Vacation Overload

Ever since I moved to Southern California, probably even before I moved, I have been trying to convince my family and friends to come see me for vacation.  What?  You think nobody wants to spend their vacation with me?  You're probably right.  However, I somehow convinced my brother, Jesse, and his wife, Tina, to come visit and bring their kids for a trip to Disneyland.  I'd have to say it was a very successful vacation for them, even if they did have to spend the entire trip with me.

They arrived Friday evening and were exhausted.  I tried to be a good sister so I made my brother his favorite soup, my white bean chili.  It was delicious.  I don't ever make it anymore since a lot of the time it's just too hot here for soup.  

Being on a student budget, you learn all the free things close by that you can do.  If not free, affordable.  Home Depot has their free kid's craft day every month that I take Scarlet to.  It ended up being on the Saturday the Dunn family was here so we ventured to Home Depot and made race cars.  

After we made our cars, we went over to La Verne where they have a quaint little orange grove.  You get to pick a bag of oranges for $5.  The smell there was captivating.  It was magnificent.  I could have spent all day in there.  There was just something special about it.  Plus, the oranges were beyond delicious!  We also got a few lemons when we stumbled upon the lemon tree.  Totally worth my $5!

Sunday, I took the Dunns to Santa Monica pier.  I love the pier for some reason.  I just love walking out over the water and seeing all the street performers and vendors.  After walking the pier for a while we went down to the beach and let the kids go crazy.  I think it's safe to say they all loved it.  Scarlet hasn't stopped talking about the beach since then.  She has also asked to go to the ocean every morning.  That was the first beach trip she has actually really enjoyed.  I'm so glad she finally loved it there.

The best thing about having family in town was that I got a break from being a single mom for a while.  It was divine!  Plus, there's just nothing like seeing how happy my kids are with their cousins.  Jesse was a good sport and wore Elliot around the pier.

Monday was our first day at Disneyland.  We got to meet up with more cousins while we were there.  My Serre cousins just happened to be in town the same time as J and T.  What a perfect coincidence.  I was so excited to finally meet my cousin's little baby Olivia.  She was just gorgeous!  We spent the day in California Adventure and enjoyed it thoroughly.  Cars Land was adorable.  I've walked through it before but haven't really paid much attention to it until this trip.  It's so cute and the rides were so much fun there!

Tuesday we found ourselves in Disneyland.  I was a mean aunt and made my nephew, Josh, do the Jedi training.  It was awesome!  He was hesitant at first and didn't really want to do it.  I begged and begged him and told him it would be really fun.  Little did I know he would be fighting the really super scary Darth Maul. His make up and acting just gave me the creeps.  Plus, he was trying to scare my baby.  My little baby Elliot.  Poor kid.  Josh did amazing fighting him off with  his light saber though.  Go Josh!

For weeks I have been wanting to go to The Mint Julep Cafe and try their beignets.  They did not disappoint.  Plus, they were in the shape of Mickey, so it was win/win.  Scarlet obviously loved them.  They were covered in sugar.  How could she resist?  She was so good to share with Elliot too.  It was so cute watching her feeding him her treats.  She also danced around New Orleans Square to the awesome live Jazz music.  I love that place.

Little Josh loved Splash Mountain!  I love the way he looks in this photo.  It's priceless.  He kept begging to go on it again and again.

By 6:00, Scarlet was pooped.  This was her second day without a nap.  I put her in the stroller and next thing I knew, she was asleep.  I was bummed since she missed the parade, but oh well.  I'm sure we can go see it again some time.

Baby Jedi in training.  

Wednesday was filled with all the things we missed or wanted to redo from the previous two days.  It was a crazy busy 3 days in Disneyland, but so much fun!  I loved seeing my niece and nephew light up like I've never seen before.  I hope we made memories to last a lifetime.  I know I did.

Well, that's my week in a nutshell.  Crazy.  Busy.  Fun.  Now who's coming down next?  Anybody?  I'm so grateful Jesse and Tina got to come see us and keep me company.  I really do get quite lonely here, so it was awesome to have somebody fill my days for almost an entire week.  They will surely be missed around here!