Disneyland

For those that know me, you know I LOVE to take pictures. Imagine the difficulty I had in narrowing down the pictures Disneyland to 37! This will be a long post, with lots of pictures :)

We set out driving to Disneyland on Sunday, November 14. We drove half way to Mesquite, and stayed at my parents place. The kids travelled really well and much to our surprise, the fighting was non-existent! We got a few hours of sleep and headed out early the next morning. The kids were so excited to finally get to the park!

DISNEYLAND

The park looked so pretty all decorated for Christmas. They even had "snow" after the fireworks each night.

KATE

Some will say that Kate was too young, that she will never remember the trip. I agree, she won't, but I will always remember how much fun she had. I will remember how many times she wanted to go on the Winnie the Pooh ride, and how her face lit up while watching the parade.

TYLER

Tyler loved the roller coasters. He drug Travis and I on California Screamin' until we were both too sick to ride any more times. He loved watching Emily get soaked on Splash Mountain and enjoyed taking Kate on several rides. Especially Winnie the Pooh and Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. He still hated Pirates of the Caribbean, but was a good enough sport to ride it several times with his eyes closed tightly. He is grateful that he was sitting by mom, instead of dad. You'll find out why in Emily's section. His favorites were Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Soaring Over California, California Screaming and Monster's, Inc. His ultimate favorite ride was Tower of Terror. Mom's screaming didn't even embarrass him.

EMILY

Emily's favorites were Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain. She has always hated Pirates of the Caribbean, but after her dad literally held her eyes open during the ride, she discovered that it wasn't that bad, and that she actually enjoyed it. A few more of her favorites: Finding Nemo, Space Mountain, making her dad sick on the Tea Cups, Toy Story Mania, California Screamin' and Winnie the Pooh. Oh, I forgot to mention, no trip to Disneyland is complete without a caramel, chocolate covered pretzel from Pooh Corner. Emily especially enjoyed this delicious treat! I know she would have loved Tower of Terror, but she wasn't quite sure she wanted to be that brave this year. She also wanted me to add that she is a bit like her mom, we both HATE the ferris wheel.

GAVIN

Gavin was a funny little guy. He was a bit surprising for someone who is usually so brave and daring. He HATED Splash Mountain, The Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Travis took the kids on Thunder Mountain Railroad, and he opted to stay with his mom, safely on the ground. However, when it was my turn to ride, he was right by my side saying, "I feel safer with my mom. And if she is going to die on the ride, I am too!" After riding it two or three times, it became one of his favorites. More that he included amongst his favorites were Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story Mania, Winnie the Pooh and Monsters Inc. I would say that Gavin's highlight of the trip was becoming a Jedi in Training. He did such a great job fighting Darth Vader and was quite proud of his certificate.

SMALL WORLD

Do you remember as a child absolutely adoring this ride? I remember wanting to ride it over and over and over again. Ummm, NOT my kids. I took Gavin and Kate, and they were both literally trying to crawl out of the boat. Gavin hated this ride with such a passion that when it was time for us to all go as a family, he flat out refused!!! I don't get it.

TIKI ROOM

Oh, and the Tiki Room? Another one of my childhood favorites. I remember how nice it was to go into a cool room and sit after walking so long, relax and enjoy the birds singing. Once again, NOT my kids. Travis had to take Kate out because she was screaming, and the others acted like they were being tortured. The best part of the Tiki Room? NO, not when it was over. Waiting for the show to start eating pineapple ice cream. YUMMY!!!! Oh, and these darling pictures I took of the kids while we were waiting.

Gavin was thrilled that he wasn't quite tall enough to go on Indiana Jones. Tyler and Emily regret going. They were not too happy that Travis had taken them on that adventure.

This was taken during a parade. I loved their faces. Doesn't it make you wonder what conversation was taking place?

I had never seen the Nightmare Before Christmas. I watched it when we got home. It is actually a pretty good show.

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE

I have never enjoyed California Adventure quite like I did this time. There was no one there. It seemed so relaxing. We could actually let go of the death grip we had on Gavin's hand and let Kate out of her stroller to stretch her legs and walk around by herself. It was so much fun! The kids loved the roller coasters, and I loved watching them have the time of their lives. Bug's Land was awesome! We rode Monsters, Inc. over and over and over again. In fact, that became one of my new favorite rides. We enjoyed eating rice bowls, and especially the World of Color show. It was incredible!

We did get Gavin on Tower of Terror, and he was, well, terrified! As we were getting off the ride, I told him to tell Emily how much fun the ride was and that it wasn't really all that scary. He looked at my face with confusion and asked, "You mean you want me to LIE to her?" Well, I didn't let him lie to his sister and he proceeded to tell her how terrible it was.

We were finally able to find Donald Duck on the last day as we were leaving. Hooray!

This was taken outside of the Muppet Show 3-D movie.

LOOK OUT TYLER!!!!!

We were all surprised that Kate was not terrified of the characters. That is not usually her personality.

Toy Story Mania. This is the ride we waited the longest for. 30 minute wait. The kids did pretty good. As good as 4 excited kids can do! Well worth the wait!

5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

SCREAM!!!!

Santa could not believe how much Gavin has grown this past year. He asked Santa for a Harry Potter Wand. Kate asked for a baby. They have both been really good kids. We'll have to wait and see what Santa has in store for them this year.

Gavin could not wait to take his dad on the bumper cars. He just knew he would love them. Which he did.

I loved this picture of the kids. Look at the smiles on those faces! I love that they're having so much fun!

I loved this bench in Bug's Land. It was made to look like popsicle sticks. How clever.

This was taken at our Character Breakfast. A must if you visit Disneyland!

Exhaustion had finally set in at this point. This picture was taken during our trip back to Mesquite. Our plan had been to leave the park early enough to beat the rush hour traffic. We let the kids pick their favorite things to do one more time before we left, and by the time they rode their favorites and picked out their souveniers, it was 5:30. I'm not sure we ever got over 40 mph on the freeway and we didn't arrive in mesquite until 1:30 a.m. We were very grateful to be in bed that night.

We can't wait to go back in 2012. Definitely the Happiest Place on Earth :)