it's a wrap!

For our final day of vacation, we headed back to Disneyland & California Adventure to wrap up any rides we hadn't gone on yet or wanted to do again. With the City Pass we had purchased, it included a 3 Day Hopper Pass to both theme parks. I think three days of Disneyland is quite a lot, especially when you don't have kids to slow you down, so we decided to sleep in and head that way a little later in the morning.

We didn't arrive until about 10:30, so we headed straight toward California Adventure since it had just opened a half hour earlier. There was only one ride we hadn't gone on yet, so we did that one first and then made a loop around the park catching a couple of rides we had already gone on our first time there. We rode Muholland Madness again, and Ryan got me to try out the MaliBOOMer! It's the one that sky rockets you into the air. I wouldn't do it the first time, but he talked me into it. Boy, did it make my stomach do some jumps! (And I found out that the shield was not for those unlucky ones who lost their lunch, but to drown out the screams.)

We also decided to endure the line and ride California Screamin' one more time. I have to say out of all the rides this one is my favorite! Who would have guessed?

Our last ride we attempted for the second time was the Hollywood Tower of Terror. I actually really liked this ride, too, which is surprising since I was resistant in the first place.

just a few more pictures from the sights of
Disneyland & California Adventure

We grabbed a bite to eat and then headed over to Disneyland and decided to relax a little and rode the train around the park. We felt like we had already done what we wanted to do at Disneyland, so we decided to do something that didn't take much of us having to stand in line and we got to sit back and just enjoy resting. We were exhausted after 6 days of running around!

After grabbing a few souvenirs for the kiddos, we decided to stake a place along the parade's route for one more time of the Disney Holiday Parade. We had already watched it on Tuesday, but my sweet friend Tenley was going to be in it this time, so we wanted to watch her. This time I decided to take some video so we could show the kids when we got home. I tried uploading a clip of Tenley looking so beautiful in the parade, but it is not working right now, so I'll have to play with it again later.

One of the only things we hadn't done at Disneyland was watch Fantasmic (a spectacular show at night), but it was only 4:00 and the show did not start until 9:00. We were exhausted, missing our kids, and tired of standing in line, rides, and lots of people, and just wanted to finish our vacation off with something low key, so we left the park for the last time.

On our way home, we decided to grab a bite to eat at California Pizza Kitchen (probably the nicest place we had eaten all week!) and called it our anniversary dinner (the 13th). The pizza was delicious and hit the spot. We ended the evening watching a movie, packing, and obviously I got in a little more blogging.

We are SO EXCITED to go home and see our little ones. We have missed them terribly (although I just realized today that I haven't changed a diaper in a week!) We have talked with Mikayla a few times and have heard grunts from Austin, which I know means I love you! I told Mikayla we had a surprise for her (we're bringing her back a souvenir) and she got so excited and said, "thank you mommy!" I can't wait to give my babies hugs and kisses! I'm ready to take back the roll of mom (I'm sure my mom is ready to hand it back over, too).