Island Park Part 1

Like I said, it would be a MAD dash to unpack and repack in one day to get on the road to Island Park! Since we packed shorts and shirts for CA, it was easy to pack warm clothes before we go to help with this process. Island Park was beyond beautiful! I've always wanted to have a winter cabin get away and when I mentioned it to my brothers they were down for it too! 

We arrived to this welcoming committee doing the hula at the door. A new Reed Family Reunion tradition.  

We hurriedly unpacked and got the pizza ready to go on the Ooni Pizza Oven!! I'm a fan. Adam and Jordan offered to stand out in the cold to cook it since it was Adams idea. We learned as we went but everyone filled their bellies with really yummy pizza!

 A cute gang of girlies having dinner!

How cozy can you get?! We  brought a small tree with us that Carter and Tucky decorated. I was glad we did, because it just added to the coziness right next to the glowing fire. 

Cute cuddles by the tree. 

The next morning we hit the ground playing hard! We colored the tablecloth, then built gingerbread houses out of grahams. 

Jord and Tay provided all the fun supplies. 

The garage was all about gaming. We set up a table and did a Chistmas puzzle too. It was the perfect place to go unwind and have fun!

Jordan put together a fun scavenger hunt for the kids complete with a fun elf video of himself. The kids ran all through the house to find the clues. 

"Look Under the Bed" was the clue in Portuguese. 

The surprise was finding Jordan dressed as an elf. He had items to play some games and earn some treats. It was really cute and creative. We did a fun gift exchange and opened Christmas jammies for all the cousins. We all cozied in and enjoyed the warm cabin. 

At the gift exchange I opened a box with Prego sauce and popcorn and I though SWEET food storage without another thought. Jord had to drop a huge hint later to help us understand they were announcing a bun in the oven!!!

Birthday on the road

Well the time came to head back home. It was Brielle's birthday and in an effort to still make it special, I door dashed some birthday supplies and treats. We woke her up bright and early by throwing a bunch of glow balloons on her. 

We managed to hang a sign on the hotel wall and took this cute pic of her with it. 

Hotel breakfast really came through with birthday pancakes complete with sprinkles!

And here we go, back to Utah, away from the sun and back to the cold. The kids traveled really well and the ride went quick. Many slept and I was glad I could because it would be a mad dash to get home and unpack and get on to our next vacation!

Happy birthday sis! We love you so much and I'm glad we could all be together for your birthday, even if it was on the road. We are so proud of the person you're becoming!
 

California Day 3 - Disneyland

Even though Disneyland is more geared to the original fairy tales and has a lot more for little kids, it still is magical and so fun to look at everything! We started our morning by rope dropping and getting our pic in front of the big tree!

We got Bri a birthday pin even though it wasn't quite her birthday. A few people/characters noticed but I didn't feel like it was excessive. 

We hit up Its a Small World, just because we had to. 

And a variety of rides through the day. 

I've never done this Autopia ride before but it was fun. 

Of course they crammed in a small tea cup and Carter and I rode but didn't spin. 

We got to see Its a Small World light up for the season. So cute!

And finished the night watching the christmas parade. 

Just magical, right?

On the way out we hit up the Emporium and got souvenirs. Grandma wanted an ear pic of Carter for old time sakes so we sent her this one. 

Rylee loved all of it so much she just had to buy a Minnie Mouse for her treasure. She loved every second and did so well with all the walking and the heat. 

And when we got back to the hotel I snuggled my 10 year old Brielle for the last time. She turns 11 tomorrow. It won't be a glamorous birthday, driving 10 hours home, but I hope she enjoyed all the fun things we did over the weekend. 

So glad we could do this trip. Chad and Carter even enjoyed. They weren't originally very excited about going, but I think they liked it. Not sure when or if we'll ever make it back with just our family, I hope so, but who knows. I'm so glad for these memories and will cling tight to them forever. 
 

California Day 2

Since Sunday was in the middle of our trip, we planned to have a rest day in between all the fun. And I was so glad because it gave me an excuse to go see my brother. He lived about an hour from where we were so we decided to meet in the middle. We met at a citrus state park and we had so much fun walking around looking at all the citrus varietys growing on trees! You don't see this in Utah!

My favorite moment of the day though was as we were out walking around and exploring someone suggested we play orange ball! So we kicked and passed an orange all around while we walked, until it died, then we found a new orange on the ground and started again! Many giggles were had!

 The kids really wanted to see the beach and while it wasn't quite beach weather in Dec, we still decided to go and enjoy the beauty at sunset for a bit. 

Tony put on a really nice picnic lunch for us. We had good conversation and just enjoyed catching up! We haven't seen them in over a year and we miss them all like crazy. 

We also got to celebrate  Brielle's birthday with them. I let her pick, and she picked christmas cupcakes. 

These kids have grown so much and Roman didn't remember us much but he sure latched on to Mollie and enjoyed exploring and treasure hunting. 

It was a blissful sunny quiet day and I'm so glad we had a day of rest spent with people we love before we hit it hard for one more day!