Disneyland

our maiden voyage. it took us awhile to muster up the courage to take this trip. and it went amazingly well. {i mentally set the bar low so i could enjoy the day} the only real hiccup had nothing to do with the kids. my sweet mountain man of a husband put his pocket knife in his pocket like he does every morning. 

of course they spotted us. we casually walked a few feet back, he stuffed it deep inside his pocket and we returned. an undercover lady walked up and told us to hand over the knife or return to the car. the car that is miles away. 

ryan ended up flagging down a cab driver and paid him to mail it to our house. so... we shall see if it ever shows up. {he may have paid a guy to steal his knife} 

anyways... we let this debacle roll off our backs and we actually had a really great time. 

we went mid-week in the hopes of low crowds. i think that trick worked. early march is also a good time according to the Disneyland website. 

the weather was PERFECT! oh how i love california. 

our first ride was the merry-go-round. 

toad's wild ride was less than a 10 minute wait. 

no wait at the tea cups. and no WAY i was getting on them. {notice the snarky princess testing my 'i'm going to be a great, patient mom at disneyland' outlook. urgh.}

threatening to toss her to the pirates seemed to snap her out of it. my favorite ride. maybe it's the smell of chlorine.  

they loved the pooh ride.

and i loved the treats at pooh's store. 

i set a mental limit of one treat and this was worth every.single.calorie. 

moo's only request was to see princesses. we didn't see any of the well known ones from our movie collection. moo didn't know who mary poppins was or the evil witch, but she did recognize snow white. 

 this lady was so in character. i felt a connection ;)

we stopped by city hall at the end of the day. there wasn't a line compared to earlier. we snagged some free pins to celebrate their first trip. moo took it for sharing today. 

and somehow, by some small miracle, we got away with only bringing home two balloons. that i {the i.do.not.like.balloons mom} held the entire way home. 

dane jumped and screamed for joy when we bought them. he, unlike me, has a true love of cars and balloons. his life was complete.   

and i felt pretty complete too.

on the way home we stopped at islands. moo screamed out 'it's like the tiki room!' it was so sweet. 

a few random tips:

we brought lots of water and snacks. i tucked it all discretely inside our diaper bag. there were no issues with that. and i saw a lot of other people with their own food and drink.

for my fellow double bob lovers- do not stuff your stroller until AFTER the bus ride into the park. otherwise you will be that mom who is chasing all the water bottles and bars that have fallen out while waiting in the bus line.

i brought empty sippy cups to fill throughout the day. i brought empty ziplocks for left over snacks and things to save from lunch. 

a small revelation: 

there is the universal tantrum. i saw so many kids throwing fits. so many kids being naughty. so many kids just being grumpy.

and when it was all said and done... it made me feel good. sometimes i feel like my kids are just the craziest kids that walk this planet. nope. they are not alone. and i am not alone. oddly, i found comfort in seeing this at the happiest place on earth.