So after waiting three months and after much planning and preparing and packing, we pulled out of our driveway on the morning on February 19th to make the long, 18-hour drive to Anaheim. We then spent four of the next nine days driving to and from Southern California. I am happy to say that the long drive there and back was really pleasant. It was really cool to show our children most of the West Coast of our country and to see all of the beautiful and changing scenery along the way. In addition, the kids really did a great job in the car and spent a lot of the time ready or watching movies and rarely fought or complained. After arriving in Anaheim Sunday evening, February 20th, we then spent the next five days in Southern California. One day was a rest day with some low key activities, another day was a beach day in Laguna Beach, and the remaining three days were spent in the Disneyland parks. With the exception of getting caught in one rain storm and Emmett having several meltdowns due to missing his nap during our first day at Disneyland, our five days on vacation went really well. Everyone stayed healthy and happy and got along for the most part. The kids powered through some really long days at Disneyland where we walked miles and miles and stayed out late during some cold evenings. So many different things went smoothly and we had lots of fun and made many wonderful memories. I am so grateful that Ron agreed to drive us to California and that we managed to make this trip work when all of our children are still ages when they can love and appreciate being at Disneyland. It truly was a magical week spend in the Magic Kingdom and I can't wait to return again one day!
After stopping to get our picture taken in front of my favorite, DCA photo spot, we then divided up for the next 3 hours as Ella and I had reservations at the princess brunch in the Grand Californian Hotel. Ron took the kids on a few rides and then ate lunch before getting Emmett to fall asleep in his stroller and take an afternoon nap! This was an absolute miracle to me as we have never gotten a child this old to take a nap in a stroller, but it turned out to be such a blessing as he was totally happy and cooperative the rest of the day. It made such a difference for Emmett and all of us!
a
February 19th and 20th:
The four kids sitting in their designated seats where they spent most or all of the four days driving in our Suburban to and from Anaheim. We stopped both directions in Redding, CA to stay at a hotel as it is exactly 9 hours between our home and Anaheim. It was the perfect way to break up the driving days.
We enjoyed stunning views of Mt. Shasta on Saturday evening after crossing over the state line into California.
February 21:
I intentionally scheduled our first day in Anaheim as our one "rest day" as I knew that we would need it after two long days in the car. Although we were plagued with cooler temps all week long (with highs in the high 50s or low 60s), the children still enjoyed playing in the heated pool and hot tub on Monday morning. Here are Ella, Emmett, and Logan playing in the hot tub.
The Anaheim Hotel where we stayed has one of the largest pools in this town and the children loved playing in it during our second stay here. Here is Ella showing off her diving skills.
Emmett running from the pool back to the warmer waters of the hot tub.
Logan smiling up at me from the hot tub.
Ella showing off her flexibility from inside the pool.
After lunch, the three older kids and I left Ron behind in the hotel room for three hours so that Emmett could take a well needed afternoon nap. I drove the kids to Downtown Disney where we spent the next few hours wandering around.
Lia, Logan, and Ella posing in front of the awesome, flower fountain next to the massive Disney store.
Mama and her "middles."
We probably spent almost an hour wandering around the Disney store and even bought a few items. Here are Ella and Logan posing with me in front of the large Mickey ears.
We also enjoyed looking through the new Star Wars store that is now located inside the building that used to be the Rainforest Cafe. Logan bought one of the adorable porgs that sits on your shoulder thanks to a magnet that goes underneath the shirt. He enjoyed walking around Downtown Disney with this little guy perched on his shoulder.
After coming back to the hotel, we picked up Ron and Emmett before heading back out to drive to Buena Park for our dinner event that evening. After booking our trip last November, I learned that there is a live-action, pirate dinner show held nightly in a neighboring town to Anaheim. I have always wanted to take Logan to one of these since he has loved pirates so much since he was about four years old, but never thought we would be in a place where we could go to one. So, I immediately decided to schedule a night to go to dinner here after I learned about it and decided to give it to Logan for one of his birthday gifts. Here is the gang heading into the Pirates Dinner Adventure that started at 4 p.m.
A great family photo we were able to get before heading into the massive room where we sat and ate dinner while watching a pirate show take place on a large sitting in a huge tank of water.
Emmett did so great sitting next to me and thoroughly enjoyed eating his dinner while watching this very entertaining show.
The pirates all line up on a mast taking their bow at the end of the show.
The boys posing for me after the show was over.
The girls doing the same. Since we were able to eat dinner so early, this allowed us to get home by 7 p.m. and to get everyone to bed at a decent hour for a very early wake up the next morning for Disneyland!
February 22nd:
Lia's 14th Birthday!
Our entire family left our hotel at 7:15 in the morning to get to the gates of Disneyland by 7:30. After entering the park at opening at 8 o'clock, I requested that we stop to get the traditional family photo taken in front of the flower, Mickey head with our matching Mickey/Minnie pirate shirts that I had my friend, Heather, make for us a few weeks ago. I absolutely loved how they turned out and will treasure these pictures forever!
After picking up Lia's birthday button and a few other buttons for our family, we then enjoyed walking down Main Street where we stopped to get our second family picture that I wanted to have taken in front of the castle.
Since we are now required to buy our Genie Plus fast passes for the first time ever, we can get all of the Disney photographer photos for free. So for the first time ever, we got a few of the Magic Shots where a fun surprise is added to the picture after it is taken. After learning that today was Lia's actual birthday, the photographer had her pose with her hand up in the air to pretend like she was holding a large bouquet of balloons that was added afterwards. I just love this picture!
After getting our family pictures taken, we then headed into Tomorrowland to hit a few rides. First stop, Astro Orbitor which Emmet absolutely loved. It was so fun to watch him experience all of these rides for the first time and love almost all of them!
Next Stop: Star Tours which never disappoints.
We then walked over to Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and Ella shared a car with me. She did great on her end score and I did awful (as always).
Although we were fully prepared to take advantage of the rider switch program, we decided to just go for it and bring Emmett on as many of the bigger rides as possible since he had just hit 40 inches in height which is the minimum requirement for a slew of rides. As a result, Ron and I never ended up doing rider switch as conveniently one of us doesn't like going on the few rides that Emmett isn't tall enough to go on (Matterhorn and Indiana Jones for Ron and Incredicoaster and Guardians of the Galaxy for me). The scariest ride we made Emmett go on was Space Mountain. It was so fun to have all six of us go on so many rides together. Here is the picture of Logan and me together on the Space Mountain ride. As always, he never made a peep through the entire ride which is how he handles scary rides which always cracks me up.
Although Emmett is too little to be seen above his seat and Ella was hidden behind the man in front of her, here is the Space Mountain photo of Ron and Lia. Although Emmett was so brave on this ride, he calmly told us that he did not like it once we got off it. As a result, we didn't make him go on it again with Ron and the three older kids on Friday.
After our morning in Tomorrowland, we headed over to my favorite area of New Orleans Square to go on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and the Haunted Mansion. We were lucky enough to be there when both Redd, the new girl pirate, and Jack Sparrow where out to take pictures. Since we were all wearing our pirate-themed Minnie shirts, I insisted that the girls and I get a picture with Red.
I was able to easily call Jack Sparrow down from the top of the staircase by showing him my shirt and grabbing Logan and doing the same. He was most impressed with the line-up of little pirates that I had at my side. Here is the group photo I manage to get of this favorite Disney character of Logan's with his siblings at his side.
A cute family photo that Ron took of us in New Orleans square.
The gang walking into Pirates of the Caribbean with the portrait of Jack Sparrow behind them. It was so fun to go on this ride again with Logan at my side.
After our time in New Orleans Square, we headed over to Frontierland to go on Thunder Mountain. It was so fun to go on this with our entire family. Ella and Emmett absolutely loved it as much as the rest of us!
Emmett and I at the end of our ride.
Although the 'princess house' (as I have called it for years) is still shut down due to Covid, three princesses will now come out and stand in the area where the line used to be. So both Lia and Emmett agreed to come with Ella and me to meet Tiana...
and Snow White...
and the Evil Queen.
We then walked back over to Adventureland to go on the Jungle Cruise ride which is always a family favorite.
Although I had gotten up at 3 a.m. exactly 60 days in advance (which unfortunately happened to fall on Christmas Eve) to get dinner reservations for the Blue Bayou restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, I was only able to secure a table at 2:10. Since this time falls in between lunch and dinner, I wasn't thrilled about it, but knew how lucky it was to get a reservation at all since they were all taken by 3:03 in the morning on Christmas Eve. As a result, I stopped by and asked earlier in the day if we could be seated earlier and they said it was worth a try. So, we came back to the restaurant at 1 p.m. (when everyone was already hungry) and were so grateful to learn that a table for six was available for us right then. So, we took it and spent the next hour celebrating Lia's birthday from inside the coolest restaurant in all of Disneyland.
Lia enjoying her birthday lunch.
The kids posing for me inside the alleyway where the entrance to the Blue Bayou is located. This is absolutely my favorite place in all of Disneyland.
Since Emmett is a huge train fan right now, I knew that we needed to make it a priority to go on ride on the Disneyland Railroad. We were able to catch it right at New Orleans Square. Ron realized that he had actually packed the wrong cord for our cell phone charger while we were eating lunch at the Blue Bayou. As a result, he walked all the way back to our hotel to get it after finishing up lunch. Amazingly enough, he was able to catch the exact same train that we were riding on at the Main Street station at the entrance of the park. It was such perfect timing!
After getting off the train back at New Orleans Station, we made our way over to the new Star Wars land that opened up a few months after our last visit to Disneyland in 2018. We were all blown away by how amazing this new section of the park was. The incredible artistry and attention to detail that went into designing and building this new land is like no other. However, I must record what happened to us right as we first walked Star Wards land. After crossing through a tunnel from Frontierland, we stopped inside the entrance to get our bearings since we had never been there before. After we stopped, I looked over and noticed that Ray was standing on top of a structure a few hundred feet to our left talking to people and taking pictures. Since we have never met this character before and the kids and I have been huge fans since her first movie came out years ago, I quickly grabbed Ella's hand and marched over there to see if I could get a picture of Ray with her. In my mind, Ron was gathering up the three other children and following behind us. After talking to Ray for a few minutes and taking some pictures, Lia noticed that Emmett was missing. We quickly realized that Ron had assumed that Emmett had just followed them over there when, in reality, Ron had just left him behind. Within a matter of seconds we realized that Emmett was completely missing and lost in Disneyland. It was one of the most horrifying and scary moments of my parenting career. After informing a Disney employee about our missing child, Ron and I left the three older kids to stand with the stroller in the exact spot where we noticed Emmett was gone while the two of us ran all over trying to find Emmett. There were so many different alley ways and even the entrance back into Frontierland that Emmett could have wandered down that it made it really difficult to know where to look for him. Although it was probably about five minutes, it felt like an eternity as Ron and I ran all over the place constantly checking back in with each other. I was most concerned that Emmett had walked back into Frontierland which would have opened up a huge portion of the park where he could be lost. The entire time I was looking for him, I kept on telling myself that Disney prides themselves in never losing children. I think this was the only thing that kept me from totally panicking and losing it. After several minutes, I looked off in the distance and saw Ron holding Emmett. This is an image that will be burned in my memory forever. I quickly yelled over to Lia to tell her that Emmett had been found before running over to them. When I was a few feet away, I just burst into tears. I was so overcome with emotions. I saw the Disney employee walk past me and the family who had found him heading down to the tunnel leading to Frontierland. I quickly waived to them and saw a kind mother smile back at me. Apparently, this family had found Emmett walking alone and had stayed with him until the Disney employee found them and reunited him with Ron. Ron said that the mother was holding Emmett's when he found Emmett with their family. What a blessing it is to know that there are kind and honest mothers in the world who can help to take care of your child until they are safely back in your arms. Sigh. What a happy ending to a very scary and stressful experience in Disneyland.
After finding Emmett, we wandered over to the Millennium Falcon to go on the Smuggler's Run ride. Both Chewbacca and R2-D2 were posing in front of the incredible space ship that just looked like the real thing. After taking a few pictures, we headed inside the ride. Here are the kids waiting in line to go inside our own private cockpit.
Logan and Emmett were our pilots and we had the greatest time flying around in this lifelike machine. It was so amazing! However, when we finished the ride and walked outside, Emmett had his first meltdown. Ron and I had just hoped that he would be able to handle missing his nap all three days in the park without losing it. The only other time we took a napping, 3-year old to Disneyland was with Logan back in 2015 and he was able to just power through our days in the parks. However, this turned out to not be the case with Emmett. When we walked off the ride, he immediately said that he wanted to "do it again!" When we told him that we were going to go on a different ride, he lost it. And this continued for the rest of the afternoon and evening until Ron threw in the towel and took the boys back to the hotel around 7 p.m. after being in the park 12 hours. Emmett's fuse was just so short due to missing his nap that he just couldn't handle the constant transition from one fun ride to another fun ride. As difficult as this made the rest of our afternoon and evening, I am proud to say that we all managed to power through it and deal with a constantly happy and unhappy Emmett for the next few hours.
After leaving the ride, we stopped to have a Disney photographer take a few fun photos of our family in front of the Millennium Falcon. After leaving Star Wars land, we stopped for a well needed snack break in Fantasyland before getting in line around 5 p.m. for It's a Small World. Although it had only been in the high 50s this day, we had managed to stay comfortable until it started raining while we were in line. Since rain had been on the forecast for that day, I had packed light rain jackets for everyone, but they were back in the stroller and we were stuck in the line. If it had just started raining before we got in line, we could have either put on our jackets or waited out the short rain storm in a gift shop. But as luck would have it, neither one was an option and so we all got a little wet while waiting the 5 to 10 minutes in line. By the time we finished the ride and came back outside, the rain had luckily stopped, but the temperature had dropped several degrees and everyone was pretty wet, cold, and miserable. However, I managed to rally the troops and get the boys to stay in the park until 7 p.m. and the girls to stay in the park with me until 8 p.m. We spent the rest of the evening in the little area behind the castle and managed to have a pretty good time which I was very grateful for.
After checking out the Mickey ears in the Mad Hatter shop, we wandered over to the princess shop that is now located inside the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique that is still closed due to Covid. Ella had a good time looking around the store and chose a sparkly princess shirt to buy. She even got to go try it on in one of the darling dressing rooms that was strictly used by girls visiting the boutique in the pre Covid days. Here she is posing for me inside the dressing room with her new shirt on.
After getting warm in the shops, we managed to go on the Peter Pan ride...
Snow White's ride...
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride...
and, lastly, the carrousel. It was the perfect way to finish up the evening with the boys going round and round with the castle and the park all lit up at night.
Daddy and Emmy.
I even got Ron to take one last family picture of the kids and me in front of the beautiful carrousel before sending the boys on their way back to the hotel. Please notice that Emmett is totally crying in this picture. The poor boy. Between the cold and missing his nap, this was the roughest evening he had all week long.
After the boys left the park at 7 o'clock, the girls and I then spent the most wonderful hour in Disneyland. Instead of moving at the fast and furious pace that I normally do in the park when we have so much to do in so little time, I was able to just slow down and relax and enjoying being with my girls. We went on one last ride of the day as we had still had our Genie plus pass for the Matterhorn ride that I had booked earlier in the evening. After thoroughly scaring Ella and promising her that I would never take her on that ride again, we then wandered down Main Street on our way out of the park stopping and visiting multiple shops along the way. Since it was still Lia's birthday, we realized that we should finish off the evening with a treat and so we stopped at the Candy Palace and each chose a delicious dessert to eat. We then sat down and ate our cupcakes and cookies and wished her "Happy Birthday" one more time before heading back to the hotel. Although I later learned that Emmett cried in his stroller the entire 20 minute walk back to the hotel and nearly pushed Ron over the edge, I am grateful for this special final hour I was able to share with my girls on Tuesday evening. We made it back to the hotel around 8:30 that night to eat a late dinner (which was actually our lunch that we packed and brought into the park to eat for dinner, but never actually ate because we were all so cold) and get warmed up before calling it a day and heading to bed.
February 23rd:
We enjoyed a slower start to Wednesday morning which was needed after our long day at Disneyland the previous day. After eating breakfast and packing up, we left about 10 a.m. to make the scenic drive to Laguna Beach. Since this is my absolute favorite beach town, I usually make it a point to come here one time during every trip to Southern California. We first stopped at the local taco shack that has ben in South Laguna forever to pick up our lunch. After driving the few minutes to 1,000 Steps Beach and finding the only parking way up high on the steep hill where we normally park, Ron and I decided to make things easier for us since my knee was bothering me and we had our lunches to carry down to the beach in addition to all of our beach gear. As a result, we decided to turn around and drive back 5 minutes to the Aliso Beach Park that we have driven by many times and never stopped at. This turned out to be the perfect idea as we were able to eat lunch at a picnic table (which is much easier for little kids) and allow the children the opportunity to play on the awesome playground that is right on the beach. The kids had so much fun and I loved just being so close to the Pacific Ocean while watching my children on a playground!
Ella getting ready to slide down the pole.
Emmy swinging away.
Lia trying out another apparatus.
Emmett at the front of the ship!
Ella being pushed really high by Ron on the swings.
All four kids lined up in a row after finishing with the playground and heading out to the beach to play.
Although it was a beautiful, sunny day, it was only in the mid 50s while we were at the beach. This didn't slow Logan, Ella, and Emmett down from playing in the water! Here is Ella running towards the water.
Logan and Ella trying to run away from the surf.
Logan eyeing the incoming wave.
I just love this picture. Children at play in the ocean!
Lia finally ventured down and joined the other three kids.
Emmett looking out at the water.
The Hartland kiddos and the beautiful, Pacific Ocean.
I was so cold that I stayed bundled up the entire we were on the beach. Here is a picture of the kids and me before packing up around 1 p.m. We then intentionally took the kids on a scenic ride home to give Emmett the chance to take a nap in the car. Ron drove South on the PCH through Dana Point and San Clemente before turning around heading back up North through Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Sunset Beach to Seal Beach. Emmett slept for almost an hour during this beautiful drive.
We then stopped in Seal Beach to take the kids to our all-time, favorite bakery, Sweet Jill's. We let each of the kids choose one treat to eat.
The kids and I enjoying our goodies on the bench outside Sweet Jill's. It was the perfect way to end our outing that day. We then made it back to our hotel around 5 p.m. While Ron went to pick up dinner, I took the four kids to our hotel pool to play until dinner time. After heading back into our hotel around 7 p.m., we managed to get everyone in bed by 9 p.m. so that we could have a good night's sleep before the next two days back in the parks!
February 24th:
After getting up at 6 a.m. again and heading out the door at 7:15, we arrived at Disney's California Adventure around 7:30. Once again, we were let into the park early and then waited at the rope to drop at opening at 8 a.m. before rushing to get in line for the Radiator Springs Racers ride. Since this is one of the three rides now not included in the Genie Plus fast pass system, Ron and I decided that we would not pay extra to get a pass to go to the front of line. As a result, we waited in line for 55 minutes to go on this favorite ride of ours at almost 9 o'clock. All six of us had such a great time going on this ride together and were so grateful that we only had to wait 55 minutes as the ride line was almost two hours long when we finished at 9:05. Here are Ron and the kids waiting in line.
Ella, Lia, and Logan waiting inside one of the many structures the line winds you through on the way to the front.
Since the cars hold six people, we were able to have a car all to ourselves which was so fun. Here is the picture that I managed to take of the Disney photo that was displayed on one of the screens as we exited the ride.
The kids and I posing with the statue of Stanley after finishing the Cars ride.
The kids posing with the tractor statue on our way out of Cars Land. We then went to go on Soarin' Over the World, my other favorite ride in DCA.
After going on Soarin', we went on The Little Mermaid ride which has been a family favorite of ours since Lia was a little girl.
Since both Logan and Lia received a special meal in a fancy restaurant for this trip as birthday gifts, I decided that I should do the same for Ella. Although character dining had not opened back up at Disneyland back in November when I booked this trip, it was up and running in January when I remembered to check again. So, I quickly made a reservation for Ella and me for 11 a.m. for the one day that we were scheduled to go to DCA. It was so much fun to go and have this experience with Ella. We stopped in a bathroom on our way to the hotel so that she could change into her Elsa dress that we had packed. She looked so cute as we walked into the Napa Rose, the very fancy restaurant inside the Grand Californian. We then spent the next 2.5 hours eating the most delicious, 3-course meal while meeting a total of nine princesses. Although Ella was not able to get their autographs, we still were able to chat with them one at a time and take pictures with them.
Here is Ella playing tic-tac-toe with me on a Rapunzel-themed game board while waiting to be seated at our table inside the Napa Rose restaurant.
Ella peering through the amazing, 3-tiered tray of appetizers that was brought to our table first.
We then were allowed to get up from our table at any time throughout our meal to meet the various princesses that took turns standing outside on the beautiful veranda that is adjacent to the restaurant. Here is Ella with Tiana and...
Aurora
Rapunzel
Mulan
Cinderella
Jasmine
Belle
Pocahontas
and, last but definitely not least, Ariel!
It was so awesome to be able to meet all of these princesses so quickly and in one location. It was worth every penny of this fancy, pricey meal!
Ella and I enjoying the incredibly delicious main course of the meal!
Ella posing with the amazing, 2-tier dessert platter of princess-themed delicacies.
Ella holding up the Ariel-themed, seashell macaroons complete with a candy-shaped pearl inside.
After enjoying our amazing princess brunch together, Ella and I joined back up with Ron and the kids who were taking a break on Pixar Pier. While Emmett was still napping, we headed over to the Silly Symphony Swings for the three older kids to go for a ride.
Ella and I then dashed back to Buena Vista Street to meet Elsa and Anna (in their Frozen 2 dresses) who were posing for pictures there. Here is Ella with Anna...
and with Elsa.
We then joined back up with the group to find that Emmett had woken up from his nap. All six of us then went on the Jumpin' Jellyfish ride. Here is Lia in line with Logan on her back...
and then Ella, too. I just love this picture.
The girls ready to go on the jellyfish ride.
We then walked over to the next ride and went for a spin on the Golden Zephyr. Here is adorable Emmy ready to go with daddy at his side.
It was then time on our Genie Plus pass for Ron and the two older kids to head over to the Incredicoaster. Ron and Lia loved it and Logan endured it!
We then met up again at Jessie's Critter Carousel for all six of us to go for a spin. Here are Ron, Emmett, and Lia waiting for it to start.
Ella giving me a cute smile from atop her bunny.
We then headed back over to Car's Land to go on both Mater's Junkyard Jamboree...
and Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters.
Papa and Logan in their adorable, red car.
We then got our family photo taken on Route 66 of Cars Land and I just love how it turned out with the sun setting on the red rock behind us.
We then passed Mickey and Minnie on our way to Smokejumpers Grill for a hamburger dinner. Here is the darling picture we got with all four children. After a well needed pit stop for dinner, we divided and conquered for the rest of the evening. Ron took Emmett and the girls and did The Little Mermaid Ride while Logan and I went on Goofy's Sky School which ended up being way more scary than I had predicted! After meeting up with Ron again, Logan and I took Emmett with us to wander through the new Avenger's campus while Ron took the girls to go on the Guardians of the Galax Ride. Ella was terrified through the entire ride, but got total bonus points for going on it when Logan would not.
Here is the picture I took of the Mickey wheel and the roller coaster as I walked by it for the last time that evening. It always looks so pretty all lit up in the evening. After the boys and I stopped at the new Spiderman store in the Avengers Campus, we decided that we were done for the evening since there still is not any nighttime show at CDA. We headed back to the hotel room after a 12 hour day at 7:15.
Ron and the girls came home about 30 minutes later after they finished going on the Guardians of the Galaxy ride. Please notice how Ella is clinging to Ron's arm for dear life in this Disney photo. Needless to say, she was happy to be off that ride and back in the the hotel room a little before 8 p.m.
February 25th:
Once again, we were up at 6 a.m. and out the door by 7:15 to spend our last day in Anaheim at Disneyland. Just like the day before, we decided to rope drop the new Star Wars ride that is not included in the Genie Plus fast pass system. After rushing with a massive horde of people to this ride after rope drop at 8 o'clock, we only had to wait in line for 40 minutes before getting to the front. Here are the four kids waiting in the line once it moved from an outside line to an inside one.
Just a funny memory that I want to record about waiting in this line so that I will never forget it. Due to Logan deciding to put Crystal Light in his water bottle in the hotel that morning, Emmett asked for the same thing. As a result, he drank a bunch of water in the stroller ride from the hotel to Disneyland. Although he normally can wait until lunch time before needing to go pee a second time in the day, he declared in line for this ride that he need to go to the bathroom. This was an obvious problem as we were way too far into the line to turn around and go back outside to find a restroom. As a result, Ron just told him to wait until after the ride and then promptly forgot about it. However, my mom brain knew that this was not going to work just by watching Emmett's behavior in line for a few minutes. After talking to Ron a few times about the possibility of Emmett going pee in the plants that lined the ride queue while we were still waiting outside and being dismissed by him each time, I realized that this problem was totally up to me to solve. As we rounded the very last corner before entering a building where the rest of the line for the ride would be indoors, I quickly grabbed Emmett and lifted him on the top of a rock wall that was about as tall as my chest. I then dropped his pants and covered his bare backside with my body while holding him by the waist and told him several times to just go pee. After a few seconds of encouragement, Emmett was able to get his body to cooperate and he then peed for a very long time which just confirmed my motherly suspicions of how badly he needed to go to the bathroom. While this was going on, about four to five different groups of people moved past us in the line and every single one of them saw what was going on. As embarrassed as I was, I knew that I just had to ignore what everyone was probably thinking and to just take care of this problem so that Emmett did not have an accident in his pants once we moved inside the building. When Emmett was finishing peeing, I quickly pulled up his pants and placed him back down the ground. As I sheepishly walked past about 15 people to get back to Ron and the kids, I was blown away by the amount of accolades and compliments I got from moms in three different groups of people. Apparently, almost everyone who passed me while I was helping Emmett go pee understood my dilemma and were very impressed with my guts to just take charge and solve the problem! Needless to say, it was touching to have so many moms on my side, especially when my husband would barely look at me when I rejoined my family.
After going on the amazing Star War's Rise of the Resistance ride, the six of us then wandered around the Star Wars land since we really didn't do much looking when we came on Tuesday to ride the Millennium Falcon. We enjoyed wandering through the marketplace and just marveled at all the attention to detail that was put into building this new area at Disneyland.
The kids and I posing in front of another area in Galaxy's Edge.
Since we were already there, we decided to go right on the Millennium Falcon ride next since we had loved going on it so much on Tuesday. Here are all four kids posing around the infamous chess board of the Millennium Falcon while waiting to be sent to our cockpit.
This time Lia and Ella were at the helm of our ship and it was just as fun as it was with the boys in charge!
We then walked back to Frontierland and went on our favorite Thunder Mountain that everyone in the family loves!
Emmy and me getting ready to go!
We then headed over to Tomorrowland so that the kids could have the chance to take the cars of Autopia for a spin. As we predicted, Emmett LOVED this and Ron had the good fortune of riding with him and being knocked all over the place!
I got to ride with cute Ella who actually did a really good job driving us around the course.
Since we didn't make it to the tea cups on Tuesday, we walked back to Fantasyland to take the kids in this classic ride. The three big kids rode with daddy...
and sweet Emmett rode with me.
Emmy and mama in the blue tea cup that he chose.
After riding the tea cups, we then met up with my childhood friend, Andrea, and her daughter, Lauren, who had just arrived in Anaheim that morning to spend the weekend in Disneyland. Lia and Lauren have been pen pals for 6.5 years and have only met each other in person one time back in October 2015 when we went to Disneyland together. I found out from Andrea just a few days before leaving on our trip that we would be in the park on the same day. So, of course, we had to get together and then spent the next several hours together. Here are the girls posing together outside of the Mad Hatter shop after first seeing each other.
We then took Andrea and Lauren with us on the Peter Pan ride before splitting up for a few minutes. We then went on the Pinocchio ride as a family...
and the carrousel before meeting up with Andrea and Lauren again to eat lunch. Here is Logan getting ready to ride his horse.
Emmy flashing me a darling smile from atop his horse.
After eating lunch at the Red Rose Tavern with Andrea and Lauren, I took took Emmett and was able to get him to fall asleep in his stroller for his afternoon nap which was such a blessing as we were planning on staying late this evening to watch the 9 p.m. fireworks show. Ron then took the three older kids and Lauren back on Space Mountain while Andrea ran back to her hotel to get something she forgot.
Lia and Lauren then went off on their own for an hour to go on the Matterhorn and the Rise of the Resistance ride. Being able to walk around in Disneyland with just a friend turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip for Lia as she had such a good time with Lauren! Ron and I met up at the entrance to the Star Wars land where we switched kids. He sat on a bench in the shade while Emmett continued to nap in the stroller while I took Logan and Ella to Droid Depot to build their BB units. This is an experience that Logan has been requesting to pay for with his own money for many years and I promised him that we could do this the next time we went to Disneyland. We had planned on doing this activity all week long during our second day at Disneyland and the afternoon turned out to be the perfect time while Emmett napped and while Lia was with Lauren. At the last minute, Ella said that she wanted to build her own droid and pay for it with her own money and so I agreed to let her come. It turned out to be a really cool experience as the kids both got to choose their own droid parts from a moving conveyor belt and put the droid together by themselves. Here is Logan after he has gathered up all of the parts for his black, BB unit.
Ella carrying her basket of blue, BB droid parts to the building station.
Ella getting some help from an employee while building her droid.
Logan and Ella proudly carrying their boxes with their finished BB units after the building was complete! This really was a one-in-a-lifetime experience for them and I was so glad to be able to share it with them!
After meeting up with Ron, the stars aligned as Emmett woke up from his nap and Lia and Lauren exited Star Wars land right where we were sitting all within a matter of minutes. I love when that happens at Disneyland! We then joined back up with Andrea and headed over to New Orleans Square. Here is a group photo of the kids with Lauren with the river boat in the background.
Another group shot of all of the kids.
A nice family photo Andrea took of us with Tom Sawyer Island behind us.
We then went on the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean ride with Andrea and Lauren before saying goodbye to them in New Orleans. It was such a treat to be able to see the two of them again...especially in Disneyland!
Since we were already in New Orleans, we decided to go eat dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, the French Market Restaurant. Although we had shared a slice of cake that we bought with dinner, we decided to order some beignets as a second dessert from the Mint Julep Bar since it is located right next to the restaurant.
We then decided that the beignets were not enough dessert, and walked back over to the Red Rose Tavern where we had eaten lunch earlier in the day to try out the dessert that Andrea had ordered called "The Grey Stuff." This dessert is inspired from a lyric in the song, "Be our Guest" from The Beauty and the Beast movie. Since we had never heard about this dessert and it looked absolutely delicious, the kids and I decided that we needed to try it out before leaving the park.
After eating our third dessert of the evening (which is something we never do in Disneyland), we met back up with Ron in Adventureland where he had bought some meat skewers to eat as a second dinner from the Bengal Barbecue. We then spent the next hour having the best time going on a few rides that we had never found the time to do like the Tiki Room (which the kids LOVED), the Dumbo ride, and the Casey Jr. Circus Train where Emmett made friends with the sweetest little girl named Scarlett who is the same age as him. She was so heartbroken when she had to say goodbye to him after the ride was over that she broke into tears and had to be carried away by her parents. I seriously wished that they lived near us as they just seemed like the nicest family with such a darling, little girl.
After finishing our last ride, we realized that it was 8:15 and so we divided up at that point. Ron took Lia, Ella, and Emmett down to Main Street to stake out a place to watch the fireworks show while I took Logan back to Droid Depot in Star Wars land to pick up their droids that we had left there earlier in the day so that we didn't have to carry them around the park with us for several hours. After picking up the droids, Logan and I found Ron and the kids about 15 minutes before the fireworks show started. We had a great view of the projections on the neighboring buildings of Main Street in addition to the fireworks being shot off behind the castle. Since seeing the Disney fireworks at night is one of my favorite things to do at Disneyland, it was the perfect way to end these magical three days that we had spent in the parks. We had so much fun dancing to the music and watching the show all around us for 15 minutes. Emmett was snuggled up in his stroller and happily stayed awake until the end of the show before falling asleep. We then stopped in a few shops on Main Street on our way out of the park before saying goodbye to Disneyland until the next time we come again.
February 26th:
After getting up around 7 a.m. and waiting for Ron to make a list-minute grocery run to buy more breakfast and lunch food, we packed up the car and headed out around 10:30 in the morning. Ron agreed a few weeks ago to make the detour off of the I-5 freeway in Los Angeles so that the girls and I could visit the American Girl Doll store. Although Lia has been here once before when she was in 2nd grade, I wanted to take Ella here while she still loves these dolls since our own Seattle store closed down a year ago. While Ron and the boys wandered around a Farmer's Market across the street from the mall, the girls and I spent a fun-filled hour exploring this large, 2-story AGD store. Here are Lia and Ella standing in front of Julie's area in the large, historical doll section.
The girls standing next to the impressive line-up of all of the American Girl Dolls of the Year.
Lia and Ella playing with Courtney's life-size, Pac-Man arcade game.
The girls going down the escalator in the store.
Lia and Ella standing outside of the store after finishing up our shopping!
We then left LA at noon to make the 8 hour drive north to Redding where we had reservations again at the same Hampton Inn. Due to stopping for gas and dinner, we pulled up to the hotel at 8:45 p.m. Unfortunately since we arrived much later than the previous Saturday, we did not have time to take the kids back to the pool. After checking in and unloading our car, we got everyone to bed by 10 p.m. and collapsed after a long, travel day.
February 27th
After getting up early, we pulled out of our hotel at 8 a.m. Sunday morning to make the 9 hour drive back to Puyallup. Thanks to traffic in the Portland area, it actually took us 10 hours to get home and so we pulled up to our house at 6 p.m. Sunday evening. Our two day trip back home went as smoothly as our trip down to Southern California. The kids did a great job and spent lots of time reading in addition to watching movies. Emmett napped both days (as can be seen by this darling picture that Lia took of him) and Lia worked with Ron for several hours on day #2 writing her argumentative essay for English class which was due her first day back to school. Overall, this was such a fabulous trip and I am so grateful that we had the opportunity to spend this quality time together as a family and make so many wonderful memories. Until next time, Disneyland!
After getting up early, we pulled out of our hotel at 8 a.m. Sunday morning to make the 9 hour drive back to Puyallup. Thanks to traffic in the Portland area, it actually took us 10 hours to get home and so we pulled up to our house at 6 p.m. Sunday evening. Our two day trip back home went as smoothly as our trip down to Southern California. The kids did a great job and spent lots of time reading in addition to watching movies. Emmett napped both days (as can be seen by this darling picture that Lia took of him) and Lia worked with Ron for several hours on day #2 writing her argumentative essay for English class which was due her first day back to school. Overall, this was such a fabulous trip and I am so grateful that we had the opportunity to spend this quality time together as a family and make so many wonderful memories. Until next time, Disneyland!
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