LA Vacay in 7 pictures

I will not bore you dear friends and family with a travel log--only highlights of our first vacation in...ever.

 1. Forget Disneyland. This was the highlight of the trip for me and Mark. We used this year's Costco reward money check toward renting a minivan. A truth about having no money: nothing, and I mean NOTHING spells luxury (for the Holstens) more than driving a minivan.

 2. This is a doughnut. This is a doughnut stuffed with goat cheese, strawberry jam, and basil--with some fruity glaze thing happening on top. This was delicious. Dave and Janett took us on a tour of some of their favorite eateries during our 2 day stay with them, which was pretty awesome. We love that we got to enjoy Eagle Rock with them in what turned out to be their last few weeks of living there. After we left, they picked up and moved to Portland, which has everything to do with us. You see, Dave and Janett had to push a visit to Portland back a week to accommodate our vacation plans. In doing so, they ended up going on a weekend when a house of their dreams opened up to rent. And since they found such a great deal, they couldn't pass it up, and signed the papers. And because they found a place to live so quickly, and they were uprooting their lives anyway, Dave also decided it would be a great time to propose to Janett. So there you have it. The Holsten Four descend and an out-of-state move and marriage proposal follows. That is just how awesome we are. We are so happy for Uncle Dave and Tia Janett--for their new life and new adventures!

3. The first memorable Disney event was going to the Build-a-Bear Workshop (or as Dad likes to call it: The fleecing of little girls' parents' money) in Downtown Disney. It was an unexpected stop, but she had so much fun with it and somehow managed to bypass the costumes, accessories, sound chips, and many other pricey additions that could have been added to her "bear"--which was really an orange cat named 'Treasure'. (She did manage to slip in a strawberry-scented card to make Treasure smell oh-so sweet). She groomed her cat (above) and Nana and Papa helped her fill out a birth certificate (or as Dad likes to call it: a tracking device for parent information to push more advertising.) 

*Sidebar about Dad:  Isn't he fun? Clearly his parents never took him to Disneyland otherwise he might have a more magical spirit about him. Secretly he was having a great time, though. And secretly he is super fun to hang out with at Disneyland--or anywhere--, despite his occasional doses of "truth").

4. This picture sums up Matthew's Disneyland experience. A stroller ride and a pear to eat are just as good as any Disney ride. I think it was pretty overwhelming for him. He didn't really go for the parades or fireworks or crowds. We were lucky enough to get a wheelchair access pass for his stroller which made waiting in line much easier for him (and us) because the park was unbelievably busy.

 

5.  Isabella challenged Tinker Bell to a footrace, climbed Tarzan's treehouse about a dozen times, explored Tom Sawyer's island end to end, took two boat rides through the pirate territory, and raced in a race car. And she loved ALL of it. There were a few meltdowns (some her, some me--don't get me started on the Pineapple Dole Whips near the tiki room) but we survived it and had a wonderful time--as evidenced (by most) in the final photograph below:

Angie and Mark were obviously having a great time. Me? You'd think I'd never been on one of them new fangdangled roller coaster thing-ys.

I had so much fun. Really, I did.