Disneyland Trip Day 1- Los Angeles

When we originally started planning this trip, we talked about doing Disneyland Friday-Tuesday over MLK weekend so there was at least one day of school the girls weren't missing. Then John said he would like to get there a day early and stay in LA for the night, and possibly go to a Lakers game. He is a HUGE basketball fan and had looked at their schedule and saw they had a home game that night. Since he was not keen on the trip at first and then was all of a sudden super excited, I wasn't going to argue with that! :) We had the Quinns coming to keep baby John for the first half of our trip, and then our weekly sitter Dorothy was going to keep him for the last half. I was so sad to leave him but knew he would be in great hands and I wouldn't have to worry!

We left Birmingham bright and early on Thursday morning, January 11th. We were running a tad late to get to the airport, and when we checked in they told us they couldn't guarantee our bags would make it. Oops! I was relying on our TSA pre-check status to get us through security quickly that I didn't even think about the bags {but they did thankfully make it} that are supposed to be checked in at least 45 minutes prior to the flight- ours were checked in at 41 minutes prior. :/

I got them these Cozy Phone headphones I saw someone mention on IG as well as a friend who had told me about them, and they were awesome! I will say the volume wasn't loud {you can't adjust it}, but the girls loved them and easily kept them on their heads!

John sat with them on the longer leg of our flight, and I was impressed when at one point Curran told SC they needed to turn off the movie and do their school work. :)

We flew through Dallas before arriving to LA where my brother picked us up at the airport. This was the longest the girls have ever been on a plane {C has flown to Arizona twice but it wasn't quite that long}, and they did great! They kept busy by watching part of a movie, coloring, and doing school work. We were all very glad to see my little brother when we arrived, and it was really nice to have someone familiar with the city to take us around instead of having to rent a car or use Uber. We brought two booster seats since we would be in the car a lot of the first two days.

We waited for a while on our bags and then headed straight to In-N-Out burger for lunch! I love that place and couldn't wait to introduce the girls. They both ate every bite of their burgers and said they loved it!

After lunch we headed to the Getty Center. I had been there years ago {like 16} and remembered the grounds being really pretty, and it's free {$15 to park}. I knew they would be tired so I didn't want to make any big plans. You take a little tram up the mountain from the parking deck, so the girls enjoyed seeing the views from that.

We were thankful to have such a beautiful day!

We walked around outside for a bit and then went to the family room where they had activities for children. The girls had a BLAST in there!

They had a huge back lit dry erase wall that the girls loved. 

SC wrote [California]. She was just a tad excited to be there. :)

Then they traced some pictures.

And built a tube sculpture out of foam noodles.

We walked around a few galleries after that.

SC was not loving the galleries. :) 

My three loves way down below.

Riding the tram back down to the parking deck.

After the Getty, we headed to the Beverly Hilton to check in. We debated where to stay that night- my brother really wanted us to stay in Santa Monica, but we were planning on going to a Lakers game that night so we thought it made more sense to stay in town. We were using Hilton points so it didn't matter too much where we stayed, but I thought it would be fun for the girls to stay at an iconic place. I stayed there years ago with my brother and sister and enjoyed it. Well turns out that the basketball game didn't start until 7:30pm {when we originally looked at tickets it was 6:30}, and with the time change that was 9:30pm our time and we had all been up since 5am. So sweet John, who had so been looking forward to it, made the call that it would not be a good idea. Anyway, we got checked in at the hotel, and I organized the room a bit while John and Walter took the girls to get Shirley Temples at the bar.

They were playing with the drink menus that looked like ipads. They are fascinated by anything like that since they don't have devices of their own. :)

We freshened up and then headed to Santa Monica where my brother lives. He showed us around his apartment which the girls LOVED! Then we walked towards the Santa Monica Pier so the girls could see the Pacific Ocean and then called an Uber to go to dinner.

We ate at the MOST delicious place called Il Ristorante Giorgio Baldi- seriously divine and not a bite was left on anyone's plates. SC had been a bit wild and annoying on the drive from LA so I was nervous about how she would do at a fancy, quiet dinner in a TINY restaurant, but she was wonderful!

She colored for a bit, quickly ate her food, and then promptly put her head in John's lap and fell asleep. It was 6:30pm. Best call ever not going to that bball game! We got an Uber back to the hotel and my brother got one back to his apartment. Our drive to the hotel took forever {bad traffic at 7pm for some reason} and Curran fell asleep in the car. We got the girls tucked in and climbed in bed ourselves, and John turned on the bball game on TV right as it was starting. :)

It was a fun first day doing a little exploring and spending time with my brother, and we were all so excited to head to Disneyland the next day!