Disneyland!!!

Well since the kids have the entire month of November off of school, we decided to do a family trip. Brian had Veterans Day off, so went went the 11,12,13th. We lucked out and got a hotel with a shuttle to Disneyland off Priceline. We got to our hotel around 7 Tuesday night and did a little swimming in their-not-so-heated pool. We thought we'd get the kids to bed early, but with Biggest Loser being on you can understand why none of us could sleep! (I think we were a little excited about Disneyland too!) Wednesday morning we all woke up early so we could be at DL when the gates opened at 8 AM, and we were! (How that happened when we barely make it to school on time is beyond me...) We headed straight to Space Mountain for a Fast Pass, then onto the Finding Nemo submarine ride. We never wanted to wait in the hour long line last time, so we did that first since there was no line yet. It was okay, but I get a little freaked out about submarines and the kids were worried too. Then Rachel and I visited Tinkerbell at Pixie Hollow while the guys did Buzz Lightyear. All day long we went on tons of rides and used lots of fast passes. We watched their cool Celebrate parade and the kids and their little cousin Kimball (who happened to be there too) got to do the conga line in the parade and play the drums. It was fun to do some things with Jason (Brian's brother) and his family. Their kids are like 2 and 1 so we couldn't do a lot of the same things. But Rachel especially loved to mother Kimball around. We stayed almost until closing at 10 that night. Thursday we spent the day mostly at California Adventures. It wasn't busy at all. Our favorite show was the Aladdin show and our favorite rides were Soarin Over California and Toy Story Mania. Try as he might Brian couldn't make Erick tall enough to ride the California Screamin rollercoaster. (He lugged around 6pounds of Heely shoes to make Erick taller, and poor Erick cried with devastation that he wasn't tall enough!) A hidden treasure in that park is the Brother Bear attraction. (You think its just a nature walk but it has cool slides, a rock climbing wall, and a zipline!)We again got there when it opened and left when it closed. Our third and final day Brian begrudingly agreed that we could get there when we get there, which was still by 10. This was the first day of the Christmas festivities so it was extra busy. We did get to see the fun Christmas parade and fireworks. We left for dinner and to get warmer clothes for the nighttime. I think we lasted until 10:30 or so. By then we were all exhausted and the kids' poor little legs and feet couldn't go on. We had a blast, and only waited in line for 30 minutes as our longest wait. I think it's safe to say we got our money's worth of the Happiest Place on Earth!