Disneyland Holiday Trip 2011

The kids annual passes were about to expire, so we decided we better get them to Disneyland one more time. But with me being 9 months pregnant and barely unable to get around Target, I decided that I better not go. So, Chris took the kids to Disneyland for the weekend. I have to admit I was terrible sad and missed them a lot. But at the same time it as nice to have the whole weekend to myself and I didn't have to do anything.... no dishes, no meals, no laundry, nothing I didn't want to do.

I went and saw Twilight with some friends, I had lunch with another friend, did a little Christmas shopping and some projects while i watched TV and hung out on the couch.

But the kids had a blast (and why wouldn't they) with their dad and their aunt and uncle who joined up with them! They got to enjoy the holiday decorations and the fun holidays rides (the Haunted Mansion and It's a Small World). When they got home Jake told me all about "it's a Small World", I think it was his favorite ride (mine too).

Disneyland Once Again

We went to disneyland this weekend. It has been 5 whole months :-) since we have been. We missed it so much. Here are a few pictures that captured the highlights of our trip.


The characters love when they see these photos of themselves. We still take postcards (like all these pictures) and have the characters sign them. They love to see who is "playing the character" in the photo. I am assuming they all know each other, so they get a kick out of it. It always gets us a little special attention.

We have never seen these guys in the park before. So, we had to get their picture. Even if the kids have never seen the movie.

Ella was crying during this photo opp. But love the picture.

Always a favorite with the kids.

This is my favorite photo. I love Jake's smile. Ella's awe-struck pose and Hannah buddying up to the cowboy!


Hannah was so excited, because she thought Fawn was Rosette at first. That is her favorite fairy at the moment. But Fawn was a nice alternative, as you can tell.

Jake's in love.

Some random girl came up to Hannah and asked her if she wanted this cool balloon jet pack. Hannah in amazement said "YES". She wore it around the rest of the night. Everyone kept commenting on it. It really was a cool contraption.

We went on the canoes for the first time in all our visits. You definitely get an arm workout. And yes that is me in all my pregnancy glory. Not a fan of pregnancy photos of myself.

Disney Trip

We went to Disneyland last weekend. It was fairly busy (busier than I thought it would be), but we had fun (of course). We ate had Breakfast with Minnie and got to meet Gepetto for the first time. We had fantastic seats for World of Color (no obstructed view) and we were 2nd row center for the Alladin show.

We finally saw and met Buzz after all these years of going to the park. I didn't even know he was out and about until a few months ago, so this trip I was bound and determined to find him and get our picture with him.

Hannah stayed up each night to shut the park down with her dad. She definitely has her dad in her. It didn't phase her at all to stay up late, really late. She is the perfect companion for Chris.

This might be our last trip for awhile, since our passes don't work on the weekends until September, so that is it... we are officially on a Disney break.

Our Favorite Place

We went to Disneyland last weekend. Our favorite time to go is in September and January. The crowds are light and the weather is usually great. This time was no exception. It was sunny and 75 degrees. So, beautiful. Although the nights still can get really cold. Here are a few pictures of our trip. Not much to share as far as exciting events or moments, but Disneyland is still Disneyland and we love it there!

Oh, one moment I do have to capture. We were watching World of Color and after the show we were waiting for the crowds to leave. We were right by the water and Chris told Hannah to look over the edge of the railing and she dropped her stuffed unicorn into the lagoon. She went hysterical.... really hysterical. Now, I have to tell you. This is a little purple and white unicorn that she got from a McDonalds Happy Meal a year ago. For the past 4 months, she has been sneaking this unicorn to school with her in her coat pocket. She has become very attached to it and so when she dropped it... it was all over. She had lost her friend.

I on the other hand was so shocked and taken back by her reaction that I just hugged her and laughed. It was crazy how she reacted and just unconsolable. I tried so hard not to laugh, but I was trying to not look at her so she couldn't see my insensitivity. Finally, I was able to reason with her and told her I would look for it on ebay and maybe I could get her another one. This calmed Hannah down and made her come to her senses.

I wouldn't normally do this (say if her sister and her were fighting or goofying around and she dropped it), but it was a 100% accident and with her reaction, I could tell she really cared. So, I looked on ebay and lo and behond... someone was selling this exact McDonalds Happy Meal unicorn from a year ago. As a side thought.... this is why I love ebay, you can find anything and I mean anything.

One Board Down

Awhile back, i posted about the pin board I made for all our Disney pins we have been collecting from all our trips to Disneyland. Well, after a year, we have finally filled the board up and I had to make another one. We have one board filled and our working on the second.

The older the kids get (and the more obsessed with trading my husband gets), we are starting to collect a greater amount of pins each time we go to Disneyland. It used to be that we kept 3-5 pins for the board. Now, we are putting 20-30 pins on the board at a time.

I have to say, these boards are one of our favorite things in our house. They represent family memories, happiness, togetherness and entertainment (both past and present....(the girls love to look at them and find the hidden mickeys are find their favorite princess). I am not sure what we will do with all these pins, but they definitely will be around for a long time. We just love them!

More Disney Photos

On our second day at Disney, we did Breakfast with Minnie and it was by far the best breakfast we have ever done with her. It was raining cats and dogs, so all the characters were in from the rain. So, usually when you see only 5-7 characters at the breakfast, we saw about 12-15. Everyone was there and we saw many characters we have never seen before like Rafiki, Brer Fox, and Gideon from Pinocchio. Other characters we saw were Chip and Dale, Eeyore, Capt. Hook, Fairy Godmother, Max (Goofy's son), and Pooh.

We were also the last of the guests, so we got to have many of the characters all to ourselves. Captain Hook put on a impromptu dance (the sprinkler and Roger Rabbit) and Rafiki joined in. We visited with Mary Poppins and Bert again for a long time (she remembered us from the day before). Characters kept coming back to us and at the end we got a huge group picture with many of them. That is one of my favorite photos. It is typically hard enough to get one picture with the characters let along five of them and Minnie herself. What a morning. It made up for the rain.

But I can't complain to much about the rain. After we got soaked, it let up and never really rained again, but it looked like it would all day, so it kept the crowds low. So, low that we were riding the train around the park and stopped in front of the princess meet and greet area. There was no line (which usually is 90-120 mins long) and so we jumped off the train and ran over and walked right in to meet Ariel, Tiana and Mulan. Ariel was the best. She just talked and talked with our girls and was so cute with them.

Oh, and the picture of Jake. He loves Woody and Buzz. He is drawn to anything that has to do with them. So, when he saw this Woody doll, he wouldn't give it up. Can you guess what he is getting for Christmas?

Probably my top 2nd best day at Disneyland.

Around the Park

I decided that during this trip, I would take some photos of places and images around Disneyland. They are so many great things to photograph in the park, I wanted to capture some of the fun places we like. Seriously, I could take a trip to Disneyland by myself and photograph the park all day. Maybe someday I will!

Our Thanksgiving Break

We are back from our 10 day trip over Thanksgiving Break and what a trip it was. In a nutshell, we visited Disneyland, SeaWorld, Tucson and Tombstone. With a lot of things in between. The next few days or weeks will be highlights of our trip, so get ready for a lot of photos and journaling.... it was one fun trip!

We went to Disneyland on Friday and was pleased to find the crowds low and manageable. We were able to see a lot of characters and do a lot of rides and visit most of the park. I love Disneyland so much when the crowds are low... it is really so wonderful when you can just enjoy the park and that is what we did. We met up with Nana and Papa later that afternoon and enjoyed much more fun with them.

Highlights:
Hannah went on her favorite ride - Big Thunder Mountain
Jake saw his favorite character - Woody and you could tell was star struck.
Ella loved her time with Mary Poppins and Bert, they were so much fun to chat with and they spent a lot of time with our family.
The girls love the Winnie the Pooh ride and we got to ride it two times in a row without getting off... the girls thought that was so great, especially since there was a line and we told them we would have to get off and stand in line.
Jake didn't love Santa Claus.
We went on the Dumbo ride, which we never go on.
We all wore our red t-shirts I made. Each of us, sporting a disney character of our choosing.