lots of fun in toon town! Hyrum went on his 1st rollercoaster and he loved it. I got a glimpse of playing with my boys as they get older. It was a fun prospect. The boys loved Chip n Dales Treehouse, and the water fountain. They also loved the noise makers and silly doors.At one point Clynn sat down with a stranger and ate her food.

My sweet boys. How is Danny going to survive when momma and the boys are so attracted to anything WATER!

Cute boy!

Not sure what they were talking about but it looks serious

Fighting for the drivers seat.... I can see this in their future :)

Hey cute momma... you want a lift?

FISH KISS!!!

Been doing this since I was in High school. One of my best friends KT took a picture similar to this for me in H.S. and we have been repeating the picture ever since :)

The kids were so sweet with Winnie the Pooh. They kept hugging them, and going back for more hugs!

My favorite!  TIGGER!!!

Daddy and Hyrum hangin' out in the Chip n Dale Treehouse.

Hyrum's 1st Rollercoaster ride! We had a blast! He even put his arms up in the air!


California Adventures
I ran into my old roommate from College. She was here with her kids and husband. I hadn't seen her since College at EAC, it was a fun surprise and Hyrum absolutely loved playing in the splash pad. He was here for over an hour getting soaked. Clynn loved watching :)

Hyrum striking his Michael Jackson pose!

We split from the group for a little while and we went to California Adventures. Hyrum and Clynn loved the Splash pad! Clynn was the excited observer as Hyrum went a little crazy :)    Check out the girl in the background! My roommate from EAC, Meredith Carmichael! We ran into each other at the splash pad! Small world! I have not seen her in over 13 years!

 2nd stop...
San Diego Zoo
 While the bid kids went to Disney for a 2nd day, we took all 14 of the little kids to the Zoo. It was fun. We went on the big bus and took the Zoo tour in order to see it all. Then we walked around and saw some more animals up close, played on the kid fun zones, ate, and went to the petting zoo.

Monkeying around

We went on the big multi-level bus in order to see everything, and then we walked around.

Bus Tour

Hyrum went on clean up patrol at the petting Zoo, while unbeknownst to me.... Clynn was escaping and getting lost! Luckily I had put a phone number and name on the boys arm in Permanent Marker so the worker was able to call me :)

The San Diego Zoo was great!  The boys loved the animals and the weather was perfect!

This Grizzly Bear wanted to eat him!   "Bears love honey head kids"

The best part was the monkeys! Mostly the Orangutans! They were so playful swinging around and rolling on the floor and against the wall like free runners :)

"Hey! Get your own food!"

Savannah ran all day at the Zoo! She is getting so big!

"the Roller"    Spent the entire time rolling along the window, and running across the grass rolling across rocks and logs like a true free runner. He was hamming it up for the crowd. What a performer!

The night we got back from the Zoo I took Hyrum swimming. Just him and momma. Hardly anyone was there. We had so much fun together. I love time alone with my children. It is a special time. I hear about the importance of doing that for your kids, but I think it's as much for the parents as the kids. I love being one on one with my kids, we are able to bond and really spend quality time together. By the end of our pool time, Hyrum was swimming across the pool, going under all by himself, jumping off the side and swimming to me, and having a blast!  We also sat in the spa for a while. It was so hot! There were some women there that were preparing for the San Diego marathon, we had a good time talking and laughing at Hyrum's antics.

3rd stop...

 Beach Day!

The Beach was the best!!! Everyone had fun! Collecting seaweed, making mermaids in the sand, burying cousins and uncle Matt, playing in the ocean and along the reef, eating, attacking sea gulls, and digging huge holes to fill with water. It was everything a kid could want.

Oh how I love the Beach! This was such a great day!

Ready... Aim...

Fire!

That didn't work? Alright here is my missile launcher!

Our little Stooges. Clynn and his cousin Marshall played with these buckets all day long....

At the very end of the day the kids talked me into getting in the waves. They needed some lessons on body surfing :)  At first we got caught in a rip taught and the only thing I was catching was sea weed. However, a life guard did come out to see how I was doing.. :)  I felt just fine. I guess they are not used to people going under the water for long lengths of time. I didn't explain to him that I was a swimmer, a coach, and mermaid.... and that I practically lived in the water. He got the hint though my niece Bailey was in love...

My sweet boy had so much fun! He didn't stop for hours then he came and layed down in front of me and fell asleep with his face in the sand

Dean snoozed the day away in his pack n play. What did people did do in the old days, I love this bed!

We monopolized on the shade..... Danny spent most of his time here, but his legs got fried!   That's what you get for sitting with your legs in the sun all day while you drink Dr. Peppers       It's about this time that Clynn falls asleep with his face in the sand. It was super cute. My lil boys were so tuckered out

We went out to eat the last night we were in California. Just the adults. We went to a place called El Torito. On my cell phone it said that it was 0.4 miles away from the hotel. We decided to walk :) It ended up being a mile away and some of that walk was next to a very busy road with no sidewalk... lol   We laughed the whole way, they gave me a really hard time, of course. But once we got there they shut up because the food was amazing! And it was Cinco de Mayo so that worked out really well.  We had a great server, an older Mexican gentleman who was so funny and a great server. Fun night!  The walk home was a little harder as we were all full, tired, SUN BURNT, and some of us were having back and foot issues :)