california: day 5 - disneyland

 On Wednesday, my sisters & our families spent the day at Disneyland!  We were all disappointed that Erik had to go back to Seattle before then (even more bummed when his meetings got cancelled & we found out he could have extended his trip!).  :\  We missed having him with us & it was not the same.

Erik wasn't the only one who missed out.  My parents agreed to keep Cedar & Tate with them for the day so that we would be free to ride all the rides without our short children holding us back.  ;)  It was actually harder for me to leave Cedar than it was for him to be left.  But I knew that he wouldn't really remember this trip in the long run & was able to put aside my guilt.  :]

Okay, onto this photo heavy post!  ;)

On the shuttle from the parking lot to the entrance!

 Four of the excited kids!

(I took an after photo of these four kids, so you have something to look forward to!)  ;)

 We were hoping for a slower day, since it was a Wednesday in January, but when we saw a 5 minute wait for the updated Star Tours, we jumped in line!

It has a Star Wars theme now & when they flashed a picture of a rebel spy we had on board that we needed to protect, it was Cohen!  Lucky kid!  :)

 Afterwards, the kids got hassled by some storm troopers.  ;)  One shot at Finn & our boy played along & fell to the ground!

 Rolling the giant sphere on water.

 Finn was super excited after going on Space Mountain.  I was worried that he'd be scared, but when it was over he said, "That was awesome!"  :)

 Me & my driver on Autopia!  :\  Lucky for me, he couldn't reach the pedal, so I had some control.

 Cohen & Aunt Becca up ahead.

 Another self portrait.

Kenton drove with Gretchen.  :)

 Nemo's submarine ride.

 Josh, Griffin & me with crazy eyes!

 Checking out all the plants & fish.

 Our small family.  We felt funny just being a family of three.  But it was nice to only have one child to keep our eyes on.  :)

 Waiting for some of the others to ride the rockets!

 Griffin, Finn & Uncle Josh

 Ronan, Sadie & Gretchen

 The three of us in front of Cinderella's castle

 The Chase family

 The Ruddicks (minus Tate)

 More fun on the Jungle Cruise.  

Gretchen, Sadie, Becca & Cohen

Josh, Ronan & Gretchen

 Our captain thought he was pretty hilarious.  We may have laughed...just a bit.  :P

 Finley, Kenton, Griffin & me

 Katrina, Aaron & Tyler

 There was no line at Splash Mountain.  I suppose all the Californians were worried about getting wet in the middle of winter.  Weird.  :P

 Griffin was so brave, riding in  front!  Finn had a blast & I hid behind Kenton to keep from getting too wet.  :P  Worked out pretty well, for me.

 Storybook Land!

 This was way cooler than I remembered.

 I loved all the miniatures & hearing the history of the plants, etc.  Very fun!

 One of my favorite photos of the day.  :)

Ronan & Sadie (& Griffin's head) going through Monstro's mouth.

 We got Mickey ears for Cedar.

 Griffin, Ronan, Gretchen, Becca & Sadie with Alice & the Mad Hatter.  

Finn didn't know who these characters were until after our trip to Disneyland.  We realized while we were there that there were plenty of Disney movies that we hadn't shown to our kids yet.  We'll have to work on that!  ;)

 Kenton braved the teacups with Finn.

I'd had more motion sickness than ever before, so I sat this one out.  :)

 So happy!

 Griffin & Gretchen!

 It's a Small World was still decorated for Christmas & playing Jingle Bells.  It sure looked pretty as the sun was setting!

 Cohen, Sadie, Griffin, Finley & Ronan with Goofy!

 Toon Town!

 Finley requested to go on Space Mountain & Indiana Jones one more time before closing time.  He convinced Tyler to ride next to him on Space Mountain, but Ty certainly looks nervous!  What brave boys!

 The parade!

 I'd never seen the parade before.  I remember fireworks on our last visit, so this was new & exciting for us!

 Ariel

 The Princesses!

 Princess Tiana from The Princess & The Frog.

The after shot.  What a fun day!  

We SO wish we could've enjoyed it with the entire family...maybe next time!  :)