california 2012

jovi loved eeyore from the beginning. we stood in line to see him and winnie and tigger while all the brave ones went on splash mountain. eeyore let jovi love on him and kiss his nose and grab his fur while we waited in line.

jovi and her new bff. she even got to bring a stuffed version home.

shanea, jovi, tigger and me. tigger loved jovi too! i could not believe how much attention this baby got at disneyland!

mom fell on our way to disneyland and hurt her ankle pretty badly. luckily she and my dad both rented jazzy's. it was awesome because they got to ride and rest when they needed to, and we got to go to the front of the line quite a few times. we can't complain about that at all. my dad was a bit of a crazy driver and ran a few people (including me and some poor woman) over. he is still a truck driver at heart!

reese bought that little giraffe all by himself and has been attached to it ever since. I loved that he was holding her hand while he was asleep.

brad and me in tomorrowland

brixton and reese with the star troopers

  lauren and hallie

our second day we went to venice beach. that morning brad took my mom and dad to the emergency clinic to get her foot checked out. it wasn't broken, but it was majorly bruised and swollen. so we didn't get to the beach til late afternoon. reese and brixton had a blast in the water. brixton even got all dressed in his clothes and then jumped back in. luckily we had some pajamas he could wear. venice beach was totally interesting. there were some very diverse people there. i could have sat and watched them all day.

i know this picture is silly, but i kind of love it!

daddy and his girl

brad and kade

reese buried

the next day we went back to disneyland!

mr. incredible!

flexing those muscles!

reese loved pluto. he still has his baby pluto from our last trip and sleeps with it.

debbie, shanea and log in a bugs land

mikey, hallie, shanea, log, brad, jovi drew, half of debbie, me and reese's leg. 

while we were waiting in line to see mickey mouse reese told me he had to go potty and said he couldn't wait. i literally ran down the board walk with my double stroller looking for a bathroom, but by the time we got there he had peed everywhere... like a gallon. it was disgusting. luckily, being the prepared momma that i am (haha), i had an extra set up underwear and a sweatshirt. (don't mind that it was like 85 degrees or anything.) so that is what reese wore until brad came back from the roller coaster and took reese back to the hotel to get changed.

hallie, drew, snow white and log

that night we went to goofy's kitchen for dinner. it was seriously so much fun. it was a buffet and had kid friendly food and reese wolfed down a giant plate of spaghetti. i was so glad because he seriously just wanted to snack the whole time and refused to eat dinner and had thrown up twice in the middle of the night.

reese and chip

minnie, jovi and me

minnie was our favorite character. she came out a few times and was a major flirt with the boys. she also grabbed reese and made him the head of the conga line.

minnie came back one last time to say goodnight to jovi

we also met chef pluto

daddy doing a reese face

fairy god mother also paid us a visit

 

that night we went to world of color and both of my babies passed out. they were so tired. 

reese is a crazy driver just like mr. toad!

the next morning we got up early to go to magic morning. we did most of fantasy land before anyone else even got to the park. 

then we went to toon town and met mickey.

 

daddy and jovi in toon town

on our last day in the park we kind of took it a little easy. we went in and shopped for souvenirs. and then we all kind of did our own thing as individual families. we went to california adventure and took reese on the toy story mania ride. we bought reese mouse ears that he wore for about ten seconds. at the end of the day we all went to main street and sat together to watch the parade. it was a good end to an awesome vacation. 

this is the face he made when i told him to smile "normal". haha.

cali jovi

our family

this trip had some amazing moments. we came together as a family, a big family and our little family. we lived without wi-fi. we ate together and slept together and laughed a lot. 

there were also heart breaking moments. it saddens me so deeply that this will be kade and terra's last family vacation. to know that this chapter of their life is closing and that their family will never be repaired. divorce isn't just hard for the immediate family, it's hard for all of us. terra has been my sister for fifteen years and now things are changing. i hope they find happiness on their new trails of life. it makes my heart ache.

i also was very hurt by someone very dear to me on this trip. my niece, who i haven't seen in over a year moved to california just a few days before our vacation. we all begged her to come and see us, spend the day, meet jovi. she came, but she only came for about an hour, and that hour she made it very clear that she didn't want to be there. she said very hurtful things, she said she hated being there, she said she came only to see her brothers. she was mean, and she has written off this side of her family. and i am hurt, because i love her to the moon. i have defended her to the death, but now, i have seen a side of her that i didn't know was there, and i wish she wouldn't have come. so i could keep pretending that she cared about me like i have cared and loved her.

i love my family, they are the most important element in my life. sometimes i forget that, sometimes i get selfish, i want my own time, or i want something more. but on vacation i forget about money, i forget about eating healthy and school and messy houses. it is a much needed break for bonding and coming together and i am grateful that this time i was able to share it with so many people that are dear to me.