The Happiest Place on Earth

After many months of planning, it's hard to believe that our Disney vacation has come and gone.  We had such a great time.  Every morning I would pray that the day would go well and that it wouldn't go by too quickly.  I just wanted to enjoy every single moment, including the "we are beyond tired" meltdowns.  I had a couple of those myself.  ;)

The parks looked amazing all decked out with incredible Christmas decorations.  The pictures just don't do it justice.  It was especially beautiful at night and the fireworks show was outstanding.  I cried...just a little.  It was just so wonderful to be there celebrating with my little family and my parents.
 It has been a long 15 months, but we made it.

 

I hope you are comfortable, because this is going to be a picture-heavy post.

Day 1

We spent the first day at Disneyland...along with THOUSANDS of other people.  It was very busy.  There have been a few good things that have happened because of cancer and one of them happened at Disneyland.  I knew that there was no way I was going to have the stamina to survive 3 days of walking and standing in lines.  I was planning on renting a wheelchair, even though I hate riding in those things.  Too many curious stares.  Anyway, my friend and sister-in-law both told me about a special pass you can get when you have unique health situations.  I pulled the cancer card, and it was awesome.  We didn't have to spend a lot of time in the very long lines, which was very nice. We were able to go on most of the rides we wanted to.

We got to the park around 8 am and did not leave until 10 pm.  Extremely long day, but we had to stay for the fireworks.  Going to Disneyland during the holidays and seeing the fireworks show has been on my bucket list for a while now.  Check...done...and it was even better than I imagined it would be.

 I wish my camera could have captured it better.  The castle looked amazing.

Ellie made it through the fireworks show...barely.  :)

One thing I have to mention here so I don't forget it, because it was hilarious.

I am sorry, but I have to include a picture of one of the bathrooms in our hotel room.

You know how it is when kids get to a hotel room.  It's like they have never stepped foot out of their house before and everything is new and exciting and they are bouncing off the walls, the bed, etc.

So while the kids were running around checking everything out, Ellie opened the door to our bathroom and said, 

"Ah, so this is where they keep the toilet and the shower and the garbage."

Then she closed the door and walked away.

So funny.

Day 2

Day 2 was spent at the California Adventure park.  It wasn't as crowded as the day before, except for Cars Land.  That place was a mad house because it is new.  But it is a very fun place and once again, we were very thankful for our special pass.  It allowed us to go on the Radiator Springs ride 2 times when I am sure we would have only been able to go on it once without the pass.  It was over a 2 hour wait in the standby line.  Yikes.  But the ride was very fun.  I can see why it is so popular.  Ellie was actually tall enough to go on most of the rides which was great.  She was a very brave girl.  She even went on the Tower of Terror once.  She hated every minute of it...

Ellie is the one buried in my side.  :)  The poor thing was just shaking the entire time, much like her sister, Emma, did the last time we were at Disneyland.  This time, however, Emma love it.  So I guess there is hope for Ellie.  I love the ride.  It is one of my favorites.  I also love the Toy Story Midway Mania.  Very fun.

We went back to the hotel much earlier on this day, although I think we should have stayed to see the "World of Color" show.  I have heard it's pretty amazing.

Day 3

We said goodbye to my parents today.  They had to get back home to prepare for Thanksgiving.  I was sad to see them go.  We had so much fun with them, and I am so glad that they were able to come with us.  After we said goodbye, we headed back to Disneyland for one last hurrah.  We wanted to get there early because we were afraid it was going to be crazy busy again.  It was actually pretty calm until about noon so we were able to go on a lot of rides.  

After lunch, we went back to California Adventure to catch a few of our favorites there.  It was a great day, but by about 4 pm, we were done.  We were all hungry, exhausted, and a bit on the ornery side.  So we knew it was time to go before our great trip was ruined by numerous meltdowns.  End on a high note, that's what I like to say.

Once we got back to the room and had dinner, Mark and I ran to Target for a couple of things.  When we got back to the room about 8 pm, this is what we found.

All of them asleep before 8?  Never happens.  I had to document it.

The next day was Thanksgiving and we decided to chill and just spend some time at the pool and the beach.

It was definitely a different Thanksgiving than we were used to, but it was a lot of fun.

We hit the pool in the morning and the beach in the afternoon.  Then we had dinner at a restaurant, and none of us had anything Thanksgiving related.  :)

On Friday, we made our way back to my parent's house and had a belated Thanksgiving dinner with my family there.  It was so yummy.  Thank you Mom for putting together a wonderful dinner.  You are the best!

Whew!  You made it through all the pictures and we made it to California and back.  It's a miracle!

Just a couple more pictures to close out this post...

What do you do when you get back from vacation?

Laundry of course.  Yuck.

 I should have taken a picture of the laundry room BEFORE I started washing clothes.  This was after I had done 3 loads.  It was enough to make Mark take me out to see James Bond.  :)

The perfect way to end a family vacation...

going on a date with your sweetie pie and leaving the laundry on the floor. 

 

*BTW- If you haven't seen the video of us surprising the kids, you should check it out here.