California Trip

We went to California March 24-29 for Sienna's baby blessing. Everybody on the Leet side was able to make it so it was so much fun to be able to all be together and in the same house at that. We left Thursday after school and spent the night at Connie's in Cedar City. I was looking forward to chatting with her but we didn't get there til late and we left early. I know she spent all day cleaning her house because it was immaculate. Lucy was so overly tired that she would not go to sleep and spent most of the night screaming bloody murder. Finally around 2 am Neil took her for a ride when she finally fell asleep. Connie was so gracious and got up and made us all pancakes before we left that morning. We stopped in Vegas to get lunch and since I had some coupons where you got a free salad with the purchase of a kids meal we stopped at McD's for a quick bite. I know what you're thinking you're in Vegas and you're not going to hit a buffet. One we were in a time crunch and two it's just not enjoyable with 4 kids. I'm so glad we stopped at the McD's we did because I was playing fooseball with Conner and all of a sudden I feel an arm around me. Thinking it was Neil I look up only to see Ronald McDonald. I totally screamed out loud. No way! I've never seen him in person before. Silly but he was more exciting to see than any characters at Disneyland. Poor Lucy didn't think he was that cool.

We finally arrived at Ryan's apartment and he just had to rile all the kids up. Hey that's what good uncles do.

Ryan got us a screaming deal on the house we stayed at. It had 5 bedrooms so all the adults had a bed and there were a ton of floor mats for all the kids. It was perfect.

The house we stayed at had a pool and even though the water was a little cold there was no keeping the kids out of it.

Everyone wanted to hold little Sienna especially since she was the whole reason we all got together.

Luvin' on Sienna

On Saturday Ryan arranged for us to go on an hour long boat ride. Since we had so many people we had to go in two boats.

Nana and Poppa with their best friend Kelly making their way to the boat.

The first boat takes off

Presley accidentally dropped a Barbie in the water and so a rescue boat was sent out to save the girl overboard.

We had the party boat. Heather had made a cd with bunch of the Leet's favorite songs that we jammed to. Mikey loved to lean over the side of the boat and put his hands in the water. I'm surprised he never fell in.

Aye, Aye captain

At the pier there were a bunch of carnival rides and the kids just had to ride a few.

Sam was too scared to do the bungee jump but really wanted to ride the ferris wheel so super aunt Kelly and Gavin rode it with him.

Mikey went and picked some flowers (oops) and gave them to Nana. Mikey definitely knows how to work it with the ladies.

There was a bungee trampoline that Mitch, Gavin, Conner and Jaxson wanted to ride. There was only time for Mitch and Gavin to ride it before we had to catch our boat so Nana promised Conner he could ride it when we were done with the boat. When we got off the boat there was a line of 8 kids or more and we ended up waiting about an hour for his turn. Even though we all wanted to go Nana refused and waited in line with Conner and made sure he got his turn. He absolutely loved it. He is all about the thrills. He had the biggest smile on his face for the next hour.

The proud Dad and Mom with baby Sienna. I love how Ryan wore a pink tie and Heather a pink shirt in honor of their baby girl.

The Leet and Willardson clan. I promise Neil is not the same height as 9 year old Gavin. Look at his knees. They are bent so he wasn't blocking anyone.

During the luncheon after the blessings all the kids sat around Gavin to watch him play his DS. Since my kids don't have any video games they are completely enthralled.

The Leet Siblings

The Leet Girls

Ever since we found out Ryan and Heather were having baby Sienna we decided we would take the kids to Disneyland since we'd already be so close so we began saving. It was nice because every time the boys wanted something unnecessary I'd tell them sorry boys we can't because we're saving to go to California and they never fussed. I checked out several books from the library on Disneyland and we had our planned mapped out. We decided to go on Monday so bought our tickets online so we wouldn't have to stand in line but Ryan's printer had issues and ended up having to go to kinkos to print them. We were now an hour behind schedule and we were a little upset but were determined not to let it ruin our day. We definitely started our day at the park right by first going to the Jedi Academy. I really wanted the boys to be picked to fight Darth Vader and Darth Maul. I spent many hours researching how to get picked. I read on blogs that the way to get picked is to make signs so Neil stayed up the night before making these signs.

You also needed to wear bright colors and act crazy and be in the front. We got there 30 minutes before the show to stake out our spot in the front. The jedi came and talked to us before the show and when it was time to pick the padawans our three boys were some of the first 3 picked but Mikey was too scared so he stayed with me to watch the show. Darth Maul was pretty scary. Since we were in the very front he would walk right in front of us and stare you down. I couldn't look him in the eye. He seriously gave me the chills.

Sam waiting for his training to begin

Conner waiting for his training to begin

Conner fighting Darth Vader. The show was great and it totally made my trip to Disneyland worth it! The rest of the day was perfect. The weather was great: a little overcast and not too hot or cold. The crowds weren't bad. By using fast passes and the baby swap we usually only had to wait in line 15 minutes or less except for Dumbo which was a 45 minute wait. Our first ride was the Matterhorn and we didn't tell Mikey what he'd be riding which wasn't a good choice because it scared him to death and he didn't want to ride much of anything after that.

Mikey and daddy on the train while Sam, Conner and I went on the Matterhorn again.

My worst fear was to lose one of the boys while at Disneyland so I had everyone wear orange. I loved it. We were so easy to spot and the workers kept calling us the orange family.

Crazy lunatics, lock em up.

Before going to Disneyland I told the boys we'd have to walk a lot so they needed to build up their endurance so they would get on the treadmill and see how far they could walk. I think it helped but their feet still got tired.

Sam and Mikey fell asleep during the fireworks. They were so tired. There wasn't room for Conner in the stroller so he reluctantly had to walk back to the car. I'm glad we went but I don't think we'll go back for a long time. A lot of my friends just say how magical it is and we didn't experience that at all. I think part of it is is because we have boys and they aren't really into all the characters and princesses. They just wanted to ride rides and really wanted thrill rides and there aren't much of those. It was still fun however. In a couple years when Lucy is old enough I think it will be more magical then. A funny moment was as we were waiting in line for Peter Pan Malificent walked by and Neil yelled out my wife is the fairest one of all. She heard that and turned around and walked up to us and looked at me and said I think you need to get your eyes checked. I'm definitely the fairest one of all. Ouch. Good thing I have plenty of self esteem.
Before heading home we had to get a picture of all the Leet grandkids.