D.I.S.N.E.Y.L.A.N.D.!!!

So we're back and I have to say Disneyland was AMAZING! Here's a recap:

Saturday: We planned to leave as early as possible, but ended up leaving around 9:00 so Mom and Will got tired of waiting for us and left before us. We met up in Beaver for our first break. We found a place (The Creamery) to stop that ended up being SO clean and had lots for the kids to do while we waited for them to catch up to us. We got some food and let the kids pick out some ice cream flavors (we picked superman, pirates booty, cotton candy, strawberry cheesecake, and mint chocolate chip), which they loved. Unfortunately, it started to rain right as they showed up so we didn't have time to visit. Our next stop was set for the Vegas area. Things were going smoothly, but then Mom text me before she got to the stop to say their truck was breaking down. Once they got to the stop and we met back up with them (after playing at a playground for a, literal, hot minute) they revealed the truck was DOA and they had to buy another one. This definitely put a big damper on the start of the trip. We had to leave them while they waited to get the new truck and ended up stopping in Primm for dinner. I had hoped to do Subway (our road trip tradition), but the Subway was closed so we did Denny's. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that was in the casino and we were kind of stressed out at this point so instead of trying to find something else, we just stuck with that. It was disgusting. We were able to fill up and just power through to our rental and set up for the night. It was late (10 PM), but we made it (Mom and Will didn't even get their truck till about 6 or so and didn't get to their RV park until 2 AM). We still had to get groceries ordered (couldn't be delivered until the next night though...buggar!). While the day started good, it ended up more annoying than anything towards the end, but we made it safe and sound so that's what matters.

Sunday: We started our first (early) day at Goofy's Kitchen for the character breakfast. I was so glad I put out outfits and needed items the night before, that made it a much smoother morning! Mom decided they'd get a few hours sleep, meet us there, and then head back for a nap before coming to the parks. I was SO happy we decided to do this. The kids went wild with the characters and the food (buffets are great for kids!). 

While it put a delay on our first day, I knew I was just going to take slow and do what we can without freaking out, so it was fine. We got to the park and our first ride at 11 AM so it was quite the delay (it didn't help that we decided to skip the shuttle...big mistake!), but we started with the Astro Orbiter ride and, while Lucy was nervous at the start of it, she (and Pierce) ended up loving it and wanted to ride more haha. We rode about 3 rides and then took a snack/bathroom break and waited for Mom and Will to show up (with a late night and early morning, the kids were antsy for this break).

We rode a few more rides (Cara was begging for The Matterhorn so we did a rider switch on that one. Mom and Will took her and Gwen while we did the Teacups and Dumbo with Lucy and Pierce) and got pictures with a couple characters (with autographs). The kids handled the wait times pretty well and seemed to love every ride we did. We went to Mom's for dinner that night (bbq burgers and hot dogs...so yum!) and then headed out to Wal Mart to get our groceries (their shopper person was AWFUL so we canceled that and did it ourselves). We headed back to our rental, wanting to do baths, but the kids were completely ZONKED, so we just went to bed. It was an exhausting day, but a good start. Luckily, the park helped me change our "rest day". It was going to be our last day (in case we needed an extra day at the park), but we decided to change it to the middle of our trip, plus we knew 4 days should be enough for us. We didn't need 5!

Monday: Today was a day that we had planned to get as much crossed off the list as we could. We left the AirBNB by 7:30, but didn't get to the park till 9 (we were only 20 minutes away from the parking too! The traffic was AWFUL and slow). It was our day in California Adventures and I was glad that park was the smaller of the two. I was also excited to finally do the Guardians of the Galaxy ride! (Tower of Terror was my favorite so I was upset when they changed it...luckily it's still a great ride!).

Larry, Cara, Gwen, and I then did the Cars ride while Mom and Will took Pierce and Lucy to do the smaller Cars rides. They did the rider switch and we did a snack break. Gwen mentioned on the Cars ride that it gave her butterflies and "now they are hungry!" (haha). 

Mom and Will then took their "dog check" break while we did the Little Mermaid and some character meetings. Luckily, we got a good system down of just snacking throughout the day instead of getting lunch, this saved a bunch of money (but we did get treats every day). When Mom and Will came back and we did the Incredicoaster while they took the kids on Midway Mania (both had incredibly long lines), and then we did the Ferris Wheel (Boomer stood that out). 

On the Ferris Wheel I finally got the "this is the best day ever" comment from Lucy (I kept joking that I'd get that all the time for simple things before this trip so I was waiting for it). The kids also kept squealing on the Ferris Wheel (we got the swinging one) so that made it an awesome ride!

This night was our turn for dinner. We wanted to do pizzas, but our AirBNB didn't have an oven so we switched it to tortellini (which everyone liked). We finally had a night we could do a bath for the kids (well, shower, but the one in the rental was HUGE so Larry could wash the kids without taking his clothes off). Unfortunately, the kids and Larry were starting to get sick this day so we loaded up on oranges, medicine, and immune vitamins. I was glad the next day was our "reset" day so we could catch up on sleep this night.

Tuesday: Tuesday was honestly my favorite day of this whole trip (which is kind of sad since it had almost nothing to do with Disneyland haha. Cara ended up having another loose tooth (I thought she was lying at first because she "discovered" it right after I wondered when she'd get her next one, but it is legit!). We woke up feeling so refreshed and well rested. We started the day at Ponderosa Park. I saw this on our drive each day and it looked fun. It had some swings, a splash pad area (too cold for us though), and a little workout area. Unfortunately, the longer we were there the more sketchy the park became. Complete with a bathroom druggie, a homeless man digging through trash nearby, and another dad telling us not to play with the water in the splash pad (because it was so dirty) and to watch out for needles. We ended up moving to a much nicer park in a condo neighborhood. It had better equipment and LOTS of kids. The only problem is there were no bathrooms and the kids ended up needing to go so I had to go to a gas station on the corner (which was disgustingly dirty). We got to play tag and other games with the kids and Cara crossed the monkey bars all by herself!

We met Mom and Will at Subway for lunch and then dropped Larry and Pierce at the rental for nap time while Mom and me and the girls did LOTS of shopping at Downtown Disney (so many fun things we found!). Also, how cute are all the purple trees here? I LOVE them! We then got Larry and Pierce and came back to the RV Park for swimming. Pierce started jumping into the pool all by himself (no one to catch him) and loved it. He kept doing it over and over again. Lucy even swam on her own, instead of needing to be held the whole time. We ended up going to this pizza place next to the RV Park for dinner. We did have to do another quick Wal Mart trip for some lotion (poor Lucy's skin) and a blanket we planned to use for the fireworks. We got back to the rental for bath and early bed again. Everyone seemed to be so happy and content today!

Wednesday: Today was the day we learned our lessons. We got up early, left early, and got to the parking and shuttles early. We got to California Adventures and rode LOTS of rides. It was our longest day at the parks so far. Gwen was so sweet and was so concerned about people knowing they needed to secure their stuff on the Goofy's Sky School ride. We also got to ride the Spider Man ride twice! We saw lots of characters and got lots of pictures and autographs. 

We got so much done we were able to head over to Disney to cross off more things. We finally got to meet Mickey and attempted to do the Runaway Railroad (the line took SO long and the ride ended up breaking so we gave up...SO annoying!). Mom and Will did dinner (sloppy joes, which we all loved). Pierce got so sick of not having regular naps by this point and wanted to be held ALL day long (Larry was SO sore after today). We stayed at the RV Park to watch the fireworks. The kids were pretty ornery and ready to sleep, but they ended up loving the show and were excited they got to see it. Lucy talked the WHOLE way home about the fireworks haha. We, of course, didn't have time for baths this night, but it was fine. We had a lot of fun!

Thursday: Today was a great last day (we FINALLY had our morning timing down). We were at the park (Disney) early enough to cross off Indiana Jones, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, and Thunder Mountain within 2 hours! We then headed over to the Star Wars area (which was really cool!). I finally got to try the blue milk (pretty yum) and we rode the Smuggler's Run ride so that the three girls could ride. It had a shorter wait (which was nice because I ended up having to pee, like, super bad while in line). We did the rider switch, but by the time I got off I realized I lost my phone (GRRR!). Mom and Will were still able to get on quickly doing the single rider. Good thing was we found my phone in the lost in found while they rode so I got it back quickly. Mom and Will then took Gwen and Cara on the Rise of the Resistance ride while we waited for the Rider Switch with Pierce and Lucy (which was cute because a duck came by that we got to feed). When we finally got to go on the ride, it broke down (like enough they closed it down and we had to leave). We got the lightning lane for later, so that was good. 

Mom and Will took their break at this point and so we rode some of the smaller rides (Small Word so Pierce could see it, he fell asleep the first time, he LOVED it. Pinocchio, and Teacups). I tried to get real snacks at this point, but the dang parade blocked me and so I ended up losing it on a couple workers. Mom and Will came back and we finally did the Rise of the Resistance ride (super fun one!) and they took the kids on the Wild Toad ride and then decided the kids needed real food (they learned quickly that the kids just waste food and there's a reason we only did snacks). 

On our way back to them we found a place that sold Tigger Tails (my must have snack!) with some cookies and a cake pop. The cake pops are NOT the greatest, I gotta admit. At this point we noticed the parade should be coming around soon so we should find a place to park it and watch that. I didn't intend to do the parade, but I'm SO glad we did. I got the kids some balloons (because I didn't realize they were $20 EACH!) and we enjoyed the whole show. It was really magical!

We did some last shopping and went back to the rental with our Christmas 2.0 toys (we did BLT Quesadilla's for dinner). We ate, mom and Will left, and then we did baths and and got the kids down. We packed up and got things ready to go. We are definitely SO sore, so happy, and so glad we're done and heading home!

Friday: By this day I was starting to get sick so this was a bit more rough, but I was so happy we got things set the night before. We got everyone up and ready, packed the car up, and headed out around 8:30 AM. We only had to stop once...kind of. We stopped near Vegas at McDonald's (I had hoped it had a play place. It was too hot to find a playground) and let the kids eat and we filled up on gas. We left and about 20 minutes later Gwen threw up all over the back seat (GROSS!). So we stopped to clean that up (luckily none was on her clothes, so everything that was puked on we cleaned off as best as we could and then shoved it in a garbage bag for the rest of the drive). We left and I mentioned to Larry I should've had her try and use the bathroom since she didn't go at McD's and that's when Lucy mentioned she needed to go to the bathroom so we stopped and made EVERYONE go. We ended up straight shotting it straight home after that stop and made it all the way without stopping! We got home in time (around 7:30 PM) just in time to get the car unpacked, get the kids ready for bed, and then we got to relax for a couple hours (like a usual Friday). 

Overall, I'm SO glad we went, I'm glad we were able to get as many rides done as we did, and the kids had so much fun! That's all that we can ask for and we got lots of fun souvenirs! It was one of the best family vacations and I'm so glad Mom and Will came with us to help us out and make all sorts of memories!!