Over Spring Break we were able to take the kids to Disneyland. We kept it a secret from them until about 10 days before we left. I convinced Kirt that we HAD to tell the kids before we left because the anticipation of going is SO much a part of the magic! I was glad we told them because they just seemed to get more and more excited each day that passed. WARNING: This is a rather long entry, but for journaling purposes I needed it that way!;)Day 1: We left and drove to California on Sunday, March 15th right after church(AND after getting hit by a car at church...but that's another blogging story). I didn't take any pictures on the way down, but the kids did really well considering it took us more than 8 HOURS to get there. The traffic was HORRIBLE the entire way. Mia got carsick and threw up once, but thank heavens it was only on her clothes, not all over the car! There was very minimal fighting and lots of movie watching that went on. :) We arrived at our hotel late Sunday night and fell into bed, exhausted.
Day 2: After breakfast at the hotel and doses of dramamine for Kirt, Dallin and Mia, who all suffer from motion sickness, we were off! We waited for the shuttle to arrive and mapped out a plan of what we were going to do that day. Everyone sported their sunglasses while waiting for the shuttle. Dallin and Kirt stopped into a nearby shop to buy hats, since sunglasses don't really work for them. :) The kids were just buzzing with excitement as we exited the shuttle bus and started toward the entrance. Our backpack was packed with water bottles, hand sanitizer, sunblock (which we forgot to apply the first day) and snacks galore. The first ride was Star Tours and the kids (yes, even MIA) LOVED it! I was really worried that it would make someone sick and ruin our day but nope. We were safe. We continued in Tommorwland and rode Buzz Lightyear then headed to Space Mountain. We stood in line for about 15 minutes and then Mia announced that she had to go potty. Grrr! (Especially because we went RIGHT before Star Tours!) I asked her if she thought she could hold it and she said yes. About 5 minutes later she announced that she did NOT think she could hold it and Dallin gave a half smile and said "Umm...me too." So, I took them to the bathroom while Kirt, Jaxon and Noah rode Space Mountain. :( One of my favorites. Oh, the joys of motherhood! We countinued through our day and watched a really cool show called "Jedi Academy". The kids were in awe, being the Star Wars lovers that they and their dad are. :) We ate lunch at the Pizza Port, drove cars on Autopia and rode the Finding Nemo Submarine. By about 6:00, we were beat. We headed back to the hotel for PB&J, applesauce, chips and a little T.V. Oh, and of course some facebooking for Kirt and I. ;) The kids had done quite a bit of fighting in line that day so we had a "talk" about it and when we said prayers we asked for help in getting along better the next day. Kirt and I knew it would be an extra LONG trip without the help of Heavenly Father...
Day 3: We went to Disneyland guns a blazin' againtoday, but it was the hottest of the three days we were in the parks, so we ran out of steam! We had early park entry, so we were on our first ride(Space Mountain again since Dallin and I missed it) before 9:00 am. The all-time favorite today was Splash Mountain. We rode it in the heat of the afternoon and literally walked onto it with our fast passes. Love that! Mia did NOT love it. As we were headed up the biggest climb, she looked over at me and gripping her little handle said in a weak voice, "Mom, I got a bad feeling 'bout this!" That was the highlight of the trip for me! By 3:00, the kids were shot, so we took a break, went back to the hotel to swim and decided we'd go back later that night so we could see the fireworks. We made it back into the park by about 6:00 and went strong for a couple of hours, but by about 8:30 we were shot. There was NOWHERE to sit for the fireworks because it was packed. We decided to head to the shuttle and see if we could see the fireworks from there. It worked out perfectly. As we got loaded on the bus, the fireworks started and we got to see almost the whole show before the shuttle took off. Poor little Noah was watching the fireworks out the window and next thing he knew, he was asleep! We packed tired, sleeping kids off the bus and back to the hotel.
Day 4: California Adventure! (I have no idea why this section is underlined. I can NOT figure out how to undo it!) We had been looking forward to this day a lot! Well, except for Noah. He asked if we could go home this morning. He was OK once we left the hotel though. Below, the kids were having a snack while waiting to get into the Playhouse Disney show, which Noah and Mia LOVED. They were able to see a lot of their favorites from the Disney channel: Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and My Friends Tigger and Pooh characters were all there. After that are pics from our favorite rides from California Adventure. The Grizzly River Run, Toy Story Mania, Soarin' over California and California Screamin' were definitely list toppers! We did wish we would have had one more day here because we missed the Tower of Terror, Crush the Turtle(from Finding Nemo) and Monsters Inc...
Day 4 (evening): Once the kids had enough fun at California Adventure, we took off to McDonalds for a late lunch, and then headed to the beach. We were slow, so we didn't get there until about 5:00 but it was SOOO beautiful! Unfortunately, it got chilly real fast, so we only got in about an hour, but we survived. At least I can say my kids have seen the ocean now. :) After body surfing, building sand castles and lots of shell collecting, we drug our weary bodies back to the hotel. Poor little Mia was completely exhausted, but happy, as she fell asleep on the bed in the hotel for the last time on the trip.
Day 5: Thursday morning we slept in. It was really nice because our hotel had two separate rooms. The kids had a T.V. in their room so Kirt and I didn't hear them at all when they got up to watch T.V. About 9:00 checked out of the hotel, headed to Denny's to eat a late breakfast and hit the road. The trip home was a lot nicer because there was no traffic and the kids were BEAT so they slept a lot! We stopped in Primm to eat our PB&J again and did a little shopping at the outlets. We found a darling swimsuit and coverup for Mia. The boys made out with zilch. Such is life when there's an only girl in the fam. I decided that she totally deserved it because she rode on EVERYTHING they wanted to. Every roller coaster, every boy ride, you name it. She didn't even complain. She didn't love the roller coasters, but she'd ride it and afterwards she'd say "I don't think I like that ride." (Matterhorn especially!)
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip. We've decided that no diapers, naps and sippy cups is the ONLY way to go. :) This is our first big trip not having any of those things and we really loved it. Thanks for reading...sorry it's a book!
