simply us

Disneyland

Oh what fun we had, seriously the best time ever.

Lucas Nate and I left early and drove down to California, while Emily stayed with my parents and caught a flight a few days later.

It was actually really fun just chilling with Lucas, he loved the one on one attention.

The day we picked my parents up at the airport we headed down to Santa Monica pier. We ate some yummy food and played on the pier.

The kids loved it and grandpa even spoiled them and let them go on the carousel.

Lucas wanted to play in the ocean soooo bad. It had been a little chilli earlier in the day, but had warmed up a bit, so we decided to let him go for it, knowing he would freak after one second.

We were totally wrong! He loved it and the cold didn't bother him a bit. He loved running into the waves and getting smashed by them!

Emily on the other hand wasn't so sure about this place. 

Her first walk in the sand was hilarious, she struggled just a bit.

And then when we put her feet in the water she really wasn't loving it.

I think she did like the wet sand as long as the waves didn't reach her!

The next day we had a little family reunion with all my Cali relatives.

Oh how I wish I could see them more. We all just ate and talked all day and had ourselves a great time! 

And then the day had arrived......Disneyland day.

We got up early early and headed to Anaheim.

After checking in at our hotel we were off and ready to play, and play we did.

Disneyland was seriously just as amazing as I remember (although I do remember the castle being a bit bigger!).

Our first ride of the day was Space Mountain, not sure if that was the best choice.

It was Luke's first time on a big roller coaster and that one was kind of scary, it was haunted too because it being Halloween time so there was scary monsters throughout it.

Needless to say he still to this day says he will never go on it again.

I was afraid that he wouldn't ride any other roller coasters the rest of the trip, but he was fine and went on everything.

I think the only ride he didn't go on was Thunder Mountain but only because he was a little too short for it. His favorites were Buzz Lightyear ride, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion.

Emily was a champ and went on a ton of rides too. She would get so excited when she saw things she liked and would squeal!

She took a few naps in her stroller and was just as happy as ever. We took her on Pirates and the Haunted Mansion and it didn't scare her at all like I thought it would!

 
Now that is pure joy on her face!!
My favorite part of the first day was the parade. I seriously got teary eyed as we watched it! Such a happy and fun place to be. The kids loved it and would dance and point at everything. My parents took Emi home to go to bed and Lucas Nate and I stuck it out till the end and watched Fantasmic and rode a few rides. The jungle cruise is a little cooler at night, things actually look real. We had Lucas convinced that all the animals were real!

Day 2 was just as awesome. We got there early and hit up Splash Mountain and rode it like 4 times in a row because there was no one in line! Emily loved the Winnie the Pooh ride and rode it like 4 times. We got her a little Pooh Bear at the store there and she was as happy as a clam.

We hit all the rides we had missed the day before and enjoyed every second.

In the afternoon we headed over to California Adventure. I had never been there before and was very impressed. The Soarin Over California was absolutely awesome and we loved the ferris wheel.

The highlight though was the new Cars Land. Oh my it was amazing. We didn't get there until it was dark and as soon as we turned the corner it was like we were in the movie. Holy Cow they did amazing! I seriously loved it. Man Disney is magical.

The next morning we got up really early so we could get tickets to ride on the Cars ride. We somehow planned everything right and got to ride on it a couple of times that day. It was amazing, seriously the coolest ride ever. My mom hadn't gone on it yet and we still had a stroller pass, so about 10 minutes before it closed I made her run over with me to go on it. She was amazed too, and it was even cooler to ride on it at night. I could go on and on.....

Poor Nate got motion sickness on the Hollywood Tower of Terror (I know, pansy :)) and my parents were pretty exhausted as was Emily, so they all wanted to go back to the hotel for a little break. Luckily my cousin Janice had come for the day and was willing to follow me and Lucas everywhere!!

We hit up all the rest of the rides and California Adventure and headed back to regular Disney to go on a few there too. Lucas was a champ, seriously, between the two of we went on everything and never stopped for the whole 3 days. Lucas never cried or complained at all!
We hit up toon town for a bit, Lucas thought that place was awesome!

This door made me laugh, when you turned the door handle it made a loud electricity sound on the other side, scared Lucas too death!

He was a little scared of the other doors after the first one!

That night we finished off our Disney experience with the World of Color show at California Adventure. Can you say amazing? I have never seen anything like it! Such a cool show, highly suggest seeing it. 

I was so happy with our Disney Experience. I researched a lot to make sure we got the most out of our trip there, and I think we were very successful. We saw everything and ate everything we wanted too. I was most impressed with the kids. We didn't have a single meltdown....not to brag. I was sure one or the other would freak out sometime but they were both amazing.

Lucas was the best though. I expected him to be completely over excited, freaking out about everything he saw. Instead he was just in complete awe and shock about what he was seeing! It was hilarious. He would be so solemn face and then as soon as we got off of the ride he would say something like "That was AWESOME!", still with a complete straight face. I thought he didn't have that much fun, but the day after he could not stop talking about Disneyland, and still to this day will talk your head off forever about how much fun he had.
Sadly I didn't bust out my camera as much as I should have. We were all over the place trying to see and do everything, now I'm sad that I didn't capture more moments, I guess there is always next time! I did take more with my phone that I haven't downloaded yet so hopefully there is more pictures there.

The next day Nate caught a flight home with Emily and my parents and I headed back to my cousins for the Nate before making our trek home.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great trip!