Disneyland!

Ok so lots of pictures. So I hope you enjoy and I will explain things as we go.

Front gates of Disneyland. Ok actually this picture was taken much later but since we were at Disneyland thought it was only fitting that we start with the front entrance to the main park. No worries though the rest are in sequential order.

First morning at Disneyland watching everything quietly get set up. In fact I believe this was the most peaceful time at Disneyland. I actually made the pajamas. Should be pretty obvious since the front of her nightgown is upside down oops. Also the K for KaChow is not very pretty. despite those mistakes they turned out cute.

Here is what they are looking at. This is the view from our room.

After we ate breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa we entered California Adventure through the hotels own entrance into the park which allowed us to ride Soarin' Over California before most park patrons could even enter the park unless you stayed at The Grand Californian. Here is our little girl coming off the ride with Grandma and Grandpa.

We decided that we wanted to head to Disneyland and do some stuff there. Here we ran into the Mad Hatter and Alice. So of coarse we needed to get a picture and an autograph.

Then we all got together for a big group photo with Halloween Goofy.

After we had a moment to hang with some "Stars" we walked to the Tiki Room and watched the show. My daughter said it was too loud. But my son seemed mesmerized. Then we headed to The Haunted Mansion. They switched it up for Halloween and had Jack Skeleton and friends take over. I'll be honest I loved the old classic look better. It was still fun.

Then we headed to The Haunted Mansion. They switched it up for Halloween and had Jack Skeleton and friends take over. I'll be honest I loved the old classic look better. It was still fun. I had actually showed my daughter the ride through I found on youtube to see if it was something she would want to ride. This was the first thing she wanted to ride. She rode with Grandma and Grandpa while the little guy rode with mommy and daddy. She apparently told them that she wasn't scared. They laughed and told us that she hid her face the whole time. She is my brave little girl.

While Grandma, My daughter and I went on Splash Mountain, the little guy got to meet Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too. From what I am told he didn't seem too impressed with them. But when he saw Eyeore he ran up to him and gave him a hug. The moment was too quick for daddy to catch a picture though.

We then ate lunch and came back to ride the Winnie the Pooh ride twice. Then we checked out the back side of water on the Jungle cruise and next My husband and I got a chance to leave the kids with Grandpa and they played on Tarzan's Tree house(Swiss Family Robinson Tree house) while we rode the Indiana Jones ride. It seems so rare to get moments to do things just me and my husband it was nice and very appreciated.

After this we rode the train around the park. Got a Mint Julip at the Mint Julip Bar. Thirst quenching and refreshing and cooling all at the same time. Then we hopped back onto the train and headed to Toon Town. Here we rode the crazy Taxi ride and my son had a ball pretending to drive. And yes I remember sunscreen for my kids but not me and I am very sunburned.

Next we visited Minnie Mouse. Minnie was so cute with my son. She just kissed him and kissed him. And he just ate up being hugged by her. My daughter was in heaven and loved getting another autograph. So my husband told me to get in the picture.

Outside Minnie's house is Snow White's wishing well. So my kids made a wish. I told them not to tell me. I want all their wishes to come true.

Next we went through Micky's house and just before we saw Mickey my daughter had to go potty so we saw a glimpse of him as we hurried to find the bathroom. So we then rode Gadget's Go Coaster. My daughter insisted riding it twice but once was plenty for my son. So I took him to Donald Ducks boat and Daddy stayed with her. Here he is steering Donald's boat.

Grandma and Grandpa caught back up with us at Goofy's house and we headed to the Matterhorn. Which my son loved and so when he said again we rode it twice and took the other line for the second track. Then the kids got some mouse ears with their names on them. This is the first time my son happily wore a hat. He loves his ears. Next we rode the teacups and Alice and Wonderland. Grandma and Grandpa watched the little guy and the parade. My husband daughter and I went to Big Thunder Railroad and rode that during the parade.

Then we found our son and Grandma and Grandpa and went to dinner at Tortilla Jo's. The kids got a Ariel and Lightening McQueen Balloon Animal. And then we went back to our rooms and rested for the night. Here they are the next morning showing off their Balloon Animals/Creations ready to get dressed and meet Grandma and Grandpa for another day at Disneyland.

Grandma and our princess waiting for the Snow White ride.

Looking at the toys.

Two cute kids waiting to ride King Arther's Carousel.

Trying to test their strength and pull the Sword from the Stone.

Mr Toads Wild Ride to Nowhere in Particular. Although they are together on this car she got to drive Grandma and he got to drive mommy.

Here we are sitting on Little Casey's Train from Dumbo. Trains make my son very happy.

So my husband caught up with us after the Train ride after checking out of the hotel room and making sure all the stuff we had plus work stuff was safely stored. So we finished up Fantasyland with Dumbo and Storybook boats. Then Grandma and Grandpa rode rides with our son while we took our daughter to ride Star Tours. My husband had a run in with a Storm Trooper.

So fashionable!

Then we rode Ghost Galaxy which was a little scary for me let alone my daughter. Once again like the classic old ride better. Then we met Grandma, Grandpa and our son and rode Buzz Lightyear. Which my son loved. He got to shoot things, that is always cool. They even took a picture for us. However the one with me and my son didn't work.
Next we parted with Grandma and Grandpa so they could ride Star Tours and we went on the rockets. I think my Sons favorite land was Tomorrowland. Next we saw Gepetto and it was my husbands turn to be in the picture with the kids while I rested my feet.

Grandma and Grandpa met us on the way to Lunch at Ariel's Grotto. The food was delicious. Although the seating was not the best in the middle of the afternoon. However it was great for a Princess loving little girl who got extra attention. Where we were at was great for pictures and great for twirling and dancing. Here she is being received By Ariel herself. We dressed her in her belle dress to meet the princesses. In all honesty it spent a lot of time in the backpack but that was to keep it as nice as possible. I spent a lot of time on that dress. She had debated between Cinderella and Belle. Although she is on an Ariel kick lately but I didn't know how to make an Ariel dress and didn't want to dress her as the mermaid. I know I am a stick in the mud.

While we ate Aurora came. This was my daughters first favorite princess.

Belle is the princess My daughter has loved the longest.

She was thrilled to see Snow White and tell her that she saw her on TV the night before telling a bedtime story about Snow White.

Cinderella was the Princess my daughter almost chose to be but decided to stick with Belle. We have spent many hours watching Cinderella as well as Beauty and the Beast. If you wondered why there is no pictures of my son. Well I don't know. He was asleep and with all the pictures of princesses and eating I forgot to document that with a picture.

Now this ride was maybe my favorite. After we finished eat at Ariel's Grotto we checked out her ride. For a tired sunburned mommy the gust of air to make you feel like you were going under water was a breath of fresh air. And there was virtually no line. So we rode it a few times while my son slept and my daughter wanted to keep riding it. Who was I to tell her no?.

After Ariel's ride we said good bye to Grandma and Grandpa and they headed to San Diego. We checked out California Adventure Park and saw Lightening and Mater. My son was excited. My daughter not so excited. She refused to have a picture with them. I guess this makes up for all the princess ones without him. No. Well I thought I would put it out there.

Next we headed to Bugs Land and they wouldn't let us in because they were closing it for a private party. I am guessing someone with A LOT of money. So then we rode Monster's Inc just so it could break halfway through the ride. So we walked back out the ride. I also learned around this time that you are not allowed to walk around Disney property(inside or outside) barefoot no matter how bad your feet hurt while wearing shoes. Hmm learn things everyday. So we headed back to Disneyland and got this picture. I was hoping for more of the Mickey face but the "Professional Picture Taker on Hand" I think was going more for the Main Entrance. Ya well I tried.

So we hopped on the Train and rode it to Toon Town next to It's a Small World.

Went on It's a Small World. Then hopped back on the train.

Got off in Tomorrowland and found out our kids are crazy drivers.

And then we rode the Submarines which is more entertaining as a Little Nemo ride. Enjoyed Buzz Lightyear once more since my son was begging to go on once more and there was no line.

And finally called it a day. We then left Disneyland and headed to San Diego. Where we would meet back up with Grandma and Grandpa and My husband would spend most of his time in Meetings making money to pay our bills when we got home. But I will save that part of our trip for the nest blog post. Since this one is plenty long enough.

On the way to Disneyland................

So like last year's Annual meeting I am going to have to break this up since I have a weeks worth of pictures and breaking it up makes it easy for you to follow and me to blog. Well mostly me to blog but hopefully it is also easier to follow as well. I will start with our drive there and just explain as I go.

We stayed the first night at my sisters house to cut an hour of driving off of our time. So this is the start of our trip at a Wendy's getting some lunch and heading out. My husband is so good to let me take a picture of him eating to document this.

Below the kids are doing their favorite car activities while driving. I had made both of them a flannel board with Disney characters out of a dollar store cookie sheet that also functioned as a hard surface for them to color on and do puzzles. However puzzles did not work so well still. Maybe I will make flannel puzzle pieces the next time we go on a trip. My daughter did the crafty things and my son played with his flannel board and toy cars the whole way.

Here is what we mostly saw of Vegas on our way. We actually did stop in North Vegas and went to an IHOP for Dinner. It was a great chance to get out of the car and stretch our legs have a potty break and have something somewhat healthy that the kids love to eat.

We stopped in Barstow for the night a couple hours away from Disneyland. So here is the first hotel we stayed at on our trip. We stayed at the Comfort Suites and we were not disappointed. The rooms were spacious and bed were comfortable. My daughter and I went to the pool for a little bit to work off some energy before it closed.

We had a late check out and went to church before we packed up and left. Here we are after church packing up and the kids being oh so "helpful". At least they are cute!

Since it was Sunday and we had time we though it would be fun to stop at a few temples that were not too far out of our way. The first one we stopped at was the Redlands Temple. We were surprised how small it was and that the entrance was actually through the stake center parking lot next to it. We didn't have too much a chance to walk around the grounds since 1)The gates were closed and 2)Our kids were asleep.
I kind of have a lot of pictures of this next temple. Our kids were awake and the grounds were open for us to walk around. We actually ran into another couple who didn't live to far from us and were on their way to Disneyland as well. So they took a picture of our whole family for us. Newport Beach Temple was also beautiful.
Here's a few of the flowers. The flowers were amazing as well.
Something funny. My daughter in the car while at this Temple Said," Um Daddy I think you forgot something......." Daddy asks,"oh ya what is that"? Daughter replies,"Dis-ney-laaaaaaand". What can I say she knew where she thought we should be.

Dentist Appointment

Ok so my sons first dentist appointment was over 6 months ago but last month he was more willing to let the dentist see into his mouth and officially got his teeth checked and cleaned for the first time. I love the dentist we go to. He talks to our kids and finds out their interests and uses that to help them be comfortable while he checks their teeth. So here is my brave little boy being so good. He was very excited to pick his own toothbrush. He got 2 a spin brush for fun with wolverine on it and a regular kids one for mommy and daddy to brush his teeth with that had a Cars character on it.