Memorial Day Weekend 2018: DISNEYLAND!

After our fun Spring Break trip visiting Sequoia & Yosemite, we decided we wanted to make one more trip visiting some new-to-us national parks before bidding adieu to the Southwest. But since this trip was kind of last-minute in nature, accommodations were hard to come by + the itinerary we had in mind was going to be a lot of driving. So we decided to scrap the national park trip & have one final hoorah at Disneyland instead!

Disneyland was completely Derek's idea, and I initially nixed the idea b/c we'd just done a Disney trip four months prior over MLK Jr. Weekend in January. But ultimately, we decided to go! We'll probably never live this close to Disney again {at least not for quite some time!}, and we don't think we'll be taking any Disney trips for at least another 2 years...and by that point, Disney will look very different for us! This could potentially be our last Disney trip sticking to the kiddie areas and excitedly waiting in line to greet princesses. Disney is always magical no matter how old you are, but it'll be a different kind of magical as our children get older. I'm so glad we got to experience the magic of Disney one more time at this stage of our kids' lives!

These first couple of pictures of Shelby & me were taken from the car on Autopia, which was one of the girls' favorite rides this trip along with the Ariel ride, Toy Story Mid Way Mania, Buzz Lightyear AstroBlasters, and riding the train. Shelby used to like rollercoasters, but now she prefers the more low-key rides which works out well b/c that's more Hadley's speed, too! And as an added bonus, Brady can tag along on those rides, too!

Two things I love about this next photo--we're trying to show Brady how to spin our teacup, but he wasn't having it! And secondly, Hadley's sweet little hands that are always sporting her jewels!

And just for grins, here's a picture of Shelby in the exact same shirt on the same ride at Disney World in 2014. {For comparison's sake, Hadley is currently 5 and Shelby was 3.5 in the picture below.}

Jungle Cruise was one of Brady's favorite attractions at Disneyland! He is pointing out animals in the picture below to Dada. :)

 

I'm so glad we got to see a parade on this trip! When we visited Disneyland back in January, there was a lot of construction going on since it was the off-season & there weren't any parades. Watching parades & eating Disney treats is one of my favorite Disney traditions!

 

We made a pitstop for bathroom breaks, and then these three crazies started playing on a random curb near a back door where cast members went in & out of. They were having the time of their lives jumping on and off the curb. Derek kept laughing that we brought them all the way to Disneyland when all they needed was a curb!

We decided to ride the train around Disneyland really more as a time killer than anything while we were waiting for the fireworks, but this ended up being one of the kids' very favorite things we did!

This next picture of Brady sitting in Shelby's lap was taken during the Disney Junior Dance Party Show. Brady only lasted a few minutes in Shelby's lap, but it sure was cute while it lasted! This is another one of those things that I don't know if the girls will be into in a couple more years, but they both had a BLAST at the show this time around!

 

 

I took this picture as we started the drive home yesterday afternoon, the girls were just giggling and having the best time together in the car. Of course this didn't last the entire drive, but it did last about an hour which totally surprised us! And, the sound of their sweet & silly giggles was just music to our ears!

We had the best time kicking off our summer at Disneyland! But of course there is no tired like Disney tired!!! The first day we were at Disneyland we were there from the park opening at 9am until after the fireworks show at 9:30pm!! Needless to say, we were all so happy to get back home last night & have a low-key day at home today!

Last Day of School 2018

Today we celebrated the last day of school for these two cuties!! Hard to believe we'll have a 2nd grader & a Kindergartener in the Fall...how is this happening?!?!? I always love a first/last day school pic in front of the door b/c you can see how much they've grown so clearly with respect to the door.

This last collage totally gets me b/c in the fall Brady was still such a little thing, and the thought of him posing for the camera with his sisters wasn't even remotely possible. Fast forward to the end of the school year, and he was throwing an all-out fit b/c I wouldn't let him get in the girls' individual pictures. Being a little brother is a tough gig sometimes! ;)  In August, he was still a full-fledged baby..now he lines up with his sisters for pictures and says "cheese" like he's been doing it his whole life. Seriously, what is happening?!?!

A few other shots from our day for good measure...starting with a sleepyhead. All of our kids are fairly early risers, but I actually had to wake this girl up this morning...which barely ever happens. I think yesterday's Field Day must have worn her out!

In the above picture, Shelby is posing with her school's mascot, which is decked out in a Vegas Golden Knights shirt . The entire city of Las Vegas is straight-up Golden Knights obsessed. In case you haven't heard, it's the inaugural year of the hockey team in our city and we've made it to the Stanley Cup finals. Shelby's school actually won a "Knight Up" contest a few weeks ago, and the students were all encouraged to wear their black & gold in honor of the Knights for their last day of school.

Go Knights Go! from Erin McCarty on Vimeo.

The girls' last day of school was just a half-day, and Shelby's class had a little superlative award ceremony first thing in the morning so Brady and I went to that. Bringing a toddler to these events is always is always dicey at best, thankfully my friend Jessica was there and Brady was content in her arms for a good fifteen minutes! For a baby who has always been so attached to Mama & Daddy, he never hesitates to go to Mrs. Jessica!

Shelby's teachers always go all out for everything. The school had already put on an "official" first grade award ceremony last week, but they had to do their own in-class ceremony as well! As you can tell from the picture below, it was a red carpet event! Shelby was awarded the Albert Einstein award for being the smartest person in the room, and her teachers told stories of how Shelby has even had to correct them from time to time!

To kick off our summer, I took the girls to Menchie's and then we came home to swim! It was a perfect way to close out the school year! Brady has come a long way in the water over the past month!!

Bring on summer!!!