Disneyland 2013 Day 2

Day two was just as fun as the first day! I’m really glad we gave ourselves 2 days at Disneyland for multiple reasons; it let us take our time, we didn’t feel pressured to do too much, if we weren’t able to do something the first day, we got to the second day, etc.

Day 2 was different because we added another adult to the mix! Our good friend from college, Nan, joined us. It was great to see him, but it also added some awesome parts to our Disney experience. (1) Using Kalaya’s ticket, we were able to get 4 Fast Passes at a time (Me, Nan, Nelson, Kalaya). Since Kalaya and Jakiah are too young, we were able to ride the thrill rides and never alone, it was perfect! Nan got to do everything twice. This included Star Tours, Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain, as well as the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. (not Fast Pass rides, but our kids were too young for both) (2) Nan and his wife Beth are annual pass holders, which meant we got to take advantage of their 10% discount in the stores and restaurants. Basically, just the sales tax, but every little bit helped!! (3) Another person to keep track of kiddos and give Nelson some ‘guy time’.

We started off the morning with ‘Magic Morning’, because we bought 3 day (non hopper) passes. Which means we got to enter the park and hour before it opened, meaning 8 o’clock. Fantasyland and Tomorrowland were the 2 lands open to us. We headed straight for Peter Pan’s Flight, because, seriously, that line is ALWAYS CRAZY LONG. I don’t really get it. I mean, it’s a nice ride, but it’s really short and nothing fancy. And, Disney hasn’t figured out how to make that go faster. Come on Imagineers! Anyway, even with early admission, it was one of the longer lines we waited in, but still less than 30 minutes and it went quickly. We also rode the Buzz Lightyear ride and then it was time to meet Nan up at the front of the park, while hoping to meet characters we had missed the day before. We managed to be at the front of the line for both Daisy (Kalaya’s #1 request besides Cinderella) and Goofy, but missed Donald again, much to Jakiah’s disappointment. Nan and I immediately went to ride Star Tours while Nelson took the kids to meet Merida. (Disney’s latest princess from the movie Brave, which our kids are too young for, but we highly recommend!!)

We had scheduled a character breakfast Breakfast with Minnie at the Plaza Inn, which included an all you can eat breakfast buffet. I purposefully scheduled it close to lunch time (about the last reservation available time wise) so that we could call it lunch instead. The food was good and Nelson was very happy to EAT! There were so many characters that came through, including; the Fairy Godmother, Minnie, Suzy (one of Cinderella’s mice friends), Max (Goofy’s son), Tigger, Eeyore, Pooh, Pinocchio, Chip and Dale. Poor Dale managed to knock Jakiah completely over, he plowed RIGHT into him, Jakiah is just so tiny! He was fine though and Nelson and Nan thought it was hilarious, we’re waiting for the Dale nightmares to begin… Only downside was that the characters made the kids not interested in the food whatsoever, but I had anticipated that and it was worth it anyway. Plus, Jakiah was free!

The rest of the day was spent riding thrill rides and rides we had missed the previous day, or riding rides for the second, or third time. Some new rides included Storybook Land, the Enchanted Tiki Room and Finding Nemo (used to be the submarine ride), as well as getting our Mickey ears and picking our their special souvineers. We told them they could each pick one thing at the parks, but not until at least the second day (so they could look around). Jakiah picked a stuffed Tigger and Kalaya picked a Minnie Mouse purse. Jakiah got basic red Mickey ears and Kalaya, of course, picked the girlyest, princessiest ears in the park which included a tiara and veil.

We called it a night early that night, the kids were wiped and we wanted a good night’s sleep before California Adventures. I believe we left the park around 7pm, after arriving at 8am. Another great day!

Disneyland 2013 Day 1

I will post a separate blog or 2 about ALL of my planning, preparation and money saving ideas for our Disney trip soon. It was over a year of planning and researching and it was all so fun and totally, totally worth it!!

If you know me, at all, you will know that Disney is one of my very favorite things in the whole. wide. world. Like, serious obsession level. It is so a part of who I am and my childhood. I had a Disney wedding. (Not AT Disneyland, but lots of Disney incorporated in the ceremony and reception.) Nelson had to go to Disneyland before we could get married. (seriously.) I love it, I love it all! Needless to say, I have waited my whole life to have kids and take them to Disneyland. I had incredibly high expectations and I was beyond excited. For real, I did not sleep for 3 nights before we left. I was SO EXCITED.

We decided to take our first family trip this year, while Kalaya is 4 and Jakiah is 20 months. I knew that everything, EVERYTHING would be 100% real for Kalaya. The princesses, the characters, the magic. She may only remember parts of it (though, her memory never ceases to blow my mind), but I will and we will. It was pure magic and imagination and watching it through her eyes is something I will never. ever. forget. Many people didn’t understand why we took Jakiah at such a young age, telling me he won’t remember it. Duh. But, he was FREE! The park, the airplane, the hotel and even several meals. So, who cares??? Plus, I will remember it. I’ll remember how he held his little pen and autograph book out to each character, how he looked with adoration up at Mickey, how Chip picked him up and rocked him and how when Tinker Bell told him, “Don’t fly away!” and he replied “OKAY!” Every moment was wonderful.

October was a fabulous time to go. We chose to spend 3 days in the parks, 2 in Disneyland and 1 in California Adventures. It was the perfect amount of time. 2 days let us not have to rush to try to do everything in 1 day at Disney and 1 at CA Adventures was enough, because our kids are 2 young for the thrill rides. I cannot say enough about how awesome this time of year was for the trip. Sunny California, but not too hot and the lines were so awesome! Seriously, we didn’t wait more than 20 minutes for most rides (and most of them were even less!) and even less than that for most of the characters. And we met a LOT of the characters! Both of the kids’ autograph books are completely full!!

Day one was spent in Disneyland. The main focus of that day was meeting characters, but we rode a lot of rides too, because the wait was so short for everything! They did awesome at waiting in line (and yes, it was just Nelson and I watching them both) and were very patient. We managed to meet Minnie, Chip, Alice, the Mad Hatter, and Pluto in the first hour, it was awesome! We went straight to the castle, which you can now walk through again to see the story of Sleeping Beauty, which was in Kalaya’s top favorite activities of the whole trip. And, no line, so we could do it again though out the trip! We spent most of that morning in Fantasy Land riding rides and meeting Rapunzel. Then, during lunch, we told Kalaya she was going to get her hair, nails and make up done at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, which she had seen pictures of online already, but had no idea we were going to take her there. Her expression was PRICELESS (and, no, we don’t have a picture on purpose. That memory is just for us J) She was giggling and clapping and jumping up and down.

The Boutique was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. I am SO happy a friend recommended it to us. Yes, it was expensive, but it was SO wonderful and worth every penny. She love, love, LOVED it and has not stopped talking about it. And, it’s been 5 days and the hairdo is still there! Basically, she got to be made over into a princess. And, the cast members through out the park called her princess the rest of the trip, which was super cute. She was adorable and so sweet and excited about every part of it. It was such a great start to the Disney magic and experience!

And, of course, the boutique is located right next to the princesses, so off we went! #1 priority was meeting Cinderella, who has been an obsession of Kalaya for over a year. It was….magical. Seriously, it was just so perfect. Kalaya was enraptured and Cinderella made it so special, teaching her to twirl, curtsy and princess wave. The look on her face was so priceless!!

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Jakiah was fantastic with the characters as well. We weren’t sure how he’d react, because so many people were pretty discouraging, saying that their kid had freaked out or that they didn’t really get it or didn’t know how it worked or who the characters were.

Not this kid.

He LOVED the characters!! He was SO CUTE, he would toddle up and say, “Hi ______!” (we have been watching many episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in preparation and in line, I would have him practice saying their names) and hold up his little autograph book and pen, it was the cutest thing!!! People were just gushing over him. He was totally in love with hugging and kissing them and giving hi fives. So sweet!

We rode a LOT of rides the first day, some of them even twice!! The lines were that short! One bummer was that the carousel was closed, which Kalaya had really, really been looking forward to. Luckily, we were able to tell her we’d be riding one on Friday at California Adventures. Some highlights included; Snow White, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, It’s a Small World, Autopia, visiting Toon Town, Casey Jr train, Jungle Cruise, and Winnie the Pooh. Characters from that day included Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Alice, the Mad Hatter, Chip, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Aurora, and Tinker Bell. Not bad!

We wrapped up the day with dinner at the Jolly Holiday Bakery and watching the parade, which included the princesses, Mary Poppins, the classic characters, Peter Pan and Hook, Tiana, The Lion King and Aladdin. We were at the park for 12 hours, but the kids did GREAT! Jakiah napped in the stroller with no problem and everyone had gotten a great night’s sleep the night before.

Oct 7, 2013

So, it's been, um, awhile to say the least. Here's a rundown of where we are in life:

*Kalaya is almost 4 1/2. She is in her second year of pre school at a new school. It's a 5 day a week, afternoon Pre K and she is loving it! It's less than 5 min from our house, which is super convenient. In fact, I found a used bike trailer on Craig's List and when it's not pouring or nap time doesn't go too long, I've been riding to and from her school with the kids inside. They love it! We celebrated her fourth birthday in May with Super Why/super hero themed birthday party. She is a wonderful big sister and it's a joy to watch them becoming friends and playing together. Her favorite things these days include playing pretend and dress up, jumping on her trampoline, drawing, cooking, baking, reading stories, jumping in puddles, princesses, and Doc McStuffins. She can write all her letters, upper and lowercase and is reading!

*Jakiah is now 20 months old and busy busy busy. He is extremely active and loves to run, climb, dance, and explore. He talks so much and picks up words very quickly. I lost count around 100 words and that was several months ago!! He knows all of his uppercase letters and is quickly picking up the lowercase and numbers as well. He loves airplanes, trains, cars, trucks, balls, Thomas the Tank Engine and following Kalaya everywhere. We celebrated his 1st birthday in January with a Very Hungry Caterpillar birthday party. We are still very active in our church play group and have been on lots of fun trips this year.

*In June, Nelson took our youth group in a mission trip to San Francisco. This also ended our five year run as youth ministers. It was a great experience, but we were ready to move on. The kiss and I rode down with the group part of the way and stopped in Chico, which was where I grew up. It was very surreal to take my kids to places I went as a kid and to hang out with childhood friends and THEIR kids! It was an awesome trip.

*The kids and I had an amazing opportunity to go on a cross country trip this summer. We flew to Washington DC to visit my brother and niece. We then drove to Georgia to visit our cousins and to Alabama to visit my grandparents. We were gone for 2 weeks, which was a looong time away from Daddy, but it went so well. We met up with my mom and the kids did amazing in the trip! It was definitely stressful flying with 2 kids by myself, but they really did do phenomenally! I was about as prepared for everything as I could have been.

*While I am still home with the kids during the day, I have been working part time as a swim teacher/lifeguard since January. It has been going really well and it's nice to have something for myself and a way to contribute financially to the family. I'm still trying to find a balance between providing the income we need/want and not getting overwhelmed by hours and taking away from the family. This session I'm working both weekend days and I don't think I'm going to do it again any time soon. It's difficult to do anything as a family on weekends, since it takes a bout half of my day. I also work Tues and Thurs evenings. I may try more week days instead of weekends this winter.

*The most exciting thing in our house right now is that we are heading to Disneyland next week!! I can't wait to share our experience, I am so excited!!