A Magical Week

We finally made it to Disneyland!

We left early Saturday, September 19th and made it to Anaheim that afternoon. We hung out at the hotel and swam and then went to dinner at

Buca di Beppo across the street. The next four days we

explored Disneyland and California Adventure,

and we could certainly say we were pros at

it all by the end of the fourth day.

Here are a few pictures and our

top 10 favorite memories (in no particular order)

1)Watching Madelyn! Everyday it seemed she added a new button to her outfit, a bracelet, or doll that she carried with her. One day it was her baby, the next her stuffed Mickey and Minnie. Some days she would wear her hot pink sunglasses and carry a balloon too. But each day she got more and more excited about being there, riding the rides, and meeting all of the characters.

2)Meeting Mickey Mouse! It was pretty magical meeting Mickey. They have you tour his house beforehand and then while you're waiting, you get to watch some of the early Mickey Mouse cartoons. Then they take you through the back of the house and beyond the door, there he is. I LOVED watching Maddy's reaction.

Pure excitement.



3)The rides! Before we left for Disneyland all Maddy could talk about was riding the teacups, and she did love them. But she and Evan ended up LOVING "It's a small world" the most! We rode it 4 times and they both were singing/humming along by the end. Evan would also dance and exclaim "Whoa" (his favorite word) at every corner. Besides "It's a small world" her favorite rides were the Matterhorn Bobsleds and the Alice in Wonderland Caterpillars. Whatever color caterpillar she got to ride in she would tell me was her favorite color! But by about the 3rd time she rode the ride, she got a pink caterpillar. She then told me that pink was really her favorite color. Oh to be 4 again! :) She begged to go on the big rides with Daddy, but she had to be 40 inches to ride all of those and she is 39 1/2 inches. Mommy was pretty relieved. On the last day she chose to ride the bobsleds for her last ride. She and Daddy waited in line, got strapped in, and the ride broke down. They had them get out and closed down the ride since it was closing time for the day. Maddy was upset, but luckily she had already rode that ride twice!



4)Evan exploring! It was such fun watching this little boy discover new things and exclaim "whoa" or "hi" to everything/one he saw. Luckily, this time he was allowed to get into everything and explore his surroundings. He had a whole new world opening up to him and

Jonathan and I loved just watching him.

5)Meeting the princesses. Thanks to everyone's advice, we met the princesses at Ariel's Grotto for lunch. This way we didn't have to wait in line for hours to see them. Ariel's Grotto was quite the experience for Madelyn! They took us down a long staircase and at the bottom she met Ariel. Then the waiter took us to our seat and brought out a three-tiered plater of appetizers of Ariel's favorite foods. Maddy liked the jello with fruit inside. They also had bread, meats with three sauces, veggies, fruit, cheeses, and salad. We each chose a main course and while we ate, the trumpet would sound every few minutes and a new princess would come out and greet everyone. Madelyn was shy at first and never wants to show her excitement. But once they announced Sleeping Beauty, she started smiling and laughing and that was all it took! From that point on we were told to call her Princess Maddy the rest of the day. It was so fun to watch her little imagination.



6)The characters! These guys are seriously celebrities around here and it was thrilling when we got to see one and talk to them. The characters loved Evan! He was unsure at first, but by the second day all Evan wanted to do was go talk to the characters. He saw Tigger and Winnie the Pooh and yelled "HI!" until they paid attention to him. He was just mesmerized by them. He wanted to touch them, but did not want to be touched by them.

7)The fireworks! Oh the fireworks, they were grand. It was about a 15-20 minute show with Tinkerbell and Dumbo flying and narrations by Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, etc. Madelyn and Evan fell asleep right before, but Maddy perked right up when she heard her favorite songs and all of the lights above the castle.

8)Breakfast with the characters. This was another thing I'm so glad we did. We got into the park earlier that day and went to the Plaza Inn for a lavish breakfast buffet. Minnie Mouse was there along with several other characters that greeted us while we ate. So fun.

9)Parades and shows! Everyone loves a good parade, right? We saw two parades with all of the Disney and Pixar characters. During the Disney one, Maddy got to go out on the street and dance with Daisy and Goofy. She is still singing all of the songs. We also went to a Playhouse Disney show and she got so into it. She never really watched the Mickey Mouse Club show before, but now she loves it and sings the Mickey Mouse song constantly.

Unfortunately the Haunted Mansion was closed (getting ready for Halloween). Maddy really wanted to go inside because they show the mansion on her Disneyland sing-a-long, but I was relieved she didn't because I think it's a bit scary. It was cool to see all of the Halloween decorations. They go all out!

10)Being together as a family. Seriously I loved having Jonathan with us for a whole week and doing all of these fun things together. We loved watching the kids get so excited and to get wrapped up in this imaginary world together.

Good, good memories.