Monday, July 6, 2009

The magic kingdom!

Happy Birthday Levi and Noah!

We're going to Disneyland!

The boys, my mom and I headed out to CA on Thursday morning, bound for Disneyland. Nothing, not even a 4mm kidney stone, was going to keep me from missing this big day.

We arrived around 4 in the afternoon and were thankful to be out of the van and at our hotel. This super cool cart was only good for a climbing apparatus since we were located on the second floor and there were no elevators. My poor super strong mother had to haul all our paraphernalia up to our room since I was not allowed to lift anything over ten pounds.


I think Levi was trying to fish money out of the fountain. We could have used that money later in the day when I had to pay a guy twenty bucks to jump start the minivan after we had apprently left the dome lights on all night. Ooops!


Mom and I decided to take the boys swimming to wear them out for an early bed time. The water was freezing, but they didn't seem to mind.


The next morning we got up early, had our free breakfast at the hotel and headed over to Disneyland. The boys (and mom and I) were so excited. This was my first trip to Disneyland, the boys first, and my mom's first time back since she was five! What a giddy group we made!

Anticipating the very first ride of the day.


And we are off!


There go Grandma and Levi!


The boys had their hearts set on the Buzz Lightyear ride after seeing it on the Disney promo DVD. We walked right on to the ride after getting off the rockets and began shooting away. By the time it ended they were both terrified, declaring it was too noisy and too scary.


So we headed for Dumbo.
Grandma is all smiles here, but she was pretty dizzy after the ride, claiming she hadn't spun around like that in fifty-five years.


After consulting the maps (as we had to do after getting off each ride) we headed off for more kiddie rides.


This time we could not convince Grandma to ride in the tea cups with us.


This next picture was taken just for Jason. He was sure that the 3rd of July would be a crazy busy day full of long lines of sweaty tourists. I zoomed in to make it look crowded for him. It really was a beautiful day. The lines weren't bad in the morning and the weather was beautiful. WAY cooler than AZ.


I was so proud of my two monkeys. They never once fussed, whined, or complained while waiting in line. It may have been because they were constantly eating gold fish crackers, carrot sticks, fruit snacks, dried apples, or gogurts while waiting, but I would like to believe it was because now, at age 4, they are much more civilized.


Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer's Island was one the boys favorite places. They would have stayed for hours more if they had had the energy to do so. I have no pictures of them in and out of the caves since mom and I were frantically following them (usually in opposite directions) through the dark narrow passages. Noah kept telling me how mysterious it was.


Jason told me later that Pirate's Island was his favorite thing at Disneyland too as a kid.
I can't imagine why?!


Finally we convinced them it was time to leave the Island and the park for a bit. They protested that they were NOT at all sleepy and that we should just stay. Mom and I disagreed and headed back to our hotel. The boys were out cold before we even made it back to the front of Disneyland.


After a good three hour nap, we had dinner and headed back to Disneyland to catch the special 4th of July firework show. This was the first year Levi wasn't crying in terror. I guess chewing on your coat sleeve is a major improvement.


Then, after having delcared it was way too scary in the morning, Noah began begging to ride Buzz Lightyear again. So off we went for one more round of shooting. This time they both had fun and declared it was their favorite ride and they were the winners. Little did they know that their momma out scored them all. :)


Finally the last ride of the night. At around 11:45pm we rode the Winnie the Pooh ride, twice. No lines for the kiddie rides after 11. I guess all the responsible parents have their children tucked safely in bed by then. Not us! The park wasn't closed yet, we had rides to ride!


Levi was watching out for Heffalumps and Woozles.


And here we are leaving Disneyland at midnight!


It was a special birthday to remember! Thanks Grandma for coming with us. Thanks for carrying all the bags, pushing the big stroller, and carrying sleepy boys up to bed. We had a great time and are so thankful we could share it with you!


Do those boys look sleepy? Oh no! They stayed awake the entire walk back to our hotel. They were bouncing around our room until 12:45 when the lights went out and mommy and grandma feel asleep. I am pretty sure that no one moved a muscle all night. We had had a long, exhausting, exciting, wondeful, magical day!

1 comment:

naddink said...

Very cool story...and very impressive snack regimen for the boys. And Jason has always led us to believe that they were little terrors!
Nate & Bett