California Adventure

On the 2nd day of our "Disney trip" we went to California Adventures.  

Our kids had ZERO desire to ride California Screamin', or Tower of Terror...and that was fine with me :o)

We had all kinds of fun without the thrill rides.

Our first ride was Toy Story Mania, and it was one of our favorites.  

We met up with Grandma and Aunt Elizabeth and had a blast playing the virtual 3-D video game.

Here are the boys getting ready to draw in the Animation Academy.

 Dillon struggled to keep up with the artist who was teaching us to draw Goofy. 

He started to cry, and one of the staff ran right over and helped him catch up with his drawing.

I loved drawing goofy, and wished I had taken a few more art classes in high school/college.

We loved "Turtle Talk with Crush" so much that we went twice, and considered going a third time.  Brayden was chosen to ask Crush a question, and he asked him what the names of his children were...all 65 of them.  His answer was hilarious and ranged from Michealangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael to Zach, Kelly, Slater, Screech, and Lisa Turtle.   Crush gives the kids a "turtle name" when they ask a question, and he got "Biscuit Shreddin' Brayden". I didn't record our "show", but I found a good one on youtube that you can watch to see what it's like.  It is SUCH a fun attraction, and it's different every time since it depends on the questions that people ask.

 Justin loved the Sorcerer's Workshop because there were wheels for him to spin...

In Belle's library, I learned that the Disney character I'm most like is Cinderella.  I could've told you that. It brought back memories of all the manual labor I did as a child :o)  Or maybe it's because I would be the kind to lose my shoe...or have a crying fit over not having a dress for the ball.

Caleb took this picture of Todd and I.

14 years and goin' strong...

Another fun attraction was this little "Scout Camp" featuring Russell from the movie "Up".  

The kids got a pamphlet with 6 activities to pass off in order to earn a merit badge.  

(the pamphlet had scratch off circles which added to the fun)

They all rode the zipline at the same time.

In the "Brother Bear" cave, they matched their handprint to one in the cave to find out their "totem".  

I'm just surprised they weren't all skunks.

 Our very favorite ride at CA adventure was the Grizzly River Run.  This is a picture of our cousins at the bottom of the biggest waterfall.  The kids are still talking about this ride and can't wait to do it again.

We met up with the whole family to watch World of Color and it was spectacular.  

And I'll have to do a whole separate post on Radiator Springs...