Goofy, Fast passes and a trip to the Beach!

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty packed with fun. Wednesday morning, Aaron had made arrangements for us to have breakfast in "Goofy's Kitchen." It is a fun restaurant located in the Disney hotel. Amazing buffet style food is served where the kids can choose whatever they want to eat. (believe me they had EVERYTHING from mickey mouse waffles to chicken enchiladas to smoked salmon) As we ate Disney Characters would walk the room and mingle with us. On two occasions Goofy created a situation in which the kids had to get up and interact with him. They once started a band, using kitchen supplies as their instruments, and another time goofy had all the kids on the floor doing morning exercises with him. It was so entertaining. We got lots of great pictures of Chip, Alice, Jasmine, Baloo, Pluto, and Goofy. I will save the bulk of these pictures to show when I get back but trust me the kids loved this, and I think it was a highlight for everyone. Other highlights on Wednesday included California adventure. This park contained some of our favorite rides. Abigail has surprised us and has turned into quite to little "roller coaster...er" When we first arrived here she was scared easily. Now our little angel has been accustomed to it all including California screaming. (The biggest roller coaster in the park) I was literally terrified on this roller coaster. At one point I was reaching over tried to squeeze Abby's hand and console her...hold her head back against the chair for her...you know. All the sudden I hear her scream "Mom I'm fine. Leave me alone!" Mind you, the Tower of Terror, is a little bit much for her...and me too. Yowsers.

Thursday we spent the first part of the morning in the Disneyland park again. We were entertaining the littlest kids in Toon Town, when a park administrator handed me and the 4 kids with me DREAM FASTPASSES! Now the thing about disnyeland and california adventure is that fast passes are the ONLY way to avoid the sometimes ` hour rides. You swipe your gate ticket to receive a fast pass for the big ride of your choice. Here is the hitch. You can only hold one fast pass at a time. Often you are told to return in 4 or 5 hours so in reality you can only "Fast Pass" a couple of times a day. A lot of time is spent in line ups. That is....unless you are us! We received these dream passes which basically worked as an automatic fast pass for 12 of the biggest rides in the park. We took the little kids back to the hotel and a couple of us got to business doing some serious riding and park hopping. It was a whole new experience to not have to wait in line. What fun.

In the evening Aaron took us all to Newport Beach so that we could see the ocean. It was incredible! Sure it was probably a bit stressful to try and pull off, but it was so worth it. I'm glad Aaron was willing to take us on that drive. For some of us it was a first time experience! It was a cooler evening, and the kids got down right filthy but that is ok. We saw the sun set, played in the water, the kids chased the waves and then at one point as we looked out we could see two or three dolphins playing or feeding together. I tried and tried to get pictures but those little stinkers would emerge and disappear without any warning. It was beautiful!
Doesn't this picture remind you of old Baywatch episodes. I kept waiting for this guy to yell SHARK! (I blame that on the fact that Jewels family watched Jaws the day before I left on this trip)



I drew this in the sand hoping that John would stumble across it, and you know, know of my undying love for him and all that. (sigh) The waves washed it away soon after I took this photo.
It's probably for the better though, since I already have a general idea of what John would have said. He would have looked at it and said something like, "Who the heck is TJ?"