Scrapbrooks: 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.