disney details

Saturday was full of last minute details, final packing, getting food ready for the car, Ryan realizes his laptop isn't working so hurries in to work to find someone to help him (or basically we can't go on our trip), which leaves me to pack up the car. I also really like to leave the house in semi-order so I'm not coming home to a mess but I didn't really have time for that. Oh well. We ended up picking Ryan up from work and getting on the road right when we wanted to so it all worked out.

The drive went pretty smoothly with the kids. We only stopped for gas, to change drivers, and for a bathroom break once so that was ideal.

My greatest idea? I went to the dollar store and bought a few little things for each kid that I wrapped. When someone was having a meltdown I would say "Time for a present!" and they would unwrap something to eat or entertain them for a little while. Austin loved his cheap little plastic Ninja guys, Mia loved the stickers, and Mady loved her plastic baby doll (who's arms and head popped off before we made it back home. Oh well. It entertained her long enough to get the dollar's worth out of it!)

We made it to Vegas and Ryan promptly set up a work station and got to it while I took the kids down to the hot tub to play with cousins and family for awhile. We were most worried about our kids all sleeping in the same room and surprisingly that went really smoothly each night. I guess if you are tired enough you can fall asleep anywhere.







Sunday we made the rest of the drive to Cali, stopping outside Anaheim to visit with one of Ryan's mission companions and his wife. It was so great to see them and let the kids run around outside for awhile. There was a wood-chip playground and Mia would throw the wood chips up onto her head. The kids were filthy by the time we left. Mia was deliriously tired and fell asleep within 30 seconds of getting back in the car.

Our hotel was directly across the street from the gates of Disneyland. The room was nothing to write home about (as basic as they come) but the location made it worth it. My first meal in the hotel - chinese chicken salad with french bread - was a success.



Monday was our first day at Disneyland!

The kids were so excited. We went straight to Fantasyland and our first ride was Snow White's Scary Adventure. Bad idea. Those little-kid rides in Fantasyland are kind of freaky. The kids didn't like them at all because they were dark and scary and so they basically cried the whole time. This meant that we had a HUGE obstacle when going on any other ride with them because they thought they were all going to be scary. We did find a few that they liked - the jungle cruise, the carousel, a small world (for the most part). Austin loved the rocket ride that spins you around around in Tomorrow Land. He was giggling the whole time! Ryan took Mady on the roller coaster in Toon Town and she did great for awhile and even had her hands up in the air but then started to cry pretty hard.







We got to see my aunt and uncle and kids for a little bit before it started raining. We were not prepared for the rain so we ended up going back to the hotel in the early afternoon. We ate an early dinner (sloppy joe's heating up in the crockpot all morning while we were gone) and then put our kids in bed. The weather had cleared up a bit so Ryan's parents stayed with the kids (we had adjoining rooms which was really great) while we went back to the park.



We met up with the rest of his family in California Adventure and Ryan made me go on the Screamin' California roller coaster with him. I am not a roller coaster person. Yes, I have been on them, but I don't love it. And since having kids I am even more of a cautious person then I once was. I was so so nervous, so nervous that I couldn't even scream or breath. But I survived. And then he made me go on it again. I felt pretty sick afterwards.

On Tuesday we used our magic morning to go early and jump straight in line for Peter Pan. Mady was most excited for that ride and it always has the longest lines. She liked it ok, but was pretty nervous. Mia just burrowed into my shoulder and was scared the whole time. We decided to jump in line to see the Princess' for Mady and my cousin's family joined up with us who just happened to be there. His triplet girls were so cute with Mady and it made waiting in line for WAY too long worth it. Mady got one-on-one time with the princess and was in heaven. Mia would even walk up to the Princess' and give them hugs.







Then we met up with Ry's family in California Adventure and they loved it. The Ariel ride, Toy Story, Bugs Life land, Monster's Inc...pretty much everything they went on. It was fun to see them so happy and loving everything. Ryan wanted me to "face my fears" once again and took me on the Tower of Terror. I can honestly say that I thought I was going to die and had no control over my reaction: I started sobbing and convulsing. I couldn't tell if I was going up or down. I hated it and have a hard time understanding why anyone would do that for fun. Rollercoaster's I can see. But not that. I wanted to take Mady and Austin to the Aladdin show so Ryan took Mia home and got dinner ready while we went. It was quite the production. Mady was really sad that Abu wasn't in it and she didn't think that Jasmine looked the same, but they both loved it.








For dinner we had Hawaiian Haystacks which was my favorite meal of the trip. We had wanted to take the kids back over to the parade but Mia was super cranky and Ryan had a headache. We almost threw in the towel but Mady really wanted to go, so I pushed Mad and Aus in the stroller and braved the crowds to find a spot. I'm so glad we did because the parade was so fun. The floats were awesome, the dancing was fun, and there were a lot of princess' and people that Mady was really excited to see. She would say "she blew me a kiss! She was waving to me!" with each princess. Adorable.

We were hoping to stay until Saturday with the rest of Ryan's family but work was piling up for Ryan (even though he was working every night and on his phone throughout the day) so we decided to leave Thursday.

That meant Wednesday we needed to go to Disneyland again. I wouldn't recommend going to Disneyland 3 days in a row because we were all pretty exhausted. It didn't help that Wednesday was "Leap Day" and Disneyland was open for 24 hours straight. It made for more crowds then usual. I took the kids on the carousel while Ryan got us tickets to the World of Color show for that night. Mady and Austin loved the carousel but Mia wasn't too sure. Then we went on a few rides we had missed the first time around in Disneyland. Ryan convinced Mady to go on the Thunder Mountain Railroad with him. He told her that if she was brave he would buy her a special prize and she didn't even cry once! For her special prize she wanted: cotton candy. We tried to tell her she could have a stuffed animal, a princess crown and she chose cotton candy. I guess she knew what she wanted!







While she was eating her cotton candy we stopped on a bench and had our pictures taken by the Disneyland Facebook crew.




Then we went back to California Adventure to do our favorite rides again. Ryan took Mady on Soarin' over California and she loved it! We went out to dinner with Ryan's family at Cheesecake Factory and decided to put our exhausted kids in bed instead of braving the crowds for the Color show. Ryan's parents offered to watch the kids for us so we could go, so we got to see the famed World of Color. Think Bellagio fountains with disney movies incorporated, colors, and 45 minutes long. It was very amazing and spectacular but was a little long for us.


Thursday we drove all the way home. Our kids were amazing (Mia had a few meltdowns) but we made it back home safely.

Things to remember for next time:

-presents for the kids for any long road trip is an awesome idea.
-taking frozen dinners was an awesome idea. Cooking for everyone was a little stressful, but it was nice to not have to worry about where to eat or taking cranky kids to restaurants.
-3 days at disneyland in a row is too many.
-next time we go to disneyland we will wait until our youngest is at least 4 and our kids are more independent. They were a little young to love it as much as we thought they would.
- I am my father's daughter. I don't love crowds. I don't love roller coasters.
- vacations with children are never relaxing. They can be fun, yes, but not relaxing.
- know your kids well enough to realize what they will like, what they can handle. Start somewhere small and work up to scarier. By the end of the trip Mady was so much braver then the beginning!