D-D-D-Disneyland!

We went to Disneyland! (And this is a super long post!) I gotta tell you, I was a bit nervous as to how well our kids would do...they're pretty little after all but they were ROCK STARS! Berkley loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so he knows who all of the classic characters are and I told him for days that we were going to see Goofy, Pluto, Mickey and the gang.  He was super excited to see Goofy, I think that's his favorite.  He and I would giggle and say, "goody, goody, goody, " because that's what Daisy always says on the show.  The first character we saw was the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland but then we got pretty excited to see Donald Duck in a pumpkin costume, Minnie Mouse dressed like a witch, Pluto, Mickey and then....Goofy!  

 There were crowds around all of them so we decided to just get a picture with Goofy and then head to some rides.  Berkley didn't act scared at all which really surprised me.

 First stop, tea cups!  We didn't spin it all at all because we didn't want to get sick...

 We were in California for some friends' wedding celebration so there were a bunch of us there but only Chip and Angela joined us in the happiest place on earth.

 Here they are with us on the jungle tour.

 When I went to go feed Sovie in the baby area (a great place with a section to nurse,  a section with CLEAN highchairs for baby food feeding, great changing tables, etc...) Shawn and Berkley rode a rocket!  Do you even know how much this kid likes rockets?  No, you don't so I'll tell you.  A LOT.  As in whenever there's a rocket taking off on show we're watching he jumps up and down yelling "blast off."  We're talking major excitement.

As a side note, on our way to meet up with the boys again Sovie and I ran into Mary Poppins who shockingly didn't have a crowd around her.  She approached us and talked to Sovie and told me how beautiful she is and that "her bow is holding on for dear life, isn't it?"  I just thought, that's really amazing.  I mean, all of the employees there are amazing but to take the time to say hi to a baby who wouldn't know the difference is just going the extra mile.  Plus I love Mary Poppins so I was thrilled!  On our way we saw Cinderella, Snow White, Alice, the Madhatter, but sadly no Ariel...I'd have loved to bring Shawn back to her for a photo!

 I got there just as they took off and then they "landed" right in front of me, great photo op!  Berkley was yelling at me as they stopped, "Mommy!  I'm on a rocket!"

 This kid was talking about the popcorn he saw all day so we grabbed him one after lunch.  He just shoved his face right in, no hands and had popcorn everywhere.  Cracked me up.

 Here we are in front of It's A Small World.  Whenever we tell people about Disneyland Berkley will say, "Saw Goofy, and Mickey Mouse, and Donald Duck and Pluto and ride a boat."  Lots of the rides there are on boats but this is the boat he is talking about.  I know that because when I was showing him these pictures he pointed to us in front of this ride and yelled, "ride a boat!"

 Berkley tried to sneak Sovie some popcorn before we headed into the tunnel...he and Sovie were both enamored with this ride.  You gotta love Disneyland and the fact that the whole family can go together AND be entertained.

 After this Berkley couldn't take it anymore and fell asleep in the stroller.  These kids were real troopers I tell you!  We went into a nice cool restaurant and let him sleep while daddy and Sovie fought over a teether. And right after that Chip and Angela were nice enough to take our kids to see the parade while Shawn and I rode our one big kid ride of the day, Space Mountain.  Shawn said he kept waiting for us to go outside.  The thrill of that ride is all about how dark it is.

 On our way out of Disneyland to head over to California Adventure we decided it was worth it to wait for a picture with Mickey.  I mean, it's Mickey Mouse afterall!

 It was so cute, Mickey was totally playing with Sovie and making kissing noises at her and she was laughing and Berkley was laughing.  It was precious.  The kind of priceless moment you'd hope for from Disney.

 Chip and Angela meeting Mickey.

 Sovie and her daddy riding the Ferris wheel.

 OK so this might seem weird but in the spirit of full disclosure I'll tell you why I had Shawn take this picture.  For a year or more I've had a recurring dream that involved me going into an amusement park and seeing a big Mickey Mouse head on a Ferris Wheel and a big classic-looking roller coaster behind it.  I honestly don't know anything about California Adventure and I don't remember ever seeing a picture of it but that doesn't mean I didn't and it wasn't burned into my subconscious. That being said it was still really cool to see this Ferris Wheel and the big classic-looking roller coaster behind it (that you can't really see in this picture.) Chalk it up to a deja vu/being in the right place at the right time type of experience.

 Disneyland was all done up for Halloween.  Pretty cool, eh?

And you can't leave a place like Disneyland without something super bright and flashy to give you a seizure.  Well, Walt Disney you son of a gun, you did it again.  Another happy family!