Mothers day at Disneyland!

Every year the kids school has maple bars with mom for mothers day. The kids always make something and we have maple bars.

 It was Hat day at school for Landon so he wore his osu hat.

Josie was very upset because her teacher decided to not make anything for the parents. When she got home from school she had wrote a note to me and made me a butterfly.

Saturday before Mothers Day we headed up to the lake to help my parents. We had not seen them since our trip to Mexico last November. They needed help loading some of their stuff in storage into their rental truck to take back to their house they bought in Arizona.

My parents headed back for Arizona with all their stuff from storage on Sunday. They will be back in a week to stay at the lake for the summer.
Mothers day morning we surprised the kids with a trip to Disneyland. We had been keeping it a secret for a few months. Wednesday we had to sit the kids down to tell them that their cat had died, so they had had a rough week. We packed everything the night before and woke them up at 5am to tell them we were going to disneyland. If I ever surprise the kids again, I will speak louder and more clear:) The kids were so groggy I don't think they fully understood what was happening.

I took a video of them after they were awake.

We had a layover in Portland where we had some coffee and a snack.

 Josie is not a fan of flying. Here ears were hurting her, but she had puppy with her the whole time.

 Landon loves to fly. He had a lot of questions.

We flew in around 3 in the afternoon. Our hotel was called the Park Vue inn. It was a 'budget' hotel, but I booked it because it was directly across the street from Disneyland and had a continental breakfast. The walls were thin, but I would totally stay there again. We could even see the Disney fireworks show from our bed in the hotel. Oh, and there was a Cold stone attached to it with a 10% discount if you were staying at our hotel. There were even bunk beds.

We walked to Downtown Disney when we got there to look around and have dinner.

 They have a Lego store and on the outside of the building and all throughout they have huge Lego statues.

 All Lego's! very impressive.

 I told the kids that going to Disneyland was a treat in itself, so not to ask for a bunch of trinkets when we were there. They were both very good about it. Josie did like the classic minnie mouse ears but I wasn't going to pay 25 buck for them:)

 We went to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.

 The view from our hotel room, looking at the entrance to disney.

 and the fireworks from our hotel window.

 

We woke up bright and early on Monday and were some of the first people through the gates. We were in line for Disneyland at 7:45...Only to find out that Disneyland didn't open until 9am that day! So we waited until 8:30 and they let us in the gates. We thought we were special or something because it wasn't 9 yet. turns out they let you in the park, but then there are ropes keeping you away from all the rides until 9. So, we waited in line for another 1/2 hour to actually get to the rides.

 We never did get our picture taken in front of the iconic mickey flowers. You have to stand in a long line to have someone else take your picture, and we were tired of standing in lines:)

I remembered that the Indiana Jones ride was my favorite the last time I was there...which was over 10 years ago. I had forgotten how dark and scary it is to a 7 yr old. Landon was not impressed and freaked out on the ride screaming and crying. I felt terrible!

We decided to try a different ride that was outside and not dark.

 So, we headed for Thunder Mountain Railroad. A rollercoaster  that goes in and out of the dark. I wasn't sure how landon was going to take it, but it turns out it was his favorite ride at disneyland.

Splash Mountain was another favorite. We went on it a few times. I ended up getting drenched on our last ride by sitting in the very front. At least the weather was warm.

 My hair was covering Landon's face...but I'm pretty sure it was pure terror....Although after it was done he said 'that was awesome!'. And wanted to go again.

 This was the one that got us soaked:)

After getting drenched, we stopped for pictures with some of the characters.

We headed for the Autopia ride where the kids get to drive the cars. It was more fun than I had remembered.

While walking through Disneyland we ran into my friend Jen's Family! Jen and her husband and kids were not there, but her mom, dad, brother and family were. I knew they were going to be there but never thought we would run into them!

Going to Disneyland with kids gave me the opportunity to do things I either don't remember doing or never did. This was Tarzan's tree house.

 We thought we would go to the Haunted mansion, once again...I don't remember it being scary...We told landon about it and he instantly became worried.  Asking questions and wanting to make sure it was not going to be like the indiana Jones ride.

Well, It didn't go well. Half way through the mansion Landon was freaking out and crying. I pointed out some other little kids who were on the ride and noted that they were not crying. Landon said 'they are more brave than I am mommy'. 

We took a break for lunch, where Josie took a cat nap on some chairs:)

 We did the river boat cruise.

 I made my kids go on Its a Small world, because you haven't been to Disneyland until you have ridden on it's a small world...

At the end of day one we had walked almost 9 miles! I was super proud of the kids, no whining or meltdowns all day!

Day 2 I woke up not feeling great. I took some dayquil and an energy shot....It helped a little, but I trudged on.

We headed to California adventure. I had never been there so it was all new to me. I had heard the cars ride was really fun, so we headed there first. Cars Land was by far my favorite. It feels like you are really in radiator springs.

 The ride itself was super cool.

 You load into the cars and they take you on a ride. It starts peaceful and then goes through the dark for a while dodging railroad trains and Mack the semi truck.

Once you slow down, you either get a new paint job or new tires...then you race against another car to see who wins.

Landon's head was just the right height of the window frame of the car.

 We went through 'its a bug's life' land. It is for little kids, but we had fun walking through it looking at everything.

 the big roller coaster and the Ferris wheel where closed for renovation.

 At the end of day 2 we realized there was a glow light parade that started at 8:50pm...So we staked out a spot on the curb and waited. there was a mommy duck with her babies walking down the street.

 We broke weak and got ice cream!

 I was trying to keep Josie from falling asleep.

 It was one of the coolest parades I have seen. the kids loved it and woke up right away when it started.

After the parade ended around 9:45 we thought it would be fun to go ride the cars ride in the dark, But apparently the park closes at 9 and it was grad night. Grad night is where high school seniors get the whole park to themselves...we tried to blend in, but it turns out you can't pretend to be a high school senior when you are almost 40 and have 2 kids with you:) So, we called it a night.
Day 2 we walked a total of 10 miles!

Wednesday we headed back to Disneyland. I really liked the location of our hotel, It was so nice to just walk across the street and be at Disneyland.

 The kids even got along!

 Landon being 'Goofy'

Landon didn't want to go on the matterhorn, due to possible dark areas and Josie told him that the abominable snowman would jump out and scare you. So Luke went on it with Josie while I took Landon on the submarines. 

Luke and I took turns with Josie going on space mountain and the matterhorn, Landon had his favorite rides, like thunder mountain railroad, so we hotlapped that with a fast pass. We would ride it and then grab a fast pass...by the time we were off the ride, it was time to get back on the ride.

By wednesday around Lunch time, we went on the buzz lightyear ride. You shoot laser guns at targets and score points.

 ...well, Landon had been up super late the night before, and I think he was just run down. We got off the ride and he was crying. The reason? He said he sucked at the game and didn't score as many points as everyone else....Then he became completely irrational about life.

 I took him to get some lunch. He wanted mac and cheese so I found a place with food to his liking and even offered him some soda to maybe wake him up again....but he said, 'mom, I don't want soda, It's not healthy'... This was my lunch with landon while Luke and Josie went on space mountain.

Once he got some food in him it was time for our fast pass to thunder mountain railroad...He quickly perked up and was fine for the rest of the day. It's hard to be mad while your on your favorite roller coaster:) We got him a churro...because that always helps a meltdown...

 Luke and I have been doing the Keto diet for the past month, It's basically low carb, medium protein and high (good) fat. Disneyland had Turkey legs...which were delicious, but really gross when your whole family is eating off the same leg:)

 We took a ride on the railroad around the park while we ate our turkey leg:)

We stopped to say Hi to Mickey and called it a day!

 We slacked on our mileage...only 8 miles on wednesday.

 Thursday was our last day. We headed to California adventure. The park was super busy. There must have been some school thing going on or something because it was crazy how many people were there compared to earlier in the week.

 Landon was tired of waiting for the park to open and it was pretty hot...so he just laid down:)

 The crowd of people waiting to get to the cars ride...People were crowding and trying to get to the front.

We went in and went on the cars ride again...

 The toy story ride was fun too. You shoot targets wearing 3D glasses...

Soarin was one of my favorites. You sit in seats and they raise you up in the air while you look at a screen. It moves and makes you feel like you are flying. They even add smells of what you are looking at, like dirt from the desert and the smell of the ocean.

I didn't realize that you were not supposed to video it....oops.

 California Adventure had a huge play area with nets a zipline and a lot of places to climb. Luke and I were exhausted, so we sat on a bench and told the kids to stay together and let them play in the play area. You can't see the whole area from the benches....about 5 minutes later, Josie ran up to us and said 'Have you seen Landon?!'. She was in a total panic. There was only one way in and out of the area, so I wasn't too concerned, but it turns out that Landon got mad at Josie so he thought he would run away from her. Luke went one way and Josie went the other. I stayed at the entrance/exit. Luke found Landon and so I called Josie on her Gizmo watch but she couldn't hear me (it automatically answers if your kid doesn't answer it) All I could hear was Josie asking a lady if she had seen her brother, describing what he was wearing and where he might be. Proof she loves her brother. Landon got a talking too!

The kids loved this ride that took you down the rapids in a tube thing with seats...Not my favorite because you get soaked! We didn't realize that at the end of the ride there is a random geyser that goes off. Well we got hit by it and were completely drenched.

 The best part was after the ride, you could stand on the bridge and watch everyone else get hit by the geyser. I think we spent a good hour just watching people get soaked.

I told the kids I would go on it more, but not without a poncho...So we were the poncho family:)

 I didn't want to pay for the adult size ponchos...So I made luke wear a youth size:)

 We rode it 3 more times and then called it a day....We headed to the cheesecake factory for dinner and then went to an Angels baseball game. Josie remembered how to make a mouse out of her napkin from our trip to Mexico:)

 The game didn't start until 7. The kids had never been to a major league baseball game so they were excited.

 Beer is really expensive there!

 The kids had fun for about 1 inning:)...It got pretty cold, the game was not very exciting and we were all really tired from a long week.

 Dippin' dots saved the evening.

 Trying to entertain Landon...

 How Josie felt about the game:)

 We left after the 7th inning stretch and headed to bed. We woke up friday morning and flew home. It was a really fun vacation and I was really proud of how good the kids were. Saturday Josie had a lacrosse tournament all day, but we were wiped out so we skipped it. Turns out she had to have her pictures taken for dance on saturday anyway, so it was all too much to do right when we got home. Both kids had Lacrosse games today and were pretty wiped out...I think it will be an early bedtime for all of us tonight! I need a vacation from our vacation!