Santa Barbara and Disneyland, 2012-Style, Part One!

For the past couple of years, the three of us have been wanting to take a family trip to Italy and Austria, but we need more time to do that than Emily’s week-long April break, but the summertime is just so EXPENSIVE! So we decided to give up on that idea for now and go back on our favorite trip, which has for years been Santa Barbara and Disneyland.

For the last two times we’ve done this trip, Emily and I have driven down by ourselves, and then Tom has flown out to meet us a couple of days later in Disneyland. Then we all drive home together. This way she and I can do our girly stuff and the rides that are less exciting to him, and when he arrives, he gets to pick our activities. Plus this way he doesn’t use up so much vacation time. We miss him while he’s not with us, but otherwise it works out great!

Since there are so many images, I will break this up into two posts, the first half with just the two of us, and the second half with all three of us.

So, Em and I drove down to Santa Barbara in the morning, and we walked up State Street for dinner and then went back to the hotel for bed. And each night, she wrote in her little travel journal, which I thought was sweet!

In the morning, we treated ourselves to room service, because our patio view was too beautiful to ignore.

Then went to the beach for a quick visit before heading into Anaheim.

After we arrived at the hotel, I was SO excited because I was finally getting to meet in person a fellow CMer whom I’ve become good friends with over the last year, Alli Jacobs. And I was just delighted to meet her, because she was just as sweet and wonderful in person as she has been in email! We had dinner and talked shop and played with each others’ cameras/lenses while Emily joined in the conversation occasionally and also entertained herself with her iPod and my old camera. It was a wonderful evening!

For the rest of the trip until Daddy arrived, we just hung out in the park and ate junk food and rode rides… Even had our nails done! It was just wonderful to have the chance to get a break from the mundane and spend time together in what to us is truly the Happiest Place on Earth!

And I FINALLY convinced Emily to try California Screamin’. She LOVED it, so I just might have gotten myself a rollercoaster companion! (Ignore how awful I look–I adore rollercoasters, but just before this photo was taken I discovered that the velcro had undone on the bag you use to stash your belongings (in this case, my beloved Mark III, Em’s beloved 40D, plus my wallet), so I was kinda freaking out about the safety of all that and frantically holding the bag shut on this crazy ride!)

Visit here for Part Two of our trip!