For our big vacation this year…you guessed it…Disneyland!! I begged and pleaded and maybe cried a little (but I can’t be sure on that…) and Kris finally agreed we would go to Disney this year. The icing on the cake was when Grandpa said he wanted to go to, so Grandpa & Aunt Ruth came along for our serious Southern California vacation. It was delightful.
We started our trip out on a Friday morning. At 4 a.m. Cause that’s how I roll (okay, its more how my kids roll). We had one barfing kid just outside of Tucson (but at least we made it a whole two hours before there was puke!). I actually thought getting my kids up ridiculously early would mean they’d be asleep when the car started. Not a surprise…I was mostly wrong. Grandpa requested IHOP for breakfast, so after cleaning up Emily (the guilty one), we made our way to IHOP, where my sweet Annie discovered Happy Face Pancakes. They also discovered that they don’t like Dramamine. And I discovered that you’re supposed to crush it, not just give it to them whole with a spoonful of yogurt. Lesson learned.
On our way we stopped at Aunt Mervie’s house in Yuma. Her grandson Micheal has a pet turtle. Here’s another lesson we learned – Annie is horrified of turtles, Emily is indifferent (although prone to acting like her sister in situations where her sister screaming bloody murder), and Jack is fearless towards them. Kris got the turtle out and put it on the floor so the kids could watch it walk. Annie cowered in the corner, Emily just watched and Jack ran to it and picked it up! It was so funny to watch their different reactions.
While in San Diego we stayed in Ramona at one of our timeshare resorts. We were able to get a 2 bedroom suite and it was fun for the kids to get to have all day access to Grandpa (I’m pretty sure he’s tired of us, actually). We spent 3 full days there. On Sunday we went to Sea World. My children discovered penguins and dolphins and sea lions and Shamu and popcorn. In the 10 days we were amusement park-ing(1 day in Sea World and 4 days in Disney), I must’ve heard, “I want popcorn” 80 thousand times. I might be exaggerating. Really, I had no idea how much my kids love popcorn!
Sea World was a fun day. Annie even got to go on Shipwreck Rapids. I’m not sure what was more entertaining for her, the ride or the people we shared our “raft” with – they were screaming and not speaking English and she was…amazed. When I asked her if she wanted to go on it again, she quickly said, “No,” then hesitated and said, “Yes.” Love that kid.
On Tuesday we checked out at Ramona and made our way to San Diego to see the beach. We were also able to stop at the new Mormon Batallion site in Old Towne, which was more fun than I anticipated. I remember going as a kid and it was a museum (I actually had nightmares before we left for our trip about my children pulling pictures off the wall). Now they have a whole exhibit you walk through, with talking pictures and video and music. So fun. Annie and Emily even got to pan for gold. Until they dumped water all over themselves.
We ate lunch at Anthony’s Fish Grotto (go…try the clam chowder, its delightful). I requested a window seat so the girls could watch the ocean. They were too impressed to eat their lunch.
And then we drove to Anaheim. I never want to live in Southern California. That traffic is just stupid. We got to stay at the Homewood Suites again. Here’s my free plug for Homewood Suites (you’re welcome, Hilton)…it’s fantastic for kids. Monday through Thursday they have free dinner, and every day they have free breakfast. My kid is addicted to waffles now. And the pool is just right in March!:)
We spent Wednesday, Thursday (just us, no Grandpa or Ruthie), Friday AND Saturday at Disneyland. Also, I’m ridiculous. 4 days in Disney? I’m surprised I’m alive to tell about it.
Annie loved the tea cups (who doesn’t love spinning tea cups?!), Jungle Cruise, Tarzan’s Treehouse, Small World, Jumpin’ Jellyfish, Mickey’s Fun Wheel…I’m pretty sure there’s not a ride she didn’t love. She wanted to do everything! She even wanted to feed the ducks living all over the park! My Annie is probably the funnest kid I know. I would definitely take her to Disneyland with me again.:)
Emily was horrified of King Arhtur’s Carousel in Fantasyland, but LOVED King Triton’s in California Adventure (we rode it twice in a row just because she loved it so much). She was a riot. Everything was either fun or scary (her words, not mine). Pirates and Haunted Mansion…scary. Pinocchio…fun. You get the idea. She was so cute to watch with the different characters we saw because she was just amazed. She never smiled, but she always hugged them and was super sweet.
Jack was just happy to be along for the ride. He did awesome on everything, except the stroller. No kidding, every.single.time. I put him in the stroller, he arched his back and screamed. It was out of control.
Kris loved California Screamin’. I did not.
We stayed at the parks ALL day on Thursday, and stayed through World of Color at CA. Love that show. It’s amazing. Jack and Emily slept through it. I woke Annie up just before it started. She LOVED it. I probably watched her more than I did the actual show. That girl has the most remarkable facial expressions.
One of our favorite things at Disneyland is the Golden Horseshoe. Emily got to sit with Grandpa…she had a FUN time with him!
Our other favorite thing at Disneyland is the food! Usually I would just chalk that up to being fat and loving food in general (which we do), but there’s something about Disneyland food. Yes, its ridiculously over-priced, but it is DELICIOUS! We ate ice cream on Main Street at the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor (where Annie made friends with a girl with a prosthetic arm…Annie was completely mesmerized by her), Dole Pineapple Whips, beignets, churros (lots of churros), popcorn (LOTS of popcorn), fried chicken at the Plaza Inn (best fried chicken EVER. Ever. Seriously, ever.), and we even had popsicles in a cup (No, I would not let my 4 year old eat a popsicle on her own…frozen lemonade? Popsicle in a cup! I’m a genius and my kid thought it was awesome.). I love Disneyland food. I don’t care what it costs. Love it. Love. It. Okay, I’m done.
Saturday night we got to stay for the parade. I love me some Disneyland parades. They are amazing and holding my girls while they watched it was so fun! They waved to everybody and clapped to the music. And it was at night…Disneyland is magical at night, in my opinion. We skipped the fireworks, but we did make it back to our hotel just in time for Annie to watch them from the window. She saw one and then there was a pause. She cried, thinking she had missed them. That pause was followed up with several fireworks all at once…and she was content.:)
I have such fond childhood memories of our summer vacations to Southern California, where we’d stay at Mission Beach in San Diego and go to Sea World and Disneyland. I love those memories. But they pale in comparison to the memories I get to make with my own babies there. Experiencing Disneyland through little eyes is just amazing. Being able to have that kind of fun with them is one of the best parts of parenthood. Every time I looked at them, they had enormous eyes and huge smiles. And I probably cried. A little.
