Trip to Disneyland

We took a fun trip with our friends, Jeff and Cherie, to California to go to Disneyland. We also made it to the beach a couple times, which I loved. I'm a chicken in the water, but I still love to play in it and the crashing waves at the beach are very soothing to me. It was S's first time to the beach (at least while she was not in utero :) She liked it, too, but was pretty unhappy when she got caught unawares by a wave and when she found out afterwards that she was covered in sand (strange how that happens when you get buried in it ;)

Disneyland was non-stop fun. We went on tons of rides, met lots of characters, and saw quite a few shows and parades. S loved it all. During the parades she would yell and yell really loudly at her favorite characters, which cracked me up. She wasn't afraid to talk to the princesses this time and they were so sweet to her. I love how they would kneel down to her level and talk to her and give her hugs. So sweet. She really liked the Little Mermaid ride, the carousels, the kiddie roller coasters, and the teacups. She wasn't scared by any of the rides. She said her favorite was the teacups, and that was certainly the one we rode on the most! She also liked the seagulls by the Nemo ride that would periodically say, "mine, mine, mine, mine." :) We all rode the ferris wheel together and S was the only one of us completely unaffected by it! Cherie and I were both nervous when it really started rocking and we found out later that both Jeff and Nathan felt a little nauseous on it (but they had also just gone on California Screamin'!). S just thought it was great fun!

I really like the Grizzly Bear Run ride in California Adventure. I think it's fun to be sitting in a circle with a bunch of people anticipating the drops and turns. I also really like Thunder Mountain. Nathan got to ride it for the first time and said it's probably his favorite ride.

Having Jeff and Cherie there was also so, so great. They absolutely love S and totally spoiled her. They were so flexible and were always willing to take S here and there. We made sure they had time on their own to go on rides, too. They are wonderful people: so kind and patient and christ-like. We had a great time being together.

It was a really good time of year to go as far as how many people were there. The most we ever waited in line was 30 minutes, and that didn't happen many times. Waiting in line gets really old! So, thankfully, that wasn't a big deal. It was, however, unseasonably hot. The afternoons became pretty uncomfortable, but when we made the effort to go to shows and sit or be inside during that time of day it helped a lot. There was obviously lots of walking and we were all beat at the end of every day. S would hit a wall every day about noon and desperately needed a nap.

Here's a peek at all we saw and did...

S's first time at the beach

Nathan and Jeff playing with S

Sand is so much fun!

Ariel

Aurora

Snow White

Belle

Cinderella 

Elsa

Jeff, Minnie in her Halloween dress, Cherie, S

I love this one

My cutie pie on the ferris wheel

Riding on the teacups

Me and my unbounded enthusiasm on the Dumbo ride =)

fun, new toys

We love Roz from Monsters, Inc.
"Your stunned silence is very reassuring."

This night-time parade was really cool.

"To infinity and beyond!"

Carsland at night. Nathan got some great pictures.

That's the plan ;-)

Dark Vader (as S says)

We also went to Mickey's Halloween Party
while we were there. I somehow forgot S's
Elsa dress but, thankfully, she was willing
to be Anna (and we had brought that
dress to give to her on the trip).

She made a cute Anna

Cherie (a Dutch girl), Jeff (Merlin),
and little Anna

What a great trip!