Disneyland!

We took our first ever family vacation this summer!  Usually we use whatever vacation time we have to visit family, which we always look forward to and enjoy, but we couldn't say no when the opportunity arose to take our kids to Disneyland.

The kids were all thrilled.  Everett and Ashley have both heard friends talk about Disneyland and were anxious to find out why.  William didn't have any concept of what to expect, but was immediately on board when we explained he would be able to see Lightning McQueen.  

Instead of driving 30 plus hours from Iowa, we all flew.  It was so much fun!  Well, not really.  Let's just say it was a means to an end.  It did beat driving 30 hours.  All of our kids were great travelers, actually.  James definitely behaved age-appropriately with his usual dose of orneriness, but we can't complain too much.  It took two airplanes to get to Southern California and about 5 hours of flight time, and William was still disappointed that we didn't get to just jump on another airplane when it was all over.  I assured him that Disneyland would be worth it, but he didn't seem convinced.

I made color-coordinated T-shirts for each child for each day we were there, and this was the only family picture we took.  Oops.  James isn't even in this one!  We bought each child one souvenir--light sabers for Everett and Ashley from the Star Wars gift shop.  They got to build their own, which was pretty fun.  Joel and I went back later to get one for William.  I think James wishes we had one for him, too.  My parents came to Disneyland with us and bought the kids their favorite souveniers--a stuffed plane for James, a car and plane for William, a white kitten for Ashley (what else?), and an ewok for Everett.  That ewok has gone everywhere with Everett ever since, and it has been great currency for me to use when I am trying to discipline.  So thanks, Mom and Dad!

Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, the carousel was one of the activities the kids liked the most in all of Disneyland.

All of my kids adore their Aunt Maddy.  Of course they do.  She is a lot of fun and very low-pressure.  She also has this cool, witty, effortless, I'm-not-even-trying vibe about her that many people pay good money to learn to imitate.  

Everett, our Star Wars guy, loves Ewoks and so I had to make that the theme of one of his shirts.  It turned out pretty well.  Unfortunately that shirt is lost and Everett is still sad he doesn't get to wear it on a regular basis.

(Joel is trying to perfect the art of the photobomb here, apparently.)

I'm not sure why William clammed up on this particular ride, but he wasn't very happy.  When we went on it again he lit up like we thought he would.

Rides are always more fun with Grandma. 

You might have noticed by the shirt colors that this is three days of riding on the carousel.  I think it is safe to say that it was well-loved by all.

(Yes, I am there, and trying not to look four months pregnant but failing miserably.)

No trip to Disneyland is complete without pictures of the famous Dumbo ride.  Everett thought it was overrated, but the other kids liked it.  

If only the pictures I took were better!

Ashley wasn't too interested in meeting the princesses, so we didn't try to fight the lines.  However, we happened upon Aurora one day as we were leaving the park and since the line to see her was very short, of course we had to stop.

William was right there with us, and even though I don't think he has ever seen a princess movie, and had no idea who this particular young lady was, he was ecstatic and ran right up to her.

Ashley tends to keep her feelings from being too displayed, but it is obvious who is the more excited of the two.

I don't know why William was so happy to meet a princess, but I am glad he could accompany Ashley.

Everett lived his dream when he was selected to participate in Disneyland's Jedi training.  

He took the training very, very seriously.

The young jedis learn a few choreographed moves with the light saber.

Everett had a great time practicing those moves.  

The cute little tough, intimidating Jedis were asked to line up after the training.  Everett was glued to the proceedings--he did not want to miss what was next, even though he didn't know what, exactly, would happen.

It just so happened that he got to try out his moves on Darth Vader himself.

Darth Vader attempts to convince him to join the dark side.  Everett replied with a solid NO (and his classic you-can't-get-the-best-of-me-grin that we have seen many times).

And then, they dueled.

I was impressed that Everett actually did every move exactly as practiced, with perfect timing.  Darth Vader was not ready for him.

Everett would have been willing to duel all day long, but the fun had to end.  The entire trip to Disneyland was worth it for Everett because of this duel and the fact that he got to ride Star Tours five times.

Star Tours was rewarding--Ashley and Everett were each chosen at one point as the Rebel Spy.  Everett was disappointed that Ashley, who is definitely NOT into Star Wars, was chosen before he was, but he was ecstatic to finally be chosen as well on a later ride.

The teacups was another classic ride I had to get a picture of.

I think Ashley went on this ride three times.

It was right up her alley--a cute theme and a little fun movement, but nothing too intense.

This picture is hopelessly blurry, but you might still be able to make out Ashley's expression.  She has her mouth wide open and is screaming at the top of her lungs on splash mountain.  My attempts to prepare her for the end of the ride did not alleviate her terror.  No, she didn't want to go on this one again.  Everett did, though, and at one point came up with a (failed) strategy to get Joel as wet as possible.

Although Ashley was a very good sport to try rides such as the Matterhorn, Grizzly River Run, Space Mountain, and the Tower of Terror, she did not want to revisit them.  At one point Ashley complained of her throat hurting; well, that was because she screamed as loudly as she could on any relatively intense ride.  (We all laughed at her behind her back because we are just so kind and caring like that.  Hey, the screams of a little girl in those circumstances are surprisingly funny.)  She did love the Little Mermaid ride and any ride that was beautiful and/or fun with low amount of intensity.  I think we found enough for her to enjoy.

The Pirates of the Caribbean ride was popular with all of us, except Ashley.  I forgot to prep her for what was coming, and so the unexpectedly dark and spooky beginning of the ride terrified her.  But, she rode two more times with us and actually enjoyed it, having relaxed enough to un-clamp her eyelids and lessen her grip on the person next to her.

Everett loved Pirates.  He and I had a great time discussing how the special effects might have been accomplished and how much fun it would be to conceptualize a ride like that.

And, since we got to ride in a boat, in real water, James and William were perfectly happy!

The two little boys took a nap in the strollers every day.  James woke up just as I was taking this picture.  He didn't get quite enough sleep to keep from being ornery during dinnertime, but we made it work.

William loved this rocket ride.  Unfortunately, although he would have loved to go on on any of the more intense rides, he was too short.  I hope he didn't know what he was missing.  There is one ride in particular--a Lightning McQueen racing ride--that he would have loved but had to miss out on.  But he did get to see Lightning McQueen while the rest of us were racing, so there's that!

We had a lot of fun at the parks with my parents.  My Dad had a business conference there and it gave us all a great excuse to have a really enjoyable vacation.  For some reason I don't have a single picture of him.  He will probably be relieved, but I am not.  I'll get you next time, Dad!

One of the highlights for everyone was our day at the beach.  We've been landlocked for so long, my kids think a riverbank is a beach.  We were happy to show them the real deal!

The water was cold, so only the more adventurous of us went in it.  James and I dipped our feet in, but he cried and I immediately decided that was as far as I wanted to go.

It was intensely relaxing to just be at the beach.  My smart Dad found an area that was less crowded so we had a really low-key few hours there.

William would have stayed there permanently, if he could.

Sand and water really agreed with him.

William is my most olive-skinned child.  He and James get about the same amount of sunlight but they are very different in color.  

James was happy to fill buckets, and he generally stayed away from Ashley's creations but I believe he did topple a few castle towers.

I was worried about James's peachy skin at the beach but the sunblock did pretty well to keep him at his natural paleness.   Unfortunately, the adults all got pretty badly burned because we were less careful sunblocking ourselves than we were with the children.  Even my legs burned.  I can't remember them ever burning before, and I never sunblock them.  A few days of pain and discomfort meant that, for the first time in my life, I got to sport a very slight, if horribly uneven tan on my calves for a few weeks.

Ashley had fun with her buddy, Aunt Maddy, as usual.  They are two peas in a pod.

I will always be glad we took this trip.  Disneyland is a magical place to young children.  Everett, Ashley, and William still talk about the fun things they did.  It was especially nice to share the experience with some Grandparents and a really cool Aunt.