disneyland...day two.

our first morning at disneyland, i think i woke up at four a.m.  yes, you read that right.  four a.m.  between the time change and the flutters of excitement in my stomach, i couldn't sleep.  for days leading up to our trip, i had that giddy, sick-to-my-stomach excitement... you know, the kind you'd get as a kid on christmas eve.  i definitely held my expectations loosely; i knew disney with a three year old and a five year old could hold some not so magical moments... but i just couldn't help myself.  i was over the moon.

i laid in bed, wheels turning, until it was an acceptable time to start thinking about getting ready for the day.  because we were staying in a disney hotel, we had extra magic hours if we got to the park by seven, which was our plan.  i think we were all up by six, ate breakfast from our food stash in our room, packed up and stepped out of our hotel doors into the morning california sunshine.

girls posing with minnie and mickey just outside our hotel

i LOVED staying at the disneyland hotel for many reasons, but one of them was that our hotel doors lead right to downtown disney.  it was about a five to ten minute walk through the shops and restaurants of downtown disney to the gates of the parks.  all around, disneyland was so much more laid back than disney world, where i grew up going.  which for us, having young kids, was perfect.  compared to the pomp and circumstance in florida, having to take a boat ride to even catch a glimpse of the front gates, in california you merely walk up to the gates and there it is.  i kind of loved it's simplicity... no fuss, no strollers, our kids walked the ENTIRE time.  it was awesome.

here we were!  first glimpse of disneyland... we were a little excited (and the girls had no idea what to think!) ;)

heading through the gates, i couldn't wait for the girls to get their first glimpse of the castle.  again, much more simple than disney world... but it was partly pink, so that was a win in their book, nevermind it was half the size :) it was fun to see walt disney's apartment above the fire station and walk the streets he used to walk early in the morning before the park had opened.  after this trip, i am totally fascinated with him as a person.  pretty amazing what a little imagination can bring to millions of families in countless generations.  so inspiring.

first glimpse of sleeping beauty castle!

walt & mickey

it was fun being there at 7:30 before the crowds had gathered... first stop: family pics by the castle, of course!)

we rode a couple of rides in tomorrowland before heading straight through the castle to fantasyland.  after completely terrorizing bella on "pinocchio's daring journey" (literally: she was shaking), we decided the carousel was a good place to go... followed by some rides in storybookland (which was my favorite part of the whole park!)

all dolled up for disneyland's 60th birthday!

carousel!

circus train

dumbo!

for months before our trip, we watched youtube videos on all things disneyland.  our favorite videos were those that told us all about the amazing food at the parks.  seriously; we each had a list of all of our must have snacks (by all of us, i mean even our three year old).  sadly, we hardly got any of them... surprisingly we weren't hungry often, and it was difficult to get to different places we wanted to go if we were in another area of the park... especially with two little ones... even in the name of food.  BUT... we did get churros a couple of times; they were our family's fav.

alice's tea cups!

my favorite disney ride growing up was "it's a small world."  i think i was in preschool when i would make my entire class sit down while i performed the song for them (super embarrassing, but it's true... unfortunately).  anyways, i was so excited to take the girls!  i knew they'd love it.  little did i know how AMAZING the small world was at disneyland!  i think it was almost bigger than the castle.  way cooler than florida; the line is outside where you get on boats, and can even occasionally spy some of the dolls dancing out cuckoo-clock-style as you wait.

turns out, it was the girls favorite ride (we went on it twice)... and, as this video prooves, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree ;)

next on to toon town, where we got to visit several of the characters!  and get lots of pics :)

pluto!

minnie's house was by far our favorite.  the line was probably the longest one we waited in the entire trip (about 45 minutes) but it was fun while we waited to see all of the details of her digs.

as we got to the front of the line, the girls were getting so excited.  bella said "i wonder what she'll think of us!  we look like her sisters!" ;)

next up, mickey's house!  apparently he was filming a movie and was on the set that day, hence the scarf and sailor props.

our key to no toddler meltdowns on this trip (seriously... i was shocked) was that we would go back to our hotel room every day around one oclock.  we had a nap, some snacks and recharged for the evening.  on our way out of the park that afternoon, we spied someone really special:

that evening, pampered chef put on a special reception for all of us who had earned our first trip with the company!  in typical pampered chef fashion, it was amazing... it was held in one of the ballrooms at the disneyland hotel and included mickey shaped treats, photo spots set up with several disney characters, music and LOTS of celebration.  i definitely shed some tears of joy and gratitude... so so special.

signage

walking into the reception to several of the big wigs and home office employees cheering, clapping and high-fiving

the ballroom

some shots with belle

everything tastes better when it's shaped like mickey :)

family shot

fun getting to see and reconnect with pampered chef friends, meet new ones and especially get to see my upline director, nancy.  she believed in me from day one and sent me encouraging notes and mickey reminders throughout the year, cheering me on toward earning this trip!  loved watching her dance with my girls :)

goofy!

twirling, twirling, twirling

we left the reception and headed back to the park!  

here is the entrance to downtown disney right by our hotel

we went on a "finding nemo" submarine ride and then went on the hunt to find the girls lollipops... we had prepared them for weeks that they could pick out one larger gift while we were there, and a smaller treat... they chose lollipops :)

nemo submarine ride

all this girl wanted was a big, swirled lollipop!

after a lollipop/drink break at starbucks, we stumbled out to the streets already lined for the parade... we ended up wedging ourselves into a spot on main street so we could see.  come to find out, the parade and fireworks were our absolute FAVORITE part of our disney experience!  there's nothing like it.

waiting for the parade

"paint the night" was the special electric parade in celebration of the 60th anniversary

everything about the parade and fireworks was magical.  the girls were absolutely in awe (and so were we).  this is my favorite moment of the whole evening... when bella saw the princess float rounding the corner for the first time... i just love her sweet little face.  pretty much sums up everything that i loved about this trip with my girls:

the thing i love about disney, is the childlikeness it brings out in all of us.  you forget that you're in your thirties, and instead find yourself belting out songs at the top of your lungs, dancing to the music you danced to when you were eight, and waving "hi" to all of the characters with just as much excitement and enthusiasm (or maybe in some cases more) than your own children.  it's awesome.  and what makes it so fun.

after the parade was finished, everyone poured out into the street for the fireworks.  we were a ways from the castle, but the magic sprinkled into main street too, as you can see :)

the fireworks show was a medley of all the disney favorites complete with tinkerbell flying from the top of the castle and projections all over the park.  here are a couple clips where you can see what i mean... bubbles projected onto main street buildings and sea plants popping out of the roofs for "under the sea" (oh, and that's totally nemo "swimming" up to the castle at the end; crazy!)  during "let it go"?  it snowed.  only in disney.

the end to the most magical fireworks show; this soundtrack gets requested in our house daily still, just so you know...

this pic is a little blurry, but i love it.  daddy carrying out his girl at the end of the most magical day.  our hearts were full, and our trip wasn't even half over!  time to get to bed to start over again tomorrow.

best.   day.   ever.

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(read about day one here)

multitude monday.

{source}

932.  busy summer days full of adventures.
933.  new friends.
934.  ice cream cones and drippy chins.
935.  dock jumping.
936.  wild blueberries.
937.  peas, climbing in the garden.
938.  lighthouses.
939.  sunday school picnics.
940.  family breakfasts.  every day.
941.  windowboxes brimming with color.
942.  fingers, sticky from s'mores.
943.  front porch sitting with my favorite guy.
944.  my girls, full of spirit, spunk and sweetness.

disneyland...day one.

over a month ago, we had the vacation of our lives at disneyland in california.  it still seems incredibly surreal... i'm still pinching myself in disbelief that it actually happened.

but the fact that my kids are still talking about it every other second (along with the photo documentation) tells me that it did, in fact, happen... so, i guess i believe it :)

a year and a half ago, i took the plunge and signed up to be a consultant with the pampered chef.  i had no idea what i was in for, and would usually always do an internal "eye roll" when i'd hear people talk about their experiences with direct sales companies and how they had changed their lives.  but i loved what i heard about the company and had been using their products since cooking in my mother's kitchen growing up.  their mission to gather people together and make memories around the table was something i had been trying to practice for years, so that was vision i could get behind!  we needed some extra income and i wanted to help contribute so that my husband didn't have to put anything else on his plate, so i signed up.  seriously: life hasn't been the same since!  pampered chef does an incentive trip every year; consultants have from january to december to earn and they've gone everywhere from hawaii to london to an alaskan cruise.  i started getting promotional material for the incentive trip as soon as i signed up: disneyland.  it was way too good to be true, and too far out of my league (so i thought).  i actually would hide the brochures and castle-filled posters away so that my girls wouldn't see any of it, because i knew as sure as the day was long that i was not going to be earning that trip.  i was just there to get some good products for my kitchen, a little extra cash each month and call it a day.  BUT: God had other plans about how he was going to use this business of mine... and soon, i was starting to believe how this company really could change my life and the life of my family.  by october, i had earned the disneyland trip, and just over a month ago, we scurried off to the airport on one of our most special adventures.  

when i was little, my dad always wanted us to keep travel logs of different trips we took, even if it was just a day trip to the coast, or a weekend stay at our family's cottage.  i've attempted to do that with this blog... i want to remember the things we've done as a family, the looks on my kids faces, the things we've seen and places we've been.  and this trip is no exception.  so please excuse all of the details, the photos and the videos.  it's for my kids to look back on some day, and i want to try to record for them as much as i can.  and for me, too.  because i never want to forget the many moments this trip held for me, as their mom... and how they made my heart want to burst.  i may have shed a tear or two... anyone who knows me knows that is more than a slight possibility ;)

so, here we go... with day one.

bags packed!

we woke up bright and early wednesday morning... i think that was the quickest bella has ever jumped out of bed!  "we're going to disneyland!!!!!" she said, and hurried to get dressed.  emmy, our three year old, was a bit slower to warm up to the idea that we were waking her up so early in the morning... as you can tell from this picture i took right before we headed to the airport:

makes me laugh every time.  

flying with bella has been a piece of cake for a while now, but emmy has continued to be our "wild card".  when we flew last at christmastime, she had gotten better... this trip, she was great.  our flight from philly to los angeles was over five hours, and they were such little troopers!  between the ipad, snacks and a bunch of target dollar aisle finds i stashed away, it was almost perfection (have i mentioned before that when we fly i let our kids eat like eighteen packages of fruit snacks to keep them happy?  kidding, but almost...) we got in to LA around twelve thirty, got our bags and boarded our shuttle (a big bus with lightening mcqueen plastered across the side) to our hotel.

target aisle toys are the best!

ipad time is limitless on long flights...

at LAX

as we were driving, it dawned on me that the girls had never seen palm trees!  so we sat, gazing out the windows, taking in each tall and lovely tree.  it felt like a different world.  the sight of them will never get old for me, because they always mean one, blissful, beautiful thing: vacation.

we stayed at the disneyland hotel, right on property... a 5-10 minute walk through downtown disney and we were at the gates of either disneyland or california adventure.  walking into the lobby of our hotel felt instantly magical.  everyone was friendly and smiling like they're were actually at the happiest place on earth.  i had ordered groceries to be delivered to our room (look up Vonn's grocery delivery if you're headed to disneyland! they usually have promo codes for free delivery and they were great to work with!), so the bellboy brought them up upon our arrival.  we instantly had a stash of bagels and cream cheese, yogurt and granola, blueberries, apples, crackers, pb & j fixins' and other snacks that would help us save money on food for the week.  it was awesome.

our room had disney touches everywhere... but my favorite part was the headboard that lit up and played "a dream is a wish your heart makes" at the push of a button.

we threw on our suits and headed to the pool... three pools, actually, with waterslides!  the girls (well, and us) loved those!

after a couple of hours at the pool, we headed to downtown disney for dinner.  at a cheap little taqueria (turned out to be one of our favorite spots!), we chomped on burritos, tacos and nachos through a haze of jet lag.  after dinner, we went back to the hotel and crashed... closed our blinds on the california evening sun, in bed by seven, completely crashed and ready for our first day in the parks!