Disneyland and Universal. Family Fun

This past August the family took a trip to Disneyland and Universal studios. When I say 'the family', I mean the WHOLE family, it was Me+Sam+Bella, plus Sam's 2 brothers, gramma, uncle, cousins, and brothers' family, there was a total of 13 of us. You know how hard it is to keep 13 people together (and happy) at a theme park?! We managed to not kill each other, and had a really fun time. The weather was a bit hot, but the crowds were pretty light. We did a few days at Disney, one day at Universal, and a day or so just driving around Cali.

Camera wise, I traveled light, I brought my D700, no flash, one lens. I shot everything with my 35mm f2.0, which I think is the perfect travel set-up if you don't wanna feel weighed down. You can shoot fast, and it's just wide enough.

We absolutely love Disney, if you love it as much as we do, hopefully you'll enjoy the pictures and be motivated to come with us next time we go. :)

Since my brother works for United Air, he put me on his special list so I can fly stand-by for the same price as an airport dinner. I got on my first flight no problem, even got to fly first class, only thing was I arrived at LAX at 2:00am. The rest of the family bought regular tickets on a different airline, and they didn't arrive till 6:00am. I spent a lot of time in the airport all by myself, waiting, I kept busy though...

When everyone arrived and we got all situated, it was still only 7:00am or so. We got some Ihop breakfast then headed over to the Santa Monica pier to check it out. Unfortunately it was still so early that nothing was open.

I don't know what Green Crack is, but it's there.

We had to stop in at an Olive Garden so we could cash in on all those commercials we see in Hawaii. (It's goooood)

On our first day we shopped through downtown disney, the ESPN zone, Lego store, and even got to have dinner with our pals Ryan and Sarah at the Rainforest Cafe.

Our first full day at Disney. Bella woke up very anxious and excited. Here she is by the hotel window watching the sun come up.

We randomly ran into Sams good friend, Kai and her family, at the winnie-the-pooh ride. Kai's family lives in the same apartment complex we live in back home. Cool

Also, our California buddies, Paulie + Julie, and Aaron met up with us in the park for some Disney duties. Aaron used to live in Hawaii, but now lives with Paulie in San Pedro.

ever wonder what a sad Bella looks like?.. haha, this is what she looks like after we make her go on a roller coaster she didn't want to ride... she's not a daredevil.