Disneyland: Take 2

Okay, as you know I've already written this once before but a careless stroke of the key destroyed my epic post on the magic of Disneyland. I was on fire too, there were jokes about Obama, pop culture references and a little pixie dust (that last part is maybe a stretch). I'll try again though, because in the words of L'Oreal,  gosh darn it...you're worth it.

So I had this image in my mind, before vacation, to post each night about the day's going ons. In reality I was so exhausted at the end of each night that I didn't even bother to upload the pictures onto the computer and risked destroying our entire trip's memory on one harmless water ride. Luckily, fate was on my side and that did not occur although there was an incident where we misplaced the camera for an afternoon. Anyhoo, I was so mentally exhausted by this trip to Disneyland that I'm finally getting around to it. Plus, I want to be back at Disneyland (BADLY) and reliving the fun is kind of extending my Disney hangover.

This post is going to be seriously long so if you have stuff to do, heed my warning: Save this for later.

For those of you who have stuck around, I'm just post the pictures and the story in the comments with a few videos in between...

The Day Before...

Even Jonathan was excited to go to Disneyland! 

The kiddos did amazing on the 9+  hour drive because of a strategic stop at McDonald's and bribes.

Plus we left at the crack of Dawn and they took a pretty sweet nap in the car.

After the kiddos went to bed the "adult" kiddos went out to play in Downtown Disney where we had dinner at the Jazz Kitchen.

We ordered Bananas Foster which was delicious! Note to Self: NEVER waitress at Jazz Kitchen.

Ash drinking Chickory. 

We finally rolled into our room around 12ish and were in bed by 12:30 with a wake up call scheduled for 6AM. Ouch.

Day 1: Disneyland!!!

Thatcher leading the charge into the park : D

Best Birthday Present EVER.

So here's a little tip, when you go to the park before opening you can have your picture taken with a lot of the characters before the park even opens!

Thank God Coop wasn't scared of the characters :)

After his formal introduction to the Head Mouse...

...they soon became fast friends.

Thatch decided to pose like Goofy. Goofy kid.

LOVE THIS ONE!!!

Charge!!! On we went to the fast train...or to us laymen, Thunder Mountain.

Someone seemed to be getting a little nervous. After the ride he said that he didn't want to go on it again because it was too dangerous in the front. Clearly Thatch is not a thrill junkie.

The Yarsley Train.

My sweet baby. You can't see it but she's wearing her special Disneyland outfit I bought just for this occasion. 

Coop and I waiting outside Indiana Jones for everyone. It's a super bummer to be at Disney when you aren't 48" tall I guess.

Upon exiting Indiana Jones Thatcher exclaimed "I DO NOT LIKE THAT RIDE. I'M NEVER GOING ON THAT AGAIN!" We decided it would be best to slow things down a bit and ride the Jungle Cruise. It was a good decision because he was able to drive the boat and became his favorite ride!

Thatch, avoiding the waterfall and saving the day.

Jonathan, enjoying himself. Disney magic works again :)

I made a wish that we would win the California Lotto but I suppose I wasn't specific enough because I only won $6. Harpie was asleep and every one knows you don't wake a sleeping baby, even for the Genie in the Lamp.

Found our new Nanny. 

At this point the Aunties joined in on the fun. Harpie was delighted they could join us!

Off we ran to the first planned event that we just had to do...Jedi Training! You know how we Yarsleys are about our Star Wars...

Watch the video until the end and you can catch Thatch shaking his fist at Darth Vader's offer. That kid kills me. After this we grabbed four world famous Corn Dogs from the cart and headed back for naps...glorious naps. I visited with my Auntie and Uncle who were introduced to Harpie for the first time (but I forgot the gosh darn camera) while the Yarsley men slept. After that we headed back to the park to continue the magic.

Thatch and his Auntie Ash waiting for Star Tours (which was kind of awesome!)

 We rode rides in tomorrowland and headed to the Thunder Mountain Ranch BBQ to have a Birthday dinner for the T-man. That is where he did this...We didn't get it on camera but he just walked up on stage all by himself. Crazy kid.

After this candle was blown out and wishes were made, devouring ensued.

If you are keeping track this would be Harper's 3rd outfit of the day. The first was destroyed in a poop incident. The 2nd was too cool and required a warmer one when the sun set which leads us to this gem. Sigh.

Thatch and Ash.

While Jonathan took H and C back to the room to conk out for the night with Grandpa we stayed at the park to watch fireworks and Fantasmic. And of course, to ride the Dumbo train.

Fab pic of Grammy and a couple of her girls.

Only 10 more years and our insurance rates are going to skyrocket!

If you know anything about mine and Jonathan's parenting style you'd know that we are sticklers for bedtime at 8PM. On this night, however, we choose to let Thatch stay up until Midnight with us and enjoy some alone time with the parental units. Huge mistake in hindsight because the next day we woke him up at 7AM to go to...

Day 2: California Adventure and Cars Land!!

For some reason I was a little lax with the camera this day and don't have as many pictures. Oh well, we had a great time though. My Aunt and Uncle joined us along with my "little" cousin Shawn and his son Zachary. For the 3rd night in a row we were out late and woke up early, which would come to haunt Jonathan and I later.

He was bright eyed and busy tailed (in the begining) and ready to get the show on the road :)

With his new train conductor ears on tight, Thatch decided which route would be best to take to Carsland.

We, being of superior intillect, decided to head straight to Cars Land and get it over with before everyone else joined us...just like everyone else thought. After a 2 hour wait in line and no hidden mickeys found in line we found ourselves on the star attraction ride...

And it was SO MUCH FUN!!! You'll see Thatcher in between J and I and see that when he is on a ride his method of coping is to flatten himself completely to the floor and spread out as wide as he can. It creates funny picture ops :)

Harps and her Uncle Shawn. My cousins are the closest thing I have to a sibling  so I've upgraded them to Uncle status :)

The boys pounding back a Ghirardelli's ice cream sundae. It was delicious!

Coop rocking out at the Phineas and Ferb dance party!

Insert well deserved naptime here. We were becoming a hot mess during this day for these reasons:
1. Lack of sleep
2. An oncoming heat wave. We don't do well in heat and we get grumpy with each other.
Disaster was imminent.

Us, eating a quick bite around 5 before we revved our engines again. How cute is he?

So this is where I got lax with the camera. We ended up splitting up here, Ash stayed with Thatch, Jonathan and I and Grammy, Grandpa, Auntie Court and Auntie Brookie took Coop and Harps to Bugs Land to play on the kiddo rides. Our group capitalized on this and did Soarin' Over California (which Thatch loved), Grizzly River Rapids (which Thatch did not love) and the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail which Thatch totally dug. Then our little group split up and Thatch and Ash went and rode the giant Ferris Wheel that they were both apparently not fans of because it was scary while Jonathan and I rode California Screaming and had a good old time on a thrill ride all by our lonesome :) We watched World of Color after that and Jonathan and I called it a night...we couldn't hang anymore. Sleep overcame us all by 10:30 that night and it was most welcome in room 4220.

Day 3: Disneyland AND California Adventure! 

Squeezing out that last drop of Disney Magic...

We had some serious ground to cover this last day if we were going to do Disney right. Naptimes had really taken it's toll on our to do list and we were down to the wire! 

First things first: Tinkerbell and her friend Vidia. Coop kept his distance at first but warmed up later.

Cool guy Thatch with the ladies and the Poopie Coopie.

Jonathan was a super trooper this day :)

On Alice and Wonderland...don't let him fool you, he's a kid at heart :)

Thatch meeting Merida, his new crush, and her little brothers.

Little guy and his ladies...Merida,

And Ariel...

And Tiana (Harps and I ruined the flow of pics but you get the drift.) Harper was enamored by the flower on her dress.

The other princess were alright and I won't lie, I was dissapointed  by the absence of the heavy hitters (you know, Cinderella, Belle, or Aurora) but Mulan more than made up for it. She was delightful and interacted with Harper and Thatch so much that I might give her movie another try :)

Seriously adorable.

Riding the carousel. Pretty sure Grammy's horse won though!

No luck with the sword. Bummer.

Princess Harpie :) 

And off to naptime. Jonathan said "Take this picture for the blog so you can show everyone I was a good sport." 

<Insert unrestful naptime here, well for me at least>

We headed back to California Adventure to wrap up some rides that needed our tending to and to catch some shows. We caught this show with Dude Crush and he talked to Thatch! Too bad they thought his name was Patrick :( Oh well, at least we know it's him.

After that we saw Thatch's favorite...Jake from the Neverland Pirates gang!

Thatch and Coop in the animation studios. Such a cool place!

Thatch and his Auntie Ash racing on Tritan's carousel. 

On Mater's Junkyard Jamboree which works with centrifugal force. To say this particular cart, with these particular men, was flying and whipping around would be an understatement in the gravest of magnitudes.

Thatch giving a tip of the hat.

My most absolute favorite picture of Cooper from this whole trip. Pure joy.

And this is sheer terror. He didn't enjoy the ride so much but I thought it was fun :)

My sweet little Harps with her first Mickey Ears. I bought them a little too big though...they'll work for the next trip!

After 7ish we took the kids back to the room and Grandpa stayed back with them while we went back to the park. In the short amount of time we were there Jonathan and I did Splash Mountain (where we got soaked), Thunder Mountain RR, The Tea Cups, Star Tours, and Space Mountain interspersed with some serious emotional eating at our favorite spots. It was like a Mini-Honeymoon! 

And with that our trip to Disneyland ended. I feel like we still had so much more to do and see but it's difficult to do it all with 3 kiddos in our possy. Next time we go we'll shoot for doing it when Harps is 48" tall and can go on all the rides. My bestie said that's not possible and that Jonathan and I won't be able to stay away from the park that long and I'm afraid she may be correct! We had so much fun but I would never, ever, take a 2 year old there again...well, maybe not. No, I jest, I probably would.

I hope you enjoyed this epic blog entry...sorry it was so late in coming but I hope it was worth it!!

Love,
S