DISNEYLAND!!!

 Or as LANDON would say "Di-ne-wand!"

Our family got the AMAZING opportunity to attend the HAPPIEST Place on Earth earlier this month!!

Matt's cousin Amanda Bird works there and was able to get us in for FREE!!! Actually we WOULD have all been free, but Matt and I decided we wanted more help so we asked my mother to tag along (only because she is the BIGGEST MICKEY MOUSE fan AND the biggest help with our kids that we know) So we had to buy a child's ticket but to get 5 people in... = SCORE!!~~

We drove up EARLY Thursday morning and hit up Denny's for breakfast. We did not want to get stuck in any traffic; we missed all morning traffic and arrived at 6:30 a.m. (the park did not open until 10:00 a.m.) Our nice warm breakfast was a perfect start to the day!! We were able to get an EARLY check in at our hotel across the street from the parks and got ready for our BIG first day...

(click on the picture collage to get a closer look)

 Matt and I decided to buy some Disney Toys before we left (WAY CHEAPER) and so as we were driving  we gave the kids a special prize... Landon got Buzz Lightyear and Hailey got the girl kitten from Aristocats... I am sure she has a name, but like anyone would know if I used it... Above are the EARLY morning pictures. Then we made it to the gates and waited for our cousin to get us in.

 The first day we went to California Adventure~

 We went inside and headed to see Ariel's Undersea Adventure (Hailey's Choice) Then we ran over to my mom's favorite ride Soarin' Over California; we had gotten Fast Passes to ride it. Hailey went with Matt and LOVED it! Landon was not big enough so we had fun watching him play with all the airplanes in the store...

 We headed to the "A Bug's Land" area and enjoyed EVERY SINGLE RIDE there! ~ Fliks Flyer's, Francis' Ladybug Boogie, Heimlich's Chew Chew Train, Princess Dot's Puddle Park, Tuck and Rolls Drive "em Buggies and then enjoyed the show "It's tough to be a bug". That was the kids first 3-D experience.

 And as we were leaving the Bug Land we got lucky enough to catch Mickey Mouse and Pluto!!

Landon went right up to them and had no problem taking a picture... Hailey on the other hand... well you can tell by the pictures. Pluto got her to at least go near him on her own... that was GREAT!~

 We got a few more pictures taken, went on The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror a few times (THANKS to the fast passes), went on the Monsters Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue; which the kids LOVED! Then split up for a short while. Mom went shopping with Landon and Matt, Hailey and I went on The Grizzly River Run... HAILEY'S Idea... luckily she did not get wet. She did get a little scared but not wet!!

 Then we ran to make the showing of Disney Junior LIVE on Stage. I think this might have been the kids FAVORITE thing, and we loved it because we got to sit back and relax. They had a LIVE show with the characters from The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. The kids were dancing, singing and clapping along. It was GREAT!~ We had a LATE lunch at McDonald's after this and got our Jackets so we were ready for the rest of the night...

 When we got back we headed over to California Screamin' probably Matt and my favorite rides at Cali Adventure and got some Fast Passes. As we waited to ride that we went to Toy Story Midway Mania! It was a HUGE hit!! We probably waited the longest for this but it was well worth the wait. Hailey even talked Matt into taking her back to ride this again as we waited for the World Of Color show... 

Another HUGE hit for the kids was King Triton's Carousel. They rode this while we went on California Screamin'. The person running the ride told my mom they could just stay on the ride as long as the line does not get too long. I am sure the kids rode this over 10 times...

 We missed a few rides we think the kids would have enjoyed but we knew they wanted to ride the last two rides and we just went along with that. We got a GREAT seat to watch The World Of Color water show. It was amazing and I have to admit a few tears dropped from my eyes... We headed back toward the hotel after the show was over and decided to just hit up McDonald's again for dinner... The kids were OUT before we were even finished eating...

They were spoiled rotten before they even knew it! Grandma treated them to some Mickey Ears. Landon picked the Pirate Ears and Hailey picked the Cinderella Ears with the glass slipper. Grandma was surprised because we thought for sure she would get the regular PINK PRINCESS ones... it was a GREAT First Day!!~ And that night WE ALL slept wonderfully!!~~