Sunday, June 29, 2014

Happiest Place on Earth

When you are in the middle of moving and things get crazy, there is only one thing to do - drop everything and go to Disneyland!
Waiting at the gate - the early birds get the worms
 In all reality we have been trying to plan a trip to Disneyland with Tim and Shar and Pika and Pato for about a year, but it just hadn't worked out.  So with the deadline of moving, we thought it would make a nice finale event AND get our kids minds off the move.
My most vivid memory of my childhood trip to Disneyland is of my dad with a determined grin on his face, spinning the teacup as fast as possible.  He loves that ride.  After hitting the Matterhorn, there was no one on the Teacups, so dad and Tim hopped on for a nostalgic spin.  The rest of us were wiser (and still remember my sister vomiting after riding with my dad).


 Berry was a big fan of Disneyland.  She was willing (and barely tall enough) to try everything and even braved Splash Mountain with the grown-ups.  She got pretty wet in the back with Uncle Paul and is still talking about "the boat that goes off the waterfall."
Splash Mountain
 
   My Aunt Pika is a master Disney vacation planner (she could do it professionally) and with her careful planning we never waited in line longer than 10 minutes. She also planned in food breaks and even time for an afternoon nap and swim each day.  With her planning and the help of Grandpa, Grandma, Pika and Paul there were plenty of adults which made for a very unstressed trip.

Goofy girls playing in Toon Town
Pika, Paul, Lou and Curly in Flick's Flyers
 Day one was spent at Disneyland and day two we hit California Adventure.  Carsland was the main attraction there and we couldn't believe how real it felt.  I am so impressed with Disney's creativity and attention to detail.
Headed to Radiator Springs


Berry was Uncle Paul's buddy for most of the trip
 

Most of the gang in Radiator Springs
The two days in the parks flew by too quickly!  It was a wonderful and perfectly timed vacation that took our minds off of the stresses at home and allowed us to just enjoy being with each other.
Waiting for World of Color
We said our goodbyes to everyone (including Spud who flew home with Grandpa and Grandma) and headed to the beach for a morning in the surf before heading home to pack like crazy.
Brave girls in the cold surf!

Staying safe and warm in the sand

 The beach was empty (probably because it was cloudy and a little cool) so we had lots of space to play.


I love my girls!


2 comments:

elyse said...

Super super cute post! So glad that you guys were able to have that special, stress free break amongst all the craziness of moving.

Pika said...

Thanks so much for the nice summary of the trip, the great pics and your kind words :) We need to exchange pics sometime (still need to download mine but was looking through them the other day.)