The Great Bradley Adventure part 2- Disneyland!!!!!

Thirty years ago my parents took the "wrong" way home from Las Vegas, as I cried they presented me with two options- we could find the right way to go home or we could continue on to Disneyland. I was pretty shook up, I had a church program I was very keen on participating in, but they talked me into it and I soon found my happiest place on earth. I have been back many times in the thirty years since. Honestly, I have lost count the times I have visited. It is truly my happy spot (honestly, I envisioned it as my "happy place" during labor). 

My first visit was during their 30th anniversary celebration and I have returned for the 35th, 40th, 45th, 50th, and 55th parties. As a side note the 40th was my favorite, I can still sing you the theme song from that year.  So there was no question on if we would be at the 60th anniversary party...well there was one question-we call her Abby. 

Every girl knows no outfit is complete without a pair of mouse ears!                                                                                         

See plans were to bring an older baby with us to Disneyland, alas plans don't work out the way that you want them and so we were off to Disneyland with a 4 month old baby and I was pretty sure we were crazy. But as Christian pointed out before we left, the worst thing that happens is we get half days in Disneyland. I have to admit if that was my worst day I could live with that. 

We didn't have anything to worry about, this little girl was a ray of sunshine. She was happy and charmed cast member, line waiters, and characters alike. She also lost a fair number of socks and was known to be wearing mismatched ones or ones we had purchased. We did have some crying bouts, usually when she was tired, but really we just ended up with a happy baby who would nap in her stroller and go through two to three outfits a day! 

As a Bellamy we have many traditions, there are traditions about everything, even what ride you go on first. See there is an order, you fast pass Indy, ride Pirates, ride Haunted Mansion, ride Splash Mountain (and Winnie the Pooh if you're not tall enough for Splash) and then it is time for your Indy fast pass. It is a tried and true system, you don't mess with it. 

The kids (and mom) loved these. They were good sports to stop and smile for a quick picture

Disneyland is the once place I allow it to be Christmas before Thanksgiving. I mean when you see 70 year old men walking around in mouse ears and a grandma being pushed in a sit and stand stroller with her toddler grandchild (I really wish I had taken a picture of that one) then obviously time is wibbly wobbly, if you catch my drift. It also meant we got to see Santa.

Matt also appeared in another family's photo-he was very excited to see Santa

We enjoyed some of the Mickey Mouse beignets
and most of us needed a shower after.  

No trip to Disney is complete without a castle picture.

We just happened to be there with the launch of Seasons of the Force. Tomorrowland went all Star Wars. It was perfect for our little geeky family.

Space Mountain was rethemed, with Star Wars, tears
of joy might have been shed by at least one of us. 

MICKEY!!!!! 

We love Disneyland treats, there are Dole Whips, cream cheese pretzels, Mickey Mouse chocolate chip cookies, and now we have added a new one....Caramel Apples.

Matt ate the ears, and the jelly beans. I am pretty sure that mom ate the rest

Day two found us in California Adventure. While dad took the older kids on rides (Matt came in an inch too short for most of them- he even measured himself everyday to see if he had grown), Matt and I went on adventures. 

Matt and Abby got to sit on this Santa's lap

And then we got to see Olaf- Matt gave him a big warm hug,

They had some artificial snow where Matt had a great time making a tiny snowman and he tried to make a snow angel. He has been waiting for snow all year and sure enough Disneyland provided. 

Nothing like the first fake snowfall

We love Car's Land. It is just straight out of the movies!

Our one rule in Disneyland is you need to ride every ride you are tall enough for, this of course meant James had his first ride on California Screamin'. He was super nervous and I told him just to hold my hand and squeeze when he was nervous. He was did hold on tight. His glasses also fell off when we went upside down, at least they landed in and stayed in the car. He ended up enjoying it, but wouldn't go again without a parent. 

All three have been fearful to ride this ride. They all love it though now. 

We finished out our night seeing World of Color- where we heard the song 'Let it Go' performed for the 4th time in two days.

Day three started out in California again and a few pictures in front of the Christmas tree

Oh my goodness, they are cute. Just saying. 

Then they found James' new favorite ride

Abby really was a champion napper. 

She is ready with her big hat for the next season of Downton Abby

We also spent some time at Marvel HQ where we saw many things, including....

every Iron man costume ever

This is my favorite moment. Matt loves Spider-Man. He has Spidey shoes, Spidey jacket, and now Spidey Mickey ears. Spiderman spent a good five minutes with him chatting and showing him how to shoot webs. Upon leaving Matt decided that he wanted to be a Superhero when he grows up.  

Okay so I realize that this is going to be two posts....so part two of Disneyland is coming your way soon!

The Great Bradley Adventure-Road Trip and Beach

Road trips, Christian and I both have fond memories of road tripping with our families while growing up and we were excited to share that with our kids. So we packed up the mini van and took off to California. Now we were a tad worried taking a 4 month old but other than some crying spells she was a champion car traveler and she slept like a log in a hotel room with all of her siblings and parents. It was so much fun and the kids enjoyed the drive and listening to Fablehaven #5 (one day we will finish that series). 

Matt found our throw up bucket and thought it was funny to put his face in it. Later on he was looking for the "hat" (lid) so he could wear that too. 

One of the best things about road tripping is stopping at fun tourist attractions. The bad thing...paying $4.99 a gallon in gas because it is the only gas available. 

We stopped and got some Alien Jerky at an "alien viewing" sight.
They were also trying to raise funds to build a hotel...

Matt made a new friend

Stopping at the world's largest thermometer! Awesome. 

 We only had two hours to drive the next morning and decided to visit the Newport Temple. The grounds were closed but we did take a couple of pictures. We also discovered an awesome echo point that we all had to try.

We went to Newport Beach after, Matt had been asking for months to visit the beach and see the ocean. So we spent a few hours at the beach. Matt was a little hesitant at first, he wasn't a big fan of the sand, but it only took a little bit to make him a beach bum. He didn't even cry when a wave knocked him over.

I didn't even have to pay for the birds and old surfer in the back,
 thanks for being obliging California. 

"Mom, what if we lived in California? That would be the best thing in the world."
Some times I think the same thing. 

Abby seemed to enjoy the sand

right up to the point the water touched her skin

Side note, this little girl is turning into a beautiful young woman

This one too. 

We ended our visit to the beach with a fish and lobster lunch (yup, even Matt and I were adventurous) and a visit to Poppa's favorite doughnut shop.

We left the beach just in time as a storm rolled in. We made it to our hotel and after showers we went to dinner at Downtown Disney. 

When we vacation in Disneyland we eat family style. It saves us a bit of money as we can never determine how much each kid will eat and we get sample quite a bit. We did quite enjoy the pizza we had that night.

Biggest Pizza ever makes James happy. 

 Matt was impressed with the balloon artist. He requested a Spider-Man that became his bestest bud all week long. There were some tears shed the moment when Spidey fell apart due to lack of air at the end of the week.

So that is part one of our great Bradley Adventure. Coming soon- Disneyland!!!

Abby-four months

The past four months have just flown by, I barely remember the sleepless evenings now that I am getting full night sleep most days. Abby is a happy child, just a sunny personality and all smiles. She is such a blessing in our lives and in our family. She has started to giggle and now all the kids (and mom and dad) try and see who can coax the little giggle out of her. She is a joy!

I love how much he loves his little sister 

All dressed up and ready for church

Happy Halloween from Super Girl

Abby was blessed on November 1st. She wore the blessing gown I wore-36 years ago. It has held up pretty well. 

Abby on her blessing day

I am so grateful that my Nan is around to met Abby. Abby is lucky enough to have two great grandparents alive right now

Great Grandpa Bradley is the other great-grandparent. He is a wonderful man who just loves his family

Grinning Ghosts Come Out to Socialize!

As a kid I remember that Halloween really was one day. You wore your costume for the school party and then later for trick-or-treating. If you were lucky there might be another party that you could wear your costume for but that was only if you were super lucky.  It seems my kids are wearing their costumes to many things during the month of October, I really like that, I think it is a lot more fun. 

Red Riding Hood, Katniss Everdeen, Supergirl, Ninja, and Spiderman

My kids started planning their costumes way back in August, I think that is when I bought Matt's (Thanks Prime Day, you may have sucked for everyone else but I got an awesome Spidey costume out of it-oh and diaper wipes) and the other kids poured through catalogs their mom had sent to pick the right one. So come October 1st we were ready.

Our first celebration was with Matt's preschool. Because his teacher was going to be gone over Halloween he celebrated a week early- it was awesome. 

I loved the abundance of super heroes...gotta love 4 year olds. 

Then a week before we had our traditional Bradley Family Spooky food party. There was so much delicious food- it was incredible. Plus the kids had a lot of fun. 

I love the kids with all of their cousins. So many friends, it is great.  

Abby was a pretty good sport, I think she enjoyed the attention. 

I went back and forth and got opinions on Abby's costume this year. We ended up with Supergirl but those who voted for Wonder Woman, fear no. That costume is currently in her closet waiting to be pulled out for Comic Con this spring. Yes, I do realize that my children have absolutely no chance.

We did the ward Trunk or treat the week before Halloween. The kids had fun getting a ton of candy and playing with friends.

Have I mentioned the little kids and super hero thing? 

So we were procrastinating parents this year. We bought our pumpkins on Halloween (we tried to grow them but due to a variety of circumstances we did not get one pumpkin this year), we had to go to two different stores to actually find pumpkins to carve and we were picking the bottom of the barrel there. Lesson learned.

Laine got her pumpkin cleaned out and ready to go before everyone else. 

Matt cleaned out most of his pumpkin on his own. Just a little help from parents.

Eve had a great design but quickly learned that you need more than a sliver of pumpkin between the Jack-o-Lantern's nose and mouth. 

James picked a pumpkin that had trouble standing up (bottom of the barrel, remember?). So he got creative and carved it on it's side. 

After pumpkins were carved we went and trick-or-treated the many grandparents. The kids love it

Trick or treat!!!

..I think the grandparents do too.

Hello, we're here on a top secret mission to collect all the world's candy. 

We finished out our Halloween celebrations with a party with some of our Bellamy family, topped off with Trick-or-Treating with cousins

Even Grammy and Poppa got in on the the fun.

So happy Halloween from my little goblins and ghouls...and thanks for the sweet treats!