Disney Land

Day 4- The Magical Land of Disney.

From parades with lights...

To familiar friends... we couldn't have had a better time!

Payton had a blast in the Bugs Life area of California Adventures.

Carlee was in heaven with her beloved Cars characters.

And while we did have to wait in line some times, we tried to make the best of it...

most of the time that is, Payton wasn't afraid to show her real opinion :)

Thanks to auntie Carlee waiting in line we got to meet the Princess'

Talk about wow, Payton was in awe.

She still says, "member the princess?"

We also got to meet Minnie.

Payton gave her a big squeeze

And Mickey himself!

Daddy got the honors of doing the real thing but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to take a picture with my little muffin.

What day at Disney Land would be complete without the Dumbo ride??
As a 1st visit for Chad, Payton and I we all loved our day at the Happiest Place on Earth.

Day at the Beach

Day 3- Relaxing day at Huntington Beach

Originally we planned on doing Disney Land on day 3 but after 2 fun filled days we decided to take a load off and head to the beach. I like to look at how quickly Payton crashes after a fun outing to see how much she enjoyed it-- she LOVED the beach!

Mom and Dad

Beautiful day in the sun

Chad swimming in the Pacific Ocean for the 1st time.

He boogie boarded the entire time we were at the beach, a kid at heart.

Now you see it, Now you don't.


Carlee, Payton and Grammie playing in the sand.

Even Payton took a ride with daddy on the waves

She really is our little water baby. Days like that make us wish we lived closer to the ocean...but we love our mountains!

Sea World

Day 2- Sea World

Payton and Shamu

She loved being able to touch the animals, she pet the dolphin but the manta rays were a little to scary ;)

We went to the day show and the night show for Shamu- Payton absolutely loved watching the whales.

The Sea lions were CRAZY, they were so loud and unlike other zoo's they were SO close- like you lean to far and they could pull you in. I was hard to walk away they were so entertaining.

Payton with her Grammie and Papa

Aunt Carlee took Payton on the Elmo's flying fish ride.

At the end of a long day at Sea World, watching the last Shamu show. After leaving Sea World we drove from San Diego up to Anaheim.

About Time

I guess when there has been an entire month between posts, two trips out of the state and over 800 pictures to download it is ABOUT TIME to blog about it :)

So August 15-19th we went to California w/ Grammie and Papa Miller (Carlee too).
Day 1- Flight to CA early in the morning and a day at the San Diego Zoo



Chad and I found this funny and quite fitting for him


Giraffes are my favorite animals...there were a ton of them at the zoo and they were a lot closer than they are at the Denver zoo. I couldn't believe how soft they looked.

The one animal that we hyped Payton up to see was the Panda. You don't see one of those every day :)

We found that several times through our trip that Payton was the perfect age for this sort of adventure. She was so excited by everything and was just so thrilled by every fun new thing.


We even saw Koala bears, or as Payton calls them, "wallas".


Lots and lots of elephants; and lots and lots of walking.

It was nice taking the bus trip to see the layout of the zoo and eliminate a few animals we didn't need to see up close.

It was a great day at the zoo and we loved seeing all of the fun new animals our zoo doesn't have.