Disneyland!

Kind of on a whim, we decided it was time for another trip to Disneyland.  We started looking at tickets and decided it was a good idea.  The plan was to take all 3 kids.  I figured Denver might be a little difficult, but since I was pregnant and wouldn't be able to go on some of the rides I could hang out with him.  The day before we left, I went back and forth on whether we should just leave him here.  I just got thinking about how hard it would be to figure out his naps, and also he hates sitting in a stroller for very long, so I just knew I would end up chasing him around the park all day.  I made the decision, he was going to stay and play with cousins.  Luckily he has awesome aunts who agreed to keep him for a few days.  So Wednesday afternoon, before we headed to the airport, Marilyn met me in Orem and Denver went to stay with them for a few days.  I felt like such a mean mom, but the whole time we were gone we just kept saying how much easier it was without him there.  We missed him like crazy, but it ended up being the right decision.  Anyway, after the drop off, we headed to the airport!  Maxon and Scout were beyond excited.  The flight there was short and easy and went very smooth.  We took a taxi to our hotel, the Fairfield, which was right across the street for Disneyland so it worked out perfectly.  It was time to catch the zzzz's so we could wake up the next morning and hit the parks!

Thursday morning Trent was a little excited and even though the park didn't open til 10 AM, woke the kids up and had us all up and going and down to breakfast a little early.  Then he realized we were on pacific time and wondered what we were going to do for an hour...  After a little waiting we headed over to the parks.  We knew we wanted to hit up Cars Land in California Adventure first because we heard the line for the Radiator Springs Racer can get a little crazy so we decided we'd hit that 1st thing.

The wait for the ride was about 45 minutes and the kids loved it!  Maxon's favorite ride all weekend.  And luckily, some friends that we were there with took our tickets and got us fast passes so we got to go back again later that afternoon.

Cars Land was awesome!  We ate lunch at Flo's V8 cafe, which wasn't anything too special, but it filled our tummies.  The crowds on Thursday were minimal so we got a lot of rides in, and our favorites twice, so that was awesome!

Scout's one request as far as characters to find was Pluto.  She just loves Pluto!  She was so happy to find him and gave him the biggest hug!  We also ran into Goofy.

And of course we ate churros!  

Thursday was a great success.  We didn't stay too late at the parks.  At dinner time we left and went and found some dinner at MiMi's Cafe, right next to our hotel.

Friday was a little rainy and chilly, which wasn't super awesome, but at least it meant smaller crowds.  That afternoon we tried to go watch the Star Wars Jedi knight training over at Disney, but since it was rainy they said the stage was too slippery so we just got pictures with all the Star Wars people.  The kids were a little nervous at first, but were brave enough to pose for some pictures.

At one point in the day we found ourselves sprinting across California Adventure through pouring rain.  We had fast passes for Soarin' so that's where we were headed.  We got there, a little wet, and made our way inside and made it to the very front, right before you enter the ride, when the worker guy came and said "there's been a power serge and our projectors went down so you'll have to come back later".  That was a bummer, but they gave us more Fast passes so we came back later for it.

The kids were nervous to do the Bug's Life 3D ride thing because they remember being scared last time, but they decided to try it out.  Scout got a little scared and took her glasses off a couple times, but they loved it.

Rainy day at Disney :)

We got so cold we had to buy beanies, gloves and jackets at one point.

Saturday was definitely the busiest day there.  It was also the warmest.  We spent a lot more time waiting in lines this day, so we didn't get to ride near as many rides as the first 2 days.  I promised Scout the day before that we'd come back and do the Dumbo ride, and I think we waited about 45 minutes.

Trent was not super excited about Dumbo, or waiting 45 minutes to ride it, but he was a trooper and stuck it out.

And we finally found Mickey :)

Scout and I scheduled a lunch at Ariel's Grotto on Saturday afternoon, so while we did that dad and Maxon went to Ride Makerz (in downtown Disney) and built a truck.  Scout loved the pricesses!

Saturday night we stayed and watched both the Pixar Parade at California Adventure, and Mickey's parade at Disneyland.  It was pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen to watch Maxon and Scout at the parades.  Scout was in heaven!  She stood there on the curb just dancing her little heart out, and waving as much as she possibly could to everyone.  When the characters would make eye contact with her and wave back you could just see the pure joy in her eyes.  I loved every second of watching her.  After the parades, we grabbed some hot dogs and then went to the World of Color, which was amazing!  By the end, the kids were pooped and of course we ended up carrying 2 sleeping kids clear back to the hotel, which wasn't my favorite part of the weekend, but we survived.

We had a blast at Disneyland, but Sunday it was time to come home.  We were all anxious to see our little Denver.  He had a fun time at Matt & Marilyn's for a few days, then Chad and Jessica's for a few and was well taken care of.  Thanks again!  I'm pretty sure Trent loves Disneyland just as much or more than the kids and I have a feeling we'll return many times!