Happy Place

We had another magical trip to Disneyland this spring. We went with my entire family to celebrate Dan's graduation from Chiropractic school. He is now a Doctor!! I am so proud of him and this trip was a great way to celebrate with our family.

We are Disneyland junkies. I wish I could go every week. I know people say, "You would get sick of it", but I really don't think I would I love it!! I don't know if I will love it as much when I have to drag my own screaming children around the park, but I am sure I will do it.

I am NOT a morning person, but I love being in the park in the mornings. On our first day we were there before the park opened and we got to stand at the rope at the end of Main Street and do the countdown to the park opening. It was so awesome to walk to our first ride and walk right on two times with no lines. The park is quiet, peaceful and beautiful in the morning. It is totally worth getting out of bed for.

We had fun meeting some of our favorite Disney friends. I still love meeting characters and it was really fun to see the little kids interact with them. Dawson made this funny sideways smile every time he met a character. It was really cute.

We met Tink and her friend Terrence. I don't know if I like him. He was a little strange. I think I like girl fairies better. (I just had to google his name because I didn't know it)

This Mickey was so cute! He felt sad that I didn't have any pins with Mickey on them, but I have lots of Minnie! Dan didn't have his pins on, but Mickey insisted he put them on and show him his pins.

Minnie!!

Jessie!

Dan's favorite...Donald!

Mr. Incredible....look at my guns! Mr. I was jealous!

I love how Dawsie is holding Mickey's hand in this picture. Very cute!

Another great thing about Disneyland is the delicious food, beverage and TREATS that we got to devour! Dad and I enjoyed a delicious ice cream cone almost every night!

We enjoyed the Dole Whip several times as well. This it the most delicious treat and you can only get it at Disneyland and the Dole Plantation in Hawaii. It is so refreshing and smooth and delicious.

I love the food at Disneyland. I think it has improved leaps and bounds since I was a kid. When I was growing up it seems like it was mainly hot dogs, hamburgers, etc. Now they have so much fabulous food. My very favorite is the Sonoma Chicken and Apple Salad at the Pacific Wharf Cafe in California Adventure. It is a delicious salad that is served in a fresh sourdough bread bowl. I could eat this salad everyday of my life.

We camped out to get good seats for the Pixar Play Parade!

Here is the whole gang (minus me taking the picture). We really enjoyed being together. It is definitely a little trickier to navigate 15 of us around the park, but it was so fun to be together and enjoy the magic of Disneyland as a family.

My mom was having a lot of problems with her back and her knee and she was really worried about walking around the park all day. She did it the first day and was feeling pretty crappy. Dan and I took turns wearing a pedometer and we walked at least 9 miles everyday!! So, on the second day Dan went and rented a wheelchair for my mom. She had to drop her pride and sit down and enjoy the ride. Dan Pushed her for three days! I even got to have a ride after she went home one night!

Here are all the kiddos. We love these kids SO much. It was so fun to see each of them enjoy different things about Disneyland.
This is Dan and Olivia. She was such a good baby!!When she smiles she sticks out her tongue and it is very cute.

Ellie was a real cutie! She loves princesses and Tinkerbell and it was fun to see her excitement.

Dawsie! He LOVED Buzz Lightyear. He is still saying to his mommy, "I need to go shoot Zurg with laser!"

Jenna and Emma! The middle kids! What beautiful girls!

Kelsey and Jordan. The OLD kids! Kels is getting TC (too cool) for some stuff, but I still love her! Jordan just wanted to go on Space Mtn. and all the other fast rides.

Here we are. We LOVE Disneyland. We will probably be back many, many times over the next 50 years! (i hope)