Day 2 of our grand adventure started with an obligatory Welcome to Disneyland picture.
We were really, quite a crowd. I love my family.
The boys with the princess castle.
Everything was decorated to celebrate Disneyland's Diamond Anniversary. It was lovely.
Our first stop was Fantasyland. Obviously, the kids had to try to pull the sword out of the stone.
Snow White's Scary Adventures really were scary. And the abrupt, happily ever after seemed really out of place. I don't remember riding that one before. We also did Pinnochio's Daring Journey and it was another one that I could easily do without. I've never been a big Pinnochio fan. And, of course, we made a few rounds on King Arthur's Carousel and thankfully we didn't lose Abraham! Although, Jonas was disappointed that Abe wanted to ride this horse, it was the one he had chosen, too. Such a good big brother to let him have it.
Porter made every effort to get that horse to go faster, but it just wouldn't go!
Cute boy. My friend takes her kids to Disneyland for the year they celebrate their 5th birthday and I think it such a good idea. Five is such a magical age to experience Disneyland!
These two boys are so fun together. Levi sure loves his cousin.
Poor Jonas on his second choice horse.
I don't remember where the girls were while we were riding but I know they rode on it after we got off and so I was able to capture these awesome pictures...
What a character that Lucy is!
From the carousel we headed to Dumbo the Flying Elephant. Abe really wasn't interested in waiting in lines.
Good thing he's so cute.
Eliza was in heaven being with the girls.
After Dumbo we headed toward the Storybook Land Canal Boats. It was a long line and we weren't sure if we should do it, but then Levi got swallowed up by this whale and we had to go in after him...
I think most of our crew really liked this ride, even though its not exciting.
A highlight was when people passing by in the Casey Junior Circus Train spied this little scene and little ones yelled out, "Its Arendelle!" I loved that we got to see Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna with the little speaker playing the "Yoo-hooo!" clip.
Next up for our whole crew was a trip into Tomorrowland. We had fast passes for HyperSpace Mountain and we were excited!!! Also, it was hot so the shade and the water was welcome. Abe was in heaven. Of course, he won't let me get water anywhere near his head when he takes a bath, but dipping it in the water of this ball thing was his favorite!
Briggs is so cute! And growing up way too fast!
Progressively getting more and more wet.
Bolton loved the water, too.
For anyone wondering how Abe managed to get his head so wet, here are the instructions. Maybe I just need to get one of these things in our next bathtub...
We didn't let Abe go on this one, and he was content as could be waiting. The other kids loved this ride. In fact when Bolton got off this one rather than running away yelling, "let's get out of here!" like the day before he exclaimed, "That was awesome." Then he paused before adding, "That. I. Loved."
Its too bad we can't see little Bolton's face behind Dalton, but he was there and loving every minute of it.
Lunch was always quite a feat with all those mouths to feed, but I couldn't help but giggle when I saw these three all huddled around a map making plans. It was really nice to see them playing together so nicely.
As we ate, some StormTroopers came wandering by. Poor unsuspecting Nola. The shyest of our group, by a long shot...
Honestly, I don't remember the order of all the fun after that, but here are some highlights.
While we were walking in to one of our very favorite rides, Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters, Abraham noticed the mulch on the grounds of the garden and asked if it was flower poo.
While we were in our Star Tours Flight a rebel was identified amongst our group! He looked a lot like a guy I'm married to. It was such a fun surprise for all of us to have Ethan's face appear on the screen and made that ride all the more exciting and fun.
The Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage was a lot better than I expected/remembered. And Abraham really enjoyed it.
Going in Tarzan's treehouse was something the kids were looking forward to before we got there. They boys remembered some of the details and liked revisiting it. Its fun to see them get sentimental over little things. And the little boys were eager to make new memories.
Abraham didn't stop moving for most of the trip. I guess he like the tree house because later in the day when we were down by the River of America across from Pirates of the Caribbean he disappeared again (unfortunately the identification and contact info we had written on his arm had worn off by this point) and this is where we found him. I was really grumpy at this point. Richy and I had had words with each other while waiting for Pirates of the Caribbean and I was stressed about all sorts of life. His disappearing act had me really worried at that point, we were right in the middle of an intersection that could have taken him so many different directions. Thankfully, he was found and I don't think we lost him again during our trip.
Splash Mountain is always a really big hit! What a fun ride. I remember as a kid when it was pretty new I (who was terrified of water) tried to convince my parents that I wasn't tall enough to ride and they forced me into that log boat anyway. It was fun enough back then that I wasn't too badly scarred so I did the same to my kids. I'm not sure why Bolton was behind me but I had one arm holding him and the other holding Bella. They both weren't too sure about this one...
But Claire and Abraham knew exactly how they felt about this ride and their faces say it all. My favorite picture of the trip, I think...
I came prepared with yummy snacks for the kids this time, but unfortunately I didn't always have a way for them to hold their snacks. So problem solver that she is, Eliza used the garbage can as a plate for her pirate's booty. Bolton eagerly followed suit, only decided that he would take his snacking to the next level by using his mouth to suck the snacks right into his mouth and avoid using his hands at all. Yep, mother of the year award goes to me for just taking a picture of that genius...
While some of the crowd went on The Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Railroad, others of us went to It's a Small World. I took Bolton and Abraham with me to ride on the gentle boats. When I asked Bolton his favorite part of Its a Small World he told me that he really liked the giraffe's fuzzy horns. What a silly, random thing to say.
We stayed until pretty late watching fireworks and all. When we headed home, the kids all used the buddy system and I thought it was sweet. I really love my nieces and nephews.
Ethan and Abe were my buddies and I laughed out loud at Abraham's sleeping position while we walked back. His mouth is totally wrapped around the stroller canopy. He was totally wiped out from our fantastically fun day in the Magic Kingdom!
