our trip to Disneyland

Drumroll please...I'm finally getting around to posting about our trip to Disneyland! (and applause was heard from all around the world... ok... maybe just our home...you get the gist)

I apologize for taking three weeks to post our Disneyland recap post.... but you gotta understand... December can be a total beast, right?!

Don't get me wrong. We've loved lots of things about this month but it has flown by. And I'm not talking flown by like a kite - I'm talking flown by like a military jet. FAST!

Let's get to it... our trip to Disneyland!

First, before diving into the good stuff (aka - lots of cute pics of the kiddos) , I feel like it's necessary to point out the top four reasons why we decided it was a good time for our family to go to Disneyland.

Our Top Four Reasons for taking our 2 year old and 6 month old to Disneyland ::

1. Kids under 3 are FREE :: Yes... you read that right. FREE. 'Nough said.
2. We can drive to Disneyland (Anaheim, CA) from Phoenix :: We figure that more than likely we won't be living in AZ forever (God willing), and so we'll never be able to get out of the expense of flying our entire family to the "happiest place on earth." So why not take advantage of the close proximity of Mr. Mickie and Ms. Minnie's home? :)
3. We met our {awesome} family there. Last January, Alan's brother, Nick, and his family moved to California. They too were up for a 4 kids vs 4 adults trip to Disney. Who better to go to Disneyland with than family???!!
4. Disneyland at Christmas. We decided upon booking the trip that this would be our
   family Christmas gift to one another. We'd hear that Disneyland at Christmas is just magical and thought we'd check it out for ourselves.

With those things in mind, let's start at the beginning.

Our "vacation" started on Wednesday night (the 30th) when we packed the car and were on the road by 7:00 pm. Elsie was sound asleep before pulling out of the driveway (thank you Lordie) and Nora was happy with her first Christmas gift of the season, The Barney Christmas Movie (yes...please don't judge...the girl LOVES Barney).

All was great until an hour and a half into our ride. Duh, duh, duh....

Without getting into too many details lets just say that unbeknownst to us, Nora has pretty nasty case of car sickness. :( For those who want the more detailed story, I'd be happy to give it to you. But for those who don't (most of you I'm guessing), all you need to know is that the ride to Anaheim might have been the most terrible car ride I have EVER been on (and Alan would agree). Poor little Nora was very sick. So sick was she that she still brings up "ickie jampas" on a daily basis (jampas = pajamas).

Poor baby.

Well of course Nora's little tummy problem resulted in our family arriving to the hotel a good 2 hours later than anticipated (2 am to be exact). And we were planning on being at the park when it opened the next morning - 9 am! Hehe.... oh, the vacation was off to a great start, right?!

Thankfully our God-given-"I don't sleep much anyway because I have two small children"-energy kicked in, and by 8 am the next morning this family of four was actually up and out of bed.

We arrived at the park that morning and just the site of everything (the beautifully decorated main street, the smiles on everyone's faces, and the excitement of a 2.5 year old Nora and nearly 3 year old Adelyn) rejuvenated us all and we were ready to take on Disneyland.

First up...a picture in front of the castle and then Dumbo of course.

(Note to our readers: In very few pictures of our trip to Disneyland will you see Nora looking at the camera. Everything was just way too interesting to her, so simply getting a picture with her smiling while looking at the camera was nearly impossible. Sorry.)

After riding Dumbo the girls were determined to ride on the carousel, so onto King Arthur's Carousel we went with these two cutie patooties...

our sweet-as-can-be niece, Adelyn...

and of course our happy-as-a-clam nephew, Mason.

After riding the carousel the rest of our first day was a blur.

I know we rode these things A LOT...

And even managed to make it through It's a Small World without a meltdown (which is a lot to be said with 4 children in tote).

After a quick trip back to the hotel for naps and snacks we were back at the park that evening to check out a few more rides and watch the fireworks (which ended up being cancelled - boo).

All in all Day 1 was a hit! The kids loved it and the parents - well, we were happy the kids were happy ;)

Now onto Day 2.

Thankfully after Day 1, we had more of a plan for Day 2. I had downloaded the DL Maps and DL Hours apps (both free- I'd totally recommend them) and we were ready to take on the park!

We started with the Tea Cups (again)...

And eventually ended up at California Adventure where we waited (not-so-patiently) for Toy Story Mania.

(Yes - I realize it looks like we're waiting patiently. Trust me. We weren't.)

But.. the 45 minute wait was worth it! I can't believe I'm saying that, but all of Nora's crying was worth it. The ride was a BLAST!

Similar to Day 1, Day 2 was a total blur. I know we rode lots of rides (including California Screaming - see picture to the right) and ended the day with one of the most beautiful parades I've experienced "A Christmas Fantasy."

It was the perfect start to the Christmas season! Lots of music, lights and Christmas cheer!

We feel so fortunate to have been able to help create such incredible memories with our girls (and the other Flies family).

All in all our Disneyland trip was an incredible experience! Of course it was full of some crazy highs and some crazy lows - but that's what good memory making is about, right?

Thanks to my sweet mom and friends Christine, Seanne and Sharla - we made the best with what we had during our time at the "happiest place on earth."

(Yes - this is the best and only family picture we got during our trip)

Stay Tuned :: I'll be writing my Top 5 Tips for Taking Small Children to Disneyland post within the next week. I figure - why not share the love? I have lots of great tips to share.

For a few more pictures of our trip go here.