Disneyland Resort

Day One of our Disneyland Adventure...

We started with a breakfast with Minnie and Friends.

During breakfast Tigger started to dance near our table so we all joined in. After all, dancing is what Tiggers do best.

 Tigger messing up Jonah's hair.

Josh was hoping to have a wish granted by the Fairy Godmother, but since he has already been granted his wish of marrying a princess she had nothing to give him but a smile.

The first ride of the day was Splash Mountain. I love the range of emotions in these photos - pure terror to loving the thrill.

Big Thunder Railroad

Louis, Kiah and I sat out this ride and enjoyed some cotton candy instead.

Jonah and the Whale.

All this spinning is not my cup of tea, but these guys had fun.

On the way into the It's a Small World ride.

Dumbo!

Josh and the boys.

Day Two of our Disneyland Adventure...

We started out at Toy Story Mania then headed straight to my favourite ride of the trip: the Tower of Terror. We went on it 4 times but after the 4th ride Maya decided that she really didn't like it any more. Too bad - I think I could have ridden all day! I have always loved free-fall rides, but I was proud of Maya for going on it with us all 4 times.

We loved riding on the Grizzly River Run - we got drenched but that was most of the fun.

Other rides we enjoyed today were Goofy's Sky School (I sat out for that one - way too much spinning) and Soarin' Over California. We went to the Aladdin show too, which is another of Josh's favourite Disney movies.

We ended the day at the Rain Forest Cafe and we ended our meal with this volcano. Don't worry, we shared! The kids (and adults) all loved the jungle theme inside the restaurant.

Day Three of our Disneyland Adventure...

We were back at Disneyland for Day Three. Unfortunately it was a Friday and the short lines that we had enjoyed the first two days were nowhere to be seen. We had fun but vowed to only go to Disneyland Monday - Thursday on all future visits!

Josh with "Little Josh" as we liked to call Jonah on this trip.

Josh couldn't resist the turkey legs that are served at the park. 

Maya couldn't resist the chance to get her face painted.

I didn't know if Maya would want to meet the princesses this visit or if she'd feel too old, but she did want to. We got to meet Jasmine, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.

Josh didn't feel too old to meet them either. I guess I should explain the backpack that Josh has sported in several photos. We forgot to bring one, so we borrowed Kiah's pink flowery backpack. I am grateful that Josh was a gentleman to wear the backpack instead of making me carry it around!

Getting ready for the parade. We didn't really eat dinner this day. I think Maya ate about 3 churros during the afternoon/evening instead. Aren't holidays great?

Rapunzel (one of my favourites).

This photo is for Josh. If he could make any Disney princess come to life it would be Belle.

We hit a few new rides today and also went back and did some of our favourites. We got a chance to go on Space Mountain and we went on our last ride back at Splash Mountian (twice in a row because there was no line) - there's nothing like being wet through at night when you are settling down to watch the fireworks!

We loved our trip. It was only a few days after the trip was over that Josh said he is ready to go back.

Hollywood and Medieval Times

The first day of our trip we did a tour of Hollywood. It was one of those open-top buses that takes you by famous places and celebrity houses.

This is Janet Jackson's house. I was surprised that it was a corner house that you could get a good view of. If I were rich and famous I would definitely have a more secluded house that annoying tourists couldn't easily take photos of!

Maya with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's star. They were two of the few people whose name she recognized!

Josh in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

That evening we went to Medieval Times. It was pretty dark in the arena so my photos aren't great. We had a medieval style dinner (no cutlery!) during a show of knights battling each other. Maya liked the horses the best.

The kids with one of the knights.

Maya with the prince.

G'Day USA

For those of you who don't know, Josh and I run a successful travel business. We offer exclusive deals to VIP guests only. Our company, ZTS, recently hosted 11 VIPs from Australia. Our guests included Josh's parents, Dannii, Adam, Mikayla, Jonah, Choney, Abbey, Kiah, Louis and Annie. Prior to the travelers' arrival, Josh sent helpful "G-Day USA" travel tips that included information about the differences in food and drinks in America, how to tip at restaurants and other venues, the weather for each city we would visits, and even information about Disneyland's fast pass system.

As part of our exceptional service, we met the travelers at the airport with a welcome sign designed by Josh (some details are smudged out on purpose in this photo).

Don't you just love airport reunions? It was fun to see Josh and his family all so happy to be together again.

The whole party (minus photographer). Jack got everyone matching t-shirts and also brought one for me, Josh and Maya.

American Girl Place

Maya and I  have loved the American Girl books and dolls since we started reading the books in 2009. This September we finally got a chance to go to American Girl Place in Los Angeles together. The first thing we did when we arrived was eat lunch at the cafe. They had special seats for Josefina and Felicity so they were able to join us for lunch. For our meal we enjoyed hot cinnamon rolls, pink lemonade, fruit skewers, pasta and salad, petites cake, cookies and mousse. We sat out on the balcony and enjoyed the mild weather. The napkin holders were hair bands with pink ribbons that you get to keep and Maya has worn hers several times since. It was a lovely atmosphere and Maya and I enjoyed this special Mummy-Daughter date.

This is Kanani. She is from Hawaii and is the 2011 Girl of the Year. Maya loves the beach so she thinks Kanani is pretty cool.

One of the highlights of our visit was getting Felicity and Josefina's hair styled. Here is Felicity in the salon chair...

 ...and her final hair style.

Josefina's turn.

Maya loved looking at all of the clothes there for the dolls. She had been saving up to buy a "modern" outfit for each girl so she could have some clothes other than their period clothes. She chose an outfit for each of them that she loved. It was a great visit.

Josh Turns 29

Josh leaves for work early, so we did presents in the afternoon when he got home. 

Maya loves to make her own gifts. For Josh this year she made him a Kit Kat out of clay. She got him a real Kit Kat bar too.

 My gift to Josh was his new iPhone. Yep, he loves that thing.

 I made his favourite "birthday slice" again this year. It really is better than cake.

Camping in the Uintas

Before this summer Maya and I had only been camping together once when she was about 4 years old. But this summer Maya asked if we could go camping as a family so we spent a night in August at a scenic campsite in the Uinta Mountains. Kate and Alex came with us. We were so grateful for Alex being there. He helped Josh and I with a lot of things that we, as non-experienced campers, we struggling with, including building us a nice fire.

We arrived at our site a little before dusk. It was a beautiful site right on a lake but that meant there was a swarm of mosquitoes around our area as we were setting up our tent. It was awful. We got several bites, even through jeans! Nasty little things. Once the fire got going we were able to sit nice and close to it and it offered some protection from the mosquitoes.

Before we left for our campsite I prepared some "tin foil dinners." I guess that is a camper kind of thing to do. I had minced meat, potatoes, carrots and onions wrapped in foil. They seemed like they would be really yummy....if only I hadn't left them on the fire too long. They got so burned! I was really disappointed and HUNGRY so I opened up each dinner and served up some plates for everyone from what I could salvage. Everyone else told me that it tasted okay but when I started eating mine I realized that they were just being kind because everything tasted like ash. Even when it was doused in tomato sauce it was disgusting. It's a good thing we were able to fill up on roasted marshmallows and smores (chocolate and roasted marshmallows in between honey-flavoured crackers).

The night was very cold. Josh was surprised how cold it was but in Utah the summer nights do cool off and especially so in the mountains.

I did much better with cooking breakfast. We had pancakes and they really are my specialty. We also had Mark and Jeni's camping stove so it would have been hard to go wrong with that.

After breakfast we did some exploring around the lake.

I think Alex was planning on catching fish with that bag he is holding. Needless to say...

We had a great time despite our early challenges and were glad we went. We decided that we need to go camping as a family at least once a summer. We would also like to take Alex and Kate with us every time!

Abbey and Kiah's Summer Visit

Abbey and Kiah came for a holiday to America in August with their Dad. They got to spend a day and night with us while they were here. First we went to the children's museum at Discovery Gateway. Maya and I had never been there before either so it was fun to go. Maya was a little old for some of the activities, but together the 3 girls had fun.

At the farm area.

 Maya on the rock wall. This wasn't a challenge for her but I'm sure but I'm guessing it would be as much as I would be able to handle if I'd tried it.

 Kiah enjoyed working the checkout at the grocery store.

Josh and Kiah at the water play area.

After the museum we went to Carl's Jr for lunch. That is a favourite of Maya's because of the play area that they have there. The afternoon was spent with Josh taking the girls to Cherry Hill. Abbey and Kiah loved it and Maya enjoyed getting to show them all of her favorite rides. Then after dinner we took the girls to Sub Zero for ice-cream. That is another place that Josh and I had not been before. It is a place where you choose your flavour and then they make the ice-cream in front of you with liquid nitrogen. The bad thing about that is that you can't taste test what you are getting and my flavor was pretty gross. The girls all liked theirs, though, so that was good.

Even though it was a quick 24 hours with Abbey and Kiah we had a lot of fun and were glad they got to spend some time with us.