California, Disneyland

Two little mice

We're not fanatical about Disneyland around here, but I do enjoy going and happen to believe it's a magical place-- especially for the kids.  So, with Ruby's current need for all things princess I thought that this would be an ideal time to take her back to visit the mouse.  I had to convince Brandon that it was a good idea.  Since our family Disneyland policy is that we only go on weekdays during the school year and this trip happened to be timed just right for it he caved (and guess what?  He had a good time! lol).

The family redheads-Wyatt and Papa- waiting to see the princesses

showing Snow White her picture

Hugs for Snow White-- he wasn't interested in any one else.

Wyatt only cared about balloons and Snow White other than that he didn't seem more excited to be there than at home playing with cars.  Ruby, on the other hand, anxiously counted down the days until she could meet and hug the princesses.  She even drew them pictures beforehand; and when we forgot them in Utah insisted on making new ones.  

hugs for Mulan

sharing her artwork

"I made this for you."

"Mommy, Sleeping Beauty is Brookie's favorite princess!"

She was a little timid on some of the rides (i.e. the Winnie the Pooh ride because of the heffalumps and woozels and the Pirates of the Caribbean), but afterwards told me how brave she was and how much she liked going on the rides.  I think her favorite rides were It's a Small World and Alice in Wonderland.

It's a Small World-- I love those mouse ears!

He doesn't seem interested here, but he was.  When we came out of the tunnel Little Man wanted to go  back in.

She was a little camera shy all day long-- it might have been sensory overload.

Almost there, waiting to see Tangled-- look at the anticipation in her eyes.

It was probably the nicest day I've had at Disneyland in a long time-- beautiful weather and short lines (no wait-10 min tops for most rides).  While the kiddos slept in the stroller Papa Gary hung out with them and Brandon and I got a chance to ride a handful of grown up rides-- Big Thunder Mountain, The Haunted House, and Splash Mountain, and Star Tours.

I love this picture-- Papa was so happy to spend the day with the kidlets.

Rapunzel and Flynn suggested that she add the artwork to her walls.

This is Ruby's "say cheese" face.

 But the first thing we did was meet the princess.  That particular line was long (90 minutes long to be exact); but it was the whole reason Ruby wanted to go to Disneyland so we waited.  She was thrilled but reserved when she got to meet Snow White, Mulan, and Sleeping Beauty.  As soon as Wyatt saw Snow White he ran to her and gave her a hug, too-- it was beyond precious!  Later in the day Ruby got to meet her favorite princess- Rapunzel and we even ran into Jasmine and Aladdin as we got off of the Jungle Cruise.  She saw the rest of them in the parade; and still can't stop talking about them and making more pictures for them.

This is how we nap on vacation.

Grown up play time- on Splash Mountain with my man.

Finally, a smile- I had to get a semi-candid to capture it.

I guess she was getting tired and needed to rest some more.

As I mentioned earlier, Wyatt wanted a balloon all day long.  Whenever he saw one he'd walk towards it with his hands outstretched and yell, "ba ba ba" (his way of saying balloon).  Finally, towards the end of the day Papa Gary bought him his own balloon.  He was sooooooo happy and refused to let it out of his grip or sight.  In fact, while we were waiting in line for the Casey Jr ride he could see it attached to our stroller and wouldn't stop screeching and reaching for it.  Sadly, on the tram ride back to the car he was playing with it and it came loose from the string and floated away.  He didn't know how to react-- he just looked at his string and tried to figure out where it went.  Poor guy-- it was kind of heartbreaking.  

ba ba ba

Waving to the princesses during the parade.  See Wyatt relaxing and gripping his balloon in the background?

Driving the cars at Autotopia- afterwards she mentioned that the car was acting crazy (meaning that they kept bouncing off the rails, I assume she was in charge of the steering wheel).

Besides Wyatt's sad balloon mishap it was a wonderful, magical trip and I'm glad that Brandon agreed to go and Papa could take the day off work to join us.

The only picture of our whole crew all day long