Long post with picture overload...read on if you want.
We have wanted to take the girls to Disneyland for a few years now. Having a baby last year kind of put a damper on that dream for a while. The girls have a "Disneyland fund" where they have been saving for a trip. They ended up with about $100.
Jer and I decided that we were ready to tackle the beast and take the girls to the happiest place on earth. (I'm pretty sure my bathtub with a good book and a coke with crushed ice is really the happiest place on earth).
We also decided it would be tons of fun to totally surprise the girls. This was so hard for me! For about 2 months, my every thought was consumed by all things Disney and I couldn't talk about it at all until the girls went to bed, and by then Jeramy didn't want to hear about it anymore. Waiting for our trip was way more exciting than Christmas for me this year!
We started off the day we were to leave with a trip to the doctor for my poor sick baby. Double ear infections and teeth coming in. She was not a happy camper. We were starting to dread taking her. BUT, hotels had been booked, tickets bought, and there was no way I wasn't going after my months of planning.
We soon realized that we had a small problem with the surprise factor...Macie gets home from school hours before her sisters. So, Jeramy took her on a date to pick up Lexi's prescriptions and to lunch. While they were gone I packed the car. I've never been good at tetrus, but I was pretty impressed with my packing job! A stroller, pack and play, 8 suitcases, picnic basket, sleeping bag, 3 pillow pets and many other random things...all fit perfectly!
We checked the girls out of school a little early and told them. The were all kind of in shock, especially Maddie. Hadn't thought about my over- planner Maddie. She struggled the most with being surprised. I had made them each a Mickey mouse bag and filled it with cool car things and snacks. I had also got them each a Mickey stuffed animal (totally worth my drive to Orem in a snow storm and getting rear-ended in the process).
We made it to St George for dinner, then on to Las Vegas for the night. We got there around 8, and we didn't want to stay on the strip. We stayed at Palace Station and the sweet girl that checked me in gave us a room on the top floor with a view of the strip (since I had told her it was our first time there). She was thrilled that we were there for the first time and was so happy to tell me I could now drink a beer as we walked down the strip. Good to know.
Our room was nasty and smelled like smoke so bad I thought I was going to puke a time or two, but the girls were thrilled to be there. We had breakfast at McDonald's and decided the sooner we got out of Vegas the better. Sorry, Vegas lovers, it's not for us small town folks with small kids.
We made it to Anaheim without another stop. I should probably insert here that Lexi was soooo good in the car. She was wide awake for 3 and a half hours on the way there and was so happy! Here is the highlight of the drive for my girls...
What is that, you may ask...I had put these Phineas and Ferb papers in Macie's bag for her to cut out on the ride. She cut them out and then asked me to tape them so they would stand up. As I was taping them, I put them on the dash of the car. They kept falling over. So then I got this brilliant idea of standing them all up and everyone chose the person they thought would stand the longest. The winner got a treat from my treat stash. We seriously played this for a half hour. Even Jeramy got a kick out of it.
We got to sunny California and checked into our hotel. The hotel was old, but clean. (Our only complaint is that the wi-fi didn't work very well. It was a long week without internet). The girls had to start our stay there with a swim in the pool. We then packed up again and headed to Huntington beach.
This was Jeramy and the girls' first trip to the ocean. They had tons of fun. Lexi hated it! She clung to my neck so tight that I finally just took her back to the car. (It was freezing cold, anyway). Jer and the girls played an collected seashells until the sun went down.
Wednesday was our first day at Disneyland! Lindsay kept saying, "I must be dreaming, I can't believe I'm really here!" We decided to focus on the whole Disney experience our first day and stayed mostly in Fantasyland. The only ride my girls even knew about was the teacups, so we had to do that. Even I did it, and I hate rides. Macie loved Dumbo and we ended up riding it three times over the days we were there.
We visited Minnie and Mickey and waited a half hour to visit each of them. Luckily Lexi had just fallen asleep in the stroller and she slept for about 3 hours while we were waiting!
We waited in line for 45 minutes to see Belle and Ariel. The girls decided after that that it totally wasn't worth the wait. So glad we got that out of the way! Macie wasn't too excited about rides that she couldn't see what was going to happen on them. We did all the "easy rides" and got fast passes for Space Mountain. Jeramy, Maddie and Lindsay did it first and came running out telling us how cool it was. I honestly couldn't remember it, and decided Macie would be fine. I was wrong. She screamed and kicked and cried the whole time. After that, her trust was gone and getting her to ride anything was like pulling teeth.
Lexi loved the Nemo submarine. She would point out her window and "oohh" at everything. Jeramy could barely get her little hands pried off the window when it was over. (And I'll point out Lindsay's face in the middle picture. She really didn't want to do any water related rides. She was pouting).
Day two we split between the two parks. We used our early entry at Disneyland for Jeramy and Maddie to get some of the big rides they wanted to do out of the way. We found out once we were there that those rides didn't open early. Bummer. Bummer number two was for Macie. While we were waiting for Jeramy and Maddie, Macie asked if we could wait in line for Goofy to sign her book. We had nothing better to do, so we got in his line. We waited about 15 minutes, then we were told Goofy was leaving, but he'd sign all of our books first. He got to us, threw Macie's book down, bent over for a picture and then took off. Macie had big old tears in her eyes, and the guy in line behind us said some not so nice things to Goofy. That started our day off wrong.
Macie, Lexi and I walked through a lot of gift shops. Lexi was so funny with all the strangers. Stranger danger was gone on this trip and she would give them big cheesy smiles and blow kisses at everyone. She was so happy all the time (good thing she was because Macie was a baby the whole time. They balanced each other out).
While Jeramy and Maddie were doing Tower of Terror, us girls went to Turtle Talk with Crush. Out of all the kids in that room, Crush chose to talk to "Longboard Lindsay" and totally made her whole day. It was pretty funny.
We loved Radiator Springs! I had been trying to get the girls to watch Cars for months, and they wouldn't. Once they finally knew we were going to Disneyland, they watched it in the car on the way there. We waited in a 20 minute line to get our fast pass, which wasn't even good for 6 hours after we got it! Once again, Jeramy and the "big" girls talked me and Macie into riding the Cars ride. We were totally loving it, then at the end it goes crazy fast. Macie freaked out and pretty much tried to climb onto my lap while it was moving. More trust was gone for her.
Jer, Maddie and Lexi did the ferris wheel. The picture of Lexi clinging to the gate and looking down totally stresses me out. So glad I didn't go on that one!
Macie is a tad bit obsessed with Phineas and Ferb. She uses her screen time every day to watch it on Netflix. At California Adventure they have their own little dance party a few times every day. We watched it three times, and each time, the fireside girls tried to get her to go out and dance and she refused. I was so mad at her! I had been looking forward to that moment so much in all my planning!
(Just a few more of my favorite pictures)
By day 3, the girls were pretty much done. We took it easy, re-did their favorite rides. It was also Lexi's first birthday! I didn't do a dang thing for her. She got a trip to Disneyland for crying out loud! Because of my amazing packing job, I was able to put in her presents from Grandma Mary, so at least she got to open something! We did get her a button that said, "It's my birthday" while we were there and all the workers would wish her a happy birthday. She loved playing with that button that I had put on a lanyard - until she got it open and poked herself. That was the end of playing with her buttons!
We went back to the hotel and swam for some of the day, then headed back for Fantasmic and the fireworks. I really waned to ride Soaring over California and so for our last ride, we did that one. Once again, Jer and the big girls went on it, came out and said it wasn't scary at all. Macie still wouldn't go, so I went in a gift shop with Macie and asked a worker. The worker insisted that it really wasn't scary and even had Tinkerbell at the end of it. So Macie decided she would do it. Before we even got seated on the ride, she started to freak out and cry. I refused to get out of line to take her out, and I thought she'd calm down. She didn't. Once we got seated she started screaming bloody murder. Then the ride started and she just kept yelling, "I hate Disneyland!" Over and over. I had to apologize to the people that sat by us. So embarrassing!
She quickly fell asleep in the stroller after that (did I mention that she spent more time in the stroller than the baby did? Can you tell Macie pushed my buttons the whole trip?)
Macie and Lexi slept for a few hours while I camped out for amazing Fantasmic seats. Totally worth it! Loved the show! Wasn't crazy about getting wet from sitting so close, but so cool. We then watched the fireworks and ended our trip to Disney.
We got a slow start home the next day. We stopped after two hours for Lindsay to barf on the side of the freeway. Then we stopped and ate in Vegas. Once again, not a fan of that place. Stopped in Mesquite for gas. Then Fillmore for dinner. We didn't get home until 11. The ride home was a lot harder on all of us, but I'm glad we did it in one day so we could just relax Sunday before getting back into the swing of things.
We really did have a good time. I pointed out a lot of the bad that my girls did, but only because - well, it's the truth of traveling with kids. Overall it was fun and good to be with my family 24/7. Macie kept saying (when she wasn't throwing a tantrum or crying) "I just love that I'm here with my whole family."
And that right there is why we went.
