Day 4-Disneyland

I'm not going to lie, the day didn’t start out so great... not even a little great. The kids went to bed super late (11:00 p.m.) and got up at 6 and Ethan was in one of his moods. So much so that after several times in time out we were determined that we were NOT going to go to Disneyland (that was for real too).  Ethan was going to ruin it for everyone.  Ethan parked himself in the closet and said that we could all go and that he’d stay. I was feeling bad for Briggs and Brooklyn and quite frankly us, since that was the reason we drove all the way to California. Briggs was pretty sad and at one point went in to talk to Ethan in the closet and I listened quietly on the other side of the door and the conversation went something like this:

Briggs with teary voice and sniffles: “Ethan, I know you haven’t been making good choices but you can do better and maybe we can go to Disneyland... if you make good choices... or... we could go swimming.”

Ethan, a bit defiant… still: “Well, what do you want to do?”

Briggs: “I want to go to Disneyland”

Ethan: “Well, I want to go swimming.”

Thus the story of our morning. Need I say more?!?!?

Ethan did come out and reconcile himself a bit later and we decided that we’d at least go to downtown Disney and give them a little glimpse of what they were going to miss, and hoping perhaps our kids would make some good choices and we could go after all. After getting off the shuttle we both looked at each other and decided that we were there and we ought to just go for it (even though Ethan for sure didn’t deserve it). Except for one other hiccup (from Ethan again) we had a great day.

Things we want to remember:

Riding Space Mountain with Ethan… I thought for sure he'd be sick or scared, but he did great but never again!!

Brooklyn’s face when she saw the Tinkerbell fairies… totally worth the hour wait

Brooklyn being terrified to take a picture with Mickey

Briggs hiding behind me at Pixie Hollow and pulling on my shirt like he's scared (he's never done that before, it was weird)

Cory and I both running into our next door neighbors separately… what are the odds

60 degree weather and my really bad farmers tan

Briggs taking pictures on the jungle cruise and the funny conductor

Enjoying the boat rides more than the other rides… definitely think we are showing our age with that one

Seeing grown adult men with big bellies, goatees, wearing Mickey hats with all the confidence in the world… oh, the magic of this place!  Not to mention a few of my husbands "goofy" faces!!  Grown man (check)... goatee (check)... no belly or Mickey hat but he gave me a few goofy cheesy smiles!

The all you can eat BBQ dinner and the guitarist who sang Rindercella (Cinderella)

Brooklyn covering her eyes during the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and putting my hands over hers

Briggs favorite: The Buzz Light Year ride and Matterhorn and Finding Nemo Submarine ride

Brooklyn and Ethan waving Buzz light-year life size character on the Buzz ride

Ethan’s favorites: Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz light-year

Brooklyn's favorites: Tinkerbell and seeing the Disney fairies

Daddy, Ethan, and Briggs getting in trouble twice on It’s a Small World boat ride (first for handing Brooklyn over the seat to me which stopped the ride, second for splashing water at each other; not keeping their hands inside the boat)
Getting "1st time at Disney" pins at City Hall

Tired feet and Briggs complaining of his legs hurting at the end of the day

The kind family who offered for us to take their seats on the shuttle at the end of the day; it really touched us even though we didn’t fit and had to wait 30 minutes for next bus

The friendly family, on the shuttle, who helped us with our stroller since we had a sleeping Brooklyn, Sterling in car seat, and a huge diaper bag; I was reminded twice within an hour of the goodness of people. It was really refreshing and much needed after a long day.


I think most of the pictures are self explanatory.  I had a hard time narrowing it down from over 300 pictures... I know... I'm a bit obsessive.  Here are some of my favorites!  You can click on most groupings to see bigger.

First ride of the day

Cory in back with Briggs.  None of us liked Space Mountain.

Our next door neighbors in Idaho

Ohhhhh.... Love that little boy and love that bright smile!

What Daddy's do

I laughed and laughed when I saw this... it's okay if you do too!

 

I was hard-pressed to get this picture...  hard pressed

I loved the old classic Mickey drawings

It's just fun!  I love Toon Town!

Saying Goodbye to Disneyland (Tea-cups).  I just loved all the colorful lights

It's been over a week now since we've been there and looking back I see more of the good than the not-so-good.  I guess that is the power of pictures.  I'm glad we went, but we will not be going again for a looooong