the merrill's: Disneyland and Aquarium

Disneyland

One of the two days we didn't go to the beach, we went to Disneyland! Cameron, Jenny, Christine, Jared and Johnny all made it out to California to go with us. It was a lot of fun and we were there all day! We started out going to Pirates and the Haunted Mansion with Carrie and Johnny. These are two of my favorite rides. Abbey was a little nervous of the skeletons and scary voices, but she did enjoy the pirates and dancing ghosts! Here are some pictures of us waiting in line for Pirates. Abbey had no idea what to expect and Mike was cool as a cucumber throughout the ride!

This is Johnny, the guy Carrie is dating, Abbey has a crush on him

Can't you just see my excitement? This was the first time I was going to experience the ride with the new additions since the movies came out. It was fun seeing Captain Jack hiding.

After all the scary rides we took Abbey to the promised Princess rides. She loved the Cinderella Castle as we made our way over. The first thing she wanted to do was go on the carousel. She loves to ride the horses and went on it twice in a row!

We were met by Christine, Jared, Cameron and Jenny at that time and waited in the longest line to ride Dumbo. That was the worst part of the day being the hottest and whinniest. But the two minute ride was a lot of fun! (that is Christine with Wyatt right behind Me and Abs)

Tim and I had gotten park hopper tickets, so we walked over to California Adventure. Mike took a good nap while we waited in line for Monsters Inc. ride.

Abbey loved Monsters Inc. because it is currently her favorite book to read at night. Here we are in front of Boo's door. After this we caught the little Pixar Parade, that was a lot of fun to watch seeing that it had Cars, Monsters, Nemo and Toy Story characters to name a few.

We also went and saw the Bugs Life 3D show. That was really cool, but Abbey was kind of scared of the big mean bugs. So to make up for it we went on the cute little train ride. She was excited for that and went under the rails to try and hop on the train before her turn (kind of embarrassing!).

Disneyland wouldn't be complete without the forty dollar dinner. We met back up with Christine, Jared, Cameron and Jenny for dinner. The kids meal was really cute.

Too bad this is what Abbey did throughout dinner! She was tuckered out!

Not only was Abbey tuckered out but so was Tim. He rested until we saw a cross dressing 50 something worker guy at the restaurant. He, or should I say she, was complete with a women's wig, bra and a name tag with a women's name on it!! Only in California!

A second time on Pirates was a must. It was a interesting ride, with Christine being chastised over the loud speaker to not take pictures and Jared to keep his arms inside the boat during the ride!! Here we are in line, I love how Tim and Abbey are in the background to the left. How I wish we didn't forget the little doggie backpack/leash!!

We had just gotten on the ride and Tim took this picture. Stella's face cracks me up!! I promise she wasn't freaked out or anything, no children were scarred from the experience. Although we had a really nervous Wyatt and Abbey in the beginning!

Abbey and Wyatt by far enjoyed the tea cups the most. Abbey went on them about four times. Tim took her most and had a blast watching her ham it up and giggle. Can you spot Me, Abbey, Jared and Wyatt (we are in the middle).

During the fireworks we took turns on Space Mountain. That is another favorite. It couldn't have gone better with the fireworks to keep Abbey and Wyatt entertained (they loved them and were too funny dancing around). Plus we were given switch passes, allowing the other group watching the kids to just walk right on after the first group got done!! It was perfect. We did it with the Matterhorn too. I had never been on that one and it was a lot of fun and unforgettable due to Cameron's ribs being injured, funny but painful!!

You know Abbey is tired when she twirls her hair...

She sacked out on the way back to the house.

Tim thought it would be funny to show how tired he looked as we waited until I finished nursing Michael in the car before heading out for the day.

It was a long, fun and tiring day. We have to go back soon!! There was so much we didn't get to do!

Long Beach Aquarium

When everyone else left to go home. Tim and I stayed one more day. We decided to go to the aquarium. We were a little put off at first. There were so many pushy people there, you could hardly see anything. But we waited it out and late afternoon more people started to go home. We enjoyed seeing the Tropical fish with Nemo and Dory, seahorses, seals and otters.

The otters were so cute. They loved to swim up against the glass. Watching them made Abbey beg to go swim!

I think this was Abbey's favorite part of the aquarium. There was a little water attraction. She was so ready to play in the water and have some fun. Plus we bought some good ice cream treats.