Disneyland Day 1

We LOVE Disneyland! Everytime we go, we leave wanting more....that's the way it should be, right? This time was no exception, it was a quick trip, so we really left wanting more, but we were so happy to be able to meet up with Scott and Annette and their cute kids, and Mom and Dad and Emily. We really missed Wade and Sara, and Chad and Jenn and their boys, but I'm sure we'll make plans to go together some time in the future.


We arrived home from Laguna Beach late Friday night. On Saturday we took Mom to the airport so she could teach her lesson for members of the Relief Society in her stake and then we spent the day doing laundry and packing for Disneyland. We were exhausted and almost decided to stay home and take the trip at a later date because everyone was feeling pretty sick, but we didn't have the heart to tell the kids, and we really wanted them to get to go with cousins, so we decided to see how everyone was doing on Sunday. Aaron's dry hacking cough became a little wetter, so Joe headed to his 6:30 a.m. bishopric meeting and I started getting the kids ready for church. When we arrived at church the bishop came up to me and said, "Well, are you going?" I told him yes, and after church we were on our way. We packed every over-the-counter medicine known to man, as well as our humidifier and headed out. Getting to Disneyland from our house is a straight shot on the I-5, so easy, especially if you can miss traffic in LA. We managed to get there in 6 hours, but on the way home it took me 8 hours because traffic was congested getting out of L.A. County.



Brynn and Abby loved seeing Sleeping Beauty's castle. We raced from ride to ride and after a couple of hours Brynn and Abby kept complaining......"This isn't Disneyland...where are the princesses?" We assured them that we would see princesses, but that there were lots of other things to enjoy at Disneyland as well.

On Monday morning the lines weren't too bad, but by the afternoon, things started to pick up. We didn't realize how busy it was until we went on Tuesday and experienced very little wait time for rides. We took advantage of the switch rider passes, and took the girls on all of the crazy rides we could. Brynn did pretty well and Abby finally said, "Mom, no more rides that go from side to side and that are really downing." You can tell by looking at Aaron's eyes that he's not feeling that great, but this guy was in such great spirits. We really have to hand it to him!

Joe was in the very front taking the picture, I had taken Abby on it before, and this was the "downing" ride that she preffered to opt out of the second time. Delaney hung on the my arm tight during the intense parts. Splash Mountain has always been one of my favorites at Disneyland.
The kids had lots of fun exploring through Tarzan's Treehouse. Delaney was so cute. She was scared of the bridge, so she asked some lady she didn't know to hold her hand as she went across. We all got a good laugh out of it.
All of us, except Scott, but he was with us...enjoying a ride on the Mark Twain.

After Mark Twain we headed over to California Adventure to take advantage of the fun there because Joe had to head back to work the next day. Our old-time favorites there have been Soarin' Over California, Grizzly Rapids, California Screamer, and it was fun to let the kids try these ones. They loved Soarin', mostly loved Grizzly except for the drops (Abby, but she did it 3 times!) and Brynn was slightly too short for the California Screamer, but Joe and I enjoyed it twice.

Because of our FastPasses and the switch riders we were able to go twice in a row. Hense the disheveled look. Right after this picture was taken the roller coaster pulled up and the women sitting next to wear I was standing was covered in vomit! Nearly everyone in line and on the roller coaster was dry heaving. Everyone got off and the next group started to get on, while I waved to the attendant. Thankfully they sent that one away to be cleaned and we hopped in a new one. Poor woman. I felt so bad for her. What a bummer that would be to have to go back to the hotel and change.


Mom and Dad took the kids to some of he attractions for the little people while Joe, Delaney, Emily and I went to the Tower of Terror. It was fun and thrilling. Joe plays everything up so well, and screams so loud, (half the time, he does it just to get a rise out of people). Everyone on the ride with us was laughing so hard at the end at the things he said and looking at him like,"I can't believe you were that scared!" ....I wish I could remember what it was he said, I'll have to ask Delaney, but he really played it up. Everyone deserves the chance to go to Disneyland with him. You can't help but have a good time when he's in the group.

After the "Tower of Terror" we met up with Mom and Dad and they offered to take our kids back to the hotel and put them to bed so that we could close down the park. I have the greatest parents ever! Emily and McKenzie decided to stay with us. When California Adventure closed we headed back over to Disneyland. It wasn't quite as busy, so we got alot in during those two hours. Being at Disneyland at night is so magical, I LOVE it! We started out with Space Mountain, and then headed to Splash Mountain, then to the Haunted Mansion, then to Indiana Jones, then to Big Thunder Railroad....while we were on Big Thunder we noticed fireworks in the air. So we ran to see the tail end of the show....and when I say ran, we literally ran, Joe led the way, and it reminded me of the couple of times we had been to Disneyland in the past, he runs through the place so he doesn't miss a single beat. I wonder how many miles we ran back and forth. We felt like kids again, it was so much fun. We loved having McKenzie and Emily there with us too! McKenzie did awesome and kept right up with Joe. Thanks Mom and Dad for being so thoughtful.

After Splash Mountain we stopped for a wet photo op with the honey pots.

Good Night Disney!
McKenzie and Emily

Whew! The next day Joe flew home to get back to work and we geared up for another day of Disney with swollen and sore feet.....but very happy spirits.