Nationals 2014: Disneyland.... and an Earthquake!

My little sister is a senior this year- Whaattt? I'm getting old. But anyway- I was dying to go to nationals with her last year, and this year for Christmas that was my gift! She is a senior at Davis, and they were national champs last year! I was SO excited to go! I got to go back to Disneyland, I was going ALONE!!! and I got to go watch the High School Cheer Nationals! I might have been the most excited to fly all by myself... Haha! It was crazy to be on the same trip that I took 3 years ago with my cheerleaders! Read that HERE.

 

I left early Friday morning- and thanks to my amazing amazing husband, and my dear friends- I knew that my girls were well taken care of! I truly hate airports and being on airplanes, but it was pretty relaxing to be able to fly all alone! My flight got in a few hours before my mom and sister's so I took a shuttle to our hotel and immediately headed over to Downtown Disney all alone! It was oddly so much fun, and so relaxing being alone! I think I must be spending a little too much time getting climbed all over by a certain two little girls- whom I love! But it was so nice to be able to walk through all of the shops and eat lunch in peace! I'm sure people thought I was a little strange- but I was loving it! I met up with my sister in-law Carrie and her kids Friday afternoon! They had thought they could use their passes Friday, but ended up not being able to due to Spring Break, but we still had a blast at Downtown Disney! Cody and Macey built Lego cars and raced them for well over an hour while Carrie and I sat and talked! We then walked through the shops before getting some ice cream! It was so nice to see them! I wish we lived closer. 

 I also had a good laugh at the lady in the long wool coat in Uggs- I was in flip flops and a short sleeve shirt--- What in the world!?

I met up with my mom and all of the cheerleaders that evening! The girls had a practice, so the mom's and I had dinner, once again, and the best place... Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney. We spent the evening hanging out and headed back to our hotel.

Saturday was the day of Semi-Finals for the competiton! I ended up having an extra day on my pass, and since I was leaving a day earlier than my mom, blah, blah, blah... Anyway, she didn't have a day on her pass to use, so I woke up bright and early and headed to Disneyland... All alone. Haha. Tyler thought I was such a weirdo to go by myself, but it was SO much fun! I only had a couple hours so I headed straight to Cars Land in California Adventure right when it opened.

Try to get over how cool I am... at Disneyland... all alone... in my mom shorts and tennis shoes. I'm pretty awesome.

 The Cars ride, Radiator Springs Racers, was so much fun! I got right on, thanks to the single riders line, and made a few new friends- ;-) I wish we would have had one more day at Disney with the girls to have time to come to California Adventure. There's always next year right! ;-)

 Oh, I forgot to mention that while we were on the 8th floor of the hotel in a room with 30 other high school cheerleaders we experienced the 5.4 magnitude earthquake! It was so crazy! My mom knew right away it was an earthquake and the whole building was shaking so bad! Just as I was starting to get pretty freaked out that this could be a really big/bad earthquake it ended. But it was probably for about 45 seconds-minute long! So crazy! We had little aftershocks all night long, and all the next day! I kept feeling like everything was shaking! The next morning there was another big aftershock, so most of the rides were closed when I got back from riding Cars. The big ferris wheel re-opened right as I walked by so I hopped on! I think Candace thought I was the coolest sister ever when I told her I rode the ferris wheel all alone... haha!

 that or Toy Story Mania....

 I did those 3 rides, then the California Screamin' Coaster and then grabbed the infamous Lobster Nachoes at the Cove Bar! They were SO good!

 I then ran over to the Convention center to see the girls compete!

 Candace did so good! I absolutely loved their routine! She is so talented, and all of her tumbling and stunts were perfect!

Unfortunately their team had a couple of stunts fall, and by .8 of a point they didn't qualify for finals. Ugh! It was so sad- especially for all of those senior girls who had won the year before! Unfortunately sometimes it just really sucks! They ended up placing 9th over all, and took the top 8 teams to Finals. They are such a good group of a girls though. They had a good team meeting, and then we headed to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen with all of the senior girls/moms and their coaches. We had a good night shopping with Candace at Downtown Disney. 

The next day we woke up bright and early and got to Disneyland about 15 minutes before it even opened with all of the mom's!

 Candace slept in and missed the fun, but we seriously managed to do all of the big/fun rides at Disneyland before 12:50! Haha! We were cruising! We had made reservations at Cafe Orleans to try the infamous Monte Cristo sandwiches- they were SO good! Our hilarious waiter re-named them the 'meat-flavored doughnut'.... Haha!

 We had the most hilarious group of mom's with us all day! It was a blast!

My mom and I on Space Mountain with Alicia and Kathy.

Then over at Cars Land with Natalie, Jodi, and Natalie's daughter Maggie.

 Waiting in line with Stacy, and one of their coaches Kassie- we went to Jr. High together. It was such a fun day!

 California Screamin' with Jodi and Mardee!

 It's good to know that my thigh stands still look stellar. I haven't lost it yet.... 

 My mom went back to the hotel around 10, but Kassie and I stayed with some of the girls... where Kassie then got engaged to one of Candace's friends. Who's still in high school. They might have posted the pictures on April 1st.... But it was pretty awesome. They had quite the crowd cheering!

 Monday all of the cheerleaders went to Magic Mountain-Six Flags, but my mom and I stayed back and did Disney. We had a much more low-key day, but still did a ton of rides and went all day!

 We saw the fun Aladdin show, admired the yummy and cutest Olaf apples, ate dinner at Naples in downtown Disney and did all of our souvenir shopping that day! We still didn't get home until about 10:30pm and were so exhausted!

 Tuesday morning I had a few hours before I had to catch my shuttle back to the airport so we ran over to Disney early with Candace!

and of course had to tumble and handstand in front of the castle before we left....

 We still did a ton of rides in just a couple hours! It really wasn't that crowded and we worked the fast past system well. We grabbed a quick lunch before I had to run back to the hotel to catch my shuttle! It was seriously the most fun trip ever. I'm already wishing I could go back! It was so nice to have a break and have girl time! Tyler was so awesome and took such good care of the girls all weekend! I'm so glad I have such good friends I can trust to take care of my girls too. It was pretty amazing! I said one last look at the ocean before enjoying my last few hours of alone time! ;-) I was sure excited to see my cute girls when I got home though! I love our little family. Can't wait to see you again next year Disneyland! (wishing and praying! ;-))

Thank you, Thank you, Mom & Dad! Love you!! I had the best time ever!