Disneyland-Magical Day #1

The day after we got to California we went right to Disneyland!!! Woo hoo!! I grew up about 45 minutes south (without traffic...doesn't happen too often...). It really is a magical place. We had to get there before Dec. 23, the girls real 3rd birthday or else we'd have to pay for them too! It was perfect timing. The kids were old enough to be excited and appreciate it and go on most of the rides (and survive without naps), but two of them were still young enough to be free!! Even better! We had a GREAT TIME!

Dumbo the flying elephant!

Kate loving her carousel horsie.

Zach in his awesome Mickey shirt my mom gave him. Love it!

Kate getting real excited for the tea cups...

I think this is the perfect tea cup picture. Captures the fun and thrill of the tea cups. I should probably sell it to Disneyland for them to use on their flyers. :)

Being monkeys on the Casey Jr. train.

Kate adoring the dolls on Small World. Definitely the favorite ride of the kids. I love it too. Especially at Christmas time. If there is a time you can go to Disneyland it is when it is all decorated for Christmas! Even MORE magical! Go between Thanksgiving and Christmas when school is still in so it isn't too busy.

Autopia! This was another favorite. The kids love to drive!

The only bummer part about the day was it rained in the evening. We were wet and coldish and just tried to hang out and eat snacks while it was pouring. It lightened up a bit and we went on the Jungle Cruise, Pirates (NOT a favorite), and the Haunted Mansion (again NOT a favorite). This was when we discovered Justin has a HUGE hole in his shoe, so he walked around with wet feet that night. Poor guy.

Zach was just tall enough to try the big roller coaster, Big Thunder Mountain. That is my favorite. The rain was kind of a blessing in disguise because a lot of people left making the lines shorter! Justin took Zach on Thunder Mountain and said he screamed the whole time but wanted to go again when it was all over. :) I hung out with the tired, whiney, cold girls and got all of their hats and mitts out to try and warm them up.

It was only like 7:30 or 8:00, but Kate was SO tired. The walk from Big Thunder to our last ride of the night, Small World, did her in. She was totally out, like a rag doll! This girl still likes/needs her naps. We were standing her up, moving her around. While we were in the line NOTHING woke her up. (Small piece of advice...when choosing lines at Small World always choose the right side. WAY faster! We learned the hard way.)

Even on the boat she wouldn't wake up! Look at our tiny sleeping baby though. Too cute.

Trying to wake her on the boat. You are going to miss your FAVORITE RIDE! She was the one that requested it again!

Zach in Small World.

Kara mesmerized and amazed by it. 

When did Kara grow up?!

Kate finally woke up and loved it.

I wanted a family picture with Small World all lit up in the back, but then NONE of the kids would cooperate, so you got me!

When Zach saw me get my own picture then he wanted his own too. 

After Small World we found out fireworks were only 10 minutes later, so we decided to stay for the fireworks and snow! (Bubbles!) I remember how magical it was when it snowed. This was when I was in high school, never having lived in Utah or Edmonton or Lethbridge. Now I've gotten enough of snow! Anyway, to bide the time we bought a steaming hot delicious turkey leg and devoured it. Everyone loved it. Did you get any Just?

The snow was a disappointment! It lasted for like 5 seconds. Budget cuts or broken machines?? We'll never know. It was much better when I was younger, that is for sure. The kids liked it, but couldn't understand why they had to have fake snow. It doesn't snow here? At all? Weird...

She watched the fireworks, sang, oooooed and ahhhed, and then fell right back to sleep again. :) Which was perfectly fine...until we got to the buses to go back to the parking lot. Zach and Kate were totally out but we had to try and wake them up and get at least one of them to walk on the bus so we could fold down the stroller. It was hilarious! Zach was sleep walking, bobbing his head back and forth, almost running into things. Just sit down! Phew! We had a GREAT day at Disneyland! It was fun to just be our little family and create some memories.