Why I Love Disneyland

At the risk of being totally cheesy:

Everything is so real to my kids - I have always loved imagination and stories, and getting lost in another world - and Disneyland is a whole other visible world in so many ways. Especially if you're 2 and 4. I get teary walking down main street occasionally....I know of at least one other person who does, so don't mock me too mercilessly.

The excitement and dancing that accompanies every trip. Mostly by the kids, but not only them.

The time we spend together as a family. The memories are so precious to me. I just want to freeze the moments, the looks on their faces....

The joy I see mirrored in Justin's face as we watch our precious kids. We spent the entire Mickey Mouse Club house show watching their reactions to everything.

Those are the things I love. Our kids are usually gems and love the whole experience despite being off schedule and getting significantly less sleep, however here is my favorite story of the trip....which I can only share because Josh can't read yet.

The last night there it's about 7:30 pm and we'd just made the decision not to stay for World of Color and call it a night after a couple of more rides. We make it onto the Ferris Wheel and had just started going when Josh starts doing the dance. You know what dance I'm talking about.... "Mom I have to pee!!!"

"Sweetie there's nothing I can do, do you think you can hold it?" _ I'm not going to lie, I had a brief moment when I tried to decide if I could get away with him peeing off the ferris wheel before I rejected the idea.

"I'll try."

He's in complete agony and Justin makes him stand in the middle of the car just in case...

"Mom I peed a little"

"Mom I peed all the way..."

I hate to admit I was laughing so hard, I'm sure I crushed his sweet feelings. But it was just ironic and funny. We carried him out of the park in just his underwear wrapped in a coat... And he was screaming... pretty much the entire way back to the car because he didn't get to ride the swings with his Dad.

Josh's "most favorite part of this trip" I missed it, hopefully I'll get to see it next time... I love having annual passes.

Josh is thrilled, Anna's I'm trying not to freak out smile. Anna loves seeing the characters and can't stop talking about them for months afterwards. Anytime there's a lull in the conversation or she wants to make an impressive statment it's. "Mommy Pooh gave five!" or "Mickey gave hug" However, I think these bears that she'd never heard of were pushing it.

Minnie was not pushing it. Before I could get my camera out she ran up and gave her a hug and then started doing her Anna dance in front of Minnie. It was hilarious. The anna dance involves a lot of jumping and turning, and yoga poses:)
Again Josh excited, Anna, "Why are we standing by cars?"

They were so excited to ride by themselves....

This is my - don't slouch in pictures lesson.



Trying to get the dynamite to go off.
We figured out how to do Disney cheap this time. Priceline hotel for $50/night that includes breakfast, and a kitchen and we only ate out once. We were so proud of ourselves:)

We also met some friends (Puentes and Kays)at the beach on Saturday. It was so fun and the the kids were so excited to see each other. We are so grateful to have such wonderful friends who have really enriched our lives.

And.... Justin caught the best wave of his life...