Disneyland -Tuesday

We were all so excited be at Disneyland!

The kids loved getting photo bombed by Donald.

After one more shot with Goofy they ran after Donald and were first to meet him and get his autograph.

It was very important to Zoe to get a picture with the castle in the background. It amazed me how much she didn't remember from 2 1/2 years ago.

Zoe hated Splash Mountain. We could not convince her to go on it again. She liked everything but the big drop. She was so scared she'd fall out so that's why I'm holding on to her.

 

This trip the kids got into pin trading. My nephew was there a couple weeks before us and he started so of course they thought it was cool and wanted to do it as well. At least this souvenir will grow with them and they can continue their trading on the next trip. Whenever that will be.

 

We enjoyed the Sound Sensational Parade.

I want to point out that we saw Donald in 7 different outfits. I've never seen him in so many before. Chase loved it! He was the one keeping track.

An advantage of  staying at the Grand was they had a balcony with speakers for the World of Color. It was nice not dealing with the crowds.

 

Mickey's Halloween Party

We arrived at 3 pm for check in at our hotel.

Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa

I took this picture off their website.

 

As Derek was getting the car parked the kids and I were checking in. I mentioned the girls had birthdays this month and they gave them Happy Birthday buttons to wear and 8x10 portraits signed by Belle and Cinderella. They didn't want to leave out Chase so he got a button and a signed portrait of Goofy. That was awesome. My smile was spread from ear to ear checking in. Our room wasn't ready yet so we walked through a few stores in Downtown Disney.

 

Waiting for our luggage to arrive in our room.

The kids ready for Mickey's Halloween party!

 

After speaking with several people Derek and I came to the conclusion that we wanted to do Mickey's Halloween party. We would be spending Tuesday- Thursday at the parks. We decided Monday night would be best. Otherwise Monday night we would just be hanging out at the hotel or Downtown Disney.

We saw Minnie right when we got there. The kids got autograph books from my sister before going.

After getting Minnie's autograph we went on Matterhorn. Zoe was freaked out a bit at the start but by the end she kinda liked it, but by the next morning it was her favorite ride.

 

This was the first time for us going during Halloween time. It was fun to see all the decorations.

 

Trick or Treating began right at 6. It was awkward as an adult to trick or treat but then I got over it. Between the 5 of use we ended up with an insane amount of candy which will be reused for Halloween.

 

We hopped on Storybook Land and this was Maeley's reaction. Hahaha!

I like this picture Derek got of Thunder Mountain with the sun setting.

 

The parade was great.

But the fireworks were amazing!

 

The kids did great with staying up way past their bedtime and didn't complain one bit. We were all exhausted by the time we got into bed.

 

 

 

Fall break

For fall break we went on vacation. It was wonderful and to be honest I was sad when it was over. Back in April we started talking about possibly going to Disneyland for fall break but didn't actually book the trip until July. Disney vacations aren't cheap which is why we hesitated on booking the trip initially. I have no regrets. It was fabulous and I'm so happy we went.

There will a mix of iPhone pics and pics from our nice Nikon.

Excited to be on our way to California!

We picked up Boston and he drove to and from California with us. He spent the week with his dad.

 

Our first stop was the American Girl store in LA.

 

It was a great location to meet up with my brother and we were planning on going there on this trip anyway. The girls have birthdays in October so they picked out some birthday presents.  I think they enjoyed bringing their dolls to the store.

 

After that we checked into our hotel. We stayed at a different hotel the first night because we added that day onto our trip less then 2 weeks before. I'm so glad we did that. We are all anxious for the following day though!

 

Always fun for the kids when there is a bunk bed. Zoe was initially sad because Maeley and Chase quickly claimed the bunk bed. Later she realized she got the better end of the deal by having a queen bed all to herself.  

Testing out the Mickey ears!

Derek started it with me and the kids thought it was funny so everyone go there picture taken like this! It's good to be silly.

 

The next morning we took our time getting ready and relaxed a bit. Went to a nearby outlet mall and did some shopping, had lunch, went to Costco, got gas and then headed to our next hotel. That's when the real excitement began!