One of the greatest highlights of our California trip…Santa brought us Disneyland!! We got a lovely deal on this visit as Matt’s brother is a Disney employee (he is SO talented!). What a HUGE blessing (and no, I’m sorry you can’t borrow my brother-in-law)!
Our family, along with Matt’s brother and our three year old nephew, spent a wonderful day at Disneyland together. (SIL and niece weren’t feeling well and couldn’t join us that day.) :(
Right after we walked into the park, we got to meet the “real” Mickey. Hey…what happened to Malachi?
Ah, there he is…
We went on a perfect day when it wasn’t raining and the lines were short. It occurred to me when I was uploading pictures that I didn’t get very many shots of our older boys. They were off having a blast on the “big kid rides” with Matt while I took the younger two boys to some of the “less intense” rides. Picture the older boys screaming (in a manly way) through Space Mountain while the rest of us were hanging out with Peter Pan.
Don’t you love the face Elias gave me when I asked him to smile? He’ll be so proud of this picture when I display it at his wedding rehearsal someday.
Here we are enjoying some pizza, pasta and salad during lunchtime. Riding rides and hugging Goofy works up an appetite.
After Matt and the older boys got off the Indiana Jones ride, they insisted that the rest of us would love it and that we just HAD to all go! We weren’t sure if Malachi would be tall enough to go on the ride and well…he just squeaked by. We cracked up as he walked right under it and was JUST barely tall enough when he stood up straight. I had to get a picture…
I had many favorite parts of the day, but one of my favorites was watching my three year old nephew galloping through the park with excitement for the ENTIRE 12 hours we were there. I kept waiting for him to stop being so excited or to at least get tired. Nope. He kept on galloping and being happy. I think the only time he slowed down was when we went to the “Jedi Training Academy”. When Darth Vader came onto the stage, he (my nephew, not Darth Vader) grabbed onto my leg and hid…peeking out so he wouldn’t miss anything. Is he the cutest or what?
Our Disneyland trip was everything we were hoping it would be. We made great memories for our family and are so thankful we had the opportunity to experience this together.
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Lori @ Shine Like Stars says
I know why your lines weren’t long. Everyone was a Disney World in Florida, with us!! The lines were long and it was really crowded, but so much fun! I’m glad you all had a great time and thanks for the pictures. I’ve never been to Disneyland. Great trip with lots of great memories made, I’m sure. I took 2,000 pictures!
Laura says
We waited to go until Jan. 3, after many were back in school! So glad you go to experience Disney too!!!
blair says
that sounds like so much fun!! im glad you got to go. we are about to have our 3rd and final baby, so maybe in about 4 years we will get to go. lol!
Rachel says
Oh, how fun! Looks like a fantastic trip! :)
Kim says
Glad you could have some time for fun memories. It is so worth all the time and travel to spend time with family!
Donna says
Happy New Year to you and your family as well!
I’m afraid I ”don’t get out as much” these days! :-(
I am so thankful for your emails!!! What a great thing!
I can keep up with you and all the latest!
I just checked out your poptarts! Yummy!
You know what I use to cut them out uniformly?
You know those square, plastic containers that Florida Organic Crystals come in??? I cut the bottom off and use it sorta like a cookie cutter! ;-) How do you keep yours the same size?
Laura says
Yay…fun to hear from you!
I don’t get my poptarts very uniform in size, so thanks for the tip!
It Feels Like Chaos says
So cute that picture of your nephew peeking out at Darth Vader! Glad you had such a fun trip!
Yvonne says
Thank you for sharing these lovely pictures with us; reading your blog always makes my day :)
Carmen says
Looks like an amazing trip! I hope we make it there one of these days.
Dr. Laura @ WhoIsLaura.com says
Hey Laura! What a nice purse you have there in the last picture :) ha! Glad to see you are still enjoying it!
Dr. Laura
Janet Kiessling says
Awesome pictures & wonderful memories!!! Wonderful place to make them, too. We live 5 hours away from Mickey’s house…so we try & visit as often as possible!!! :)
Holly in Virginia says
Today I am thankful for “Motivated Moms” chore charts. I’ve been doing them for almost a week now and my husband is so happy! He likes that the house is getting tidied up, and I like being able to look at that list and know that I accomplished something besides chasing the toddler today.
Lori says
I am thankful for my husband. I was sick last week and I could not believe how thoughtful and sweet he was. Not that he normally isn’t, but he actually took our 1 year old out to get desiel and to get a new fish for the aquarium when he got home from work one day just so I could take a nap. And he helped out so much and didn’t complain that the food wasn’t all that great and he watched our son when I HAD to go grocery shopping so we didn’t starve. Grocery shopping really stinks when your whole body hurts and your head feels like its going to explode AND you have to take a 1 year old in the freezing cold. Anyways… I was just thinking how wonderful my husband is and wanted to tell someone :)
Kristi says
What fun memories you made together ;).
I am thankful for Real Food – it helped heal our bodies :)
Kristi says
I feel so silly, I added the wrong link – so sorry – now it is all better :) – I am thankful for real food . . . the other link led to “Who is Teaching our Children?” – sorry for the confusion :) – I’ll do better next time :)
AmyR says
I am grateful this minute for that hysterical, adorable picture of your nephew hiding behind your leg.
Lauren@BaseballsandBows says
I couldn’t help but think of this when I read your post: Do you know Walt Disney’s middle name? Elias! So glad you had a wonderful trip. I am thankful for all the work you do on this blog. It has made a difference at our house!
Laura says
Well, that is SO cool. I didn’t know that. My Elias will be so excited to hear!