Disneyland!

We had the most amazing trip.  It was a combination of things really: this is the first time in almost 3 years that the four of us have actually vacationed together, the weather, traffic and crowds cooperated perfectly, and Disneyland is so stinkin' magical it is absolutely impossible to not be in a great mood while there.  This trip was mostly about the characters the girls wanted to meet, not as much about the rides.  I know future trips will be all about the rides so we tried to really enjoy the magical character/celebrity side of Disneyland this time.  I think we waited in line 3 separate times to meet Rapunzel.  We also met Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Flynn Rider, Tinkerbelle, Silvermist, Donald and Mickey.   Each time we met a character, especially the princesses that our girls are so crazy for, I was so impressed with how personable they were, how open to hugs (Audrey), how open to questions (Natalie) and how much time they took with our girls even though there was forever an endless line behind us. There was so much Frozen frenzy while we were there that I was feeling a bit sad that our kids haven't yet seen that movie...until I found out the line to meet the two Frozen princesses was 3 hours long!!  Good grief.  What parents will do for their kids!!

When we weren't waiting to meet a Princess, we were exploring Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland and Toontown and hopping over to California Adventure.  The highlights for the girls were the Peter Pan ride, Pixie Hollow, the Teacups and the nightly parade.  So fun.  And California Adventure was amazing, too!  The Cars ride, and all of Cars Land, actually, and the Symphony Swings were awesome.  I cannot believe the creative talent behind Disneyland.  It's inspiring.

Because we were there celebrating Natalie's birthday, she wore a Happy Birthday pin every day with her name written on it.  She must have received 200 "Happy Birthday, Natalie"s from Disneyland staff, hotel employees, and other guests.  It was so cool.  One night during the parade a chimney sweep on the Mary Poppins float spotted Natalie wearing her special pin, leaned off the float and shouted, "Happy Birthday!"  Unreal.  Moments like these just made the trip so lovely!  We totally owe Audrey a birthday trip in a few years!

Our hotel was great, too, and right inside the park so we could quickly head back there in the afternoon to swim and rest for a while each day.  A total necessary break as there is just so much to see at night that we wanted to the kids (and, who are we kidding?, us) to be able to have the energy to explore after dinner, too.  Our kids haven't had much hotel experience so I think the hotel pool and  water slide (Natalie) and the nightly chocolates on the pillow (Audrey) were major vacation highlights for them.  Audrey asked if she could have a "chocolick" on her pillow every night at home.  That's probably the only trick I haven't tried to get that kid to go to sleep!

 Most of our time was spent right here...

the Fantasy Faire area near Sleeping Beauty's castle.  

I think this alone would have impressed the girls!

 We surprised them with princess dresses of their own to wear

one day and they were in heaven!

Natalie spent some of her birthday money on a Rapunzel hat

and had it autographed by Rapunzel and Flynn Rider

after a theater performance.  So cute.

 It's difficult to tell when Natalie is wearing it

but it has a blond braid attached!  Hilarious.

 Once properly dressed, our own little princesses

could meet the big ones...

California Adventure is super cool, too.  Just not as much to do for little ones Audrey's age.  Although she did ride the Ariel ride about 10 times!  Once, while Corey and Natalie were doing a big kid Cars Land ride, Audrey and I did 3 rounds on the Ariel ride without getting off.  The staff just let us keep going around and around on it because there was no line.  That spoiled Audrey a bit and she was a bit line intolerant the rest of the day.  I am still singing Little Mermaid songs and we've been home for 2 weeks!  That ride got inside my brain and won't leave!!

Totally crazy random coincidence.  Cousins Reese and June (and baby Jace) were in Disneyland the same week we were, staying at the same hotel, too!  And, crazier yet, we actually managed to run into each other often enough to coordinate a few rides together!  Our girls really love these two so that was a great treat.  

Natalie was all about the Disneyland bling.  She bought herself a lanyard to make it possible to wear all her buttons and actually started trading collectible Disney pins on our last day.  

Looks like the Arizona we never had time to explore when we actually lived there!

And this was amazing...when Natalie posed for this picture with Corey in front of Big Red the firetruck, he started honking Happy Birthday.  Seriously, a fire truck character even wished her Happy Birthday.  

Audrey was not very brave when it came to masked characters.  She loved the princesses but it's because they look human. Characters that didn't look human really threw her.  We waited in line for 45 minutes to meet Mickey and when she finally got up close to him she royally freaked out and I had to rush her out of the room screaming.  So, on our last day she wanted to approach Sophia the First.  The funny part is, we don't even have the Disney channel so she has never watched this show/movie, we don't even know, but she wanted to wait in line to meet this character and actually got up close and smiled when it was finally her turn.  Major turning point.

And this lady was awesome.  She talked and sang songs with Audrey for a long time.  Not even sure what/who she was, but she rode around on a cool bicycle delivering newspapers and telegrams to the kids.  Audrey loved her.

We spent our last night in Disneyland doing any last thing any of us wanted to do....

So, naturally, the teacups were on the list.

So lovely at night.

Such a fantastic trip all around.  Can't wait to go back!!

Post Disney Post

We've been back from Disneyland almost a week and I still haven't gone through all the pictures we took.  So, a post is coming, it's just not quite ready yet.  To sum up the trip...we had an amazingly awesome time.  I don't think I've ever experienced such a magical vacation.  In the meantime, thought I'd post these Audrey pictures that Corey took during Natalie's birthday celebration.  This kid is a crack up.  And I think she cracks herself up most of all which is going to serve her very well in this life.

In Audrey news, she is still misusing every pronoun in creation.  While it might make her future Pre K teacher crazy, we can't bring ourselves to correct her.  It's just too cute.  An example from the other morning...

Corey left on a business trip very early Sunday morning and while Audrey joined me in my bed before dawn, Natalie was a little slower to wake up a bit later.

When Natalie finally stumbled sleepily into my bedroom she said, "Where's Daddy?"
I said, "He left early this morning on his trip, remember?"
"What?" she said, rubbing her tired eyes as if this was the first she'd heard of this trip even though she'd helped him pack the night before.
Audrey, wide awake and annoyed that Natalie was having trouble remembering, shouted, "Him on him trip her said, Natalie!!"
Him on him trip her said.  Yup, that sums up how often Audrey gets it wrong.  Hilarious. Talking with this kid is never boring.  And it actually flexes the brain muscles a bit because there's some interpreting to be done each time. Leave it to Audrey to keep us on our toes both physically AND mentally.

Our Birthday Girl!

 Our lovely Natalie is 7.  

 The lucky number 7.  

She's reading, she's writing, she's spelling in front of Audrey like we very recently did in front of her! She really could run the place if we let her.  She's sensitive and artistic and graceful and organized.  She very much loves everything glittery and girly, tiaras and tutus.  But she also loves watching Man vs. Wild with Corey, playing with snails (and painting their shells with nail polish to see who comes back day after day) studying about reptiles and letting her pet gecko, Zipper, crawl on her face.  She talks about being a teacher, a scientist, and an artist.  She loves making homes for Lego friends, stuffed animals, and actual crawling critters.  While she loves her dolls, her Legos, her Barbies, her rock collection and her Rainbow Loom, I think the kid could be perfectly content if all she had to play with were art supplies.  Well, art supplies and the Rainbow Loom.  The kid is hooked on looming and has made countless bracelets, keychains, necklaces and rings!  She's a bright light, this one.  And we love her to pieces.

 She's brilliant, brave and beautiful.  

Look out world!! 

She didn't want a birthday party with friends this year and, instead, requested a "family party".  I explained to her that with no family living in town that her family party would be just the four of us. I know she's heard kids at school talk about having family birthday parties and I'm not sure what she originally had in mind but she made peace with the fact that it would be just the four of us and was very excited about that.  We let her open her presents Saturday night so she could have the day Sunday to play with everything 

We were secretly relieved that she didn't want a birthday party this year because we had this in mind instead anyway...

 The girls were royally stoked, as expected!

 To be perfectly honest, this was them being stoked 

in slow motion for the benefit of getting it on camera.  

Their original reaction, while still positive and excited, 

was far more mellow as I think they were both in a bit 

of shock at the news.  

Totally fun way to ring in the next year! 

We're heading to Disneyland soon.  So excited!

Happy Birthday, Princess!