Big Vacation!

Two years ago, we bought tickets to the Star Wars Celebration happening at the convention center in Anaheim, CA.  It was the first time that they were having an official Star Wars convention outside of Disney World so we were excited to go.  Then the timing worked out perfectly with my maternity leave from work, so we decided to also go to Knott's Berry Farm and the beach.  Here's Ellowyn on the ride to California, eating an apple and watching her favorite movie, Frozen.

Our first day at the convention, we went to the "family room" upstairs that had a bunch of kid's activities.  Since Joe's family was also there, the girls had fun playing with their cousins too.  Lexa started out with lightsaber training.

Ellowyn just had fun coloring pictures.

Catherine, Jodi, and Kara painted Ewoks.

Then all the girls did the lightsaber training, including Ellowyn.  Elizabeth helped her, but she got bored.

There was a group from Target filming the kids doing the training and our four were so cute that they wanted to interview us afterwards.  Unfortunately, I don't think we gave them what they wanted since they mostly asked us which Star Wars toys we own and we had to admit that we had none.  Elizabeth also told them that she had never even seen Star Wars.  

Next we went downstairs to the showroom and looked around at the vendors.  Someone was giving out lightsaber suckers that lit up and each of the girls got one.  This is Elizabeth's fighting face.

Ellowyn managed to fall asleep like this in the stroller.

There were a bunch of remote controlled R2D2s like this one.

Then we got bored and went over to Downtown Disney where we found the Anna & Elsa Boutique.

The next day we went back for more convention fun in the family room and Grandma signed the girls up for a bunch more things while Cliff, Grandpa, and I looked around at the costumes and a few props from the new Star Wars movie.  Catherine and Lexa did the lightsaber training again.

Grandma signed all the girls up to paint Ewoks.

Then downstairs we helped build the giant LEGO Darth Vader.

There was also a big LEGO play area for kids.

Lexa built this giant green wall.

Here's us chillin' while Genevieve took a lunch break. 

Then we tried to get Lexa to do the Jedi Training Academy, but she didn't get picked.  It was probably a good thing because she was scared when Darth Vader came out.

The next day we went to Knott's Berry Farm.  Elizabeth and I spent the morning going on all the rides that the others were too short (or too scared) to ride.

 After lunch we did a bunch together.

 

There were still a few that Lexa was too short for, so she made this bunch of flowers and pretended to be Elsa instead.

Genevieve just spent most of the day in her car seat.

The next day we went to the beach.  We had a picnic lunch and I spent 10 minutes trying to convince Lexa that there were no bathrooms and she should just pee in the water.  Finally, I just put a diaper inside her suit.  Catherine wanted to be a mermaid (and this was the only time she wasn't bouncing around, super excited)

Elizabeth helped with Ellowyn, who loved the waves, despite shivering most of the time.  The water was cold!

Dad and the girls made a big sand castle.  Also, I read that baby powder makes the sand fall off so easily and I tried it.  It was the best thing EVER!  The sand came right off and I didn't even have to use very much powder.  

It was a good trip all around.  Then we got home and four of us had the stomach flu, including Genevieve.  Yay, welcome home.