Our start of our vacation got off to a bad start months before we actually left when previous booked flight times changed which made me find new ones that i thought would work but ended up being just as bad. I had originally planned for us to leave at midnight and arrive to Disney World around 8am, but what after all the rebookings we left LA at 9:00pm and landed in Orlando at 4:30am and arrived at our hotel just after 5:00am. We now had hours to kill before the parks opened up and with little to no sleep for everyone it wasn’t a very pleasant start to our day.…

Last summer while planning for our 10 Year Wedding anniversary we were deciding between going back to Hawaii or finally going to Disney World. After much debate and planning we decided to take our first trip to Disney World, and i was off to the races. I’ve been listening to the Mouse Chat Podcast for a few years now and knew the basic ins and outs of what to do and not to do but actually putting everything into motion was still exciting.

Monday we made use of our rental car to be tourist around San Francisco. 

Sunday we planned a day in Napa Valley/Sonoma to do a little drinking and eating.

Joy was beginning her new Tuesday thru Saturday schedule so we decided to take advantage of a free three day weekend by taking a trip up to the East Bay. The trip didn’t start off so well again, this time because the day before our trip our van’s passenger window motor broke and did not want to roll up, but thankfully my parents let me borrow their van to take to the airport.

Wow, its been over a month since we went to Hawaii. Pretty much what you expect from a trip, so i’m just going to go quickly over everything.

Dennis the Menace Park Saturday morning before we said our goodbyes we stopped by the Dennis the Menace park which is filled with big slides, jungle gyms and of course swings. It was a fun trip up the coast, and just the right amount of time off before Joy starts her new job.

Monterey Aquarium Friday morning we packed up the car and headed to the Monterey Aquarium. It was an exciting day for everyone where we got to see the Penguins being fed in real life vs. watching it on their webcam. The coolest exhibit was the cuttlefish tank which i don’t think i’ve ever seen in real life. They’re super cute for being such funny looking creatures. He had lunch next door at Johnny Rockets for some burgers and fries. It was a good afternoon looking at all the fish but everyone was wiped out by midafternoon. We all took naps, and just spent time hanging out with each other while…

Just a month later i finally carved out a few minutes to finish recapping our trip out to the Monterey Bay. Central California Thursday morning we woke up early and continued our drive up to Monterey, making a quick pitstop at Hearst Castle Visitor Center, Elephant Seal Vista Point, and Paso Robles for snack break. Monterey Bay We finally arrived in Monterey around 2pm meeting up with Nina who drove down from SF at our Airbnb house rental. I really wanted a place big enough beds for six adults and two kids. It was so good to finally get in, move all the luggage inside and just be able to sit…

Time just flies when you’re dealing with the little one. I can’t even pull out my laptop to write anymore when she’s around because she instantly wants to crawl over and bang on the keys. So i’m just going to sum up my weekend trip up to Monterey. We’ve been to San Francisco a few times now with Alice and thought we should try something else, and figured Monterey would be a good location to meet up with Nina and Kaylee. I got a pretty good house rental on airbnb.com for two nights that basically fit us, my parents, and nina’s family and granted us access to a full kitchen…

Monday we had a afternoon flight back to LA, that gave us enough time to walk around the city center when it was a little less busy and gave me time to meet up with James who i haven’t seen for years. He was my boss when i was an intern ten years ago and we’ve both moved on doing the whole wife and family deal so we don’t have many chances to hangout, so it was good to meet up with him while he was setting up his company’s trade show booth. Our flight home became a little more stressful because when we got on the plane and started…