Graduations and The land that Walt built

We've had a busy past two weeks, with Lauren's graduation party May 28th,
 which was a combined party with her friend and fellow Santiam Christian HS graduate, Tyler Howell.

Then, on May 30th, her mom and brother flew in from Korea 
(while Lauren was still gone on her senior trip). They don't speak English, but luckily Angela helped us translate on that first day, and Lauren came home a couple days later. 
On May 31st, Joe graduated from 8th grade.
 Cayden did pretty good during the ceremony, stalking a little 1-year-old boy and walking up and down the aisles trying to find Joe.
 Joe made lots of friends this year. He left to go back to Korea on June 2nd (thank you to Bryan's parents for driving him to Seattle!), but will be back Sept. 1 for his first year of high school!
 Also on June 2nd, Lauren graduated, to the cheers of all 23 of us spectators. 
And a couple sleepers...
We had a great time celebrating Lauren's hard work.

Lauren's family.
It's official!
Siera and Jilynne came for the graduation too!
June 3rd rolled around and we went to church, like any other Sunday, and after church we took off for Disneyland! Bryan, Cayden, me, Lauren and her family all piled into a rental van and we drove into the early morning hours of Monday. We pulled into Lota, CA (just south of Sacramento) around 2am on Monday morning, knowing it would be smart to get some sleep before continuing the drive. We stayed at a Best Western there, and then took off again at 9am. We made it to our hotel in Anaheim by 5:30ish.  

After getting settled, Bryan and Cayden and I went to Denny's for dinner while Lauren's family wanted to rest. Later, while Bryan put Cayden down for the night, I took Lauren's family to Food4Less so they could buy a few snacks. 
The next morning (Bryan's 27th birthday!!), at about 9am, we made it to Disneyland! Our hotel was right on the edge of the Disneyland Resort, but it was a 20 minute walk to the park. The sunny weather made the walk very doable in the morning....I can't say the same about the walk back!

When we finally made it to the park, Cayden was nearly ready for her morning nap, but we powered through, entertaining her with this huge ball covered with water that spins if you push it! 
She mainly just  liked the water part! We played with this while 
Bryan, Matthew (Lauren's bro) and Lauren rode The Buzz Lightyear ride. 

 We stopped to buy hats for the girls...so cute!
 Cayden was practically falling asleep while we waited for her first  
ride in Disneyland, Dumbo. 
By the time we actually got on the ride, she was long gone.
After a little nap, we rode Thunder Mountain while Lauren's mom watched Cayden for us. We all went on Pirates of the Caribbean (including Cayden). She was pretty scared at the beginning (though she did like the talking parrot), and basically buried herself into me the whole ride.

At some point, we ate our packed lunch next to Splash Mountain in the bear restaurant, rode Space Mountain, and went to the Haunted Mansion and Toon Town.
Cayden LOVED the playground in Toon Town.
 She was peeking through the Jack-o-lantern at the other kids.
 Her peeking face.
 She would go down the slide, then run back toward me, and I would help her 
climb up the slide again and again. 
She is  so cute.
 After Toon Town, I took Cayden and Lauren's mom and brother back to the hotel to rest while Bryan and Lauren continued cashing in their fast passes on Splash Mountain and Space Mountain.
 Cayden fell asleep on the walk home. She was very tired by this time (around 2:30pm) because she had only had about 45 minutes worth of napping that day.
Bryan and Lauren returned to the hotel for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory for Bryan's birthday. 
After dinner, we headed back to Disneyland, leaving Lauren's mom at the hotel to rest.
We got there just in time for the fireworks show at 9:30pm. 
 Everyone loves fireworks.
 After that, I went to save us a spot to watch Fantasmic while Bryan, Lauren and Matthew went to ride Indiana Jones. Unfortunately, Indy was broken down, so they came back to wait with me and then we all watched the light/water/people show that is Fantasmic.
Cayden fell asleep again, though, at first the loud music scared her a bit.
After the show, everyone booked it over to Indiana Jones to see if it was up and running. It was, so they got in line, but the line was pretty long. Cayden wasn't sleepy anymore, so we ran around in one of the stores nearby where there were a bunch of musical instruments.
She especially liked the bongos, lining them up and trying to lift them up two at a time.

We finally made it home around midnight, then were off to 
California Adventure the next morning at 10:30am.
We rode the Swings, California Screamin' and the Toy Story Midway ride (THE BEST)....all while Lauren's mom graciously watched Cayden for us. 
She loves Cayden so much and Cayden loves her too!
Cayden did get to play in some water fountains with some kids, and she loved that!
 She got braver as time went on...this was her reacting to getting wet!
 After a shorter day in California Adventure, we headed back to the hotel to rest 
and we headed to the swimming pool. 
Cayden was not a big fan of the water, but she did like climbing in and out of the pools 
and liked splashing daddy! 
 and blowing bubbles with daddy!
We headed back into California Adventure that night so Bryan and Lauren could ride Tower of Terror and so we could watch the light show. They barely made it back for the light show (I was saving seats again), and Cayden fell asleep again during the show. Whenever she would get nervous because of the noise, she would kick her feet and huddle close to me. It was pretty cute.

The next morning, we slept in and got packed up and ready to head back home. We said goodbye to Lauren and her family at their new hotel in Korea town. On our way out of Korea town (in LA), I found this funny store.
 We had to stop one more time at In-N-Out.
And then we stayed the night with the Taylors. We finally got to see Cayden's 3rd cousin, Sari. They are 6 months apart in age.
 They had a good time playing together 
(Cayden running around and showing off and Sari watching), 
even though it was pretty late by then.
All things considered, Cayden did really well on this trip.
She took a couple of naps a day and got bored and a little whiny, 
but considering the 14-hour drive, I can't blame her.
 I love how she sits in her seat, ankles crossed like it's no big deal. 
 We were blessed with a great trip, great weather, and prompt rain when we 
crossed back over the Oregon border. We are glad to be home.

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