disneyland

after getting up at 4:30ish for our 6:00 am flight, we met grandma and grandpa at our hotel. they had arrived the night before following a 36 hour train ride. we all made it to disneyland by about 3:00 on monday afternoon.

here are grandma and grandpa on the shuttle from the hotel to the park:


the first ride we went on was the disneyland railroad. here's emily smiling as we pulled out of main street station:


after our train ride we headed straight for the hat shop for emily's mickey ears. she picked out pink princess mickey ears. thanks grandma pat!


here we are on the jungle cruise. the "cruise director" asked if it was anyone's first time, so emily raised her hand up high. after the first or second turn emily was NOT happy to be on this ride. she didn't cry, but she let us know she thought it was scary every five seconds:



we spent quite a bit of time in fantasyland. there we rode on dumbo, the carousel, the teacups, and casey jr's train.


that was a long day. so here we are in the room, getting ready for sleeping:


day two started out with autopia.


after cruising around in roadsters, we headed to the fantasy princess faire. we waited in line in 105 degree heat for over an hour to meet three princesses.


when we finally made it to the front of the line, we got to meet mulan, ariel, and belle. emily was practically speechless the whole time. she hugged each princess so sweetly, like she couldn't believe she was touching them! i had to try hard not to flat out cry, but there were definite tears in my eyes.


then, back to fantasyland for more dumbo, teacups, and carousel!


after a mid-afternoon nap but before heading back for the evening parade, we had dinner at the cheesecake factory right across the street from our hotel.


then grandma and grandpa took em to the parade of dreams while mike and i rode on pirates, the haunted mansion, splash mountain, and buzz lightyear's astro blasters. thank goodness for the fastpass. and thanks mom and dad!

our last morning started in downtown disney.


then california adventure. first we went to playhouse disney live. emily LOVED this. she danced all around and sang right out, it was wonderful!


we didn't take as many pictures at california adventure. we split up quite a bit so everybody could go on some of the rides emily didn't want to go on, like soarin' over california and the grizzly river run. emily still had her fill of king triton's carousel, heimlich's chew chew train, and the ladybug boogie:


after another afternoon nap we headed back to the park. we went to dinner at the golden horseshoe for the fun hillbilly show, which i completely recommend.


then we headed back to fantasyland and toontown while grandma and grandpa went to ride on indiana jones. they ended up getting stuck in the middle of the ride when it broke down. here's what we were doing while they were having a little behind the scenes look at the inside of the ride.



lastly, a few pictures from our flight home. one week ago em had never been on a plane, now she's been on four; two down and two back. she's an old pro!


we had a fabulous trip!