Disneyland- Day 4

Our last day we headed back to Disneyland.  Being right at 42 inches high, this little monkey LOVED all the fast rides this gave her access to.  Her first time on Space Mountain, she was riding with her arms up and yelling, "This...is...awesome!"  Love her.

She thought she was pretty funny walking behind a storm trooper!  Apparently, so did the guys in line for Star Tours.

 Exploring Tarzan's Tree House while the boys went on Indy again.

 Vallie and Celia met us one more time for a few hours.  So fun to share Disney with friends!

Ryn and I love the Broadway-style shows!

I wish I had a gigantic "Pirates Island" in my backyard.  The kids could spend hours here.

We did ToonTown in the evening, waiting way too long for Roger Rabbit's ride, but got to take a few trips on the Go-Coaster.

And once again, this post is absent of a picture of our family in front of the castle during the day.  Will it ever happen?  

So blessed for the special memories.

Hotel Day- Day 3

We had planned in a "day of rest" in our trip to just explore and swim.  We headed over to Downtown Disney in the morning.  The ever-nostalgic Jill enjoyed the memories of the time we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and Jacob's star that he ran through every time we passed it.

After being at Legoland, the Lego Store seemed even more impressive.

We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (but found out they took my favorite item off the menu) and then headed to our hotel for a day of swimming.  We stayed at the Howard Johnson because of the small water park.  Between the big pool and the play area, the kids were entertained for hours.  The Polks came and joined us again for a few hours of semi-warm fun.

Disneyland (California Adventure)- Day 2

We headed to California Adventure for day 2 and started the day with having to stand in line to get fast passes for the Radiator Springs Racers (Cars), the newest ride that has been open for about 2 years!  The line wound half way around the park, but was well worth it.  I got the fast passes while the rest of the fam went to get in line for Toy Story.  The past couple of times we have been to DCA, we have not been able to go on Toy Story, either for refurbishment, timing... you name it!  This was a goal and was tons of fun.

Disney's forced perspective is amazing.  This was one entrance to CarsLand.  It looks like a vast canyon, though you know it is only about the size of a grocery store parking lot.  The new ride was a nice, then fast, ride through "the canyon" while racing other guests.

The Polks joined us for part of the day.  Celia and Ryn are two-peas-in-a-pod!

Being chilly for California, there was no wait for Grizzly River Run.  The whole crew  (minus me...only 8 seats) did this 3 times in a row.  Good thing we had those Legoland ponchos!

The Polks had not experienced Radiator Springs yet, so we queued our way through the line.

 What do you do with an hour wait and little kids?  Sing and dance silly songs!

The nighttime ride was beautiful!

The one ride we missed out on was Soarin' Over California.  Due to the fast passes being out, a temporary break down of the ride, and running from the far end of the park 8 minutes to closing through show traffic, we rounded the corner to entrance 10 seconds too late to see the cast member closing the doors.  It was a surreal moment.  But the kids handled it well and we headed to the hotel for a little night swimming before bed.

Disneyland Day 1

I am so glad that my husband has finally turned into a Disneyfanatic!  It was his big mouth that told the kids, "If we sell the house, we'll go to Disneyland!"

This was a great trip.  It was the first time that all 5 of us could go on most rides together.  Also, Jacob decided to be brave and at least try every ride once.  He ended up going on everything a couple times!

Jackson practiced his skill of hiding behind pillars in the exit of Indiana Jones and scaring people.

Kathryn is a thrill seeker!  She loved "The big rides".

Marcus loves seeing Mary Poppins.  It wouldn't be a Disney trip without him saying, "Mary Poppins! Mary Poppins!"

The line to meet Elsa and Anna from Frozen was an average 3 hour wait.  Luckily, Ryn was fine not wasting her whole day and settled with periodically checking in on Olaf, whether he was either awake or napping.

Legoland

In late February, we took a trip to California.  We decided this would be the last time age-wise that our kids might enjoy Legoland.  Since Jackson is a Lego-freak and the rides are mainly geared towards younger kids, we made it happen.  We stayed with my kind-of-cousins, the McKinleys, and they joined us for the day.

Being the Disney fans that we are, we much prefer Anaheim, but we are also glad we got to experience Legoland.  The truly amazing thing is how almost EVERYTHING is made of Legos.  That is the best part. 

A few minutes before they opened the gates, God opened the clouds!  It POURED for about 15 minutes and then rained for another hour or so.  We are now the proud owners of 3 overly-priced ponchos!  But...because of the rain, and being in February, there was no wait for any ride.  We were thankful for that.

Winner for the best ride...these pirate ships slowly move around a track while the kids shoot (and get shot) by the water cannons.  They can also shoot the watching crowd of parents, which can also shoot back with cannons along the edge.  They girls wore their ponchos and hunkered down the whole time, shooting blindly.

My favorite part was "Miniature Land".  They had major US city replicas built and different lands from the Star Wars movies.