California Adventure

California Adventure was a lot of fun. Lance and I even got to go on the big roller coaster there thanks to having Grandparents with us. I think our favorite ride of all we don't have a picture of, but it was Soaring over California. With the fast passes Mia and Maddi got to ride it about 4 times and I think Maddi loved it the most. You feel like your hang-gliding over different places in California...pretty amazing how they do it. The other one we did over and over was the river raft ride...I think that was Mia's favorite and we rode it about 4 times as well.

This one's out of order....but more from It's a Bugs Life!

Oh Bless you little Girls who took 2 hour naps in the stroller every day! We borrowed a double stoller from some friends and it was wonderful b/c Maddi and Ella could both sleep at the same time pretty comfortably.


Mia spent a lot of time up here when her legs got tired.

Mia and I enjoying a stroll while the girls napped.

Quick Hug from Mrs. Incredible

The Slug Ride....Maddi and Mia were SO excited for Ella to ride this.

Bugs Life....Love this picture

World of Color Show in Calfifornia Adventure...very cool...although I've heard a lot of people say that Fantasmic is even better.

This one was actually from our first day but it was so cute/sad/funny that we had to include it. Grandpa and Maddi had a little mishap while trying to get into the rocket and Maddi bonked her face during the process. I just happened to be there with the camera as I was snapping pictures of each group in their rockets before the ride started and I found them like this. Well the ride must go on....so off they went....not sure how long she cried but she was all smiles when we got off.

Princess Fever

These first couple pictures pretty much sum up our second day at California Adventure! Maddi was looking MOST forward to seeing Snow White, above anything else she knew or could imagine bout Disneyland. When we first started talking about going to Disneyland the girls both decided that they would wear their princess costumes. Over the last year Mia has gone back and forth about whether or not she is still "into" princesses. :) However when the big day arrived she decided that she still likes ONLY Cinderella, so it would still be okay to dress up.

This is a bit out of order but these first pictures are of Maddi meeting Snow White while we ate lunch at Ariel's Grotto. They have it set up so you meet Ariel and 3 of her friends while you are eating a delicious lunch. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for taking us! And thank you Snow White for being there....what would we have done if you weren't! :)

Riding the shuttle bus.

We were always quite the spectacle getting on or off of this thing....especially at night when we would have to fold up our huge double stroller and then carry all our bags as well as at least 2 sleeping children...and 4 adults who WISHED they were sleeping! :) haha

Autograph books in hand and ready to go....they didn't even know what autographs were until Disneyland. :)

Dressed and excited for another day

Our first Character Breakfast. My brother and his family had really loved these when they came and we had some other people recommend them and we were not disappointed. I think this was one of the highlights of the trip for the girls. Because they are so popular now, the characters rarely just walk around the park, and usually there are long lines to see them, but when you go to a character breakfast you get the whole buffet and then quite a few characters (you can't always know which specific ones will be there, but usually there's at least one you'll know ahead of time...for instance if it's "Mickey's Character Breakfast" you know you'll see Mickey for sure and then some other ones) will be there. And not only are they there, but they come and stop at each table, so you don't have to wait in line and you can enjoy your breakfast and a little one-on-one time with each character before they move on.

The big Toy Story Ride....very fun

I love this picture

Mia is doing her Fish Face

Snow White has entered the Building!!!!

Ariel and her friends at her Grotto.

Yummy Dessert

Mia caught Minnie all by herself while the girls were napping!

The Ladybug Ride....almost like tea-cups....wasn't sure how my stomach would handle it....but we all survived! :)

Disneyland

We were so lucky to get to have Grandma and Grandpa Nelson with us on our Disneyland trip. A couple days before they got here, Lance's Dad had a gallbladder attack and the doctors were wanting to do surgery. But being the Grandpa that he is, he found a way to postpone the surgery so that he wouldn't have to miss out on the trip!!! He had to TRY and take it easy (as much as you can when you're spending 3 days at Disneyland!) :) so he rented one of the ride-on wheelchairs. Due to this our girls were spoiled beyond belief b/c they never had to REALLY wait in a line for anything. The person with the wheelchair can get 6 people onto the ride with them through the wheelchair access entrance, and because Ella didn't have a ticket it was perfect.Next time we go back without Grandpa the girls will be in for a real shock when they actually have to wait in line for the rides. :)

This was the look on Maddi's face on our first ride of the day, "Small World". Priceless!

Using an early pass into Toon Town to see all the characters!

I was constantly amazed by all the people that work at Disneyland and how well suited to families and kids they are. This was the first character they saw and Maddi was a little shy so the chipmunk acted even more shy and that was all Maddi needed to warm right up! Cute.

The Girls and Minnie!

Ella was pretty well terrified of all the characters (except for maybe the princesses....I don't think it's as frightening when they have a real face you can see!) but since coming home she is constantly talking about "Minnie Mouse" and pointing her out whenever she sees her.

I wish I had a Minnie's House in my backyard! My girls could have spent all day just playing here.

Mia was so excited when she saw all the lights go on at night.

Winding down.....

I think we're done for the night!