The Memories Begin

Ava was excited to go to "Mickey Mouse's House" (AKA-Disneyland). As we entered the park we went slow and let Ava take it all in. Our first stop was to get Ava's "First Time at Disneyland" pin. We then walked down Main Street and headed for Sleeping Beauty's castle. We were worried Ava might be overwhelmed by everything, but she did good. She was happy to see the castle and wanted to head straight for the Dumbo ride. That is the first ride we went on.

Ava entering the Disneyland gates for the first time.
Ava checking everything out. She was excited to see the Disneyland Train and really wanted to ride it.

Ava with her first timer pin.

On this morning Ava didn't eat a lot of breakfast. As we headed down Main Street she saw a cart with bananas and wanted one. We knew it was going to be expensive, but never would of guessed 1 banana would cost $2.99...OUCH! Of course we bought it because she was hungry and she loves bananas. I had to get a picture of it because it is probably the world's most expensive banana.

Ava with Papa and Nonna.
As we walked down Main Street and watched the excitement on our little girl's face Rich got a little teary-eye. It was sweet to see him get so emotional about this special day. It is definitely a day and vacation we will always cherish.

Ava wanted to ride the Dumbo ride first and only wanted to ride it with Papa. She loved this ride and we rode on it several more times. Ava finally allowed Nonna to ride with her and Papa, but she wouldn't ride it with me or Rich. For some reason she associated this ride with Papa and finally Nonna. It was silly, sweet, and cute.

Disneyland

After driving down the coast we made it to Anaheim and our main destination...DISNEYLAND! This was Ava's first visit and she was excited to go to "Mickey Mouse's house." I think we were all just has excited as she was. We spent 3 days at the two parks and had so much fun.

McDowell's

On Sunday, November 27th we headed to L.A. Since we weren't going to Disneyland the next day we spent the evening with Rich's sister's family. We were so excited to see them and Ava couldn't wait to see her cousins. The girls had a lot of fun together and Ava enjoyed holding Abby.

All the girls together: Parker, Ava holding Abby, and Zoie

While we were there Parker decided to color on her face. It was pretty funny, but I don't think Anne was happy when it didn't wash off easily. I love Parker!

Zoie the artist.Ava loved holding baby Abby. She didn't want to let her go. In this picture she is hugging her.
Watching Ava interact with Abby brought tears to my eyes. It made me long for a baby sibling for Ava even more. I know she would be a wonderful big sister.

Ava with Parker and Abby after a bath. Parker and Ava had a fun bath together. I think it was a little wild with a lot of splashing.

Solvang, CA

After our fun filled day of playing we walked around Solvang in the evening. Our first stop was one of the bakeries to get next mornings breakfast. We each picked out a danish and Ava picked out a meringue cookie because it was pink with sprinkles. The lady at the counter was really nice and gave Ava a giant bucket of cookies for free since it was her first trip to Disneyland. We were all surprised and grateful for the kindness of the lady at the bakery.

After the bakery we walked around the shops. We went into a cool cuckoo clock shop with dozens of clocks on the wall. Ava loved the clocks and I was tempted to buy one, but the cheapest was around $200. The one thing we did buy was a cute Scandinavian dress for Ava.

After looking around we decided it was time to eat. We found the main restaurant that served ebelskivers and ate there. Ava was excited about her ebelskivers and carried around of picture of them to show the waiter. After we finished dinner we order the ebelskivers. This was my first time trying them and they were okay. I was expecting something a little different and more exciting. It basically was a pancake shaped like a ball with raspberry jam and powdered sugar. Ava was not disappointed and especially liked the raspberry jam.

Once we finished dinner we only had one place to go, the chocolate store. I love trying different chocolates, so we couldn't miss this place. We got some chocolates to go and then headed back to the hotel to try and sleep.

We didn't buy any shoes. I just thought this was a cute picture.

Ava's picture of ebelskivers.

Ostrichland, Miniature Horses, & The Park

After a restless night in our first hotel room we woke up to a full day of fun. We went to Ostrichland USA, Quick Silver Miniature Horse Ranch, and then Sunny Fields Park.

Ostrichland USA
This is an ostrich ranch that raises and sells ostrich products. As a side business visitors can view and feed the ostriches. I thought it would be exciting for Ava, but she did not like it. The ostriches were pretty aggressive and you had to be careful not to get bit. You also had to hold tight to the feeding dish or they would rip it out of your hands. It was definitely an unique experience.

Check out the sign in this picture.

Ava turned away while Rich fed the ostriches and did not want to help.

Quick Silver Miniature Horse Ranch
I found this ranch while searching for things to do online. The ranch raises miniature horses to sell, but allows visitors to look around. It was a nice place with a lot of cute miniature horses. The only problem was Ava wanted to ride the horses and that was not allowed.I called this the "Luca" horse because it had the same coloring as our dog.

Sunny Fields Playgound
I also found this park while searching for things to do online. It is a beautiful park that is built like a castle. After being all day in the car the day before and knowing we had a big road trip the next day I thought it would be good for Ava to run around. This was the perfect place for it. She had a blast and the adults had fun too.

There's everybody at the top of the castle.
(minus me because I'm taking the picture)

Elephant Seals

The first day of our trip we traveled down 101 and stopped along the way. We enjoyed the beautiful seaside, but not the twisty roads. Our main stop for the day was the Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery (outside San Simeon). We made it there just in time as the sun was soon setting. As we approached the lookout in the car we could see what look like hundreds of logs on the beach. When we got out of the car and walked toward the lookout we could first smell the seals. From the lookout we could see hundreds of Elephant Seals lining the beach. It was amazing and something I've wanted to do for a long time. I was grateful for this opportunity to share this experience with my family.

This seals was scratching her back...and stretching.Blowing kisses to her adoring fans.

This seals was a little grumpy.

Here We Go!

The day after Thanksgiving we woke up early, packed our car, and headed to my brother's to start our vacation. We met my parents at my brother's because we were traveling together in their car. While my brother made us some pancakes (thanks Eric) we figured out how to pack the car with all of our stuff. It was a little tricky, but we managed to squeeze everything and everybody in.

After breakfast we loaded up and were on our way. We headed south and made a few stops along the way before getting to our main destination...DISNEYLAND!

Ava getting ready to eat her Mickey Mouse pancake.

Loaded and ready to go. Can you see how full the Yukon is? It was pack to the roof. It was crazy, but there were 4 adults and 1 toddler.

Thanksgiving Walk

We had a quiet and non-traditional Thanksgiving. Since we were leaving on vacation early the next morning we didn't have a big feast with leftovers. We just ate some spaghetti and then had dessert at our friends later that night. During the day we lounged around and finished packing. We also went on a walk and talked about being thankful for the beautiful creations God made for us.

Ava was determined to walk Luca on her own. It lasted for a short time before she passed him off.

Ava was happy to splash in the puddles we found along the trail.

She also enjoyed throwing rocks in the puddles. Rich loves to skip rocks and Ava tries to copy him, but she just makes big splashes.

Ava jumping in another puddle on the way home. We had to drag her out of the puddle because she was soaked and didn't want to go home. We did bribe her with hot chocolate too.