Brunsons Take Disneyland... Again

Lance loves Disneyland so much, he talked me into taking the kids again a few ago, over Fall Break. We had a great time, but 4 kids for 4 days there was definitely pushing the stress levels.

The kids did great on the 10+ hour drive there. 

Maddie thought we weren't making good enough time and offered to take things into her own hands.

Side note: we let each of the girls pack a small backpack to bring in the car. This picture shows only a small part of the ridiculous things Maddie was pulling out of hers. Two puzzles, a bouncy ball, a marker cap (no marker), scissors, 1 jack, a stick, a bow, a toy gun holster.

The girls loved creating these rock piles at one of the gas/food stops on the way. Definitely a lot warmer that the freezing temps we left behind that morning!

Once we arrived, it was basically non-stop fun! We met up with my brother Eric and his wife Cassidy and spent a good portion of the trip with them. They are so adorable, enjoying their kid-free life. Only for a few more months!

We were so fresh and bright-eyed at this point.

Tuesday was the least crowded day, so we hit tons of rides. After starting with Winnie the Pooh for Maddie, we hit Splash Mountain several times in a row. 

This was Daryn's first time riding the "big kid rides" and even though she looks terrified, she loved every single one, even more than Reagan in some cases. 

Maddie was a good sport while waiting (at this point), and had to try out each of these animal benches she found. 

Space Mountain. My favorite ride.

We were so busy going on rides and trying not to lose any children that I didn't take so too many pictures, but that afternoon we caught the Pixar parade. 

Lance, Reagan, and Maddie caught Autopia right before we had to leave because it was closing for Mickey's Halloween Party.

Luckily we could go over to California Adventure! We grabbed some food and then got seats for another parade.

Paint the Night Parade!

Wednesday and Thursday we were mostly at California Adventure. We all loved Guardians of the Galaxy and Incredicoaster and went multiple times.

Meeting Chip and Dale while Reagan and Lance were on a ride.

He was happy because I shared a sip of my Ghirardelli shake with him.

Maddie threw herself the cutest dance party ever for a good 15 minutes while we waited for the others. You can't tell from the pictures but girl's got moves. I took a video but it's way too long to add. 

Golden Zephyr! Blade's first ride sitting on his own (even though I was annoyed that I had to take him out of the carrier).

Love the Cars rides! Eric and Cassidy were nice enough to watch the little ones so Lance and I actually got to go together with both older girls on this one. 

Meeting Anna and Elsa was, of course, a highlight.

And meeting Lightning McQueen!

Almost every day we went back to the hotel room after lunch and took naps. One day, Lance and Reagan stayed behind and did Animation Academy, where you learn to draw Disney figures. I was pretty impressed with what Reagan produced!

Wednesday night we went swimming for a little while at the hotel. In a 20 minute period, Daryn almost drowned and Maddie poo'd everywhere (it's becoming a horrifying habit every time she wears a swimsuit- see the end of this post), but we all had fun, too. 

Blade was such a trooper and took everything in stride, even though he missed tons of naps. He was so tired though that after his bath, Lance laid him on the bed for a minute until I could feed him and he just dozed right off. 

Thursday night it was back to Disneyland for a few rides and Fantasmic, a killer show. It was very crowded though, and Daryn was a little too cranky at this point to really enjoy it. The glowsticks helped, though. 

Earlier in the evening, she finally got her ride on Autopia with Lance that she had been waiting for. (I hate that ride. I think it is so dumb and boring and takes foreeeever so Lance was nice and took two for the team.)

We also met some of the princesses.

And took another spin on the carousel.

Blade got his ears that night and adorably loved them.

Friday was our last day! We were all getting tired but pushed through. We had to hit up Peter Pan and Dumbo, of course. 

And we finally got to meet Mickey himself.

And Minnie! What an honor.

Maddie RAN and would not let go.

Her house is so fun.

And we caught Pluto on the way out. He came over and surprised the girls and they were thrilled (even though I'm sure Maddie has no idea who he is).

Astro Orbitor- Blade's second ride out. Also, apparently you are not allowed to ride barefoot, (which make sense, unless you are a baby who has been barefoot all week) so we had to take Maddie's socks off, put her tennis shoes back on, and put her socks on Blade. She was not thrilled. 

It was so nice that Reagan was old enough to ride everything by herself because it really helped us out on the ratios. 

I took the girls on Splash Mountain one last time and Lance to Maddie to the little Rapunzel play. He said she sat with her eyes covered for most of it...?

We also spent a few minutes exploring Tom Sawyer's island. The girls would have loved to spend way longer there but we were running out of time.

Goodbye Disneyland!

We had to grab some ice cream cones on the way out.

Blade insisted on sharing mine. (Don't judge, it's hard to eat it literally in front of his face.)

And Maddie passed out before she could finish hers- a first for her.

We left mid-afternoon, stopped quickly by the hotel and drove straight to the beach. The water was chilly and the sun was getting low, but we couldn't resist a short visit. Reagan was brave enough to play in the water and they all worked together on sand castles. 

By the time the sun had set, it was really cooling down and we were starving. TMI: We walked back the car, where I discovered that, shocker, Maddie's swim diaper was full of liquid poo, again. She wears reusable cloth swim diapers so this really is the worst. We were only there for an hour! She was covered in sand and I had to try to clean her off in the back of the car and I won't go into too much detail, but it was bad, and definitely involved a giant turd rolling out of her diaper, bouncing off the bumper of our car, and landing in the parking lot. That image is forever seared in my brain and now maybe in yours, too. Sorrynotsorry. Being a parent is rough sometimes. Chickfila made everything better.

Saturday morning we loaded up and drove back to Utah. The girls were thrilled to find that their rock piles were still there and worked hard making them even bigger. 

We made it in late that night and after everything was unloaded and the kids were in bed and the washer was running Lance and collapsed into bed and vowed never to leave the house again. But honestly, we all had the best time and the memories are priceless!