Day 1 at Disneyland

We left for Disneyland about 7 pm on Thursday. The drive went really well. We stopped in Burbank, near our old apartment, to pick up some Krispy Kremes, and the kids stayed awake for the rest of the drive. We got to our hotel around 2, were pleasantly surprised since it wasn't the dive we'd expected, and settled in for the night. We woke up to rain. Not heavy rain, but constant rain. All week I'd been watching the forecast, hoping things would clear up. Not the case. Still, we bravely trekked the short distance to the park, armed with our umbrellas, and hoped for the best.

Obviously, the rain didn't dampen Chloe's spirits. This is the family about to board the Snow White ride, our first one.

Bracken and Addie on the carousel. We went back to the carousel every day. At the end of the trip, Chloe told us it was her favorite ride. Seriously? With all Disneyland has to offer?

Maybe it's because she was let down by not being able to pull the sword out of the stone.

To get out of the rain for a little while, and to fulfill a wish I've had every time we've gone to the park, we had lunch at the Blue Bayou after we rode Pirates. Addie was excited.

So was I.

Chloe, not so much. She had a bit of a meltdown as we entered the restaurant. Of course that meltdown had to occur in one of the less kid friendly places in the park. She pulled it together, though, and we had a tasty lunch. However, neither of my kids would touch the fancy mac'n'cheese we ordered. I guess it wasn't familiar.

After lunch we decided to head back to the hotel for a little while. The kids were obviously wiped out from their disrupted sleep from the night before. Addie still had enough fire in her to run wild as soon as we let her out of the stroller. Look at that grin. Also, check out the water line on my pants.

After changing into dry clothes, half of us took naps at the hotel. The pregnant lady and the overly tired 3 year old were not so lucky. It wasn't until we announced that we were going back to the park that Chloe decided she was ready to take a nap. She laid down for 2 minutes, then got up and announced she was done. Thankfully, while we were resting, the rain had stopped for a while. We headed to California Adventure and rode Heimlich's Chew Chew train, and other rides in Bug's Land. Chloe looks like she's going to Chew Chew Dad.

I'm not sure what to say about this picture other than we all look a little "touched."

Then, after recharging with free bread and tortillas (Seriously, they give out free bread and tortillas. Yay for Disney giving away something for free.), we watched the Pixar parade. The girls loved it, though my pictures all look a little funky.

It was only 6 when the parade ended, so we headed back to Disneyland. Try as we might, we could not convince Chloe to go on any other rides. Since there are signs posted at the entrance discouraging parents from forcing their children to go on rides they don't want to, we decided to call it quits for the night. We did get the girls lollipops for the ride home.

Addie, in her typical style, thoroughly enjoyed hers.