So, we survived vacation with three kids!

Despite our better judgement, we decided to get out of dodge for the weekend and head to our "home away from home" to Orange County. My best friend and her family live in Huntington Beach so we headed her way for a long weekend to see her kids and go to Disney.

Things I learned from this vacation:

1. Babies sleep better if you can shut them in the bathroom. 

2. When little boys pee in the ocean, the sand sticks to it which creates a pretty awful rash. 

3. You can never have enough snacks. 

4. A fearless five year old may be more afraid of Space Mountain than a two year old (yes, he is a 40" tall beast). "But what happens if I fall out mom?!"

The boys LOVE the beach. They always have, and hopefully they always will. I hope Leila learns to love the beach as much as they do. My niece, also had her first beach visit this trip. She is seriously the most adorable little toddler, we love her, even though she only loves us when we give her candy and chips (sorry, Mingy!)

We were so happy they were able to make the trip out with us! At one point, we were nearing our end at California Adventure because it closes two hours before Disney, so Berto was going to take one for the team and let Heather and I ride Tower of Terror, so we left, and a few minutes later Berto came running up, followed by Eric and Trevor.... Bryan and Veronica stayed with six kids while we all rode the ride! 

We ate at so many amazing places. That is one thing I love about vacation, not the same old food. Plus, Southern California has AMAZING eateries. 

Cousins

Yes, that is all SEVEN of them!

There is something about having friends that you are comfortable enough with to leave your children with them, roll into a beach bar with six adults and seven kids, and know that it is just normal. *You should have seen that servers face.... "Can we have a table for 13, six adults and seven kids..." I swear, every server scrambles elsewhere! Yes, we have a beer or two while we are on the beach with our children. We got home from a day at the beach and I started to do some laundry at Heather's house and I came out of their laundry room to see her bathing all of the boys in the tub. It is friends like that that make life complete. 

If you have ever met Aiden and Luke, you know they are FULL of energy. Like more than a lot of kids I know. If we do not make them go to bed at night, they will stay up like blazing balls of fire until the wee hours of the morning. Unless they are sick, they never have fallen asleep on the couch. They NEVER. STOP. GOING. 

One thing I noticed about California is how many people think having three kids is crazy. We got so many comments about the kids... "oh, you have your hands full!", "oh, wow, three kids!" I know so many families here than have three kids, and a decent amount of families who have four or more kids. I guess when you pay a ridiculous amount for housing, having three kids would be a little impossible. 

Seaweed scarf. He loves it. 

I got kind of sad on our walk home from Disney, I didn't take any pictures with my good camera. Veronica reminded me you have to live in the moment, because sometimes it is hard to do both, which is SO true. If you want to see those pictures, see my Instagram! We also were able to go on some of the "big kid" rides since both boys are over 40" and I feel like we didn't do a lot of the little kid rides. This makes me kind of sad because one day all they will want to do are the big rides and the little rides will become "stupid." Why do kids have to grow up so quickly?

First Disney trip!

We survived our first family vacation as a family of five! We hope you all have a wonderful week!