We all had a great time on our family vacation for Ella’s fifth birthday. I am going to keep this narrative to a minimum because I have about 72 pictures to put on the blog tonight and some more for tomorrow. We started out in Tucson – the weather was not as warm as you would imagine Tucson would be. Of course Ella wanted to go swimming and she was the birthday girl, so I went into one of the pools with Ella and then Sunny went into another pool with Ella. It was pretty cold. We had dinner on Wednesday night with Cindy and 2 old college friends of mine. We had a sweet dinner at the hotel. On Thursday morning, Danny and Clara arrived. Ella and Clara had such a blast together. They got together and just picked up from the last time they saw each other in May. They love each other and played really well together. We all went out to lunch and then the girls went swimming. The adults watched them very carefully. After swimming, we headed over to Cindy’s house where the kids made a gingerbread house and played with moon dough. Cindy and Bob cooked a great birthday dinner and then we had chocolate (of course) cake to celebrate Ella’s birthday. The next morning, we hung out with the family for a little while and then we left for the airport to fly to LA. Jesse picked us up and we went to Disneyland! The photos tell the rest of the story…
THis is a photo I took on our first night in Tucson. I loved the way the moon looked between the tree branches. I think this is my only art shot.
Ella looking too adorable in mommy’s hat.
This cactus was huge! We were on a nature walk.
This labyrinth was on the nature walk. The 3 of us walked the labyrinth and made wishes when we got to the middle.
Mommy and Ella identifying the different types of cactus.
Our big 5 year old on the phone with grandma who is wisher her a happy birthday.
Cousin love at lunch.
Ella’s first birthday cake.
Fun at the pool.
Cousin and birthday fun at aunt Cindy’s house. THe girls did a great job on their gingerbread house.
Ella buying a book at the airport all by herself.
We’re at Disney! This was a really cool thing where Crush, the turtle from Nemo talks to the audience. Tomorrow, I will post a video of Ella’s experience here the next day. It was super cool.
Ella and Jesse checking out dinosaur bones.
We took Ella to lunch at Ariel’s Grotto where she got to meet all of the princesses. We thought she was going to have a heart attack. The only dud princess was Aurora…the rest of them were really sweet. Ella was overwhelmed.
Ella eating a white chocolate shell for dessert.
Photo op with Woody!
Action shot! Skipping to the Bug’s Life rides.
These were all taken on the different Bug’s Life rides. Sunny had the best time on the the bumper cars hands down!
On the Toy Story ride. This was so much fun!
Mommy and Ella went on the Dumbo ride together.
Ella and Jesse went on the carousel. Ella rode “Jingles”, Mary Poppins’ horse.
Sleeping Beauty’s Castle – beautiful holiday lights.I am actually going to stop here. This ends day 1 at Disneyland. The one thing that I didn’t take a picture of on day 1 was a really monumental thing for Ella. There is a ride called Soarin’ over California which is an amazing experience where you are sitting a seat (which is a part of a row of seats) and the seats are suspended in the air and then you are a part of this incredible IMAX experience. You are basically flying on a hang glider and literally soaring over California. It’s an intense experience. It happens to be my favorite ride and Sunny’s favorite ride. We wanted to go on it but we didn’t want Ella to get freaked out. We also didn’t know if she was tall enough to go on the ride. Well…Ella was tall enough (just over 40″) and she decided that she wanted to go on the ride even though she said that she felt nervous. She went on the ride and she LOVED it. We even went on again the next day.Goodnight – expect much much more tomorrow.
Fabulous pictures! I’ve been eagerly awaiting them. So glad you had such a great time. Love you. Mom