Disneyland

All the way back in January (yes, I am that far behind), we took our kids to Disneyland. Im so mad that I didnt get any pictures of how we told the kids we were going-it was awesome!

When they got home from school, Bill was waiting for them outside. He told them that Bob the Elf (our secret Christmas elf...long story) came back from the North Pole because he forgot to give them one more gift. There was a wrapped box and inside was a poem that Bill had written. I wish I remembered that poem word for word, but I dont, so here is the jist of it. "something, something surprise is grand...something something, we are going to Disneyland (it really was a super clever poem..im not doing it a bit of justice). Then on the next page it read "RIGHT NOW!!! The car was packed and ready to go, so they dropped their backpacks and ran to the car. I have never seen the kids freak out so much in my life. So funny!

Noah and Lani are the only 2 kids who had been, but they were only 5 and 3 so they didnt remember much. I was so excited because it was like the first time for all of them. I had all these grand ideas of how fun it would be and how magical it was gonna be and how much they would just LOVE it! I really am just a dreamer.

It started off with our grand hotel. From the pictures and reviews (from Hotels.com) it looked like a winner. We got a great deal on it and it was directly across the street from the Disney entrance. You cant beat that! Right?

It was seriously the smallest hotel room I have ever seen. And craming seven people into that small room was going to be a challange...but we did it. The air mattress was jam packed into the only space big enough for it to fit...it was also the only walkway. But the kids hardly noticed the lack of space, they were so dang excited for the next day!




When we woke up the next morning, it was raining. Awesome.

But apparantly thats a good thing.

We were the first ones there and it was totally dead.




Open...Open...Open

While we were waiting, we saw these 2 winners. They were dressed in full Jack Sparrow gear. Oh, and they were by themselves.

We couldnt help but follow them into the park. They booked it to the front of the line, in front of all the excited kids.

Classic.

As soon as the bell rang, we headed straight to Thunder Mountain. I couldnt wait for the kids to experience the super funness of Disneyland. I just knew they would love it as much as I did when I was a kid.

Wrong.

Pure terror.

Avery was screaming and holding on to me for dear life. Caleb was crying, Tyson hated every second and Lani was scared out of her mind. They had obviously never ridden rollercoasters before. Dangit. And we had 3 full day to look foward to.

Awesome.

So off we dragged 4 crying kids to Splash Mountain. Bad idea. We literally had to pull them on and force them to sit. Lani was frozen on the platform, Avery was trying to jump out of the log and Caleb was hysterically screaming. I sware the workers were ready to call CPS about a crazed Mom who just spent all this money for 3 "fun" filled days and she is screaming at her kids to have fun and like it, dangit!! Not my best parenting moment. Its a good thing that we were the only ones on that ride at the time.

Off the ride goes, and what do you know...we get soaked. I mean SOAKED! All 4 kids get off crying and shivering(it was cold) and they were ready to go home.

We had to save this trip fast!

We decided to try a nice, slow ride. Winnie the Pooh was just across the way and that was perfect. Although, Avery still wasnt convinced. Pure terror.

But it did the trick. It made them happy enough to try some more rides. Noah was the only tough kid so we had him convince the other kids to try some fun rides. We headed to Pirates and they loved it. We rode that ride about 15 times, at least, during our 3 day trip.

Finally, some smiles!

Avery still not loving Diseny. Not even the jungle cruise. Who doesnt love the jungle cruise?

The cliche' photo in front of the castle.

Man, that castle isnt is big as I remember.

Lani was the only child who would go near any sort of character. Avery was terrified and the boys were just too cool. So this is the only picture I was able to get. Thanks Lani!

Theboys really thought they could pull out the sword. They tried so hard, for like 15 minutes. Sorry boys...no kings in this family!

Such a sweet little guy

Dumbo

Toon Town

Yes, that is my 11 year olds feet sticking out of that window. Im pretty sure I just looked the other way.

After lots and lots of rides, we decided to do this Jedi training thing. All the boys got picked to participate, but only Tyson and Noah would go up there.

Getting the proper attire to become a Jedi

This is no joke. Do you see those storm troopers? Pretty big stuff!

Tyson got to have real lightsaber fight with this ugly, red faced guy (not sure what his name is) Fighting evil and what not!

Way to go Tybo!

Last ride of the night

The next day we went to California Adventure. It was a bit more crowded this time, but still no big deal.

We got a little bored waiting for the park to open, so I took some pictures on the big letters

"N" for Noah

"A" for Avery

The first ride we headed to was Tower of Terror. Bill took Lani and Noah first while I waited with the little kids. Since there was no line, they were done in about 10 minutes and when they walked out, Lani had tears coming down her face. She was terrified! That made Tyson and Caleb run as fast as they could. There was no convincing them at all. So Noah went with me. I love that ride! I think it ranks up there on my Favs list for sure!

Anyway, we just decided to stick with some kid rides to start the day, and who doesnt love some bumper car action

They had these cool little random shows all over the park. We stopped to watch this cool one with the toy soilders from Toy Story. When this was over we headed over to the super, big, totally scary California Screamin!

Only one problem...

Where the heck was Avery???

I thought Bill had her in the stroller and Bill thought she had jumped out to walk with me. Holy crap! I just lost my child at Disneyland.

It took us about 10 minutes, but we found her wandering around where we watched the soldiers. A worker had just found her. Halelujah!!

After we buckled her in...tight, we headed back to California Screamin. Bill went on it with Noah first and when they got off, Noah was freaking out about how fun it was. I knew that Tyson would love it if he would just try it, but he was not having it. SO, I did what any parent would do...I bribed him with a sword. I know, I know.

And what do you know, he loved it! So Caleb wanted to go on it and even Lani who hates all things fast and high. They all loved it and we kept riding it over and over and over again-the line was so short that we could. It was awesome. I wish I had pictures of them coming off the ride.

We just couldnt pass any carousel without getting sucked in somehow. Those darn things!

We stopped to eat some snacks and rest a bit and Noah decided that he wanted to go on the river raft ride. We were sitting by the exit and people were coming off soaking wet. It was a bit chilly so we had noooo interest in one ounce of that ride, but Noah was still bent on doing it. He is old enough, so I told him to have at it and we would wait for him.

Here is what he looked like when he came off the ride...

Drenched from head to toe. He love it!!

We stopped to watch the High School Musical parade and had ice cream. I think we should have stuck with vanilla for all

After the parade, we headed back to Disneyland for some more rides before the park closed. This little monkey was pooped!

And just like we promised, Tyson got his sword...and so did Caleb and Noah. Just what we needed in that crammed hotel room, 3 fighting Jedi's!!

We were so sad to be down to our last day. Our plans were to check out of the hotel and head home when the park closed that night. We got everything packed and ready to load the car. Bill went out to start loading the car, and wouldnt you know it, the car was dead. We had recently replaced the battery, so we werent too worried. We figured it would be an easy jump. But we had things to do and rides to ride, so we decided not to let this little thing ruin our last day-we would worry about it when we got back.

First stop...the Haunted Mansion. It had been closed the first 2 days, so we wanted to make sure we hit that first before it got too crowded. And it was crowded, probably because it was Friday. But even with the crowds, it still wasnt really that crowded-just annoying because we had had 2 awesome days with no crowds. (im kind of a baby)

Of course, Avery wasnt loving the dark rooms. She held on to Bill for dear life.

We did Haunted Mansion a few times over

We figured it would be best if we hit all our favorites before the afternoon crowds hit. The kids loved Thunder Mountain. Who would have guessed after our first experience with it.

While Bill took the boys on some more rides, I took the girls to see the princesses (mostly for Avery, but Lani was a good sport about it)

All she could talk about the whole trip was the princesses and how she couldnt wait to see them...

Yea...not so sure.

She was so scared.

I was a bit scared to by their super high pitched voices and blank stares

She got a little more comfortable as we moved on, but those darn Disney people know how to get ya every time. they stick those cute little princess dresses and everything princess in your nose as you walk out.

But lucky for me, im not a sucker.

Doesnt she look so cute???

Ok, maybe just a little sucker!

Our favorite ride had to have been Space Mountain.

All the kids (except Noah) hated this ride at first, but we made them go again anyway

They freaking loved it!!!

Even Avery. She asked to go on it over and over.

SO we did!

We did this Buzz Lightyear ride like 100 times

The kids also love the smart house exhibit. They could have spent hours in there. It was pretty cool.

One of my best friends, that I have known since I was born, lives in Cali. She and her kids met us there for a night of fun!! We did tons of rides and lived it up, enjoying our last night in Cali. I was also happy to spend some time with Brooke.

Its a shame that we didnt even know that "Downtown Disney" existed. Brooke took is there and we went straight to the Lego store. My boys had just started getting into legos, so they were in heaven.

With such a fun day, we almost forgot about our little car problem waiting for us back at the hotel. Brooke was able to come back to our hotel with her car to jump start us. Our battery wasnt very cooperative and it just wouldnt take the jump. Brooke drove me around, everywhere, looking for a darn auto shop that was open. the only thing we could find was walmart. I ran in back to the battery part and typed in the car type and all that info that told me which battery to get. It didnt look like the right battery, so I bought another one that looked like the right one, just in case. After an hour or so, we finally made it back to the hotel, and both batteried didnt fit. Crap...are you serious?!?!

Brooke ended up taking a couple of my kids home with her to sleep over and Bill and I booked another night and we went to bed. In the morning, sweet Brooke came back with my kids and some donughts for breakfast. Bill played around with the battery and some fuses and wouldnt you know it...the dang car fired right up. Seriously??

I was so very thankful that we werent stuck in Cali and tha Brooke didnt have to waste her Saturday driving us around trying to fix the dang car. After talking about it later, we realized that maybe we werent supposed to drive home that night. Who knows why the car didnt start, and who knows what would have happened, but we were are thankful it all turned out ok and we are especially thankful for Brooke!

We had ups and downs and highs and lows and happy times and total meltdowns, we came home with lots of crap that broke within the week. We ate at IHOP both nights for dinner because kids ate free and it was next to our hotel. We talked and laughed and shred our favorite things of the day each night as we went to bed. I loved the memories we made and I know it will be a trip they will remember for a long time. I will never, ever again go to Disneyland any other time except in January. It was awesome weather, no crowds. Just perfect!

Such a fun trip and I cant wait to do it again!!