One of our favorite things to do as a family is to take a little trip to Disneyland! It's fun to get away from everyday life and do something different, our kids love to stay in the hotel, and of course, they love Disneyland. I have mixed feelings about it. The last few times we've gone to Disneyland I'm not sure how much fun I've had. I think the idea of it is more fun to me than actually going. It's exhausting, crowded, and I always assume the kids will be on perfect behavior since we're at Disneyland, and I'm usually disappointed. Kids have meltdowns, even at Disneyland! But for the record, it's usually just one of my kids that has the um, meltdowns. But we've always wanted to go to Dland at Christmas time. We had heard about how fabulous the decorations were so we decided to SURPRISE the kids. It was SO hard to keep the secret, especially for Mark. If our kids were any older I think they would have picked up the little "teasers" he was dropping, that only I would understand. On a Wednesday afternoon, when the kids were least expecting it, we showed up at their school with the car all packed up and ready to go. I went to each of their classrooms and pulled them out...they were SO confused. But they could tell something good was happening cause I couldn't stop smiling, but I kept my mouth shut as they were throwing questions at me left and right. "What are we doing?" "What's going on?" "Are we going Christmas shopping?"..all while running/jumping/laughing to keep up with me as I walked really fast back through the office and out to the car where Mark was waiting so we could both tell them the news. It's hard to describe, but it was something I hope will be engraved in my mind forever. It was SO fun seeing them so excited about SOMETHING, but had no idea what it was! When we got to the car, Mark and I told them we were going to Disneyland. They were SO excited and we were off! We decided to just do one day at Disneyland, which was PERFECT in my opinion.
Here we are riding the shuttle to Disneyland!
Disneyland at Christmas time!
The next day we went to the American Girl store, The Cheesecake Factory for lunch, and the Santa Monica Pier. It ended up being FREEZING so we didn't stay very long but we did ride the roller coaster and the ferris wheel. (just doing those 2 things cost us $50?!?!) Our kids were so freaked out about the ferris wheel, but once we were on, they had a good time.
Mickey Mouse was at the Pier too! He asked the kids if they wanted to take a picture with him, and of course, they said they did! So they all got positioned for me to take a pic, and all of a sudden Mickey quickly walks over to me and whispers, "There's just a small donation required." Uh, ok?! Luckily Mark had a buck...seriously it was so funny! Later, we ran in to Minnie. We politely declined taking a picture with her. After all, we had JUST seen her the day before at Disneyland. She let the kids talk to her for a minute, free of charge! :) And yes, this Mickey and Minnie DID talk!
It was worth the dollar. I thought this was a pretty sweet backdrop!
This trip to Disneyland was my favorite by far! ALL of the kids behaved themselves and everyone had a great time!
