Disneyland!!!

The morning after Thanksgiving we packed our van as full as we could and headed for the Golden State. Jenn and her family left that morning as well and we met up on I-15 at the same time - pretty remarkable considering they were coming from Kaysville. We decided to break up the drive and we spent that first night in Las Vegas. After checking into our hotel we went to dinner at Applebee's and then took the kids to the strip to see M&M World. After brief tours of all 4 levels and numerous comments from the girls about how immodestly people were dressed, we (the 4 adults) carried two sleeping babies, pushed a wheelchair, and tag teamed 3 little girls back to our room to all collapse in our beds. The next morning we got packed up again and finished our drive to Anaheim. We pretty much went straight to Downtown Disney to have lunch at ESPN Zone ... and watch the BYU/UTAH game. It wasn't the most enjoyable game we've seen - one, neither team played well, and two, we watched it with a bunch of Y fans. But hallelejuh! The U won. I know Ryan and Sam would have loved to have the Cougars win, but I sure would have had one grumpy husband if the U hadn't blocked that field goal.
After the game was over we walked over to World of Disney to check out all the fun toys. Emily and Sara played with everything in sight, Grace found all the Minnie Mouse's, and Jacob loved everything we'd let him get into.

We stayed in a 3 bedroom Worldmark condo - very nice and so the way to travel. The kids had a blast together. Jacob and Emily both loved having other kids around to play with. And of course Sara & Emily were thrilled to have so many 'sleepovers'.

Hanging out at the condo

Sunday we had a lazy day and then went over to Balboa Pier and met up with one of Jeff's friends from Pi. We had shakes at Ruby's Diner and watched the sunset. It was freezing cold and really windy so we were grateful we could sit indoors.

Monday morning we headed over for our first day of Disneyland. Right off the bat we ran into Bert & Mary Poppins. Then we rode the carosel, gave a good tug on the sword in the stone, saw the castle, met Ariel (definitely the highlight for Sara & Emily), I rode Dumbo for the first time (and so did the kids), met Buzz Lightyear and a whole bunch of other things. Dinner back at the condo was very welcome - for our sore feet, cranky kids who just needed to freely run around, and our wallets.

Emily (and especially Sara) had to play with the toys whenever we stepped into a shop - above you can see they lined up all the Jesse and Woody dolls.

Jacob just wanted to run!

Grace LOVED Minnie Mouse

Messing around in Toon Town. Jacob loved pushing all the buttons in the post office.

We saw the Christmas Parade that first night and thanks to Jeff's quick thinking we had great seats. While we were waiting for the parade to start they lit up Small World. It was beautiful and so fun to see it as it turned on. In the parade we saw Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Donald, Chip & Dale, Tigger & Pooh, the 7 Dwarfs, Buzz & Woody, all the princes and princesses, and of course Santa. The kids all loved it. Disney sure knows how to put on a show.

Tuesday morning Jenn, Sara, Ally, Jeff, Emily, Jacob, and I all went to Ariel's Grotto for Breakfast with the Princesses. It was very pricey, but great food and Emily loved seeing all the princesses. We saw Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, and Mulan.

We then met up with Ryan, Sam, Grace and my parents and brothers who had just flown in. We spent the day in California Adventure seeing Pluto, Donald, Mickey, Chip & Dale, Jesse, Woody, and of course riding rides.

Wednesday the rest of my family went to Knott's Berry Farm, but we opted for the extra day of Disneyland. It was fun to go at our own pace and to have Emily's full attention that day. Her and Sara are inseparable. We got to see Tigger and Pooh, wait in line forever to see Jasmine, Tiana, and Snow White, ride Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, and Splash Mountain.

The kids loved playing with all the 'treasure'. Jacob loved the sword, but didn't like being Jack Sparrow with dad.

Jacob really didn't care about standing in line so Jeff took him off to play while we waited for all the princesses. But he did seem to enjoy actually meeting them. Snow White and Cinderella seemed to be his favorite.

More hanging around the condo - dressing up, playing in the pool, etc.

Within two minutes of sitting in the hot tub Jacob passed out on me. After snuggling for a few minutes we went up and got ready for bed.

Thursday we met up with Lighting and Mater, then went over to Disneyland for some more characters and rides.

After standing in lines forever, we finally saw Tinkerbell and Rapunzel.

Thursday night we stayed late to see World of Color. SOOOO worth it. As Jeff said after, it's amazing what you can do with lights, water... and a few million dollars. All the little kids passed out at the end (or during). Because we didn't want to wake them up to load on the shuttle, Jeff and I just walked back to the condo, quickly changed into PJ's and slipped the kids in bed. It was the fastest and easiest bedtime we had.

Friday we all kind of did our own thing and everyone tried to hit all the last things they hadn't yet done or wanted to do again. We went on the Nemo ride (really fun and I would say worth the wait - both kids enjoyed it), Buzz Lightyear again, drove the cars a few times, and due to a cranky 1 year old (and his exhausted and emotional mother) we called it an early night, went home and ordered pizza.

The next morning we packed everything up and loaded the cars and were on the road by 9am. Jenn and Ryan decided to brave the long trek in one day and took off. We made decent time, but still decided to stop in St. George. After dinner at IHOP we crashed and got up the next morning to finish our drive home.

Jacob & Grace had so much fun climbing around on the luggage carts... until he got stuck.

It was a very fun, very expensive, very exhausting trip. But we are so glad we did it. I love all the magic of Disney and having Emily experience that for the first time was memorable. Thanks mom & dad for coming and for the use of the condo. Thanks Jenn for sharing in all the planning. And thanks Jeff for all your help during that l-o-n-g week. And yes, I agree - we need a vacation.