disneyland, the rest

Jonah, Ellie, and Sarah

We went to Disneyland over 3 weeks ago.  
I want to go back. 
My kids were oh so happy, so easygoing and well-behaved.
We were there with my family, just enjoying it all.
I was able to go on all the rides (hooray for visiting a theme park when I'm not pregnant this time!) 
and I love love love roller coasters.

The park was pretty crowded in the afternoons and evenings, 
most likely locals coming to see the Christmas decorations and shows, because the lines for the rides never were too long.  
We'd get there first thing in the morning and go on as many rides as we could before the crowds showed up.
We got drizzly rain in the mornings, but nothing too bad.  

Nicholas still talks about all the rides,
even the ones he was terrified of.

Just last weekend he said to my sister Sarah,
"I remember the ride where we went in the dark and all the people were singing Jingle Bells and 'Small world' and it was so fun!"
Sarah laughed because Nicholas spent the entire "It's a Small World" ride crying with his face buried in her lap.  "Yeah," she said, "That was a fun ride."
Nicholas looked at her in surprise. "Oh! Did you go on that ride too??"
Ha.

A few days ago Nicholas was begging us to take him back to Disneyland.  We reminded him about the LONG drive there.  He just said, "It's okay, I have snacks and surprises...let's go!"  

The decorations in the park were so awesome.  It was beautiful, and so Christmas-y.

Mid-afternoon crowds...by nighttime it was shoulder to shoulder. 
Kent and I tried to go see the fireworks the first night-we couldn't get a spot and they won't let you stop walking in the pathways so we ended up walking slowly in a big circle, trying to watch the fireworks.
Lesson learned.

The second day we were there was our 5th anniversary!
At the town hall in Disneyland they gave us a pin for our anniversary, and it was fun to have all the workers see the pin and tell us "Happy Anniversary!"
Kent even wore the pin...which just goes to prove that Disneyland really does bring out the kid in all of us. Either that or he loves me enough to humor me.

My parents took our kids back to the hotel that night and Kent and I got to go out to dinner (Cheesecake Factory) and then we went over to the park to watch the World of Color water show (super incredible).
It was really really cold, but we bundled up and had a wonderful time, just the two of us.

Some favorites from the trip:
Nicholas:  The hotels.  Seriously, this kid was more excited about sleeping in his "new beds!" than he was about going to the park.  In fact, the first morning we got him up to go to the park. We told him we were going to Disneyland and he laughed his delighted/excited/maniac laugh and said, "And then do we get to come back to the hotel?!?"

Kent: Tower of Terror.  His favorite ride by far.  Poor guy gets motion sickness so there were a lot of rides he couldn't go on.  But he uh, took one for the team and took Ellie back to the hotel every afternoon so she (and he) could take a nap.  Oh, and we discovered the joys of the Dole Whip, and we had to go back a few times so he could get one again.

Becca:  We rode the big roller coaster in California Adventure Park while it was raining.  My brother Josh and I sat on the very front row.  The rain was pelting our faces and burned like crazy.  It was the best roller coaster experience I've ever had.  And I'm not even kidding.

And because we never get together with my family without some awesome quotes, here's some from our Disneyland trip:

• "Oh, I thought you were getting carried away." Dad to me, Sarah, and my mom when we were simply sitting on the couch in the hotel talking.  You can bet we used that line all the time after.  "Just be careful you don't get too carried away!" etc.

• "NO, NOT MUTO!!"  Nicholas. We were heading towards the line to see Pluto...he didn't want to get anywhere near that costumed dog.

• "My foot is smooshed in a cupcake!" 

And we learned it is best to simply duck under the queue chain, not attempt to jump over it.