This year Santa sent this lucky family to Disneyland for Christmas. He decided to let us go in November instead of waiting for the crazy Holiday time crowd.
We left on a Sunday and Brynlee didn't miss the detail that Ty was in his regular clothes instead of his church clothes. Having written a letter to Santa the night before, I had to come up with something on the fly and told her we were going to the North Pole because Santa got her letter and wanted to talk to her. It wasn't until we were in the car and she was crying about not being able to bring her American Girl book that we told her where we were really going. It was funny to watch the look on her face change from crying to confusion to recognition and then happiness. It was so sweet. She asked if the first thing we could do is ride Thunder Mountain. It was even more of a surprise when she found out Mckinley and Kingston were coming and meeting up with us at the airport.
Brynlee sat on my bag while we were waiting for our plane, yep, she broke my favorite pair of sunglasses... :( Ty had the privilege of sitting with the girls for the flight to Cali.
Our shuttle driver was, I'm assuming, the epitome of the stereotypical LA driver. He cut people off left and right but it didn't even phase him. I don't think I could drive in that place, at least not very well. Thanks to Ty we watched Beauty and the Beast every single time we got into the rental car. Glad he packed 8 movies and we only watched one or two the entire time!
Once we officially arrived, we hit up the Target (found myself a cute Minnie Mouse shirt), got some din din at CPK and let the kiddos play in the pool.
The hotel was nice and had yummy suckers that we indulged in almost every day and it was only a short walk to the Tram that took us to Downtown Disney. I loved sleeping in a King sized bed! We will have one someday, no doubt about it!
Monday - Disneyland!
Brynlee's shirt was brand new (all the red you can see is actually glitter) and for the duration of the trip we found red glitter everywhere!
This picture of Kingston on Splash Mountain cracks me up.
Impersonating C3PO and Brynlee being a turd.
Day 2 - California Adventure
Downtown Disney has the coolest Lego store. These statues are all made out of legos. There's a hulk and Genie with Aladdin, Jasmin and the Magic Carpet inside which are pretty rad too.
Heading into California Adventure we tried to go straight to Carsland but the line was seriously soo long so we decided to start elsewhere. We walked on to Screamin' California twice!
Tisha and Me on Screamin' Cali ~ First Tower of Terror ~ Last Tower of Terror ride... EVER!
Day 3 back to Disneyland
We basically went straight to Peter Pan and it seriously was crazy how many people were lined up for it already and then how many were behind us in line too!
Small World had a holiday show (or else I wouldn't have gone on it cause it gives me a headache).
The macaroons were awesome. I beat everyones score on Astro Blaster and Ty was waiting for our last ride on Space Mountain, oh so patiently.
Last ride of the trip. Brynlee started the ride pouting and crying cause she wanted to sit next to Ty.
Our last full day, Thursday, we started with going to The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.
Highly recommend it. The touch tanks were awesome, complete with sea urchin hugs, moon jellies, anemones, sea stars and cucumbers plus eggs from clams. We got to watch them sedate a penguin to do well check for it. They also had scuba divers in a huge tank feeding fish.
Mermaid purses.
Itty bitty baby sharks due to hatch in December. Super neat.
Plus the picture to the left was the coolest little fishy. I wanted to hug him. Picture doesn't do justice.
Super cool Lorikeet sanctuary.
After the Aquarium we grabbed a bite to eat on the pier and by my insistence, made a quick visit to the beach. It was chilly and the water was dirty and freezing but I couldn't resist. The kids absolutely loved it. I also had to pee like crazy and that is an adventure I'm not sure I care to remember in detail. Haha!
Anytime we go to a beach I always make him kiss me like this!
He hates it but I don't care.
When we're old and decrepit, no longer able to travel, I am hoping we'll have thousands of pictures of us kissing on beaches around the world.
That night we ate some OG and sat out by a little fire outside our hotel and just relished in the vacation but sad it was coming to an end. It was pretty much beautiful weather the entire time, not terribly crowded and such a fun time despite a couple of us trying to fight colds the whole time.
This trip could not have come at a better time for my little family. I disconnected from myself and just tried to enjoy everything. Brynlee had a blast and it was so nice to spend time together without work and 'life' getting in the way. We ate whatever we wanted - dole whips, popcorn, cotton candy, churros, caramel apples, macaroons, La Brea hot chocolate (like drinking a gourmet chocolate bar) with a yummy pretzel for dipping, monte cristos and pommes frites... ah so good! We got ourselves a BB8 ornament for our Christmas tree, Brynlee got a Pua and legos, Ty bought a hat we gave to Kingston because he didn't realize it was a youth hat and already took the tags off before he tried it on and I got The Nightmare Before Christmas Book. At the end of every day we were so tired and it was a good feeling to know we did everything we wanted to do.
Brynlee literally cried when we were on our way home. I didn't want to come home either.
The kid didn't like Indiana Jones and was barely tall enough to even go on it. Her favorite part was Space Mountain, Ty's was not going to work and mine was just being away. For me it was nice to have a break from reality, laugh deliriously with my sister, eat whatever I wanted, laugh (did I mention this?), not worry about much and to just be entertained. Mark and I both came to the realization that since we've now been skydiving, the rollercoasters (or any rides) don't hold much thrill anymore, still fun, but not exhilaratingly so. We've upped the ante for ourselves unfortunately!
Ciao Disney... we will be back.
1 comment:
So glad you got to go. Sounds like it was just what you needed.
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