Vegas

All in all, we had a wonderful couple of weeks. The kids were so well behaved and at the right age to really enjoy everything! We certainly have some great memories.

Tigers in the MGM Grand's Casino....

We took a trip out to the 'old Vegas Strip' one day to have a look around. This was the Golden Nugget hotel which has a slide going through a fish tank! Not sure I would be so keen on trying that slide out! Kids were though.

The Venetian was another amazing hotel! A canal in the middle of a hotel!

What better way to drink a beer than out of a cowboy boot!

Gilly's was one of our favorite places to eat....or rather Davey's favorite places to eat! A country and western bar and restaurant, right up David's alley.

We managed to get a quick (super quick) shot of Chey sitting on this bar stool which was a saddle! One for daddy who also, is a cowboy at heart!

Planet Holywood had this fantastic rain fall in the middle of the walkway. On the hour and every half hour, this pond filled up with water and it sounded like a rain storm was taking place.

Located in the MGM Grand was a restaurant called "The Rain Forest Cafe" where we dinned for breakfast one morning. This cafe was amazing, with real water falls around the bar and wild animals everywhere complete with real animal noises and nature calls. The ceiling even changed from day to night with the animals becoming louder at night time. Fantastic!

We loved walking the strip and visiting all the hotels. Amazing creativity!

Another hightlight...M&M store, all 4 levels of M&M's.....Mmmmmmm

We stayed at the MGM Grand Signature Hotel, but the best pool to swim in, was the MGM Grands. So whenever we got a chance, we walked over to the MGM for a swim in their rapid pool. The kids loved it and so did the adults. You could hire these tubes for $20 a day, but we did what the poor people do and wait until someone leaves the pool and offers theirs to us! Worked everytime and saved us a fortune!

On the way home, Davey and I got front seats - view was amazing

The highlight of Vegas was definitely flying over the Grand Canyon. We decided to leave the kids with a babysitter as they were not really interested and for the money, it wasn't worth taking them. Was a nice break for us adults.

The kids thought they were royality and demanded everytime we left the hotel that we get a limo!

Vegas was all we imagined it to be and more! We drove from LA to Vegas in style; with 4 adults, 7 kids and more luggage than you could poke a stick at, it was cheaper to hire a limo than it would have been to fly and pay for each piece of luggage as we were informed we would have to do.

California Land

With day 1 at Disneyland down, we still had a day to tackle California Land, located next door to Disneyland. California land was fantastic, I would even go as far as to say, I think I liked it just a little bit more than Disneyland or though it does pain me to say that :)

here are a few pics of our day:

First port of call was the High School Musical parade

Once again, Chey was picked out of the crowd to get up and dance with the High School Musical parade, not only once....but twice! See photo above, Chey in the yellow t-shirt. (above)

Water Rapids...we all got wet on this one, but has to be one of the best rides!

Poppy flew into LA this Friday morning and arrived in Anaheim just as we were about to walk out the door to get to California Land. He decided to come along for a couple of hours before he dropped from Jet lag. As you can probably tell from the photo...he is a little tired! The kids enjoyed having him with them for a short time though!

Check out the big wheel in the background of the picture below. Kell, Breyton, Cai, Poppy & I decided to go for a ride. I am not great at these sorts of rides, I get motion sickness (so does Chey; she decided to watch from the sideline...I should have done the same!). I didn't realise until we were almost in the wheel that there were two different ones...one that swings and one that just goes around slowly....guess which one we were on!

The Pixar parade was nothing on the Disneyland parade, but still alot of fun

After the Pixar parade, we made out way back to the hotel room to wake up a sleepy Poppy and have a quick swim in the pool (by this stage, the weather had really heated up during the day - nights were still cold though), then it was back to Disneyland for the night time events.

Disneyland closed at midnight, but we only made it to 10.30pm. When we booked the trip, I was certain 2 days was going to be more than enough time and I would be all theme parked out! Although I was a little theme parked out, I could really have done with another day at both parks to do all the things we missed....and we did miss alot! Especially at California land. All in all, we went to bed happier for having experienced the magical world of Disney!

Where Dreams are Made.....

Disneyland really is the place dreams are made and finally after 30 years, one of my childhood dreams were realised along with Chey's. We arrived at Disneyland!

The ride from LA to Anaheim was one filled with excitment and laughter. We were finally on our way to the highlight of the trip....for both children and adults included!

A little excessive, but certainly added to the fun of the trip (and the fact that we hardly ever do anything terribly excessive, was a good enough reason to 'go a little crazy' this time as really, this was a one off trip and we wanted to make the most of it), was staying in a Disneyland resort called the "Disneyland Pier Resort".

Here is Chey standing in our room....to be honest, for the amount we paid, it is nothing flash and

I didn't rate the beds (our hotel in LA was definitely a better deal) but we were close to Disneyland, which meant we could come and go from the park as we pleased (not that we rarely left the park for 2 days other than for dinner at night time) and it was a nice feeling to be able to be able to 'stay in Disneyland'.

Here is Chey with Pluto located in the lobby of our hotel.

Waking up early Thursday morning, we made our way to Disneyland for our first fun fill day and we were not disappointed! It was definitely a day to remember and I feel blessed to have been able to fulfill my dream and Cheyenne's.

Here is a snap shot of the days events :

Every little girl dreams of living in a castle like this! The fireworks at night which are displayed above the castle were just amazing and the perfect way to end a day at Disneyland.

When we checked in at our hotel the day before, we were given a bag which said "1st Time at Disneyland" and were told to wear them to the park. All day we saw people wearing these badges and others that said "it's my birthday" or "Celebrating an Anniversary" etc etc. We wondered if there was any reason behind wearing these and Chey did manage to ask a stranger if they received anything special for wearing the '1st time at Disneyland' badge but was told no. However as we discovered at the end of the day, there is a good reason for wearing these badges....

While lining up for the parade that happens at 5pm each night we struggled to find a spot where we could see (being 1st timers, we didn't know to get a spot on the main street early!!). Chey & Breyton managed to work there way in right up the front so they could see the parade first hand, Kell, Cai & I however, had to make do with standing on a park bench and dodging the sun and people who were taller than us.

We were happily clapping along to the music and trying desperately to take a decent photo of the characters when Cai suddenly yells out..."Look Fi, Chey is up with the parade"!! Sure enough, we look over and Chey was being danced around with one of the dancers and having a fantastic time. I was chuffed! See below, dodgy picture, but the best I could get from my perch. (see if you can spot Chey...she is the one in the white t-shirt with the micky mouse ears just in front of the lady in the red) Unfortunately, the photos I got of Chey up with the parade were all a little dodgy due to how far away we were from them and the sun was in the wrong place!

I had just put my camera away and was looking down the stree to see what was happening further down in the parade when Cai yells out again...Look Chey is up AGAIN! This time she is dancing with Mini Mouse! After the parade finished I quizzed Chey on her brush with fame and she tells me that the first time she was picked out, was because she was wearing the 1st time badge, the second time, she was hand picked by mini mouse because she was wearing her mini mouse t-shirt that her Aunty Kell had given her for Christmas (she had saved it until this day to wear!!). She too was chuffed.

After the parade, we made our way back to the hotel to have dinner and freshen up before heading back for the night time fireworks. What better way to end the day than dinner in Goofey's restaurant making your own Mickey Mouse pizza