Our First Disneyland Adventure!

I have way too many pictures to post from our Disneyland trip so I figure it's best to just do a slideshow so you get a feel for our trip- enjoy!

   We arrived in LA on a Saturday, and after hours of a car rental mix up we were finally on our way to Anaheim where we stayed at the Mariott across from Disneyland with Luke's family. We mostly just swam and were able to visit together that first night.

   On Sunday our family went to church, then we went drove towards the beach, took a little ferry, walked around, then later sat around Newport Beach while the kids played in the sand.

   Finally on Monday we went to Disneyland. One thing I learned: Do not lose your child's pass. That made the day much more stressful, but luckily we got it worked out. Oh and another thing I learned: bring good walking shoes. It was a lot to take in the first day but still a lot of fun.

   Tuesday was a really good day. It was our first day at California Adventure and we met Buzz, Lightening, and Mater that day and it was fun to experience all the fun rides and shows. That night we went to a Anaheim Angels game with the whole family.

   Wednesday morning I woke up feeling sick for a few hours but we finally made it back and spent most of the day at California Adventure and saw the Pixar Parade and then the Disney Parade, and the Light Show that night. It was a long day!

   So Thursday we finally took a day of rest at Huntington Beach. It was a nice hot day, and we all got slightly burned. The water was way to cold to go in (though Luke, Kenny, and John went in) but luckily the kids loved playing and relaxing in the sand. That night Jane and Kenny had their new baby Nora blessed so it was nice to get together and do that too.

   Friday was our last day at Disneyland. First we had a character breakfast so we got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Pluto, and Stitch. The kids absolutely loved it! We tried to do everything we hadn't gotten to do yet, along with repeating a few of the kid's favorites until we got too hot and went back to the hotel to swim. We went back that evening for a few extra rides, and I even got talked into doing the Tower of Doom, and even though the ride oddly stopped halfway through and then started over again, it was still fun. And what better way to end our week at Disney then with a fireworks show!

   Overall, the trip was really fun, and yes even magical! It was especially fun to see our kids reactions to everything.

   Jacob's favorite was the Star Tours ride and the Star Wars show. My biggest regret was that we were late (twice!) to get him to participate in the Jedi Training show and fight with Darth Vader but he said he was just glad to watch the show. I felt so bad he missed the opportunity, but I'm glad he was a good sport and was just happy to see all the Star Wars characters.

   Blake's favorite rides were the Toy Story rides where you could ride through and shoot things with the little laser guns. He also really liked the little Tow-Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. I was glad that he was still able to participate in a lot of the rides.

   I enjoyed almost everything, but my favorites were the Soaring California, and the Cars ride was fun too, and Luke liked Splash and Space Mountain.

   We were lucky to be able to go on this trip with Luke's family and that the boys could experience a lot of this with their cousins, and though we were hesitant about taking our kids at this age, we all had a great time! We felt like it wasn't too crowded considering it was the end of April, though it was very hot, but was overall such a fun and magical experience for us all! I'm sure we'll have to go back again someday soon!