Disneyland Day 3

Tigger

 It's official.  We have seen it all, we have ridden it all, we have walked until our feet are ready to fall off.  The trip couldn't have gone any better.  We have had beautiful weather.  The parades were fabulous and New Fish went ballistic over the floats and danced and blew kisses.  She kept screaming: "Oh my gosh!" The girls were earning "Disney points" to come on the trip that could be cashed in for souvenirs.  They spent the last four days debating over what to get and we made our final purchases.  Letting them be in charge of their own little budget really cut down on the begging for toys this week.

Eyore

Genie and Aladdin

Winnie The Pooh

Sleeping Beauty's castle- one of New Fish's favorite attractions

 We waited in line for quite awhile to meet Merida.  We haven't waited very long to see any of the other characters but Merida was a must for Red Fish.  Red Fish was so cute with her and was so genuinely excited to discuss their mutual red hair and curiousity about life.  They had a long chat and Merida even scolded Two Fish and I when we told the girls that the rest of the line was waiting for us because they weren't done with their chat. 

Having a nice chat

Disneyland Day 2- Minnie Mouse Day

Daddy's girl

 We spent today at California Adventure.  The girls wore homemade Minnie Mouse outfits and headbands.  I was pretty proud of them.  We went on every ride.  Red Fish went on Tower of Terror three times and loved it.  I guess we are raising a maniac.  Red Fish was pretty mad that she couldn't go on California Screamin' (a big roller-coaster) but she got to go on everything else.  New Fish loved the Little Mermaid Ride and all of the Bug's Life rides.  Red Fish and Two Fish waited in line for an hour to get on the newest ride in Cars Land, Radiator Springs Racers but she was able to ride it twice because of the switch pass.  We are already exhausted and our feet and legs hurt from all the walking.

Goofy- the girls were especially excited to meet him.

New Fish and Minnie Mouse

Red Fish and Minnie Mouse

Lightning McQueen

Buzz Lightyear

Flick from A Bug's Life

Red Fish on Radiator Springs Racers

Disneyland Day 1- Princess Day

I love this face.

I've been dying to take my kids to Disneyland.  Two Fish had never been and the girls are at a great age.  I hadn't been to Disneyland since I was a kid except for a quick afternoon trip with Lovely L when I was 19.   We don't have any kids in real school yet and could go midweek in the off season. When I found an insane deal online for four nights hotel and three day park hopper tickets, I told Two Fish that we had to go.  So we were off to Disneyland.

We made it to Disneyland today.  The girls wore princess dresses and everyone called them princess.  We even sprayed glitter spray in their hair.  We got pins that said 1st time visit so the cast made a big effort to talk to the girls and called them princess.  January is a great time to visit Disneyland.  There is no heat and no huge crowds. I'm not a fan of crowds or heat. We rode on everything in Fantasy land, Tomorrow land and Toon Town.  As expected, Red Fish loved the roller-coasters.  New Fish loved the Buzz Lightyear ride and went on it six times.  They both also loved the carousel and Snow White.

Dumbo- a classic

 

Alice and the Mad Hatter

 We got four tickets to a princess character dinner as part of the vacation package that we bought.  It was at Ariel's Grotto in California Adventure.  New Fish was in heaven.  Red Fish liked meeting all of the princesses as well. The food was actually great.  The chefs are incredibly helpful for anyone eating gluten free. Red Fish was the only little girl dressed as Cindereall and New Fish was the only girl dressed as Belle so they got special attention when those princesses came to our table.  Prepare for picture overload because the girls insisted that all of the character pictures must be put on the blog.  After the princess dinner we went to Cars Land and rode everything.

Ariel

Aurora- Sleeping Beauty

Cinderella

Snow White

Belle

Downtown Disney

 We made it safely to California.  The girls are being great little travelers.  They love riding in the car.  We bring plenty of snacks and have prizes like treats, coloring books etc. for good behavior on the road.  They haven't complained at all about the long hours.  The only problem we currently have with traveling is the sonic scream that New Fish does in the middle of the first night anyplace we go.  At least it isn't every night we are traveling like it used to be.  I think she will hopefully grow out of it entirely in the near future.  We spent our first night in Anaheim at Downtown Disney.  The girls loved the lego store.

This picture was taken to show the Buddies.

 We ate dinner at the Rain Forrest Cafe.  It is decked out Disney style to look like a rainforest full of animals that come to life and there was a thunderstorm in the middle of dinner.

Yama The Llama

We have been having a blast staying with my grandparents.  The girls have been plundering through their house (exactly like I used to when I was little) having them read stories to them and having a great time.

"Grandma Red Fish" and her great grandma.

 We went to the temple before church this morning and went through the visitor's center.  The girls had a lot of energy to burn off so they enjoyed being outside.  The weather is beautiful and we aren't missing the snow at home.

 After church we went to my Aunt K and Uncle G's house to have dinner and spend some time with them.  My girls really bonded with them this summer and they were really excited to go see their house and their Lama.  Uncle G let the girls try riding Yama, the very stubborn llama.  The afternoon (minus the time we were actually at church and the girls had a difficult time being reverent) was perfect. We had such a great time.

One of the best things about dinner was seeing my cousin I.  He spent a couple of hours playing with my girls and they had so much fun with him.  When we were leaving Red Fish told him: "Thanks for playing with me I, let's have a play date soon!"  It was adorable.

On The Road Again

Nap time with a seasoned traveler

Off on an adventure to see my grandparent's new house and then on to Disneyland.  Red Fish has been confused about exactly what kind of vacation this will be because it is outside our normal vacation perameters.  In the car she asked us: "So are we going to be doing a lot of hiking?"  We told her no but we would be doing a lot of walking at Disneyland.  "So we will be camping?" No camping.  "Oh I get it we are going to the beach or seeing some nature!" Nope, no beach and very little nature.  "I don't understand, I thought you said we were going on vacation." She can't quite wrap her head around our plans for the week.

Brave

I took both of my kids skiing by myself today for the first time. Getting all three of us suited and booted and then dragging three pairs of skis and two kids who can't walk in their boots up the hill was quite a feat.  New Fish and I did so many runs that we were done by early afternoon.  My brother Doo wanted to ski for a few hours with his wife so New Fish and I took their baby Thing 2 home and Doo picked Red Fish up from her ski lesson.  Red Fish has officially graduated from the bunny hill and is on to blue squares and it was only her second lesson!  It's exciting.

Planetarium

 Since I failed to allow the kids create an art project in preschool this week, the girls insisted on creating some space themed paintings.  They both finger painted a sun with some added gold glitter for effect.  They were intent on making them look like bombs because our books said the sun is exploding.

 Red Fish then painted a series of planets.  She is very intrigued by the thought of planets right now. I realized this week that we have never really talked about space at home so we've been reading about it all week.  We also visited the planetarium with the Buddies.  I was shocked to find out that it is free.  I soon realized it is free because the exhibits are not very impressive.  The girls loved it though so that is what matters.  We even sampled some astronaut ice cream and strawberries and then watched a movie about polar bears in the Imax theatre.

Checking out Mars

Practicing the moon walk

Learning about the planets in our solar system.