Disneyland!

On Friday after fighting what seemed like hours of rush hour traffic through Los Angeles we finally made it to Disneyland.




I have to say I was a little dissapointed by the castle. It was beautiful, but not as big as I thought it would be.





Jayce was so hungry. He saw this cinnamon stick and had to have it. He ate the whole thing and wouldn't even share with me :)

Jayce loved Mickey's house. We only had about 15 minutes until Toon Town closed, so we didn't have to wait in line at all, even to see Micky!






Jayce was pretty impressed with Minnie's house as well. He loved her kitchen because you could push buttons and her appliances would really work. The dishwasher washed the dishes, the stove baked a birthday cake, and the refrigerator did something, but we couldn't ever get over to look at it because this Russian family kept hogging it and kept speaking Russian (sorry about that slip, I wasn't frustrated with the lack of American, English speaking families or anything!) :)

Look out! It's Cher's house :)

We even got the celebrity tour thanks to Jo. On our way through Malibu, we saw Cher's house, seen below. We also saw Mel Gibson's house, but Jo was driving too fast and I couldn't get a picture. We saw the beach were the dreamy Matthew McConaughey runs shirtless, And finally, we saw the Starbucks that Britney Spears' visits often. How exciting :)

The Beach

Okay, so I lied. I didn't get to post everyday. It was a very crazy and busy week. Here are some pics of the beach in Ventura, California. Jared's sister Jo lives in Ventura, which is where we began our vacation. Ventura is beautiful with lots of character. This was Jayce's first trip to the beach. He wanted to play in the water so bad, but it was just too cold :( We did find him some beach toys at Big Lots, so he had a ton of fun building sand castles and fish (see pic below) with help from Aunt Jo. We had such a great time and I can't wait to go back.

Sunny California, The Beginning

Wow, I couldn't believe it's been a month since I've blogged. I've had lots of pictures just not enough time or patience to get them posted. I am going to start with our trip to California over Easter Break. Jayce, Meemaw Barb, and I decided to go on vacation to California to visit Jared's sister, Aunt Jo. I have never been to California before, so I was very excited. Our four day vacation was jam-packed with lots of sight-seeing, celebrity houses, and Disneyland. Here is just the beginning. Stay tuned and I promise I will try to post daily until I get all the vacation pictures uploaded.


Waiting patiently to get on our plane and start our big trip.



We are about to board our little plane to fly to Denver. I had never had to walk outside to board a plane before. It was so small that we couldn't even carry on our carry-on bags.




Here we are on the plane leaving Springfield heading toward Denver. Jayce was very excited.



After arriving in L.A. we had to make a quick stop at the closest In and Out. I had never eaten at one before and couldn't believe that your only choices on the menu was either a hamburger or french fries. Two food items that's it. Crazy, but also very addicting :)



Jayce kept calling these Pine Trees.

The Big One

Jayce caught his very own "Monster Fish" today. He was so excited because he did it all by himself. Him and Jared went down to the dock to see if anything was biting and Jayce put his pole in and got a bite right off. Jared saw his bobber go down and told him to reel it in. He was so excited and said, "My mom is going to be so proud!" He came back to the house to tell me and then we had to go back down and take a picture of it.


Jayce was not liking his slimy hands after holding the fish, so Daddy let him wipe his hands on his pants.


Meemaw Barb, Aunt Jo, and Great Uncle Mike stopped by to see what we were up to. Aunt Jo wanted to fish and even caught a "Monster Fish" too (just not as big as Jayce's). You would think it was about 30 degrees by the way she is all bundled up, but it was really in the 50's. I think she's been spoiled by the beautiful California weather :) Great Uncle Mike came to visit from Georgia for the funeral. He's never met the boys before, but I'm pretty sure he's hooked. We had a great time fishing and it made me anxious for summer, so we can get the boat out on the water.

Busy Beavers!

Since today was such a beautiful day, we decided to go for a ride in the mule down to the lake. There is a little valley area where the water level is down, so we were able to go treasure hunting where normally there is lots of water. What an adventure we had!



Daddy spotted a horse tree across the lake on the hill, so we climbed up the big hill to this ginormous horse tree. This horse tree was so big that it made Grandma and Grandpa Long's horse tree look like a miniature pony.



We spotted clues that a beaver might be close by. We saw logs that he had chewed in half, a tree he had cut down with his big chompers, and the home he has built for his beaver family. Jayce thought it was so cool, to look for pieces of wood that the beaver had chomped on.

Daddy spotted a dead frog in the spring that feeds into the lake. Jayce wanted us to move it closer so he could see it better. He was very curious and wanted to know how he had died. Jared said that maybe a raccoon had got ahold of him :) Jayce got so mad and said "Yeah, I bet that mean raccoon got him!"

Jayce spotted a big tire that normally sits at the bottom of the lake. I wonder if it's a summer home for a fishy family.


We saw this old wall that had been built some time ago. The gravel had buried most of it, but it had to have been about 100 feet long. The wall is covered by the lake when the water is up, so it's interesting to think what it could have been used for?

Jayce was so proud of the shell he had found.

On the way back to the mule, Jordy kept saying "cheese" until I finally took a picture of him :) Goofball.