Serious Disneyland Addiction

The last 2 times we have taken the kids to Disneyland, we didn't tell them until we were in the car. Steve and I think it is a fun surprise, and we always worry that somebody will end up sick and the trip will be canceled leaving everybody upset. In the past when we have done this, Lyda slept horribly and then had a headache the next day at Disneyland. So this time around we decided to not tell them until the morning of so that she would sleep better. We only told them about the beach plans and left out the Disney details. So dishonest, I know. So the morning arrived, the kids totally thought we were going to walk to the beach, even saw everybody in their Disney gear and had no clue that we were going to Disneyland. Halfway there I mentioned that we had none of our beach stuff with us, hoping that they would begin to question where we were actually going. Lyda almost broke down crying because she wanted our beach stuff. Finally we told them that we were actually going to Disneyland instead of the beach that day. We got some pretty mixed reactions. Lyda initially seemed disappointed, she has become quite fond of the beach. She quickly became excited when it all really hit her, but I really had hoped for a better reaction. And we had to reassure her that we would go to the beach one more time before we left. Kode was sort of confused like he always is and needed to make me aware of what rides he did not want to go on. It is a bad sign when your kids are more nervous about the rides then excited about the rides. We clearly have pushed them on too many rides that scared the pants off of them. When Ruby heard we were going to Disneyland she said, "But I don't want to go on the Peter Pan one." Peter Pan, of all of the rides she has chosen this one to be afraid of. It stems from her first trip. It was the first ride she ever went on and it was too much too quickly. Fortunately she decided to give it a try again and get this, she actually enjoyed it. So from this experience I have decided that I will not surprise our kids with a Disneyland trip ever again. It is way more fun to anticipate the trip and have them be super excited by the time the trip rolls around. And to top it all off, Lyda didn't really sleep well the night before anyway.


So one of the best parts about our trip to Disneyland was that Stephanie joined us again. She is living in Northern CA now and we have decided that Disneyland is a perfect meeting spot every six months or so. Our kids absolutely loves Steph and so do we. I think this is the 3rd trip to Disneyland she's come with us on and frankly it doesn't feel right without her. And it is so fabulous to have one adult per child. We just have fights about who gets to ride with Stephanie, well the kids do anyway. Although, there are some rides that nobody but Steph will ride with me.


We heart Peter Pan!


This picture cracks me up. Seriously considering it for a Christmas card this year. I think everybody knew we were doing something crazy but me. Not that it's the best pic of me, but everybody else seemed to be in on it at least.


It has become a tradition to do a heel click in this spot. In the past it has been me alone, but this year Steph joined me. And she totally owned me.


We usually let our kids get their faces painted on one of the days at Disneyland. I sort of hate it, but they love it. It stains their clothes and honestly I think they are cuter without it. But oh well. Steve tried really hard to talk me into getting mine painted too. And when that failed we offered to pay for Stephanie to get hers painted. No dice. Maybe next time.





Matterhorn! All but one of us loved it. Bet you can't guess who cried the whole way.


On the Jungle Cruise. The piranhas may or may not have startled me. Ruby was certain that the animals were all very real. She is still talking about it.


Exploring Toon Town.








On the second morning we went to eat at the Carnation Cafe. It's a cute little outdoor restaurant that has Mickey shaped waffles. As far as Disney food goes, it was pretty good. But mostly it was a nice atmosphere and good company that made it great.


Yep, I totally took a picture of food.




The Tea Cup ride is not a favorite of us adults. We usually each offer to take pictures while the other 2 go on the ride. After much discussion we all decided to go on the ride. It was quite an ordeal to get all 6 of us on. Poor Steve, just too big. We got some interesting shots on this ride.


We did the super touristy thing and took pictures by the letters of our first names. There was no K for Kode, so he chose I. It made the most sense. Lyda really wanted to pose by the L but was pretty shy about it. Ruby, on the other hand, was posing like a super star. It was hilarious.






This trip we went to the Bugs Life show. This was a first for us and I thought it was a blast. We had 2 kids in tears and 1 hiding her head for almost the whole show. We may have a fear of bugs at our house. The 3D glasses were killer.




How do I not love this face!



We spent 2 wonderful days at Disneyland. It was such a blast. I keep thinking we are going to get tired of this place, but I am always longing to go back. I think I might really be the reason that we go there so much. We played until we crashed and we created some awesome memories together.