Disneyland!!

This year for Christmas my parents got the boys Disney passes. On Thursday we went up to get them and Aaron had his first glimpse of the happiest place on Earth.

My parents wanted to take the boys up Thursday afternoon and stay the night at a hotel. I wanted to go up Thursday afternoon as well, but was too cheap to get a hotel. Ben and I were going to stay at home and then join them on Friday. Then I decided to ask Ben's aunt Sandy if we could crash at her place in Orange County.

I made arrangements for Jillian to get picked up early and made arrangements with Sandy for us to stay with her. Too bad Ben didn't understand that in order for us to leave around 230, he had to be HOME around 230. (For being such a smart guy, sometimes the simple things really escape him). So Wednesday night he informed me that he had a meeting until 3.

So I called my parents, and made plans for them to pick up the boys, and we would meet them later. So my dad talked me into taking Roman out of school early so that they could leave even earlier.

I told Roman Wednesday night that I was going to pick him up from school at lunch time, so on Thursday, he woke up early and told daddy that he had to draw me a map so that I would know where to pick him up, because I didn't know where he ate lunch at. How cute is he?!? I LOVE having a kindergartner!

So I picked Roman up early and my dad came and got the two


big boys, and they were off! Then Jillian got picked up, and the baby and I were left pacing the floors waiting for daddy to get home.

By time we got up to Disneyland, parked, paid $300+ for our own tickets and actually got INTO the park... it was after 6 pm, and they closed at 8! It was weird for the baby's first Disneyland experience to be in the dark, but he didn't mind. We called my parent's, but they were on Pirates

and weren't answering, so we went over to Fantasyland (because I didn't know they were on Pirates, and thought they would be in Fantasyland). The baby's very first ride was the carousel. He didn't like it at first, but one he got used to it, he had a good time. Then of course, we had to take him on Dumbo. He liked that one a lot.

We reunited with my parents and the boys after Dumbo and went over to Small World. The baby did not really like that one too much. I was sitting there thinking, wow, he's not crying... and then the floodgates opened.

Isaac on the other hand, LOVES Small World. They still have the Christmas lights and theme throughout the ride. So the song alternates between "It's a Small World" and "Jingle Bells"... Isaac's 2 favorite songs in the whole world! He sang the whole ride... all FOUR times that we went in those two and a half days!

We all went on Dumbo again, just because we could, the line was really short. Isaac and I raced to a yellow Dumbo, and then we saw daddy and the baby walking along looking for a Dumbo. Aaron was holding the magic feather... until he suddenly decided it would be fun to throw it... into the water. I guess they don't have any back up magic feathers, because as soon as our ride was over, they had to try to fish it out!

Thursday night we stayed until the park closed at 8. Then we had to fight the rest of the crowd that was also leaving to go get dinner. We ended up at a Burger King in the good part of town at about 9 pm. You could tell just how bad the area was when you had to use a token or pay for the bathrooms.

Then we went our seperate ways to our lodgings. I tried to keep the baby awake so that Sandy could at least see him. We felt bad that the other boys weren't going to be able to visit, but they were beyond ready for bed. We got to Sandy's at a quarter to 10, and the baby was wide awake and ready to play. We visited for half an hour or so, and then headed up to bed. Aaron has never been a co-sleeper, but he was just crying in the pack and play. So i brought him into bed, where he quickly passes out right in the middle. So cute. (I did transfer him to the pack in play so that I could get some sleep).

Aaron slept from 11 pm to 650 am (he has the weirdest internal clock... no matter what time he goes down, always up at 650!). Crazy kid. And the only nap he took on Friday, was the tail end of the Nemo ride.

Friday was a lot of fun. I really enjoy Disneyland, and I enjoy seeing the boys have a good time.

We started on the Matterhorn, Roman's first time ever. He liked it, but didn't love it.

I don't know why, but we actually didn't get a whole lot done at Disneyland. We have a few staples that we ALWAYS do, that we didn't get in before our 3 o'clock lunch. That's the nice thing about having passes though.

We headed out to Downtown Disney for lunch, and they over to CA Adventure, were they had to show us the new ride first. It was a lot of fun. The boys had gone on it twice the night before, so they were telling us how to play. It is like 5 different carnival games and you play head to head. I was aiming at first, and Roman was beating me. About the third game, I realized it was about quantity, not quality, and just started shooting like crazy. Finally in the end I did beat my 5 year old son :)

My favorite ride is the Tower of Terror. I rarely get to go on it (besides the not going to D-land too often) because on other visits I've been pregnant, or it's just Ben and me with the boys. So I asked my parents to take the boys so that Ben and I could go on it.

I think it was about 6 pm, and my mom was done for the day. They still needed to stop at the store to get something for the TX girlies, and then there is the venture out to the car that can take the better part of the hour. So we said our thank yous and good byes.... and we headed back over to Disneyland.

The boys were tired, but Isaac wanted to go on Casey Jr. So we layed back the seat of the single stroller, and packed both big boys into it and headed back to Fantasyland. As we were walking past the Carousel and Dumbo, the baby pointed and wanted to go on those. So we ended up staying for another hour and a half! I was impressed that the boys made it that long... but mostly impressed that Ben did!

We finally left the park about 8 and were on the road by 9. The boys were asleep before we even got to the exit ramp of the parking structure!!

So I am now looking for anyone else who has season passes and wants to spend a few hours at the Happiest Place on Earth with me and the boys :) Let me know if you are interested!