Five Days of Disney

When Melinda started her masters program, we thought it would be fun to travel out to West Lafayette, Indiana and watch her walk. Make a vacation of it, just like we did for Matt. But... now that we're getting closer to graduation (one more month!), the idea of hauling four kids to Indiana and trying to get them to stay quiet while Mommy walks across the stage in a funny looking hat... ehh... it just didn't seem like the best way to use our time and money.

Soooo... we decided to use our vacation money for a five day trip to Disneyland over the kids' spring break. FIVE DAYS! Our fitbits were ecstatic. So were the kids. We've lived in southern California for over five years and still hadn't been. We booked a nearby Marriott Hotel as our home base, it came in a package with free breakfast. Yum! And, it meant we could get the kids back to the hotel around dinner time 

We did so much, and there are SO many pictures. So many memories. So, we're going to break this up into a few posts. The pictures may or may not be in order. Who knows, we're tired, it's a blur. 

The first day, we probably made it through half of Disneyland. No sweat, we knew we had more days. So, we paced ourselves and enjoyed it. For the first ride, we tried the submarines, because we thought the boys would like it. Steven and Eleanor were super worried about the "volcano" and it wasn't a great start. Whoops!

 Some of us had fun!

 First Disneyland Ride

So, we went over to the cars and there were no volcanoes. The smiles came right back! We explored the Star Tours ride, relived classic stories in Fantasy land, went to Toon Town, did the Gadget Coaster and lots more. Jefferson was in awe of the characters. Steven loved anything fast. The girls were just taking it all in.

 Eleanor was a great driver!

 Steven kept telling Adelaide to go faster, faster! 

 Walking through the castle - it was magic!

Waiting in line snuggles. 

 Riding the carousel in between 

Snow White and Pinocchio rides

Eleanor doing the laundry at Mickey's house. 

 Lunch! Eleanor literally ate mac n' cheese

for every meal - for five days straight! 

Oops... looks like Steven crashed Goofy's car... 

After lunch, we headed over to Adventure land. The lines were getting crowded, so we started doing few rides, focusing on other attractions like Tarzan's tree house and the Tiki Room. We didn't warn the kids about the Tiki Room, and seeing them jump out of their chairs when the Tiki faces started singing... priceless. Steven was so confused when we went outside and it wasn't actually raining.

 Tarzan's tree house was a favorite. They did it a few times...

all while ignoring their Mom going on and on about

how much cooler the Swiss Family Robinson version was...

 We got into the Dole Whip line thinking it 

was the line for the Tiki Room. Oh well, Melinda 

wasn't disappointed when we got to the front.

 The birds and the flowers put

Jefferson to sleep.

 Tiki Faces

After the Tiki Room, we headed to Tom Sawyer's island. Jefferson fell asleep in the Tiki Room and woke up on the island. Boy was he confused. But, he caught up fast. He was excited about the Pirate's Lair and bummed when the coins weren't real. While exploring the pirate caves, we found some cursed pirate gold. Eleanor reached out to touch it, and the box lit up red and a voice began to proclaim a pirate curse on whoever touched the cursed treasure. Not that Eleanor heard that curse because she TOOK off at a full sprint. That curse was never gonna catch her. Melinda followed in caves that were definitely more Eleanor sized than Mom sized. Eventually, Eleanor was found and reunited with the group (the long way around, no pirate cave!). 

 Crossing to Tom Sawyer's Island

Girls claimed this as their

new home  

Pirate poses 

Steven working the bilge pump 

 JAILED!

 Jefferson's back!

And he wants gold!

The kids were all crashed and sleeping in their beds at the hotel by 7 am. Mom and Dad weren't too far after. Everyone's ready for another full day tomorrow at California Adventure.