California Adventure

Our first day at California Adventure was also Blake's birthday.  As parents we were SOOOO excited for him to see Cars Land.  He got a fever that day!!!  He was so miserable!!

The morning started out ok.  Dodge was really excited.  Like Blake, Dodge also loves Cars but he has an equal love for Planes (you can see him carrying a Dusty plane).  

Here we are ready to go on the cars ride which was so well done.  I loved it. 

Dodge wasn't able to ride the cars ride but he has a blast running through the street and seeing McQueen.  He was quite the cheesy poser but we stood in line to see McQueen and Mater a couple of times just for Dodge.

Blake got to see McQueen but you can see where his enthusiasm is beginning to wane as the fever is setting in.  

And finally he is full-blown miserable.  He hated the tractor ride because he hit his head and wouldn't stop crying.  I was getting annoyed because we didn't realize he was sick and it came across as just "spoiled brat" syndrome.  He was fine earlier when we let him pick a present!!  And now he is bawling like a baby!!  Not even caring that we are in Cars Land on his birthday!!  I was getting mad.  He didn't even care when DJ did his dance show.

Daisy loved it.  She was at just the right age because she was so excited about everything we did and wanted to be a part of it.  Heidi and Kaylee felt too old to dance around in the street.  Daisy ended up going out to dance every time DJ was there and we were still around.  

Can you see Blake in the background?  He was so unhappy.  Finally I decided to be a real mom and figure out what the problem was instead of just being a mad mom.  That's when we realized he was burning up even though he insisted he was freezing.  He didn't even want his birthday ice cream cone that he had been planning on for weeks before we came. 

Ben took the boys back to the hotel and the girls and I stayed to ride rides.  Daisy's scariest ride there was the swings.  She was so scared that she was going to fly off into the water.  By the second time we did them she was able to brave the seat by herself.  

    And my scariest ride???  It is right there in the background...the ferris wheel.  We had a rule that the kids had to ride every ride there.  No way we were going to go to Disneyland and have them miss out on an experience because they were 'too scared'.  However, there was one exception to that rule.  No one would have to ride the ferris wheel because I was not going to ride.  I know my limitations.  Some of the kids were totally fine skipping it but then Heidi and Kaylee wanted to go on it so we made everyone go.  And we got a swinging cart.  (If we were going to do the ferris wheel we were going to go all. the. way!)  Yes, I screamed the whole time.  Yes, people were looking at me.  And yes, I got off and started crying uncontrollably.  I was so tense on the ride that when I got off my body had to cry.  Ben was completely embarrassed.  The kids swore that a man was video taping my screaming.  Pretty much, it was my kids' favorite memory at Disneyland :)

We did two days there and it was fun.  Blake recovered for day two and enjoyed Cars Land the way we wanted him to.  Heidi was sick after that.  Sadly, she spent a good part of day two in the stroller asleep!  It was a little awkward pushing a napping 11 year old around.  All she wanted to do that second day was ride Tower of Terror at night and see Disneyland all lit up but she was too sick in the end to care.  Once again, another reason for us to get back there as soon as we can.  

Blake didn't like Tower of Terror.  He went on it once and didn't want to do it again but since I hadn't gotten to go with him I asked if he would go again just for me.  He did!  It was so sweet!  He rode that ride again just so I could enjoy riding it with him.  The whole time we waited he would talk out loud to himself about how he already rode it once and that was the rule, but he would do it again.  It was really cute.

We had some Disney magic at California Adventure.  Blake loves Oswald.  He knows him from a Wii game we have and he really wanted to see him.  Of course he missed him the first day because he went home sick.  Our last day there we really wanted to get a picture but he was never out when we went by.  As we were waiting for the Pixar parade to start I told Ben we would head over and just check to see if he was there.  We had missed him all day and this was our last chance as the characters were retiring for the night.  Kaylee had begun an annoying habit of saying, 'There he is! Made you look!' so when she shouted out that she saw him and I still couldn't see I pretty much threatened her if it turned out to be a joke.  Luckily she was right!!  There was Oswald right at the front gates!  We got in line and not a second after we did the Disney staff who stops the line stood behind us and we were the last to get our picture with Oswald!!  Disney Magic!!  

The happiest place on earth

Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth!!  We had so much fun there.  It was a great vacation and we can't wait to go back again.  Yes, the kids and I have been planning and, funny enough, even Ben has been coming up with a good time for us to go again.  We all loved it.  

We ended up going five days; two days at Disneyland, two at California Adventure, and then our last one at Disneyland again.  Our last day turned out to be full of Disney magic just for our family!!  It was awesome.  (It was so good it gets a post of it's own :)

Our first character we saw was Goofy.  We jumped in line and as we went to get Dodge out of the stroller for the picture he began to frantically rebuckle himself.  He was a little scared but by our second character he had gotten over it.

One thing I did not expect my kids to enjoy as much as they did were the characters.  When it came down to waiting in line to meet someone versus waiting in line for a ride they always chose to wait for the character.  They just loved it!  The characters do such a good job being friendly, funny and patiently posing for me to fumble around with my camera.  Now, my kids don't talk to people.  Ever.  Including Disney characters.  As we waited and heard all the funny jokes being said to the people before us my kids would laugh and smile. Then we would finally have our turn and it was the same thing every time: say our names, hand them the autograph book, Blake not talking at all but standing with a fake smile to the side, and finally me taking a picture because my kids did not interact with anyone.  It was a bit disappointing for me that my kids wouldn't talk more but they didn't care at all because they loved watching them be funny with other families.  I had to learn to get over it.

Of course we had Diasy get her own shot with Daisy Duck.  And below you can see where I tried to get my kids to let loose a little and be crazy.  All that happened was me looking like an idiot, Daisy duck kissing Blake and the girls not doing anything.  We are so boring (they get that from Ben :)

Dodge was 21 months when we went.  Our first day he was awesome.  He patiently waited in the stroller, was quiet, enjoyed the rides...and turned out he was also recovering from a fever that each kid ended up getting.  So when he was nice and healthy again his impatience with long lines came out.  He spent a lot of time climbing on fences...

and crying along the fences.  It was rough for him.  And then rough for Ben who ended up spending four days with Dodge on his shoulders.  Ben and Dodge had a lot of quality time together during our vacation!

We ended up waiting so long to go through Pixie Hollow.  In fact, it was long enough that Ben took the boys and left for a more manly activity (Buzz's astro blaster...I don't think Ben wanted them posed in a picture by the 'fairies welcome' sign).

While at Disneyland I was also 13 weeks pregnant.  That meant that my mom worried about me riding rides, I had to pull out my chubbier-but-not-yet-maternity clothes for comfort, and that by day five of walking and standing my varicose veins were starting to be a problem.  But, after being pregnant and still riding all the rides I can officially say the ride that posed the most bumps, jerks and greatest threat to the baby would have to be Autotopia.  It was AWFUL!!  Blake drove, and then, due to age restrictions and everyone wanting a chance to drive, I went again with Kaylee driving. Kaylee was definitely a better driver but it still has jerky and the worst ride for me.  Not to mention that I broke my phone while waiting in line so it meant four more days at Disneyland without texting.

Blake was just big enough for the older rides.  We did a lot of fast passes and our preferred method of riding was to get all six fast passes for one ride at once; one parent waited with Dodge while the other took all the kids, then with a stroller pass in hand all the kids but one would be able to ride again with the other parent.  It was a fun system because the kids were able to ride it twice in a row.

Cruella DeVille was their favorite character to wait for.  She was hilarious and Daisy still tells me about how she chased Pluto when he walked by because she doesn't like dogs.

At one point we had split up.  The girls and I were waiting in line for Toad's Wild Ride when Dodge had a poopy diaper.  With Ben gone and the stroller parked all the way at the front of main street saving our spot for the parade, I had no choice but to tell the girls to go on the ride and then meet me back at the stroller.  It was the ONLY time we left them alone and it failed, just like Heidi knew it would.  They sat there waiting in line just to get to the front and have Daisy say she was only six and she wasn't allowed to ride it without an adult.  So they walked back to the stroller in low spirits.  After that we told Daisy just to lie about her age and she was so excited to do so.  Meanwhile, I couldn't get Dodge to come with me at all without a fight unless we played this racing game.  He would stop, get in his running stance, I would tell him to go and he would take off running until he was ready to repeat it again.  It was pretty cute.

I love the amount of effort Disney puts into their entertainment.  Their parades are so good.  My favorite part is actually watching my kids watch the parade.  Daisy was able to get each princess to look and wave at her and Dodge was willing to sit (without having to be restrained) for the whole thing.  The girls loved the parade and I'm so happy that they were still young enough to find it cool.  We went when our kids were just the right ages.  

Star Tours and Iron Man.

Meeting Captain America was funny.  First, the line was long but Ben said that since we had waited in long lines for the characters the girls wanted to see then we were waiting in a long line for one that the boys wanted to see.  Fair enough.  When we finally got around to him I had told Captain America that Heidi wanted to feel his muscles.  She was completely embarrassed, as was Kaylee, and even Captain America looks a little weird about it.  However, Daisy thought it was awesome and teased Heidi about it the rest of the trip.  

Dodge and I had to wait while the kids went on Space Mountain again and he was getting antsy by this time but give him a bucket of popcorn and he will sit there all night :)

Disneyland was seriously fun.  We were glad to be there by ourselves because we were able to plan our time according to what our kids wanted to do and not have to worry about anyone else.  We let our kids choose what to do and it was awesome.  We loved it.  The kids loved the big roller coasters and the kiddie rides.  Blake ran off once and made it all the way from the tea cups to the Tomorrow Land before Ben caught up with him but that was our only lost child incident. Not too bad.  Sadly, Splash Mountain and Peter Pan's Flight were both closed while we were there.  The kids really wanted to go on those.  However, by missing out on them this time it has just encourages us to get back there again!