Moyes summer vacation 2011

**My mom has been planning this trip for years so it's hard to believe it's over. The summer now stretches ahead of us and we have no plans, although I'm sure we'll find lots of fun things to do and it will fly by!**

The first leg of our trip was Las Vegas. We immediately headed to the pool for some fun before heading to the strip. The pool was great...the strip was crowded! And there were all sorts of interesting people there. We had just enough time to see the water fountains at the Bellagio before catching the shuttle back to our rooms.We finished our drive to Anaheim the next day. We didn't even wait to check in before catching the shuttle to the happiest place on earth...Disneyland!!Molly had been hearing about our trip to Disneyland for quite a while. For the few weeks leading up to the trip we'd get on the website and look at the rides and everything else she might see at Disneyland. So she was excited...but I think it was so much more than she ever expected. She loved it!!The one thing that she wanted to do most of all was ride the Matterhorn. She went with Justin on the first day (and then again with me-stroller passes are the greatest). She loved it so much that from then on she wasn't afraid to go on anything else. She did Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and anything else that she was tall enough to ride. It was fun to see her get so excited and be willing to try everything.
Molly on Space Mountain. She looks pretty scared but ended up riding it 3 times.

On the last day the girls got to eat lunch with the princesses. We got to see Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, and Ariel. The girls got their autographs and pictures taken with each. So fun and magical for them!
Stockton did great at Disneyland. He didn't get super excited over anything, but he went along with everything we did just great (thanks to naps in the stroller, something he got very good at doing). Small kids can do so many things at Disneyland so he was able to go on lots of rides.The boys got to go to Goofy's Kitchen for breakfast one morning. Stockton wasn't big on all the characters- every time one came close to him he would say "hold you, hold you" which really means "hold me."But he did like the ice cream!Oh, and the cars that we saw later that day.And Brynn. Have I mentioned that she is an angel baby? She got hauled around all over the place, had to be strapped in the stroller or car seat for a week, and was nursed wherever was most convenient. And anytime we got to a ride that we could all go on we woke her up! But she took it all in stride and was as sweet as ever. She even rode Pirates of the Caribbean (there is no height limit on that one)."It's a Small World" ride

Brynn got comments from all sorts of people at Disneyland. The most popular comments were: "Oh, she's so tiny!" "Look at that baby!" "That baby is so cute!" Etc, etc... She does look like a little doll, though, so I don't blame all those people.Our three days at Disneyland were exhausting but they were so so fun! Finally on the last night we tried to get a family picture on Main Street with the castle in the background. It was like 10:30 and the only kid still awake was Stockton so this will have to do.Now I can't wait to go back!!

The next part of our journey was near San Diego, in Oceanside. Justin and I honeymooned there 7 1/2 years ago so it was fun to go back. If you're vacationing with my family and there is a baseball field nearby, you can bet that's one place we'll be heading. We got to Oceanside, had a quick lunch at the harbor, saw the beach and then hopped in the car to go to a Padres game. Nothing beats a baseball game in the summer-it's something we like to do every year, although it's usually just a Bee's game here in SL.Sea World was the next day. After the craziness of Disneyland it felt nice to be a little more relaxed. We saw the shows and visited all the aquariums. If you've ever been to Sea World then you know that at the end of each exhibit you walk straight into a gift shop. So of course all the kids wanted whatever we had just seen (turtles, polar bears, dolphins, etc). Pretty clever, huh?After we had seen everything we decided to try the roller coaster. We had fun on the coaster but the kids may have had more fun waiting for us. In the middle of the ride, the coaster goes down a steep hill and sprays water everywhere. The kids had so much fun running away from the huge wave.
Bryce got the best video of Stockton. Poor guy, he had no idea what was going on...

We had a chance to hit the beach for a little bit in the morning. Much too short, but oh well. Molly loved the beach and cried when we left, Stockton wanted nothing to do with it, and Brynn just hung out in her carseat. None of them had ever been to the ocean. I wish we could have stayed longer but we had to get on our way. They hopefully will get to the beach at Bear Lake this summer, and really they won't know the difference, right?Our last night was spent in St. George. We slept in and just relaxed at the pool all morning. It felt great! Molly has become a fish and loved every minute in the water. Her and Gavin were the last kids to get out and only after lots of "one more times."We would have loved to stay in St. George a while longer, even for just an extra day. But after all our fun it was time to head home. We finally got a group picture right before leaving.This trip was so much fun. It would have been awesome with just Justin and I and the kids but it was made ten times more fun having my family with us. Cousins are just the greatest and I'm so glad that my kids live close to almost all their cousins. It's so fun to see the friendships that are developing between them as they grow older. (We took 10 kids, the oldest was 6.)And my mom and dad-we couldn't have gone without them! They gave us park tickets for Christmas and let us use their timeshares to some awesome condos in every city we stayed in. They are the best!!