I’m going to start this week toward the end, on Thursday, when Amaya and I set off for CA for a girl’s weekend. My friend Addie lives in Orange County and has a daughter who was born a month after SSA, as well as a 6 year old son. I couldn’t pass up the chance for our girls to meet and there was an added bonus of Addie living just 30 minutes from Disneyland. I never expected any of my kids to have an early childhood Disney experience!

We set off early and, as always, the fountain at DTW was the first sight to see.

READY!!

Amaya was awesome on the flight. She was easily entertained for the 5 hours with snacks, shows and her notebook. No naps, though. This girl doesn’t sleep on airplanes.

We made it to LA!! Addie’s husband, Matt, came up to LAX with Mary to pick us up. Amaya was immediately thrilled with the TV in the van. No surprise there.

We spent the afternoon at the California Science Center. It was a perfect place to visit for this space geek. So much to see from the early days of the space program and Amaya & Mary hit it off right away. One of our friends commented that this photo is like young Jodie Foster & young Britney Spears lol.

I always feel like my nose is cold and this infrared imaging proves that I have a cold nose!

My girl. <3

See our necklaces? I bought this Disney Princess neckace kit for Amaya at the airport on the way out LA. She gifted me with Cinderella, kept Ariel and Tiana for herself and gifted Snow White and Belle to Mary.

SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR! I’ll be honest, the girls weren’t quite as impressed as Matt and I were. They were much more interested in the gift shop. I’m so excited I got the chance to see the shuttle, though. So cool.

Very early in the trip Amaya figured out that Matt could pick her up pretty easily. And, thus, his nickname “Uppy” was born.

When get got back to Orange County, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the house with Mary. Amaya loved to see that Mary has a rock collection, too.

Back in MI, it was dance day! Since Steven isn’t taking tap, Sammy was on his own without Amaya. He was a little unsure but Madison walked him in and he did it! I’m proud of my Bubba. I’m sure it was a bit unsettling when he’s used to having Amaya there with him.

Passing time during tap.

Steven walked right in to join Sammy for jazz. I’m glad he has a class/activity he likes.

Friday morning was DISNEY DAY! I tried very hard to manage my expectations but I knew how excited Amaya would be to see all of the princesses. She brought her Elsa dress to wear even though I told her I couldn’t be sure we’d see Elsa. (In fact, up until Wednesday I was sure we wouldn’t because Elsa and Anna are at California Adventure and I didn’t realize we had park hopper tickets thanks to Matt’s brother who works at Disney and got us highly, highly discounted passes.)

This girl was ready to go!!

A real castle!

One of our first stops was the carousel in Fantasyland. It was the first time Amaya was willing to go on a moving horse on her own and had a blast. I think the recent fair rides helped her get past her prior hesitation. She had this same smile all day long.

Our first princesses – Ariel and Snow White! So much wonder and joy. It was magical. These “princesses” are so engaged and sweet with the kids. Amaya felt special in each and every conversation.

Here, they’re noticing that Ariel is on Amaya’s necklace.

Riding Dumbo together.

Storybook land ride.

Princess Elena! Amaya was the last one in line to meet Elena. Lucky break! While we were waiting she said to me, “Mommy, if Princess Elena is real, that means Sofia is real, too!” I can not break that little girl’s heart. She’ll figure it out in time.

Elena thought they should do an “Else pose.” Perfection.

After meeting Elena we headed into Royal Hall where we heard Cinderella had joined Snow White and Ariel. Both Snow White and Ariel remembered meeting Amaya earlier in the day and asked all about her day so far. She couldn’t stop beaming.

Cinderella!

We finished with the princesses in time for Amaya & Mary to watch a show that featured Belle. It was a princess smorgasbord.

It wasn’t all princesses. Amaya and Mary had a great time exploring Tom Sawyer Island.

They also took in the Small World ride. I was slightly disinterested to start, having forgotten how absolutely engaging it is with a particularly satisfying wait time:ride time ratio.

So much to see.

Amaya had a rainbow cookie with lunch and did nothing but lick off the icing while painting her face multicolor.

Our final princess at Disnelyland was Aurora. I got the hang of the app in time to take Amaya to meet her in the scheduled location.

With our park hopper passes we made our way to California Adventure. Disney in CA is so much more easily navigated than in Orlando. The parks are right across a small plaza from one another making it truly easy to back and forth. After an amazing ride, Soarin, we headed over to meet Elsa and Anna.

This was Amaya’s face the entire time she was watching the prior visitors meet with their royal highnesses.

When it was Amaya’s turn, I was quick to mention that Amaya was happy to see Elsa and Anna because the last time was back in January at her birthday party. They played right into it for Amaya. Didn’t miss a beat.

Even I got a turn in a photo!

Our penultimate Disney activity was the Disney Jr. dance party. Amaya was right there in the mix and it was adorable. After the dance party we wrapped up on an Ariel ride. We bought souvenirs before heading out of the park after an amazing 10.5 hr day at the parks. It was just incredible and I’m so grateful Amaya and I got to share the experience together.

Among the presents for Jason, Steve and Sammy and Amaya’s own souvenirs, I ordered this pillow for her as a permanent keepsake of her day at Disney. <3

Back at home, I had some happy boys.

Jason was working on something with the cabinet lighting and Sammy put up a barrier to be sure Jason would have a segregated work area.

Helping with dinner.

Madison learned about how much the kids enjoy Snapchat lol.

Amaya insisted I write the names of all of the princesses she met but was very frustrated that she can’t read them so we put symbols to use as cues.

Saturday morning started with a trip to Addie & Matt’s house.

This was Amaya’s chance to meet Nathan and my first meeting since he was ~6 months old.

Collecting rocks. As one does.

And art work. As Amaya does.

We spent the perfect afternoon at Laguna Beach. Amaya continued her campaign to get Matt to carry her around.

Checking out the tide pools. Amaya was hesitant at first but seemed to warm up fairly quickly – enough so that we practically had to drag her away.

We planned to go to a playground but found these sand dunes instead. (Maybe not quite dunes, but same general idea on a smaller scale.) Amaya spent the next hour rolling down sand hills. Because why not? They did this for, I’d say, at least an hour. Rolling, rolling, rolling.

And flying a kite for the first time!

We wrapped up our day, and our vacation, with ice cream.

Now here we are, heading back to our men after a mommy/daughter weekend we’ll never forget. <3 <3 <3

Just a little bit more from the rest of the week.

On Monday afternoon, SSA had a chance to play outside in the wet weather. Perfect when you’re 4!

Steven got new hightops that zip up the front around the toe. The goal is for him to be able to put them on himself, even with his orthotics on. So far, they’re just a bit too tight for him to make it work on this own but I’m hoping that changes with repeated use.

My little fashionista.

She’s also working on mastering doing her hair on her own. Not bad, in my opinion!

It took a while for the kids to get the coordination to hold the stencil down in one hand and trace with the other but they finally seem to have it down. Steven and Amaya do for sure.

Rescuing worms outside their school!

A little Steven piano playing.

Lunch out with Madison before picking out pumpkins.

Finally, we got photos back from a photoshoot that Megan did with the kids before her final days as our nanny. They’re wonderful and really capture the special relationship that she has with our kids.

And that’s it for our BIG, BIG week!! Have a great one!