Disneyland Magic!

Last week our family had the wonderful opportunity to go to Disneyland! We've been planning this trip forever and were so excited it was finally here! Our first real family vacation!

 We left early Monday morning and drove all day. We turned Daryn's carseat around for the drive, and she thought it was the bee's knees. Until she fell asleep.

The girls did pretty great in the car until evening time. We had been hoping to get in by 7 pm, but due to bad traffic outside Vegas and then getting rear-ended, things were a little delayed. Luckily we were all fine and the car sustained only minor damage. The other driver was not so lucky- her car was totaled. Anyway, we got in late Monday night, checked into our hotel, and went straight over to Disneyland to pick up our tickets and catch the evening show/fireworks. We were pretty tired and didn't stay long, though. 

Tuesday morning we were up bright and early for a long day at the park! We happened to be visiting on the 4 hottest days in weeks, apparently, which was super fun, but we survived. It was a great time to visit, because it was not crowded at all. We were able to do everything we wanted and more, and only waited in line more than 20 minutes a handful of times. I didn't take many pictures of rides, because, well, we were busy riding them. But I did get a few. 

 Tuesday afternoon we took Reagan to the Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique and let her get a princess makeover. 

Before and during:

 After!

I couldn't believe how gorgeous she looked. It freaked me out a little. She loved being so fancy!

There were quite a few rides that Daryn couldn't go on, so we would take her on the carousel (her favorite ride, she rode probably 6-8 times). 

But one time I took her to this little playground in the park, and she LOVED this slide. She talked about it the rest of the trip. And it was like the worst slide ever. So much friction in took 30 seconds just to get down. But she was enamored. They also had an oversized playhouse.

Reagan decided her vey favorite rides were Winnie the Pooh and It's a Small World, so we went on each twice. Here we are on the boat for It's a Small World!

And another boat ride.

We left during the afternoon to take a nap and came back, but even so, the girls were pooped.

 Luckily they got the second wind as it cooled off a little in the evening.

 

And we were able to stay and enjoy the evening's parade and fireworks!

 The girls loved the parade so much. Daryn waved at every single character that she saw.

Wednesday was our day for the other park, California Adventure! Very first thing when we got there, we saw Sully! The girls had just seen Monsters, Inc. in the car on the way down for the first time, so they were very excited (and just a little nervous- he was their first character, and very big).

I think Wednesday was the hottest day (over 100*, and so humid). We were all dripping within the first hour.

Cooling off by Grizzly River.

The girls love there mouse ear so much. It's adorable.

Radiator Springs Racers!

I got super lucky with timing. I found out the week before we left the Dr. Ben Carson (my absolute favorite presidential candidate) was holding a rally in Anaheim the same time we would be there! Since our hotel was about a block from both Disneyland and the Anaheim Convention Center, on Wednesday afternoon Lance took the girls back to the hotel for a nap and I walked over to the rally. So glad I was able to attend! He is an incredible speaker and person.

After nap/rally, it was back to the back to catch an incredible Aladdin play, and then meet Elsa and Anna! The girls were both nervously sucking their fingers while they waited :).

 The big moment!

 So cute!! It was so sweet to see how special it was to them.

 We finished going on all the rides we wanted and stayed for the evening show, World of Color, which was pretty sweet but made for another long day. We crashed hard that night!

Thursday was back to Disneyland! Still lots of rides we hadn't hit yet!

 This Frozen show was hilarious and so entertaining. I think Lance and I liked it better than the girls- the actors were so witty!

And we got to meet some princesses right after!

Just having fun...

Winnie the Pooh characters!

Another round on the merry-go-round.

Mickey's house!

And the big man (mouse) himself!

And his lady!

 Borrowing her tea set.

As we were on our way out for the day, we ran into Ariel!

And Sleeping Beauty!

Disneyland was closing early on Thursday for their cast party, we just decided to leave at nap time (since we had been their since 8:00 am).

We went back to the hotel and did some sleeping and some swimming in the hotel pool, then had an early dinner and decided to swing by the beach! This was Reagan about 5 minutes after we started driving (she didn't nap).

We went to Huntington Beach/Pier and it was absolutely beautiful and very refreshing.

 Reagan was trying so hard to build a sand castle and overtime she had a mound, Daryn would run over and stomp it. Reagan was so frustrated but pretty good-natured about it. 

 We caught a beautiful sunset from the pier and then drove back to the hotel for a little more swimming and bed. 

Friday morning- our last day at Disneyland! We still had a couple more rides to catch, including Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain that had been closed all week. Daryn got to ride the monorail.

I made sure we did not leave without a couple of classic family pictures. 

 We stayed all morning and then grabbed some ice cream and hurried out because we had to check out of the hotel by 12 (we barely made it). 

Saying goodbye to Disneyland! (The ice cream helped. So did the exhaustion.)

 We hurried back, threw all our stuff in the car, and jumped on the road. The drive home was mostly uneventful. The girls spent a good chunk of it sleeping. We got in around 1 am. Lance and I were soon tired! It was such a whirlwind trip, but so so so fun! What a great bonding experience for out family. It was incredible to see the magic in our kids' eyes. So glad we could do this!