Here's a shot of the girls cuddling on the plane. Aren't they just too sweet!?
Guess who HATES being on an airplane? Adam or I had to be holding and walking Miss Elizabeth nearly the entire 2+ hour flight there and back. Ugh. At least the flight attendants were extra nice to us.
I snapped this shot of Adam and Ava walking down to the beach from the balcony of the house where we stayed. We slept in the bedroom just inside this balcony and left the sliding, glass doors open all night. It was so relaxing to go to sleep to the sound of the waves crashing.
We ate dinner the first night at a cute, restaurant just off the strand. The waitress brought the kids a chocolate mousse to share...she thought the candle would be fun!
On the way home, Ava and Julien took advantage of the swings on the beach.
Our little, budding artist loved coloring while looking at the waves for inspiration!
Elizabeth got to see her first beach and loved playing in the sand. She's a serious thumbsucker and would forget her thumb was coated in sand and just pop it right into her mouth. She had quite a bit of sand to eat on this trip.
Ava and I enjoyed trying to outrun the waves together.
Adam took the pic of me with the girls and it's turned out to be one of my favorites with them.
One night we bought some fresh pizza dough and made our own pizzas. They were delicious! The kids had a ball rolling out their dough and choosing their own toppings.
Adam even taught them how to toss the dough and we managed to keep any from falling on the floor!
We were just about 30 minutes away from Disney Land, so we left Elizabeth with Noelle one day and took Julien along for Ava's first trip to the Magic Kingdom (it was my first time too)!
One of the first rides we saw was the big, beautiful carousel. Ava was so excited to get to ride!
Ava's favorite ride of the day was the teacups. She had been looking forward to this ride for a month or more! She talks about the teacups almost any time she talks about Disney Land.
If you know Ava you know how much she loves all things princess. She got to meet Belle, Jasmine and her favorite...Ariel! The princesses were so sweet to her and she got to get her picture with each of them. Since this trip Ava has decided that she doesn't just want to be a babysitter when she grows up...now she wants to be a "princess babysitter". She specifically said that she wants to be a princess at Disney Land.
By some small miracle we convinced Ava to ride Space Mountain. She was a little anxious waiting in line and kept asking lots of questions and said a couple of times that she'd changed her mind. She never cried at all, or got upset. I was proud of her!
She did insist that she and I sit beside each other and below you can see a picture Adam took of the screen showing our car on the ride. That's Adam and Julien in the very front and Ava is right behind Julien. When the ride was over, I asked her, "what did you think?" She said, "I kept my head down and eyes closed the WHOLE time". Funny girl. You can barely see her ducked head below.
Here are Ava and Adam as we waited in line for "Snow White's Scary Adventure" ride.
We happened upon Minnie Mouse as we walked through the park.
Adam and Ava on another roller coaster. Ava rode 3 roller coasters and we were so proud of how well she did!
Here we are in Mickey's house. We weaved all through his house while we waited in line to meet him. It was really cute. Ava was checking out Pluto's bed here.
Here we are with Mickey Mouse! Ava was WAY more excited when we met the Disney Princesses.
Here Ava and I are getting ready to ride another roller coaster. It was a beautiful day in the park...perfect weather.
Hands...okay, well...hand in the air!!!!
Here's the Pirates Treehouse on the little Pirate Island. It was such a neat place with real caves that you could explore and buried treasure and everything. My favorite part that day.
Our little princess loved getting to see Sleeping Beauty's Castle.
Here's a pic we took on Manhattan Beach. I thought we'd get a sweet picture of the girls and I. Ah-hem. Obviously Ava had another idea on what the emotion of the picture should be. Also, check out where Elizabeth is sticking her toes. Our girls are total hams.
Adam helped Ava write her name in the sand. Gosh, she's cute.
Elizabeth could have played in that sand ALL day and never gotten tired of it. I swear, we found sand coming off of the girls and all of our stuff for at least a week after we got home!
Hang ten!! Elizabeth was ready to take the waves on Julien's boogyboard. This is Adam's favorite shot of Elizabeth on the trip.
I love how sweet and girlie Ava looks as she's walking into the ocean in the pic below.
So, Manhattan Beach is apparently "the home of beach volleyball". There happened to be one of the biggest volleyball tournaments of the year going on while we were there. We got to see the men's and women's Olympic gold winning teams play. Adam was on cloud 9. Hey, he used to tear it up in Brownsville, back in the day!
The girls and I buried Adam...it's a tradition now. Elizabeth just wasn't sure what was going on, though.
She kept trying to dig Adam out and figure out where his body was. SO cute!
The weather on the beach was nice, but not too hot. The water was WAY too cold for me, though! Adam and Ava had no problems getting in.
One evening we brought a picnic of grilled burgers to the beach. It was beautiful that time of day and the food was yummy.
The gulls were anxious for our leftovers and the kids were all too pleased to help them out.
Elizabeth loved walking along barefoot in the wet sand.
We had a wonderful family vacation and so appreciate Ann, Ross and Julien for allowing us to be guests in their lovely home. Big thanks to Noelle and Julien for their hospitality to us while we were there.
Guess who HATES being on an airplane? Adam or I had to be holding and walking Miss Elizabeth nearly the entire 2+ hour flight there and back. Ugh. At least the flight attendants were extra nice to us.
I snapped this shot of Adam and Ava walking down to the beach from the balcony of the house where we stayed. We slept in the bedroom just inside this balcony and left the sliding, glass doors open all night. It was so relaxing to go to sleep to the sound of the waves crashing.
We ate dinner the first night at a cute, restaurant just off the strand. The waitress brought the kids a chocolate mousse to share...she thought the candle would be fun!
On the way home, Ava and Julien took advantage of the swings on the beach.
Our little, budding artist loved coloring while looking at the waves for inspiration!
Elizabeth got to see her first beach and loved playing in the sand. She's a serious thumbsucker and would forget her thumb was coated in sand and just pop it right into her mouth. She had quite a bit of sand to eat on this trip.
Ava and I enjoyed trying to outrun the waves together.
Adam took the pic of me with the girls and it's turned out to be one of my favorites with them.
One night we bought some fresh pizza dough and made our own pizzas. They were delicious! The kids had a ball rolling out their dough and choosing their own toppings.
Adam even taught them how to toss the dough and we managed to keep any from falling on the floor!
We were just about 30 minutes away from Disney Land, so we left Elizabeth with Noelle one day and took Julien along for Ava's first trip to the Magic Kingdom (it was my first time too)!
One of the first rides we saw was the big, beautiful carousel. Ava was so excited to get to ride!
Ava's favorite ride of the day was the teacups. She had been looking forward to this ride for a month or more! She talks about the teacups almost any time she talks about Disney Land.
If you know Ava you know how much she loves all things princess. She got to meet Belle, Jasmine and her favorite...Ariel! The princesses were so sweet to her and she got to get her picture with each of them. Since this trip Ava has decided that she doesn't just want to be a babysitter when she grows up...now she wants to be a "princess babysitter". She specifically said that she wants to be a princess at Disney Land.
By some small miracle we convinced Ava to ride Space Mountain. She was a little anxious waiting in line and kept asking lots of questions and said a couple of times that she'd changed her mind. She never cried at all, or got upset. I was proud of her!
She did insist that she and I sit beside each other and below you can see a picture Adam took of the screen showing our car on the ride. That's Adam and Julien in the very front and Ava is right behind Julien. When the ride was over, I asked her, "what did you think?" She said, "I kept my head down and eyes closed the WHOLE time". Funny girl. You can barely see her ducked head below.
Here are Ava and Adam as we waited in line for "Snow White's Scary Adventure" ride.
We happened upon Minnie Mouse as we walked through the park.
Adam and Ava on another roller coaster. Ava rode 3 roller coasters and we were so proud of how well she did!
Here we are in Mickey's house. We weaved all through his house while we waited in line to meet him. It was really cute. Ava was checking out Pluto's bed here.
Here we are with Mickey Mouse! Ava was WAY more excited when we met the Disney Princesses.
Here Ava and I are getting ready to ride another roller coaster. It was a beautiful day in the park...perfect weather.
Hands...okay, well...hand in the air!!!!
Here's the Pirates Treehouse on the little Pirate Island. It was such a neat place with real caves that you could explore and buried treasure and everything. My favorite part that day.
Our little princess loved getting to see Sleeping Beauty's Castle.
Here's a pic we took on Manhattan Beach. I thought we'd get a sweet picture of the girls and I. Ah-hem. Obviously Ava had another idea on what the emotion of the picture should be. Also, check out where Elizabeth is sticking her toes. Our girls are total hams.
Adam helped Ava write her name in the sand. Gosh, she's cute.
Elizabeth could have played in that sand ALL day and never gotten tired of it. I swear, we found sand coming off of the girls and all of our stuff for at least a week after we got home!
Hang ten!! Elizabeth was ready to take the waves on Julien's boogyboard. This is Adam's favorite shot of Elizabeth on the trip.
I love how sweet and girlie Ava looks as she's walking into the ocean in the pic below.
So, Manhattan Beach is apparently "the home of beach volleyball". There happened to be one of the biggest volleyball tournaments of the year going on while we were there. We got to see the men's and women's Olympic gold winning teams play. Adam was on cloud 9. Hey, he used to tear it up in Brownsville, back in the day!
The girls and I buried Adam...it's a tradition now. Elizabeth just wasn't sure what was going on, though.
She kept trying to dig Adam out and figure out where his body was. SO cute!
The weather on the beach was nice, but not too hot. The water was WAY too cold for me, though! Adam and Ava had no problems getting in.
One evening we brought a picnic of grilled burgers to the beach. It was beautiful that time of day and the food was yummy.
The gulls were anxious for our leftovers and the kids were all too pleased to help them out.
Elizabeth loved walking along barefoot in the wet sand.
We had a wonderful family vacation and so appreciate Ann, Ross and Julien for allowing us to be guests in their lovely home. Big thanks to Noelle and Julien for their hospitality to us while we were there.
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