Monday, May 16, 2011

Disneyland

We have been planning this trip for almost a year now, and have been anxiously looking forward to it. We decided we wanted to surprise the kids with the news. So after school, I told them we had to pick up dad from work. When Spencer got into the car, we put the DVD in and it was "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and after the intro song, I popped onto the screen and said a few words and then Spencer zoomed in on pieces of paper that said "We are..." "Going to..." "Disneyland..." "Right Now..." you could have heard the screams from another state! They were soo excited. The flight over went smooth, and our hotel was beautiful. The first picture is our view from our balcony of the swimming pools.

We went with our friends the Guse's, and their cute cute kiddos.

The kids each got a pair of sunglasses in their plane bags (we don't need things like SUN glasses in Oregon haha), and Levi was apparently pretty happy about these...
Caden's sunglasses were "Batman" and I am pretty sure he didn't take them off the whole trip. Inside, outside, awake or asleep he had them on!!

California screaming...yes, I screamed the whole time. This ride was definitely one of our favorites!!
We got two early entries as part of our hotel package, and Disneyland closed at midnight...needless to say, Caden was beyond exhausted. He was a really good sport though and his lack of height was an advantage b/c we didn't have to wait in very many lines for the bigger rides b/c of the stroller pass. Nice!

The most amazing balloon expert (hmmm...not sure the official title for this!) came to our restaurant and our sweet friends got the kids some balloons. They were amazing! Spiderman, aliens, crazy hats, pirate swords, you name it. We had a bit of an audience with all of the balloon dancing we did after dinner.
One of the highlights for me was seeing our good friends the Lauper's while we were there. Not only did the beautiful weather we enjoyed the whole trip make me miss California, but seeing Ryan and Arlene and their adorable boys made me miss it even more! We got to catch up for a bit, but it was definitely too short a visit!!


Imagine waiting in a 40 minute line to take a 30 second picture with Aladdin and Jasmine. I don't have to imagine such things...I got to experience it first hand. But, I did get to admire Jasmine's abs and Aladdin's eyebrows, which was sort of exciting. :)



Same long line, only this time no abs or eyebrows to admire, only Pluto.





Our flight home did NOT go smooth. We flew Alaska on our way home and they charged us for each checked bag (which we weren't aware of, and JetBlue on the way there did NOT charge for bags) so we last minute started consolidating and trying to carry on additional bags...which would have been annoying but tolerable except it ended up having all my toiletries, sunblock, and additional food items that we had to throw away. So $40 for bags, and probably $50+ worth of thrown away food/sunblock/etc. I was not happy. Then the flight was nearly two hours delayed, and we got home after midnight. Kiddos were tuckered out, but we made it. We definitely had the full Disneyland experience! Such a fun family trip!


8 comments:

Stephanie@Soggy Runner Girl said...

Looks like you guys had so much fun! Cute pic, as always:)

jrushing said...

Wow! Love Disneyland! It looks like it was an amazing trip!

Melissa Rozeski said...

Okay!! Best parents and best surprise goes to you guys! I bet the planning was just as fun as doing it. I'm sure they will never forget it!

Thelin Family said...

I got on just so I could see your trip. Looked like such a great time. SO glad you guys were able to pull off. Fun fun memories!

Thompson Family said...

Wow, my kids would die of excitement. Looks like so much fun!

Nancy Bair said...

SOO fun! Can't believe how big Caden is now. The first time I went to Disneyland was when I was 25! I'm hoping to take my kids this next year and you gave me some good ideas!

The Thelins said...

Coolest. Mom. Ever. I don't think I'll take my kids to Disneyland until they're all teenagers. I don't have the patience for it. My poor children...

Anonymous said...

Oh it was SOOOO great to see you guys. We love and miss you!!! Ry and I were saying as we drove away that night, how much we love you two and what amazing people you are. It is a shame that we live so far away from eachother, but it felt like yesterday we were neighbors in SR. It was so nice to see you and your darling kids. Wish we had more time together!! We're coming to you next!!! xoxo thanks for making our reunion happen!!!