1st trip to Disneyland!!!!!!!!

I have been thinking about getting a Disneyland pass for quite awhile now and finally gave in when Rachel offered to pay a portion of it for an early birthday present! I couldn't pass up the offer because Rachel just bought a pass for herself too, so now we can go together with the kids for a whole year and also enjoy free parking! I thought going to Disneyland would be a great time killer for me and the girls since Ian is gone so much at work and school during the week. So today it was kind of a spontaneous decision, but we decided to go to Disneyland! I haven't been to Disneyland in probably at least 10 years! I can't believe it! I remembered so much of it, but at the same time a lot had changed and there were parts I didn't remember at all. I don't know how Disneyland pulls it off, but when they say it's the happiest place on earth, they're probably right. I just had such a happy feeling all day today. I felt so excited and thrilled at all the beautiful flowers, gift shops, characters (we saw mary poppins and bert skipping along the road), music, smiling faces and the anxious feeling of wanting to see and do everything! There are so many fun things Disneyland offers. There is no way anyone could ever do everything in a day. I hadn't spent much time in the kiddy sections of Disneyland as a teenager so going on the Dumbo ride and the carousel today was really fun! There's still so many more rides I wanted to do today like the Peter Pan ride, Storybook ride, Pirates ride, Jungle adventure, but time just wouldn't allow everything. I really want to go on splash mountain too! (probably not with the kids though!) We did get to see Tinkerbell and Vidia and Mickey Mouse today! And Kira was such an amazing girl all day too. I could not believe how patient and well behaved she was! I think she knew that being a good girl would really pay off because she'd get to ride "up high with bumbo!" and she'd get to go on a boat! (In It's A Small World) and getting to see Tinkerbell was also a major highlight! The submarine ride was actually a little scary for Kira. Poor thing. Zoey is so funny though because she was totally thrilled and excited during the entire thing, even the dark and loud parts with the scarier piranha fish! I totally thought it was wayyyy to scary for them. Kira clung to Rachel for half the ride and Zoey just bounced around on my knee happy as a clown. It was so funny. Maybe she just hasn't learned fear yet, I don't know. Poor Zoey didn't feel good today though, plus she missed her much needed nap... so she kind of had a meltdown towards the end of our Disneyland day and was pretty cranky through about 80% of the day before that. She was so funny though because she had no idea why she was expected to wait for so long for all the rides. She would be shrieking and getting so frustrated whenever our turn was next... Like we were waiting to be in the next group for the Dumbo ride and so we were just standing there watching all the other people take their turn and Zoey was just sooooo mad! She didn't get happy until we were finally sitting in dumbo ourselves. She is so little, it's so funny witnessing her strong opinions. I can tell this girl has such a strong personality! She is definitely very cute and sweet, but also very brave and a strong fighter. She was really excited to get on the carousel and in the submarine too. When she saw the yellow submarine from the line and we were next, she was even madder than she was waiting for Dumbo. Silly girl didn't understand why Mommy made her wait in line so long! I had so much fun today though and I'm so glad that Rachel convinced me to get a Disneyland pass! I am so excited to go back again with the kids and also hopefully without them for a day too to do all the big kid stuff!

The entrance to Disneyland
Outside Sleeping Beauty's Castle

It's A Small World

In front of the Madahorn
Waiting to see Tink and Vidia



As we were leaving, we saw Mickey! Kira was so pooped by now, she didn't even want to get out of her stroller to take a picture with Mickey. Silly girl.