The Great Rose Bowl & Disneyland Road Trip!

On Christmas morning we surprised the kids with a book that informed them that we would be taking them to Disneyland, Legoland, and the Rose Bowl! This was something that we had been thinking about ever since it became a possibility that our beloved Ducks might make it to the "Grandaddy of them All"

We packed up the 4Runner and left Portland on Sunday, December 27. Our first stop was in Roseburg where we were able to see our great friends the Newtons. They used to live in Seattle and have recently relocated to the 'burg (boo!) but we were really happy for a chance to see them for a few hours. The Newtons also have a really great dog named Jack.



We woke up at 3:00AM on Monday morning and drove all the way to Anaheim, where we checked into our hotel a few blocks from Disneyland. Here is Sam in her jammies in the car watching a movie.


On Tuesday we hit Disneyland and the kids loved it!










Wednesday we headed about an hour south to Legoland. While it was an experience we don't necessarily regret, we probably won't be going back to Legoland. It seemed to be focused on much younger kids, and after the thrill rides of Disneyland we were a bit "let down" with what Legoland had to offer.




This is a picture of Drew being forced to go on a ride that he wasn't all that excited about. As expected, he ended up loving it.


Look at that look of glee on Sam's face!


Drew with the Lego Indiana Jones


Legoland featured this huge and very impressive models of various cities around the globe made entirely out of Legos.

Thursday (New Year's Eve) we returned to Disneyland and fought huge crowds everywhere we went. The kids were troopers and we managed to make it to midnight, even though Sam was basically falling asleep in my arms.





















Friday we packed up and headed to Pasadena and the Rose Bowl! Even though the Ducks didn't get the result we had hoped for, we had a really good time. After the game we hit the road and pushed it hard all the way home to Seattle, driving through the night and finally getting home about 12:30PM on Saturday. We were exhausted but it was a great time!


Here is Missi setting up our little tailgater. It was great to see a bunch of friends from Eugene and Portland who had made it down to Pasadena for the game.














Here are the kids passed out in the back of the car.