We finally had our family vacation last week to Disneyland and had a fabulous time! We've been promising the kids that we would go when they were 7 and 12, but didn't actually make it there until they were 8 and 13, so they had to wait an extra year. But we finally made it and it was such a lovely time. The kids were so well-behaved and patient for all of that 12-14 hour drive (with all the potty and meal breaks)! Even my little Kitty, who is only 2, was such a trooper! It was only as we were pulling into Las Vegas, after being in the car for 6 hours, that she said, "I want to go home." Fortunately my sister-in-law lives in Vegas, so we were able to stay at her house for the night. My SIL has such a neat family. It was really good to see her and her new home. She also has a pool, so my kids LOVED playing in that before we hopped in the car for the rest of the trip.
Then it was on to the magical world of Disney! Ray-Ray just kept saying, "I can't believe we are finally here!" Too cute! And Kitty really enjoyed Sleeping Beauty's castle and It's a Small World. We were a bit disappointed because the princesses are no longer out walking around the park. You have to go to a place where they are all standing together (behind a wall where you can't see them unless you stand in line) and the line to see them was about 2 hours long! We finally got to shake Cinderella's hand as she left the building to go on her break. But Kitty didn't seem to care much. She liked seeing Pooh Bear and Tigger! We all know that Ray-Ray is my adventurous child and sure enough, she rode all of the roller coasters with us. She was a lot of fun to ride with and I was impressed that she dared ride on the big ones, like Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Snorr and Ray-Ray rode Space Mountain with me (and Ray-Ray rode again with the Mulk), but that was enough coaster riding for Snorr and so he was a good big brother and stayed with Kitty while the rest of us went on the other coasters.
We also had a day at the beach and that was so nice! Kitty liked putting her feet in the waves, but eventually she was content with playing in the sand for a few hours. The Mulk, Snorr, and Ray-Ray all played in the waves the whole time. They loved trying to stand up to the waves and seeing if they would get knocked down. The Mulk had a blast "riding" the waves as they would come in. And Kitty and I had a lot of fun burying the Mulk with sand when he came in for a break. I just loved spending quality time with my family! The first few days I found myself smiling so much that my face started hurting!
Some cute things the kids did or said: Kitty got some little Princess figurines as her souvenier and so all the way home she would pull out Maleficent, the witch, and Sleeping Beauty and the spinning wheel and she would say, "Touch the spinning wheel, touch the spinning wheel" over and over in this "witchy" voice. Too funny! Another time, we had told the kids we didn't want to visit Mickey Mouse at his house because it is a terribly long line, so we were just going to have to see him as he walked by in the parade. Well, one night as we were leaving the park, Snorr said that he wished we could see Mickey because Mickey is the epitome of Disneyland. I felt bad for him, but still wasn't willing to wait in the long line (I'm such a mean mom), but then as we rounded the corner there stood Mickey signing autographs! I was really happy for Snorr and he was excited. Too cute!
Such a fabulous time that we had! I'm sad that it had to end and that we had to come back to the real world. But I'm so grateful for the memories of that trip!
