We went to Disneyland!!!!

There has never been a more magical day at Disneyland as far as I'm concerned. Our girls are at the perfect Disneyland ages--they're excited about everything, they don't complain about lines, they don't care about going on the big rides that have big lines, their day is a success if they just catch a glimpse of their favorite princesses/characters, they loved just being together as a family and being with Matt, Nat, Sam, Ethan, Mia and Kate so everything else was a bonus.

We spent the night in Vegas on the way down, so we had the added blessing of seeing Jody, Dan, Josh, Zach and Anna. And we stopped off at the Disney outlet there to get our souvenir shopping done where it wouldn't be quite as expensive. Each girl picked out a princess doll and an ornament for our Christmas tree. Those dolls faithfully accompanied them on every ride and at every moment of our Disney day. In fact, Elle's day wasn't complete until we had gone on the Ariel ride so she could 'show' Ariel her doll.

First rides checked off the list: the rockets and Buzz Lightyear laser quest.






Natalie stood in line so we could meet Rapunzel. Mia was star-struck sitting on the lap of her favorite princess and asked in awe, "How did you find me?" And Elle couldn't believe she was holding all of that magical hair on her lap!


The girls had been watching Mary Poppins in the car all the way to California and so we were thrilled when we got to see her and Burt walking down Main Street. The girls even got a dance with them!

Our little family of females was introduced to the magical world of Star Wars when Sam and Ethan participated in some serious Jedi training. They loved it so much that they've since seen all the original movies, and all got Star Wars figures from Santa!



The boys were not quite as enthousiastic about visiting the Princess coronation, but fair is fair, right?

One of my favorite things about Disneyland is all of the great rides for little people. Not the scared-silly fast ones, the no-line pure fun ones.

It was fun to see the park all decorated for Christmas

And through it all, Darren was an angel.


Eden was convinced she would see the Beast while we were there. I was a little worried about that since I'd never seen him there myself, but sure enough, there he was near the end of the parade! Asleep in the stroller by this time, I had to wake her up to see him.

Elle and Ethan watched with big eyes from their front row seats on the curb.

We laughed all day long and loved every minute.

Kevin did such a great job taking pictures! Yeah, Kev!!!! And somehow I'm not finding videos that I took on my phone, so if I find them I'll add them later. :(