Our Trip Part 5, Parades

After the aquarium and beach day, it was back to Disney for 2 more days. We rode practically everything, twice. I even got David to ride the Matterhorn as Ben was able to go on it too. We actually rode it twice! Imagine that.

I'm sure I watched the parade when I was a child. As I grew up, the parades meant one thing to me. No lines. It was a time to tackle as many rides as I could in 30 minutes all while trying not to get trapped in Tomorrow Land by a string of characters dancing down Main Street. I'd catch a glimpse of a Princess on a float as I was running from Adventure Land to Fantasy Land and that was good enough for me.

I knew we had to take the kids to see the parade. Mainly because we missed Cinderella at dinner and I had been promising Cinderella for days.

First, we geared up with some chocolate covered bananas. The perfect pre-parade snack. There's nothing like a banana on Main Street. My kids quickly fell in love with one of my favorite things.


We found a good spot close to the Nemo ride, so we could dart over right after the parade and catch a shorter line. This ride was the hot ticket while we were there with 1 to 1 1/2 hour wait times. We couldn't possibly wait that long with two small kids. We managed to get in after the parade with a 20-30 minute wait.

The action begins. The music is blaring over the intercom and we catch our first glimpse of the parade. What I quickly learned was that I still don't care about the parade. But, Emily and Ben's faces were priceless. I was so busy watching them that I would only glance at the parade to see who caused such an enamored expression on their sweet little faces. It was truly magical to watch them and in that moment I realized that I am so blessed.

Here's David and Ben.


Emily is yelling Ariel's name.


My girl looking so sweet and happy. She saw Cinderella.


We had such a nice time at the parade in Disneyland. We went to the parade in California Adventure the next day. It was mostly Pixar films, Toy Story, Cars, Nemo, Monster's Inc. I knew they would both love it.

Here's Emily loving it!


Emily is showing Woody her new Jesse doll. He gave her a big thumbs up.


This smile is the best. Can I bottle this moment and bring it out again?


Ben with his new Buzz and Zurge.


He spotted Mader from Cars.


This sums up our Disneyland portion of the trip. We had an awesome time. The lines were always short. The kids were pretty good. Nobody got sick. I couldn't ask for anything more.

We went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride three times. The first time we went on was due to necessity as it was hot out and we all needed a break. I was hoping Emily wouldn't be scared. Ben was laying on me half asleep, so I wasn't worried about him. Emily sat between David and I and pointed out all of the stuff and asked lots of questions.
"What's that light?"
"Fireflies sweetie."
"Are they alive?"
"No sweetie."
"Are we in a boat?"
"Yes sweetie."
I sat on this ride that I've been on countless times. I realized that I actually sat right here 30 years ago probably asking my Mom and Dad the exact same questions. Now, here I am. My husband's arm around me, holding my resting son, and watching the magic of Disneyland consume my daughter. It was a full circle moment and life doesn't get any sweeter.

Our Trip Part 4, The Aquarium and Beach

We knew 3 straight days at Disney would be a little much. So, we broke it up with a trip to the Long Beach Aquarium. It's a nice small aquarium that took us about 1 1/2 hours to walk through. Perfect amount of time for 2 small children. Ben got a bit grumpy, but Emily was having a blast.

She loved looking at all the fish.


The both enjoyed watching the sea lions.


They touched a sting ray.


David touched the shark.


Everybody got a hand on the starfish, except me. I'll look but don't want to touch.


Then, we headed off to Huntington Beach. It's October and windy and nobody was there. It was nice to have it to ourselves. Luckily, the wind didn't bother us when we were by the water as a little hill protected us. But, when we tried to have lunch, we were sand blasted. We ended up eating in the car. Salami and sand...not so good.

Emily was super excited to be at the beach. This was Ben's first trip to the Pacific.




We took a walk along the water and gathered sea shells.




Ben ran on the beach. Although, he runs everywhere.




The day wouldn't be complete without a group hug with Dad.


After we returned home, David asked Emily what her favorite thing was. She replied, as she usually does, "I don't know". He went through everything with her. After hearing all that we did, she decided gathering sea shells on the seashore was her favorite activity. Great. I spend $477 for Disney tickets and she likes the free activity best! Doesn't that figure?

Our Trip Part 3, Princesses and Toy Story

With a 4 year old girl and 2 year old boy, we can't escape the princesses and Toy Story. Who are we kidding? I love it too! We had heard about a great experience of having dinner at Ariel's Grotto with all the princesses. We HAD to do it.

We were greeted by Ariel herself, The Little Mermaid.


We were waiting for dinner and King Ben was having a good time.


Uh oh, what happened to the good time?


Here comes Snow White.


Ben even got in on the Snow White action.


Here's Belle from Beauty and The Beast.


Emily had never seen Mulan, but she loves one of her songs on her Princess Sing A Long DVD.


Jasmine from Aladin.


I kept telling Emily Cinderella would be there. I mean Cinderella is the Princess of all Princesses. It must have been her day to scrub the floors again because she wasn't there. Apparently, you get 5 Princesses only. Who knew? Emily was a little disappointed. But, we saw her in the parade later, so that made up for it.

It was Ben's turn now. We went to Woody's Round-up and saw a great little show with Woody and the gang sans Buzz Lightyear. He doesn't sing and dance. Ben was so excited to see Woody, he ran to the side to get a peek at him.

Then, when it was his turn to go up and meet Woody, he was freaked out. Go figure.


Here's Emily and Jesse.


We did see Buzz later in TommorowLand. Ben was in awe.

Our Trip Part 2, California Adventure

We went to Disney first thing Sunday morning. We planned to spend the day at California Adventure as it was a holiday weekend and we knew Disneyland would be packed. However, CA did not open until 10:00 and it wasn't even 9. So, we decided to head into Disneyland for a few hours and then hop over to CA. That is why we have park hopper tickets after all.

We get in and head straight for the castle. Whose castle is it? Snow White, Sleeping Beauty? I'm not sure. We quickly scan the lines and decide on Snow White's Scary Adventure for our first hoorah. There's a reason why the line was so short. The ride is scary as heck as you can see from Emily's face. They seriously need to refurbish this ride. It was turn after turn of total darkness with witches. Nice Walt. After that ride, Emily declared that she only wanted rides outside like the carousel and Dumbo. Lovely. We'll spend the entire time going in circles. That ought to make David happy. He is becoming less able to handle such experiences with every passing year.

Emily was thrilled to ride the carousel.


Ben liked it too. He always has the same look on his face. This is happy.


We decided to head over to California Adventure and continue our day there. They have a great area all dedicated to the movie A Bug's Life. The kids loved all of the rides there.



This was a kid's version of the tea cups. David thought it was more his speed.


Here's a video of the tea cups in action.


When the ride was over, he realized maybe he should stick to the carousel.


So, we rode the carousel...again.


A lot of the rides had a height requirement of 40 inches. Ben didn't make it. David was more than happy to stroll him around while Emily and I did the "crazier" rides. This was the jumpin' jellyfish ride.


We had a great time at California Adventure and even went back another day for the parade. After riding all those rides, it was time for dinner with the princesses. To be continued...

Our Trip Part 1, The Hotel Pool

I'm feeling much better. It was a 24 hour thing. Emily got it Sunday morning. For her, it was a 4 hour thing. How did that happen and why didn't I have that same luck? David spent 3 hours yesterday cleaning the car inside and out. He even steamed cleaned the mats. I spent 3 hours inside unpacking everything. The washer and dryer didn't stop yesterday. David was astounded at the volume of clothes we go through in one week.

I'm going to break the trip down into little sections or this post would be 4 pages long. The first part was our trip to our hotel in Anaheim.

The kids did so well in the car. We stopped for an hour in Blythe and let them play in the play area at McDonalds. We got to our hotel in 7 hours and 15 minutes. Not bad.

We stayed at the Howard Johnson in Anaheim. It's within walking distance to Disney. I would highly, highly recommend this hotel. It was a great deal. The hotel pool was worth the stay alone. When we arrived at the hotel and Emily saw the pool and slides, she excitedly said, "Ahhhhh Disneyland!" Um, not quite, but I was happy she was happy.




Here's Emily going down the big slide.



Here's Ben. He didn't plan to be a daredevil and go down head first. He's just too light, so he flipped at one point and ended up that way. He didn't seem to mind.





The whole thing looks like this giant pirate ship. It drops 300 gallons of water every 10 minutes or so. The kids loved watching the water splash everywhere.


Here's Emily getting Ben with the water canon.


The pool area was so much fun. The kids could have done only this and been happy. There's still more to come...

My Dearest David...

Could I possibly be married to the most wonderful man in the world? I think so, yes. We are back from our wonderful week long trip. We had an amazing time (more on that in a later post).

It was amazing until today, well yesterday, as it is 2:00 in the morning. I woke up on Saturday feeling like a had to puke and I had a headache from hell. No, I wasn't hung over from my Aunt's wedding. I only had one very small drink. I knew we had a full day of driving not to mention a hotel room, that looked like a tornado hit it, to pack up.

We got everything loaded in the car by noon. Not, quite the time we were hoping for, but it was what it was. I had puked 3 times at this point. Thank God for the little bucket we brought with us. It was the best $1 I ever spent at Target's bargain aisle. A little green trash can with a lid. A lid is very important. I had envisioned Ben's little army men in there. It is now officially a puke bucket.

I puked over 10 times on our way home. I couldn't keep anything down. I love my husband for many reasons. After being with him today, I love him even more.

My Dearest David,
You handed me a warm washcloth or baby wipe after every puking session.
You kept one hand on the wheel and the other rubbing my back while I vomited...again.
You knew to roll down the windows when the smell alone was enough to keep the bile coming up.
You drove over 7 1/2 hours today and never once complained that you were tired or sore or bored or about to puke watching me puke.
You took both kids to the bathroom twice while I stayed in the car in the fetal position with the air on high.
You made me hot tea when we got home.
You unpacked the entire tornado in the car.
You made the kids dinner.
You gave them a bath.
You brushed their teeth and put them to bed.

You rubbed my matted greasy hair and kissed my forehead and told me I'd be okay.

You're right. I will always be okay as long as I have you by my side.
I love you Sweetheart.