DISNEYLAND!!!

Brandon went to Maine for a CPA training in June. I wanted to go SO BAD! I begged, and begged, and begged some more. Researched plane tickets, did my best to convince him that I should go with him and kept begging. Despite my BEST efforts, he left me home! As a "consolation prize" he decided to take the fam to Disneyland. Lets face it though, as fun as Disneyland is it is no getaway. Vacations with kids are WORK! I love my kids but I would have been ok to spend a week in Maine/Boston discovering a wonderful part of the country. You know getting cultured and all. Instead I got to be cultured Disney style. It was VERY FUN and I shouldn't complain but all I have to do is think about Boston and I am back to my whining ways. The kids LOVED it and it was worth it to see how happy they were.

We had to pick Brandon up in Vegas because of his Maine conflict. I just couldn't throw the kids in the car for 14hrs hoping they would behave when I know miss Brooklyn is not a good traveler. The first day we drove half way to Mesquite. Thank heavens my mom and Grant decided to join us. There is no way I could have pulled this off without them. Then next morning we got up drove to Vegas and picked up the rest of our party then it was off to Cali!

The long drive. Cannon is such a good traveler. The jury is still out on Brooklyn. She didn't sleep that much in case you can't tell by this pic.

We arrived Sunday night and spent the first night exploring downtown Disney.

Cannon and Woody! They had a LEGO store in Downtown Disney with some very cool creations. Cannon LOVES Toy Story so he was stoked to see Woody.

This giraffe was HUGE! It was pretty amazing!

Trying on hats!

So every morning when you enter the park you can get a map. Cannon was sure to pick one up every day. He would open up his map on the ground or neatly across his legs and point to where he wanted to go and off we went. My mom was far better at taking pictures than me and has the cutest one of him looking and pointing at his map. (For whatever reason I can't get the pictures to load or scan into my computer.) It was very cute and he was very good to keep track of it all day so he could reference it often.

Monday morning we got up and hit California adventure full steam. That night we went to World of Color. Definitely one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I think it was Brooklyn's favorite port. She kept clapping and oohing and awing it was adorable! Think Bellagio fountains only BIGGER, BETTER and in COLOR! A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Brooky enjoying a pack of mini oreos...thank you dad.

The next day we focused in on Disneyland. I am pretty sure we rode every "BIG and important" ride available. Lucky for us Cannon was tall enough to go on pretty much everything. And he did! We also had Dinner at Goofy's Kitchen. So cute. The characters walk around and come talk to you while you have dinner. Brooky had just had a birthday so they brought her a cupcake and sang to her. She loved it, but wasn't so sure about the characters. I would highly recommend it to anyone thinking of doing it.

Notice Pluto's eyes in the background.

Wednesday we had early admission tickets to TOONTOWN. It was very cool and I am telling you it is the time to go because there are virtually no lines. We did more rides in the first 3 hrs that day than we did in entire day some of the days. Cannon got to meet Mickey and some of his friends. It was very neat

My kids are the BEST posers! haha! We were just happy we got to snake a pic with Mickey!

Thursday we did a recap of some of our favorites.
Cannon and his grandma..aka his Best Friend, on the big Mickey ride, the Ferris wheel.

Funny story. Cannon had been BEGGING, I mean BEGGING to go on Tower of Terror all week. We kept telling him no but he was determined. Each day he would pull out his map and find T of T and say "that, this is what I am talking about. I want to do the big scary guy house." After 4 days of constant begging we finally gave in. Once inside the ride it didn't take C long to decide he didn't want to do it. However, Brandon knew that if he took him out he would just end up back in line because he would change his mind. So they stuck it out. Some of the people commented on how Cannon was too young for the ride and Brandon explained "Hey, he has been begging all week and if I take him out now he will just beg to come back." They laughed and understood. C is a trooper and stuck it out. A few tears were shed and it would be safe to say he did NOT ask to do it again. My mom has the best picture on her camera! Sadly I can't get it to load or scan into my computer!

Friday it was time to head back home. We packed up and out of the kind of his hear Brandon drove us out to Newport Beach. I wish we would have had more time there because the kids LOVED the ocean. I guess we will just have to head out to the ocean again sometime. :)
Cannon was soaking wet by the end of the visit. He was having so much fun.

Brooky wanted to get down and crawl around in the sand so bad. She was so happy and mesmerized by the ocean.

We finished the day in Mesquite, then got up Sat and drove home.
All in all the kids were FABULOUS!!! It was a fun trip and I am glad we went. We were lucky that grandma and grandpa came too. They always make it more fun and less stressful! Love you guys!

Now for the next Vaca....without my loveable munchkins! :)