Winter vacation

The 60 degree weather here in Northern California was too cold for us, so we headed south for a couple of weeks to enjoy something closer to the 80s.

First we visited my family:

 Livia got really into playing school. My mom and sister were angels and let her "teach" them for over an hour one day. That is a long time, my friends!

 We managed to sneak in a good day at the park while we were there

 It's always windy in the high desert. Always.

Livia played so hard she actually took a nap one day!

 We had a fabulous time, as always. And then we headed east to Phoenix to visit Chase's parents. Livia swore up and down that she never fell asleep on that drive. hahahaha

We had a great time in Arizona, eating yummy food and getting out to do several fun activities.

They also had fun on the putting green out back, and in the pool.

We're serious about our flotation devices here. Doubling up!

Cupcakes!

One day we hit up the Phoenix children's museum.

It's so fun to see how these little kids know exactly what to do. Jane was all business in there.

 They had so many fun exhibits. An elaborate play kitchen:

 Drums:

 And a noodle forest, among other things.

 One day everyone, including Chase, had to work, so I took the girls to the zoo. I don't take many pictures at zoos...or ever...but I thought it was cute how they were studying the map during lunch.

One of our favorite excursions was a trip to the Desert Botanical gardens. They had a Chihuly exhibit as well, which is always fun to see.

Livia really enjoys art, and she loved all the glass sculptures. Jane really loves plants, and she loved all the cactus. Her favorite was the octopus cactus, but she was extremely interested in them all.

 Liv particularly liked the pink and purple sculpture. Surprise!

 Chase also went to a Sun's game with his dad. And we watched a lot of Olympics that week. I love the Olympics.

We left Phoenix and headed back west towards Anaheim for two fun-filled days at Disneyland! The girls were beyond excited. We arrived fairly late at night and they were completely slap-happy, running around the lobby like a bunch of crazies. I may have had a mild panic attack trying to keep them occupied while we dealt with the fact that the hotel had lost our reservation. (Aggh! Luckily, Disney is great and worked it out for us).

Watching t.v. in bed, in a hotel room...not much better than that when you're a kid!

We splurged on a character breakfast at our hotel that first morning. Neither Livia nor Jane had any idea who the heck Lilo was, and when Stitch started coming over they both freaked out and Chase had to distract them with the breakfast buffet. 

However, they were thrilled to meet Mickey Mouse

And they enjoyed the little shows the characters put on. Jane had been gripping a Froot Loop in her hand for several minutes, and would not give it up no matter how much I tried. I finally figured out her plan when she ran towards Minnie and shared it with her. Minnie even "ate" it, eliciting the biggest grin you can imagine from little Jane. It was a cute moment.

We spent the first day in California Adventure, and I'll try not to go overboard on the pictures.

This was right before the Cars ride.

This was during. I don't know if you can tell, but that is sheer terror on her face. This happened to unfortunately be only the second ride she had gone on that morning, and it made her scared for nearly every other ride thereafter. Whoops.

Jane was a little apprehensive about the Ferris Wheel, but now she keeps talking about it and asking to go on it again.

The parades were a big hit with our girls, as were other performances and shows.

 Jane fell asleep right at 8:00 and missed the water show. Which is too bad, because it was really great!

 The next day we went to Disneyland

This picture just makes me laugh

 Meeting the various characters was a HUGE highlight for both Livia and Jane. Here are just a few of our "celebrity sightings"

Jane crashed again that night. She was such a trooper.

The next morning we visited the hotel pool and water slide and then headed back home. It was a really wonderful trip, and lots of great memories were made!