Olsen's take Disneyland: Travel, Condo, and Beach Day.

Its about a 20 hr drive down to Anaheim from here so it took us two days of full driving to get there. Luckily we broke it up with a full day spent in Utah on the way there and back so that made a huge difference. The kids travel pretty well and we had lots of movies and things to entertain them. The roads were all clear and it went pretty smoothly. The only bad part was driving from Las Vegas to Barstow, California. It was bumper to bumper traffic and we even had to come to complete stops at some points on the highway. It was pretty annoying. But we made it there and home in one piece, though Ryan said we are never making that drive again;)

The kids are fascinated with the Desert. They have some pretty cool looking plants/trees.

Our Condo was right across from the Mickey and Friends parking lot. It was still a 15 minute walk right to the gates but it was a short walk to Downtown Disney and then an exciting walk from there. The kids never minded the walk and never complained. We had a stroller for Hayley and she usually fell asleep on the walk home from the parks. The Condo was so nice and decorated so cute. We had a full Kitchen, a washer and dryer, and 3 bathrooms. It was the perfect amount of space. My in-laws slept in the master bedroom with their own on-suite. Ryan and the girls and I were in the other bedroom. We were in a bunkbed with a trundle bed. The boys slept on a air mattress in the living room. We fit really nicely and they had everything that we needed. I only took one pic but here is the link to their website if you want to see more: Condo They have a ton of property's and we had a really good experience with them.

Our cozy sleeping arrangements 

On Wednesday we took a break from the Parks and went to Huntington Beach. We packed a picnic lunch and the Condo had beach toys and boogie boards and chairs for us to use. The weather started out nice, a bit windy, but being from Southern Alberta we don't mind a little wind:) The water was freezing though, so I just sat on the beach, but the kids played in the Ocean, and Ryan and Roy tried boogie boarding for awhile. After a couple of hours the wind really started to pick up to the point that it was cold and not enjoyable anymore so we packed up and headed back to the condo. We stopped at a Cream Puff place called Beard Papa's that my sister told us about. They were huge and delicious. Then we went back to the Condo to swim in the pool. It wasn't windy but the water was like ice cold. Like swimming in Waterton Lakes cold, so we spent most of the time in the hot tub. Then we picked up more In & Out for supper.

M practicing her splits. She found it much easier on the sand:)

After supper we went to Downtown Disney to walk around and buy our souvenirs. Nate bought a Darth Vader Cookie and then opted to save the rest of his money for Utah, Ty bought a Star Wars hat and saved the rest for Utah. The boys also spent a bit of money on food in the park and chocolate from the Ghirardelli chocolate store that we all frequented over our stay:) They have the best chocolate. Ty also bought a candy apple. McKenna bought an Elsa and Anna flip stuffy (one side is Anna and then you flip it upside down and it turns into Elsa), and a Giraffe toque/mittens from the Rain Forest Cafe, and some princess earrings, and Hayley got the same Anna/Elsa stuffy, and some Princess toys. A shout out to my Dad and Penny for gifting the kids with some spending money for the trip. Thank you:) We gave them each a baggie with their money in it so they got to actually see it and learn how to pay for things and count their money, and when it was gone, it was gone. I got a Minnie hat, a Mickey t-shirt, and a Candy Apple, which were super delicious.  Ryan got a Pirates of the Caribbean mug.