And It Ended With...

First of all, I know it's been a long time. But. We've been sick. My baby is turning 8 tomorrow and I have been getting a party ready as well as planning a baptism. There is a 6th grade science fair project looming and the 4th graders have been weaving and needed help! And 2 children went on field trips on the same day. I chose to go to the outside freezing one. There was something about dressing up and begging for candy that had to be done. So is it any wonder that I forgot about Disneyland?! Mickey who? So I figure since I have all those other things to catch up on I would just go straight out on Disneyland and get it done. When you get to the end you will see how it ended. Cryptic. I know. So let's start here.

In line... Tuesday morning beams smoggy, foggy and chilly. We met at grandma and grandpa's room at 9:30 and then started to California Adventure. Now remember, all the pictures were taken Monday in Disneyland. So no C.A. pics. Darn. That's Aunt Nicole taking a picture.
Here are some cousins and Isaac in line for Space Mountain. We went into C.A. and saw Soarin' Over California. Super cool. We then went to see the Muppets in 3D. Fun, but got old real quick. At least for me. Daniel and the kids and many others enjoyed it in its total. We then went to the Tower of Terror. Um. Didn't like it one bit. We then went to see Aladdin. Wow! What a great show!
Here we are on Space Mountain. Note: For Halloween they have the Ghost Galaxy on Space Mountain. We are not big fans. But the ride was still very cool! After Aladdin we went to the California Screamin' roller coaster. BIG HIT! For everyone. Including grandpa.
Hey! It's grandma and grandpa. I think grandpa had a terrific time on the rides. Grandma preferred to stay off most of them. But she still had fun. And the kids loved sharing this whole adventure with them!
We loved Star Tours in Disneyland. After all the C.A. to-do we went back to the hotel and ate dinner and rested and got our sweatshirts and headed to Disneyland for Mickey's Halloween Party. Now this is a special event for which you must buy tickets in advance. I was told over and over and over by anyone who has been to this party that it is a must do!! So we did! I would recommend it if you wanted to go in the first place. If you are wishy washy on it, leave it. It cost our family $250 and was basically a great way to get TONS of candy. But as we walked to a particular "land" they were closing it all off for the fireworks. Then they were closing other areas down, not just for fireworks, but for a parade. So we couldn't do all we wanted to do and it was getting more and more cramped with people as they closed areas down. We still rode a few rides with grandma and uncle Steven, aunt Nicole and cousin Zack. We had fun. But we feel it important to not go back to Disneyland for Halloween again. But don't be sad!
I love the look on Ruthie's face! I don't know what's up with Isaac there. Must have snapped the picture as he blinked. We loved the Indiana Jones ride. Super great!
Wednesday was another cold start. It would be cold and foggy, and then by lunch time the sun would be so hot it bore a hole into your soul if you stood still long enough. Then as the sun went down it would cool off to a really nice temp. Wednesday our family went back into Disneyland to spend our last day. Everyone else would stay through Thursday, so they spent more time in C.A. Riding California Screamin' no doubt. We went to Fantasy Land. Oh joy. As we went on all the character rides the best response from Isaac was, "Can we please stop going on all the girl rides?!" Okay.
So we went back to ride everything we loved and thought we would love if we tried it. It's A Small World was loved by Ruthie and mom. Not so much by all the menfolk. I believe Isaac's word was "Annoying" regarding the song. I don't care. I have very strong memories of that ride from when I was a child.
This is the jungle cruise! We were really bummed that Pirates of the Caribbean was closed. It's the off season, so something will be closed. That is another of my favorite ride memories from childhood. When we met up with grandma and grandpa to ride the train around the park, grandpa told us about an experience he had had over at C.A. He had been sitting and then they all got up to go see Aladdin again. So he went in, sat down, enjoyed the show and then realized he didn't have his backpack. So he headed out to where he had been sitting outside to find many big burly security guards surrounding his backpack. He went up and told them it was his. They asked what was in it. Water, granola bars, etc. They gave it back to him but with a warning to never do it again! We were glad they didn't haul him off for questioning!
We rode the big Mark Twain Riverboat on Monday. Then on Wednesday all the menfolk wanted to go again. So Ruthie and I went window shopping and they got on the boat. Then I got a text from Isaac saying they were in the captain's quarters and steering the boat!! Wow! Here they are in the waiting area to get on the riverboat.
They got to steer and shake the captain's hand and ask all the questions they wanted. What a fun day! This here is one of the girl rides. But look at Isaac's face. Don't tell me he doesn't look like he's enjoying himself. This is a new ride and pretty fun. If you like that sort of thing.
Wednesday evening we all met for dinner at a restaurant called the Rain Forest Cafe. Fun atmosphere and good food. It was pricey, but fun. After dinner our family ran back to Disneyland to hit Splash Mountain one more time! Here we are in line for Star Tours. Our last ride of our fantastic stay.
Here is mom the pack mule. With all the candy from the Halloween party. It was a lot of candy. In fact, we still have much of it left.
The wrist bands from the Halloween party.
Our maps!
Oh! That's right. The key card to our hotel room. First of all, we were in a terrific hotel. We could watch the fireworks on Saturday and Sunday nights from the rooftop and could see lots of park, too. It was walking distance from a lot of eating spots and the park. We lost a second card when we got to our room and someone just set it somewhere. It was just gone. We didn't replace it. Then we got all the way home and Daniel took this key card out of his wallet. So we stripped the hotel of 3 key cards. They may not want to see us back again.
And that reminds me. The way this ends. It began as "This is a one time only trip! Enjoy it and don't complain!" It began to end on the drive home with, "I think we should come back in a couple of years" via Daniel, to ending with, "Let's just go back every couple of years". I agree. So do the kids. This will definitely happen again!