COMPUTER IS DOWN!

 Last Day in

Disneyland

We left around 5pm for our road trip home.  The kids rode all of their favorite rides and rode them more than once along with some of other good ones.

Kallie’s favs:  Space Mountain, Alice and Wonderland Ride, The Matterhorn, Muholland Madness, and It’s a Small World

Kallie never admitted to being scared on this ride, just said it was her favorite and went on it more than once, but the picture below was her last time riding it, and I think her face says it all.  Whether she wants to admit it or not!

Isaac’s favs:  California Screamin, Indiana Jones, Soarin’ Over California, and The Matterhorn

Mike went with Jaidyn and Isaac on the Indiana Jones ride while I stayed back with Kallie and Dagen and then we used our switch pass and Isaac and I went.  After Isaac got off the ride he looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, “I got shot.”  All confused, I had no idea what he was talking about until he said, “I got shot in my face, right here, in the ride.  It hurts really bad. (crying a little more).  I tried to hold back my laughter, but I couldn’t.  And that made him cry more and get more angry at me.  (Whenever the kids would ride The Pirates of the Carribean, they would all duck when the canons were being shot off into the water.  They would literally duck down as far as they could, and would miss the whole shooting scene.  We would tell them, “Look guys, you’re missing it.”  And it was the same on the Indiana Jones ride, when air was shooting from the walls to make it seem like darts were being shot out.)  Isaac was thinking he was really being shot at!  I had to explain to him that it was just air and nothing more, but no amount of explaining could convince the kid.  I guess you’d think ANYTHING was possible in such a magical place.

Jaidyn’s favs:  California Screamin’, Star Tours, Peter Pan Ride, and The Matterhorn

I was soooo excited to see this.  I saw Captain EO when I went with my family to Disney World when I was nine.  All I could remember was the evil lady and her long nails coming at me in 3D.  What really surprised me in the end this time is who plays the evil lady.  It was Angelica Huston!

She’s played some pretty scary characters:

Adams Family

Witches

Ever After (wicked stepmother)

There was no wait for most of the rides.  We’d literally run the whole way until we got to where you’d get on the ride.      

This is a favorite of mine.  Mike would totally agree.  You just gotta try the bacon wrapped asparagus.  We can’t leave Disneyland without it.

The kids and I went to the restroom in New Orleans Square and noticed Tiana’s band getting ready in the back alley.  So we waited around a minute or so and out came Princess Tiana. 

We ABSOLUTELY LOVED this family trip to Disneyland.  Here are some things said FREQUENTLY during the trip.

Mike:  “There should be a survivor show for Disneyland.”  “I survived 5 days with 4 kids!”

Me:  “5 days is OVERKILL!  Never again.  3 days is the LIMIT!”

Dagen:  “We going to Disneyland?  We go see Mickey Mouse?” 

Me:  “Dagen, this IS Disneyland.  We’re here baby.  Stop asking me if we can go to Disneyland.  We’re here ALREADY.”

Me:  “It’s WAY EASIER to deal with young crying babies who are hungry and tired, then older kids who are VERY VOCAL, pouty, negative, whiney, and opinionated.”  (the last time we went to Disneyland, Isaac and Jaidyn were 3 and 5 and Kallie was 1.  Kallie was also very quiet and easy as opposed to loud and crazy Dagen).

Isaac:  “Why is this line taking so long!”  (mind you, the longest line he was ever in was 20 min.)

Jaidyn:  “Why does HE get to go again.”

Kallie:  “That’s not fair.”

Isaac, Jaidyn, and Kallie:  “Thank you Mommy and Daddy soooo much for letting us come to Disneyland and all the fun stuff you got us.”

Dagen:  “Nee go pee pee.”

Dagen:  “Nee go poo poo.”

Kallie:  “Is that real?  That’s not real is it, Mommy.”

Isaac:  “I don’t like this food.”

Isaac:  “THAT WAS AWESOME!!!”

Jaidyn:  “I can’t believe we’re here.  I just can’t believe it still.  It’s like a dream come true.”

Isaac:  “That’s not fair.”

Jaidyn:  “I wish we could live here forever and never leave.”

Isaac:  “My legs hurt.  Can I ride in the stroller?  It’s not fair that Kallie gets to ride the whole time.”

Jaidyn:  “How many more day ‘til we have to leave?”

Kallie:  “Are we really in outta space?  Are we really underwater right now, in da sea?  How come Mickey Mouse has such a huge head and ours is small?”

Jaidyn:  “That Tinkerbell TOTALLY looked different than the 1st time we saw her.  Maybe it’s her makeup.  But Mommy, her face looks different.  Like her chin looks different.”

Kallie:  (all tough) “Dat wasn’t scary.”

Mike:  “What ride should we go on next guys?”

Mike:  (manning the cooler) “Who’s thirsty.  Anyone need a drink?”

Me:  “I feel like  I’m a kid here.  I LOVE this place.”

Me:  “I’m so glad the weather’s nice.  Isn’t it nice?”

Mike:  “So glad we came at this time.  There’s NO LINES!”

Me:  “We knew there would be breakdowns and trantrums this trip.  We just have to keep reminding ourselves… this trip is for THEM… not for US.”

Mike:  “This trip is for THEM… not for US.” :)

Mike:  “You already took a picture of this.”

Jaidyn:  “Can we do that ride again, pleeeease?”

…  And even though there was a lot of this:

…And that from the beginning I said, “I know I got a lot of pictures, but all I want is one good family picture in front of the castle,” and the best picture we got was this:

WE LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT.  AND WE HOPE TO NEVER FORGET THE GOOD TIMES IN OUR LIVES. 

LIFE IS GOOD.

A

Memorable

Monday

The kids’ surprise this morning was Disney t-shirts and Disney flip flops.  They were all ready for another fun filled day at Disneyland.  We had reservations at a character breakfast and were all ready and excited to see Mickey and his friends and learn some fun dance moves while there.  If you’ve never been to Surfs Up, I highly recommend it.  Stitch turned out to be all the kids’ favorite character this trip.  He was one funny guy and played with the kids a ton at our table.

Every 15 minutes or so, the characters would call up the kids to come up and learn a few dance moves.  It made breakfast, that much more fun.

 

I found a map in California Adventure showing all the new rides coming soon.  It shows a Pixar Cars ride and an Ariel ride being built soon.  In fact, when we walked by the sites, they were already working on them.

 

Here’s another new family Disneyland tradition we started this trip.  We bought a pressed coin book for $7 and asked the guest services for a list of all pressed coin locations throughout both parks.  The kids really looked forward to seeing what designs were outside each ride or in each shop.  There were 4 sections in the book so we divided it up so each of our kids had their own section.

 

She may be just like her mama someday… taking snapshots of all the fun times.

She kept asking me to take pictures of her doing different poses and faces.  She is so funny!

She stuck this tissue in and said, “Take a picture, Mommy.”

Here is a little bonding moment.  Actually, if you look closely, you’ll see that Mike is teaching our daughter how to shoot spit wads at her mother.  Hmmm.

Mike has a handshake for Jaidyn and for Isaac.  They love doing this with Daddy.

Here are some pics I took of Mike and Isaac the first day in Disneyland.

Here is the pin Isaac and Mike decided on together.  This was one of Isaac’s most favorite ride.

And Mike just couldn’t resist getting this Tower of Terror pin ‘cause he was so proud the kids all went on Tower of Terror and loved it.

 

Do you see some sort of similarity here.  I love Isaac’s new smile. 

Here is where after telling Isaac over and over again, NOT to bite his sucker, that he bit it and made a tooth loose that wasn’t loose before.  He was freaking out because it was bleeding. 

Mommys always know best, Isaac.

Locked up kids.  No more craziness from you guys!

Here’s Dagen, so happy to be tall enough to ride the Goofys Go Coaster Ride.  She went again and again and again.

The Lego store was a good ending to a long fun day.

Along with breakfast for dinner.  Mmmmmm.  The kids were so tired they fell asleep with their heads next to their half eaten plates of food.  Really.  They were gonners.  All of them!