Where Are We Going?

We took a month long summer adventure trip.  Me and the kids anyway.  Shawn was only able to make it 2 weeks.  I drove out with the kids and headed to my parents in Idaho.  Once Shawn showed up we hit a family reunion on both sides, visited Yellowstone, and of course BYU for new apparel.  I have family pictures to post of both reunions, but due to technical difficulties those will be posted later.  After our last reunion with family we had one week before Shawn needed to get back to work.  Because we ended in Southern Utah (only 6 hours from Anaheim) Shawn and I decided last minute to take the kids to Disneyland.  We also decided NOT to tell them until we were actually at the entrance to the park.  So sneaky.  Being professional parents we decided the surprise would avoid any "are we there yets" and "over anticipation let down".  We were so right. 
We left Southern Utah around 10 am thinking we'd get to our destination early.  Only.  Presley started puking coming out of the mountain.  We detoured to Shawn's sisters house in Cedar City to do laundry and give her some car sick medicine.  As we passed through Vegas Ethan said "aren't we going the opposite direction of home?"  I told him we were just sight seeing.  And he bought it.  So trusting. 
As we neared our hotel Jackson said, "I just saw a sign that said Disneyland!"  Kennedy's reply was "Jackson.  Duh.  We are in California.  Streets are named stuff like that.  We aren't going to Disneyland!"  Hmmmm. 
We pulled into our hotel parking lot and as we were checking in I was sure the kids would know what was up. They were climbing around the mickey mouse billboard with park times while I was talking to the hotel worker about ticket pick-up.  Still clueless.  We decided to walk over to the park and pick up our tickets rather than wait until morning when the lines just to get in would be ridiculous.  Walking to the entrance Kennedy caught on and whispered in my ear she knew our destination.  The boys?  Still clueless.  Even with all the Toy Story buses driving around us, and the Magic Kingdom signs on every light post.  We still had to say it plainly.  "We are going to Disneyland."  By the time we got to sleep it was 10 o'clock.  Remember, by this time we'd already been on vacation for 3 weeks and our time clocks were zapped.  And little bodies were wearing thin on sleep.

Having grown up a few hours from Disneyland, I've been a few times.  Only when you are a youth you just get to the park the second it opens, run from ride to ride all day long without stopping, stay until they kick you out, and then do it all over again the next day.  I knew this wasn't going to work with our kids.  So.  I had to seriously rein it in.  And it was hard.  For instance.  We woke up Tuesday morning at 8 am, took showers, got ready to leave, and then went to IHOP across the street for breakfast.  I told you.  Painful from a seasoned Disneyland girl standpoint.  But luckily I'm flexible.  (haha.  If you know me, you know that isn't true)

The kids getting ready to leave:

Presley not happy because she couldn't do what she wanted.

After breakfast we headed to the park.  We decided I would be the fast pass girl (only because I actually cared about what we rode!).  We also decided we'd hit the Magic Kingdom the first day, and California Adventure on our second day.  Our first ride was Buzz Lightyear (because it was right next to the fast pass line of Star Tours).

The kids loved every minute there.  It was hot.  We were sweaty.  But they were troopers.  Very little fighting and whining.  It was great. 

After a few hours of rides we were ready for lunch.  We headed into toon town because we figured it would be kid friendly.  We spent a bazillion dollars on an okay lunch, and then played around for a bit.

We decided to wait in line for Finding Nemo.  It was a loooong wait.  15 minutes in Shawn left to push Presley in her stroller so she'd fall asleep.  The boys started fighting 30 minutes in and I realized we had hit an ending point in our day.  It was only 4 o'clock!  We stuck it out and rode the ride before we called it quits.

Crazy coincidence.  While Shawn was pushing Presley in the stroller he ran into our good friends Bobby and Katherine Fields!  They only live 3 hours from us but we haven't seen them for a while.  Crazy.
We all headed back to the hotel for a little break.  And giant Slurpee's from 7-11.  And some hot dogs and other random food choices.  The kids watched TV, and I sat on the bed chomping at the bit ready to get back to the park!  Time was being wasted!  At 7 pm we made our way back to the park.

Presley was too young for some of the really fun rides, so we'd split up and use stroller passes.  Shawn took the older 3 kids on Indiana Jones while me and the younger 2 wandered around.  Then I got to go with Landon on the same ride.

This kid cracked me up.  He LOVED all the big rides, but his little body wore out so fast.  He spent a lot of time in the stroller with Presley.  After this ride it was 9 o'clock and he couldn't keep his eyes open.  Shawn headed back to the hotel with the younger 2 kids, and the rest of us stayed until midnight riding the big rides Presley was too small for.  We had fast passes for Splash Mountain at 11:30.  That was the ride Landon really wanted to ride but had to miss due to his fatigue.  Poor guy.  Next time buddy.

On our way out of the park we saw the Fields again.  I loved seeing them!

We were all beat by midnight and ready for bed.  The next day we weren't moving very fast.  And Presley woke up beastly due to lack of sleep.  All the kids were ornery and I guess I might have been too.  It was comical to me how angry we all were so I started taking pictures.

Shawn decided to stay behind and let Presley nap while the rest of us headed to California Adventure.  A place I'd never been.  It was noon before we arrived.  And it was surprisingly not crowded.  First stop--Tower of Terror.

We took a few pictures with some of our favorite characters:

And then.  The kids.  They really wanted to go on a wet ride.  The line was 2 hours long, and they were okay with that.  I reminded them of the Nemo ride line, but still no luck. So.  We waited. 

They had a good time.  But all said they hated the wait and didn't want to wait that long ever again for a ride.  Shawn showed up with Presley around 4 o'clock.  And it was HOT outside.  The kids were kind of dragging at this point, but I kept pushing them.  Until Jackson said, "I need a break mom.  Just to sit down for awhile."  If any other kid had said it, it would have gone unnoticed.  But Jack.  That kid never   tires or runs out of energy.  So.  I figured they really needed a break.  I felt bad making Shawn return with us to the hotel at that point, but he actually didn't mind.  We headed back and took a few hours to eat, drink, and lay around.  We headed back to the park for the last time around 7:30.  We had tickets for the light show at 9:30 so we rode rides until then.  Our favorite by far was "soarin' over California".  Awesome.  Shawn took Jack and Ethan on the big rides he'd missed earlier that day, while I took Kennedy, Landon, and Presley on Toy Story.  Presley's favorite.

The Park was clearing out so we all hopped on a few little kid rides until it was time for our show. 
"World of Color" was the show.  And I have to say it seriously rivals the Bellagio fountains in Vegas.  By a lot.  It was amazing.  Unfortunately, 15 minutes into the show our kids were done.  Done done.  We packed it up and headed out.  But they still wanted the souvenir promised them earlier, so we headed back into the Magic Kingdom for some small purchases.  We were in bed by 11:30. 
The next day we decided to take the kids to see the ocean before we headed back home.  Those pictures are for another post. (also due to technical difficulties).  I'm so glad we took this little family detour.  We added about 12 hours worth of driving, but I feel like it was worth every minute.