Taylor, Matthew & Brayden: A Special Thanksgiving Trip

We spent the week of Thanksgiving in California this year. Thanks to some free tickets from Disney and Tommy's Marriott points, we only spent a mini fortune at Sea World and Legoland before meeting up with Mimi, Baba, Grandma, and Pop Pop in Anaheim for a few days at Disneyland. We were in Southern California for seven days and spent six of them in theme parks. It was pretty exhausting, but the kids did great and had a blast.

Being the cheeseball that I am known to be, I ordered all nine of us matching yellow t-shirts for a day at Disney. It turned out that we loved them so much (seriously, we loved them - it made it SO easy to spot one another) that we wore them all three days that we were at Disneyland and California Adventure.

Taylor and Matty loved riding the roller coasters. The two of them were up for just about everything with the exception of California Screaming (now called the Incredicoaster) which goes upside down. Taylor went on this roller coaster with me back in February 2017 but had no desire to do it again. I was proud of them for being adventurous. Brayden, on the other hand, did NOT want to ride any roller coasters. He has anxiety about being in anything enclosed, so he would not go on Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, the Matterhorn, or any "thrill" ride that required being indoors or in a dark space. He did, however, ride the Cars ride and loved it.

My personal favorite memory was going on "Soaring Around the World" at California Adventure. After an hour-long wait with some very impatient family members, the nine of us went on this ride together, and everyone equally loved it. I was sitting next to my dad and enjoyed hearing his commentary as we were on the flight motion simulator. I also enjoyed going on the water ride Grizzly Bear Run and getting soaked with my dad, Elaine, Tommy, Taylor and Matty. These are special memories for sure.

The one day we did not go to a theme park was Thanksgiving Day. Instead, we relaxed at the hotel (which also had a water park). A few of us (Taylor, Brayden, Tommy, Elaine and me) went to Laguna Beach for an hour or two and dipped our toes in the sand. Later, we had a dinner reservation at Roy's, a Hawaiian/Pacific Rim fushion restaurant, and had a lovely dinner. Our turkey was prepared with teriyaki sauce (which is normally okay but untraditional for Thanksgiving), and we were all skeptical, but everything was delicious.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. We covered a lot of territory, and now I am thrilled to be home for a few months before traveling again!

Day #1: SeaWorld

I had to capture a sibling moment - these two are usually foes, so to see them snuggled up to each other makes mommy happy. We had a 7:15 AM flight from Seattle to San Diego that morning and then went straight to SeaWorld (well, maybe we stopped for In & Out Burger on the way). By the time we got into the car to drive to our hotel at Legoland, they were fried.

Our Kingdom-themed room at the Legoland Hotel was pretty cool.

Day #2: Legoland

The Lego creations at the park were truly incredible.

Tommy and I were super impressed by the Mini City creations at Legoland. So. Much. Detail.

A Lego replica of the Citigroup building in NYC. I had to snap a picture since I used to go to training in this building.

Even though Brayden's birthday was nine days away, we figured we might as well celebrate it as much as possible. Here is his stiffled smile that I talked about in his birthday post.

Day #3: Legoland

We finally convinced Brayden to ride the Dragon roller coaster. After much bribing, he went on it and LOVED it. Keep in mind that this roller coaster is not much bigger than one at a state fair,but oh well. I had to snap a picture of the picture taken on the ride. I LOVE HIS FACE (and hands in the air!).

Day #4: Disneyland

Look at this group!

In line for our first ride: Thunder Mountain Railroad. Brayden waited in the line and then bailed as we boarded the ride. I had to step out with him and was not happy about his sudden change of mind. He did not ride a single roller coaster from that point on (with the exception of the Radiator Springs Racers).

Money shot in front of the castle

I laughed at this picture of Tommy and my dad on Space Mountain. Dad looks bored and Tommy is holding his neck from all the jerking around. True roller coaster enthusiasts!