1988 - the happiest place on earth and more

for most of my childhood, my family struggled monetarily. not that i had any idea, because my mom was incredible at providing us with the things we needed without making us feeling as if we were extremely poor {she even made all our clothes!}. but my dad had ongoing medical problems that were not only expensive, but also caused him to miss work due to long hospital stays or recuperation at home.

my mom always spoke about how grateful she was that she had completed college and received a degree so she could try and do her part to bring in some extra money for our family. between the health problems, extra expenses and time spent working for both parents, there wasn't much time or money left over to go on vacation. i do remember heading south a few hours to visit my paternal grandparents in st. george every so often, but that's about it. 

but in the spring of 1988, my mom and dad had saved up enough money and organized their work schedules so they could take us to the southern california coast. my mom grew up in ventura, so it was fun to see her town, her house, her beach and more.

we were able to spend time with my grandpa smith and even got dental checkups while riding on his super cool rotating dental chairs. 

in addition to the sentimental aspects of our trip, we hit up the beach {where i stayed on the beach, not in the water. i suppose my love of sand and near hatred of salt water must have been innate from birth?}, 

universal studios,  

 {sporting those fabulous homemade clothes. 

i'm especially fond of dan's shorts}

and disneyland. 

as any regular six and a half  year old girl, my two disneyland loves were none other than it's a small world {i remember getting multiple dead arms from my brothers because i would not, could not stop singing that song} and the teacups. we three girls squished into one teacup {i didn't realize it was such a tight squeeze for adult legs until i returned to the happiest place on earth in high school}. i remember non-stop laughing the entire time. 

we even got the coolest of cool disney hats to sport as we walked along the cobblestone streets. 

vacations didn't happen often for our family, but my memories of this one would last a long, long time. 

i still have that cooler than cool hat.

also in 1988:

{easter morning all matchy matchy with kelli}

{according to ryan, this picture is saucy}