Disneyland

Armand, Ayden, and Ashten Britany, Taylor, Tana, Brad, AJ, and Armand on our first ride, The Jungle Cruise. It was cute and the boat driver was really funny. The kids loved it. Elephants in the Jungle Cruise
Anderson, Amie, Brad, Tana, and Ayden This was the first big ride we went on, it was great!

Except for the two people dropping the F bomb because Brad and I splashed them! It's a water ride people;) While Brad and Armand went on a "grownup ride" we went to visit Tigger

and Eeyore

Brad, Britany, Tana, and Taylor on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Everytime I thought, this ride is going to be so lame...it turned out awesome! This ride was no exception, maybe I am easily amused.

Ayden and Ashten really wanted to go to this Jedi Training Academy. It was a little boring at first, but then just as they had given up these guys came out so we stayed to watch.

Our Goofy dinner.

Aj LOVED all the characters from far away, but he wouldn't get close to any of them without Mommy. Minnie won him over though.

The kids loved Minnie

Ashten really wanted to go on the King Arthur Carrousel

Time to go home

Today was our first real vacation day. Brad, Britany, Tana, and Taylor had arrived late on Thursday night from Arizona. So we went to Disneyland this morning. It was great the kids had SO much fun. They loved every minute of it and the lines weren't too horrible because it was overcast today. As soon as we got into the park we decided that we would put a peice of paper in each of the kid's lanyards (which they got for free for booking online I think) that had our phone numbers on it. This came in handy because as soon as we had done that Ayden ran off to the bathroom and somehow managed to walk right past us and get lost! We started to wonder what was taking him so long when we realized that he wasn't in the bathroom any more. Luckily, we had put the phone number and had several talks about what to do if he got lost. He had found a worker walking by and asked her to help him call us. It worked out well, and I am so glad that I was blessed with the idea. I am kind of glad it happened right away because all of the kids were good at sticking close by after that. Anyway, we went on as many rides as we could fit in between 9am and 12am. It was a super long day but we had fun and everyone got along well. I was surprised at some of the rides the kids went on. Pretty much anything they were allowed to go on they did. Daddy and Uncle Brad took them on the majority of the rides, while Britany and I would wait with the little ones. Then, we would use a Child Swap pass and we would take our turn while the guys waited with the babies. We also met up with Mom, Dad, Great Aunt Vicki, and Great Uncle Fred for a few minutes here and there and to ride The Pirates of the Caribbean. In the evening, we split up for dinner. Brad, Britany, and the girls went to a Princess dinner and our family went to the Goofy Dinner. Seriously, the best food I have ever eaten. It was amazing. The characters came around to the table to visit and sign autographs, etc. Goofy had a little performance. It was very cute, and it was nice that the kids got some good (non-park) food. But, when they were done eating they wanted to get out and go on more

rides. We stayed for the Majestik fireworks show. It was so crazy, everyone packs into to such limited space to see this show and you have to stand there for 40 minutes before it even starts (people had laid blankets out before noon so they could have a spot.) Anyway, the day was awesome, the kids had a blast, but the park was closing so it was time to head home. We went to the parking garage and couldn't find our car! We didn't get back to our hotel and in bed until 1:30am. We can't wait til tomorrow!

Downtown Disney

Ayden's face when revealed the truth Ashten when we tried to tell him to look at Disneyland
Ashten in the Lego Store
AJ and the giraffe made from Lego's Isn't this pic cool? I used a panorama program that my camera came with and turned 3 pics into 1.

Ayden, Ashten, and Darth Vader...they love Star Wars

There were a lot of fountains around Downtown, the kids loved playing in them

Ashty sticking his toes in.

Daddy and AJ

Checking out the stores

We explored other areas, this was leading into the back of the Disney hotels

Ayden was all pictured out

These RC boats were kind of cool. We told the boys that their boats were working, but really we just pointed to boats that someone else was driving. It was cool because you'd be driving and then this one boat would start on fire (really) and and elephant would shoot water from his trunk to put it out. They loved it!

OKAY This is creepy! What do you think?

Ayden trying to climb the wall

We arrived!! It was so cute this morning because at this point the kids think we are still running errands for Daddy's work. When we woke up, it was still early and Daddy needed a little bit longer to rest so I took the kids over to Denny's for breakfast. When we got back, Ayden said "We are going to Disneyland today". I thought our cover was blown so I said "yep, but first we have to drive all the way home and then we'll drive to Disneyland. It will take a long time to get there though okay?" They were fine with that.

When we got to Disneyland Ashten was sleeping so we pulled into the parking lot and sat there. Ayden saw Mickey Mouse and asked if we were in Disneyland. He was so excited he woke up Ashten who wasn't too happy about it. Ayden said, "Mom, when you do the best trick ever you have to say APRIL FOOLS!" hahaha

We went and checked into our hotel and then headed to Downtown Disney, which is open to the public for free. We looked in the shops, bought some stuff, and then watched the firework show that was happening in Disneyland. We had so much fun, but the kids are really excited to see the real Disneyland!