DISNEYLAND!!!!

We've been lots of places as a family, but I think this is the first official vacation we've ever been on. We spent four days in Disneyland and California Adventures. After getting used to the environment the kids had a great time. (Yes, both boys have their fingers in their noses. I guess Mickey has that effect on them)


The first day I don't think the kids knew exactly what to expect. DJ was scared of every ride. AJ was being brave. Alexandria was just trying to soak it all in and Isabel was lost. I knew DJ's little stomach was turning everytime we got on a new ride. Finally, when we got on It's a Small World he turned around and said, "Mommy, this not scary." I think after that he started to enjoy the rides.


We actually did a lot on the first day because it wasn't very busy. The second and third days we had Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kristine and Jordan there. It made it really fun because Alexandria loves Grandma and Grandpa is King of getting the kids to fall asleep so we could leave them with him for naps and Dionys and I got to go do some of the bigger rides. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming with us. You guys are awesome!

The last day we got to sit back and enjoy some of the things that we didn't get a chance to do and we probably wouldn't have made time for otherwise. We went to Tom Sawyer's Island hung out with Toy Story and Monster characters at a block party and went on the Sun Wheel about 20 times. Okay maybe not that many but it felt like it. It was a relaxing, enjoyable day.

Too many pictures, too little time

Then came the rain

Disneyland is not the happiest place on earth at least not when it rains. It poured on Saturday morning. We had to seek shelter in the corner of the castle so that the stroller and us wouldn't get wet. As you can see the boys were very happy about hiding in the corner of the castle. They wanted to play on all the stuff in the rain. It would have been a good idea because everything was empty during the down pour.

King, the horse

This was the first time that I have been on the horse drawn trolley at Disneyland. With all our kids we had to do it this time. We learned that the horse's name was King and Alexandria even got to help drive the trolley. That might have been one of her highlights of the trip.

AJ + Cinderella

I have never seen a little boy so in love with Cinderella. We saw a princess show and when Cinderella came out AJ stood with his jaw open and just stared. I think that's all he talked about for the next couple of hours. "Mommy, I saw Cinderella." So the next time we saw her we had to get a picture with her. Notice DJ's not in the picture. He's not a big fan.

The Mad Hatter

Stores are great entertainment.

Although the store employees probably hate us. We stopped in the Mad Hatter shop and I think the kids tried on every hat in the store. They looked cute in them though and they had a great time.

Are there really ghosts at Disneyland?

Can someone explain this picture? Why does it look like there are ghosts behind Alexandria? I don't remember if there were really people there or not. Anyway its amazing that you pay so much money for Disneyland but the kids have the most fun on the scooters, the buses and the merry go rounds.

Favorite Rides

For AJ and DJ the Buzz Lightyear ride won hands down. Although the train was a close second. The boys loved "the Buzz one". They loved seeing Buzz Lightyear and they especially loved shooting things with the guns during the ride. Grandma and Grandpa had wanted to buy the Buzz Lightyear guns for the boys while we were at Disneyland and they had perfect timing. After we came out of the "Buzz one" they had the guns. We probably drove everyone crazy around us because they were shooting everything. They shot the birds, the food, the chairs the tables and of course each other. They used them so much in the next 24 hours that I think they wore them out. We decided that a toy shouldn't wear out in 24 hours so Dionys got brave and took them back and got new ones. The new ones are still working.

When you ask Alexandria what her favorite ride is, she'll say all of them but the mountains. She does not like mountains, shen doesn't like climbing mountains, she doesn't like seeing mountains and she doesn't want to go in any more mountains. I think the Matterhorn traumatized her. After that we tried to get her to go on the "log ride" (aka Splash Mountain) and "Space Journey" (aka Space Mountain) but she didn't like those rides either. Her very favorite rides though were Peter Pan and Star Tours. Somehow Grandma talked her into going on Star Tours and she loved it! She went again and again and again. . . . The funniest part is when Grandma was explaining to her that it wasn't a scary ride. She told her that the robot was learning how to fly and he was going to take them to Endor. Alexandria then asked, "Will he bring us back?" Valid question.

Isabel loved all the rides she went on. She smiled, threw her hands in the air and laughed.

As a family, I think we had the most fun on the Tea Cups and the Swinging Gondolas on the Sun Wheel in California Adventure. We could all fit in one car on both of those rides and I think that's why everyone liked them.

Alexandria's boyfriend

I have no idea where she got this from but when we saw the indian statue I told her to go stand by it so we could take a picture. She starts laughing and goes and kisses the indian! I told her that it was probably the only boyfriend that Papi would let her have.

Isabel's 1st Word - "all done"

"All done." Okay so I guess it's actually two words! I was getting her out of the bath tub and I said, "Let's get you out you're all done." Then Isabel said, "all done". I stopped and repeated, "all done". And she said it again, "all done". That was kind of fun so I took her to her room to get her diaper on and when I finished putting it on I said, "all done". And she said it again. So I grabbed the camera thinking there's no way she'll do it for the camera but she DID. What a cutie. She knows how to make mommy's day.

You're the best Mom ever!!

This is what I heard from Alexandria after I went to help out in her class today. I didn't coax her to say it she just blurted it out. It made me very happy. She definately got special treatment for the rest of the day.
Volunteering in her Kindergarten class was fun. I got to see a lot more of what they are learning and I got to see how smart my little girl is. They are learning a lot. They already know how to write most of the letters and the sounds of all of them. And next week they'll start learning two letter sounds like "th", "ch", . . .etc. She's learning so quick.