So our highly anticipated trip to SoCal has come and gone and it could not have gone any better. We all had so much fun! We hit the road on Tuesday and stayed the first night in Primm, Nevada. This was not such a magical place but it was good to stay and rest a while. The girls got up bright and early (still on Utah time) and so we decided to just be on our way. Since we knew we had some time on our hands we made a stop in Calico; a ghost town in the desert. The girls were a little nervous about actually seeing a ghost but had fun climbing up the hillside and learning how to duel in a showdown from their Daddy. Carly is just upset that she always has to be the one to play dead at the end!
The next day was Disneyland at last! The weather was perfect and actually a little hot at times. We did not have to wait in too many lines with the exception of getting princess and fairy signatures. (see below)
The girls were remarkably well behaved. I figured we would have to rent a stroller or wagon midday because they would get tired of walking but they just kept on going. By the time we would head back to the parking lot on the tram though, little Abbie was barely able to keep her eyes open. Abbie also impressed me because she was too short to ride a lot of things (especially at California Adventures) and she took it very well. It made Drew and I sad that we had to keep telling her she could not ride, especially since Carly and her cousin Mekenzie were big enough, but she would just say things like, "I know...if I was six I would like it." 
We got to see the Pixar Play parade the first night and Fantasmic the next night. This was by far the highlight of the trip for Carly. She absolutely loved the show and was so cute and excited about it. It was wonderful to see her all lit up like that because she seems to be growing up so fast and it really showed me that she is just a sweet little kid who still believes in magic and fairytales. It was truly the best possible way we could have ended our time at Disneyland.
Savannah was nothing short of an angel for the trip. She hardly cried at all in the car (even the 13+ hours on the way home) and did great just riding along in her stroller at Disneyland. We took her on as many of the rides that allows babies as possible since this meant that no one had to wait and we all got to ride together. In hindsight I wish I would have taken her out of the stroller and introduced her to one of the characters and at least gotten her picture with one. I guess it was all I could do when we spotted a character to get out the girls' autograph books, pens, and cameras before they closed the lines. Silly mom!Saturday was spent driving down to San Diego. We took a little side trip to the beach so that the girls could see the ocean. I figured we could just do a quick 10-minute stop and let them get their feet wet but I should have known better. They loved to jump the waves and of course ended up with wet pants. But Abbie took it a step further by falling over and getting completely drenched in sand and water from head to toe. Needless to say this required a quick wardrobe change before we headed to Sea World.
After spending two days in the Magic Kingdom, I'm afraid Sea World seemed a little plain. But the shows were fun and the girls all enjoyed seeing the animals so close. I must have been burned out on taking pictures because I have a total of two photos and they're both pretty bad. The photo below was taken at the dolphin show. Yes...it is just a splash of water because I was too slow to capture the actual dolphin itself. Whoops!
So we can't wait to go on such a vacation as this again. Thanks to Rachelle and Mekenzie for coming with us or letting us come with them, whichever the case. It was a lot of fun and something the girls will remember and talk about for a long time to come!
Halloween was pretty fun this year. Unfortunately we were not able to host a party this year (so don't hate us because you thought we forgot to invite you) because our house is too small and we are too poor. But Drew and Carly had the day off and so we had plenty of time to get ready, take some fabulous pictures, show off our costumes to Drew's mom, get dinner, and then hit the streets for some serious trick-or-treating. Drew and I switched off who was at home giving out candy and who took the girls out. It was nice. Not so rushed as years past since we didn't try to visit every relative or get lost trying to find a trunk-or-treat in West Point (last year...don't ask!)
Another development this month has been my discovery of digital scrapbooking. Where has this been all my life? It is fantastic! It takes every bit as long to create a page (at least for me) but you can download all sorts of paper, embellishments, stamps, etc. for free online and the best part...you can change your pages as many times as you like if you're not happy with the results. I also can't wait to print them off in a nicely bound book rather than finding room to store yet another 3-inch binder. So I don't answer the door or the phone when you try to contact me, you can bet that I'm parked in front of the computer and too engrossed to break free!