Where happiness abounds

Friday night we returned from a 4 day trip to Disneyland. Disneyland.. The happiest place on earth despite the screaming kids. There is an awful lot of crying at the happiest place on earth. I think someone's lying.

We spent 2 days driving and 2 days at the park. It was our first family vacation ever. And Gabe and I haven't been on a trip since before London was born. This was well overdue. We know London most likely won't remember this trip and Adelaide definitely won't remember this trip, but we needed a FAMILY friendly vacation. Disneyland is what we came up with. It was great. Gabe and I haven't been to Disneyland since before we were married (over 5 years ago!). A lot has changed. They have since added California Adventure, Downtown Disney, and some new rides in Disneyland. London LOVED Disneyland. A few days before we left we started talking to him about Disneyland and all the magical wonder that he was going to experience. When we arrived at the hotel, I went inside to check in. I came back to the car and London yelled "WE'RE HERE!!!!". That ignited the Disneyland excitement.

We went to the park the next morning. Standing in line to get inside the gate I got goose bumps. There IS something magical about Disneyland. I seriously felt like I was 5 years old on Christmas morning, knowing I was about to unwrap the greatest present ever to exist. I almost couldn't contain the excitement. We got through the gates, to the first photo-op place.. And that's when the crying ensued. Well, after we got London out of the stroller to take his picture; when we tried to put him back in the stroller. That was the first of MANY crying fits.. I don't think he got the memo about Disneyland being the happiest place on earth. He has much to learn.

But seriously folks, we had a great time. London got to see his first fireworks display. He absolutely loved it. He watched Fantasmic on Dadda's shoulders. A couple parts scared him, but overall he was enthralled. A few rides scared him: Pinnochio, and because of that, Small World (the first half of the ride he spent looking down. Halfway through he finally allowed himself to look up and highly enjoyed the rest of the ride), Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland.. A few rides he liked the most: Autopia, the merry-go-round, Dumbo. At California Adventure we visited Bug's Land, got to see some BIG Tonka trucks (which he loves). He got to meet JoJo, Stanley, Goofy, Flick and Flick's chick (I can't remember her name). He got to see some princesses (all the rage with the girls, but London has no clue who they are) and Mickey walk by. We were in a store, Mickey walked through, I yelled (very, very excitedly) "LONDON, THERE'S MICKEY!!!" As he whipped his head around to see, so did the rest of the store.. I was a little louder than I had intended to be. And apparently crazy by the looks on people's faces. The highlight of the trip for London (right up there with the fireworks) was the Playhouse Disney show. He got to see IN PERSON characters that had up till then only existed in his TV. That was the most thrilling 20 minutes of his life. I have never seen him enjoy anything else as much. That was awesome.

It was amazing to introduce our son to the awe that is Disneyland. We can't wait for next year!

(I'll post pictures by this weekend. And if you're wondering where Adelaide was this whole time, wonder no more. She was in her stroller pretty much the whole trip. She was one of the few kids not crying. She gets the whole "happiest place" thing.)