Its a Small World After All...part 1

January has been such a whirlwind. There is so much to share so I will just start at the beginning - where I left off at the end of the year. As you all know, I think I have mentioned it once or twice, I turned 40 this year. Most years I love to celebrate my birthday as a Week Long Gala Celebration. But this year - it is celebration time as much as I can get it. So just after the new year we packed up the whole family and headed to Cali.

Our vacation was a 2 parter. The first let of the trip was at one of the happiest places on earth. Yup...DISNEYLAND!!



There were 10 of us - all so excited to be there. We spent to much time in Fantasyland and covered all the classics - Peter Pan's Flight, Dumbo, Snow White Scarry Adventures, Its a Small World. I remember going on all of these when I went to the World when I was a kid. I loved seeing my kids fall in love with these rides like I did.

We made some great memories on this trip. Alot of them at Disney. We even got to have a princess breakfast. Now C is completely into the princesses. She sees herself as Cinderella. So I didn't know what I would do if Cinderella was not going to be at breakfast. But I had nothing to worry about. We hit the jackpot for princesses. We got to meet Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Snow White and Cinderella. I think C was completely star struck when she came out.



What I thought was hilarious was not only were the little girls excited and star struck to meet the princesses, but so many of the grown ups were as well. They were giggling, and taking pictures with the princesses. It was hard for me not to laugh. Now I was excited to see them, but I was excited for C getting to meet them. And get their autographs.

Speaking of autographs - that is such a huge part of our Disneyland experience. I surprised my kids with gift baskets in the room from Mickey and the princesses - H got some Mickey ears and an autograph book and C got a tiara and an autograph book. We had to meet everyone. I think we spent more time on lines to meet characters than we did on lines for the rides. But the kids loved it.

I am not complaining, it is all part of the Disney experience. And I wanted to experience it all. I completely fall for everything the Disney marketing machine puts out. The princesses, the Vault...all of it. There was one thing that we all got into - one souvenirs that we all wanted...Vinylmation Mickeys. We couldn't get enough of then. The fun part was you didn't know which one you got until you opened the box. The kids could trade theirs in if they didn't like what they got - but the trade in was also a mystery - and they were stuck with the one they traded in. It was so much fun.

Cliff and I went back to the park one evening after we put the kids to bed. We had 3 hours to ourselves and we only got to go on 2 rides. That is it. Hollywood Tower of Terror (holy terrifying...scariest ride EVER) and Space Mountain. Those lines were epic. But I am so glad we did it and that Cliff got to experience Space Mountain.

But three rides stand out as the best ones we went on: Its a Small World - the kids were truly wowed. Toy Story Midway Mania - its a ride - its a video game...its amazing and well worth the hour long wait. Autopia - its just a car ride - but the kids absolutely LOVED this ride and that makes it a great one.