Disneyland!!

I took Olive on a quick trip to Cali and we had a BLAST!!!

Back on Olive's birthday when Brittany & I took Olive & Karter to the curiousity museum, she told me she was going to Disneyland in July, just her and Karter, and that if anyone wanted to go the invite was open. 

Sooooooooooo....

Olive & I went with her!

Sunday, July 5th

We flew out early Sunday morning, totally getting hooked up with Brittany's family working for the airlines. I sorta kinda maybe a little bit fibbed about Liv's birthday so that she could be a lap baby still... She only turned 2 like two weeks ago so it's not that big of a deal, right?!

Anyway she was amazing & we had a really uneventful flight into Cali. 

We grabbed our bags (I forgot my carseat till Britt reminded me!) then hopped on the shuttle to Fox car rental. 

After a couple of falls, lots of Tetris work, and a super super wet diaper, we finally got our car settled and on our way.

The kiddos fell asleep in the car, so we stopped at Taco Bell and had lunch in the car while we roughly planned out our trip. Both Britt and I have super laid back approaches to vacations so it worked out really well & we didn't have any pressure on ourselves to rush from one place to the next. Just wanted to enjoy and soak up as much Disney Magic as we could. My kinda trip.  

We got to our hotel, the Holiday Inn about 3 blocks away from downtown Disney and unloaded our bizz. Funny enough, that's the exact same hotel that Micah and I stayed in with Maegan & Austin when we went to Disneyland last, about 3 years ago. 

These two found their new fave game ever: going in and out of the closet and running around like crazies!

Next on the agenda was a Target trip for food & snacks and some dinner for the babes. 

These two little lovers were holding hands and totally smooched while we shopped! I love them. 

After getting all our snacks & waters, we dropped them off at the hotel then drove to Downtown Disney. We shopped for a bit then grabbed dinner at Tortilla Jo's. It was pretty yummy and the kiddos got some balloon animals.. That were super creepy versions of Mickey and Minnie. 

And looked pretty inappropriate from a different angle...  :O

Definitely the worst $5 balloon animal ever!

We put the kids and ourselves to bed after some light shopping. Liv was sleeping in my bed with me and was amazing! I think because she was so tired she fell asleep really easily, but it was secretly the best ever having her sleep in my bed.. I love getting cuddles from my little miss but never wanted to co-sleep with her for fear of rolling on top of her or setting a crappy schedule where she HAS to sleep with Micah and me. We all fell asleep pretty fast, too excited for tomorrow's adventures to start!

Disneyland 

Day 1

Brittany and I got up early, got the littles ready and fed, and packed up the strollers before 8am. We got to the park right at 9am, totally proud of ourselves because we definitely are not morning people or punctual. Sacrifices for Disney!!

The Disney band was playing at the entrance, right where we wanted to take our pics so we decided to go feed Liv and Karter breakfast then go back later and get the standard entrance pic. We sat outside a cafe while we fed the babes and mapped out our day. 

First Disneyland pic of many to come!

We headed to Tomorrowland first and decided on the Buzz Lightyear ride (can't remember the name, don't judge!) since the line was pretty short. The Astro Orbiter line was way long but Liv was staring sooo longingly at it. Next ride Liv. 

Livi was terrified of the Buzz ride and was crying her little face off when we got out.. Poor thing. Although she now knows who Buzz is and actually really likes him! Silly girl. 

After kicking around Tomorrowland for a bit, we headed over to the castle.. And took a million pics along the way. 

Do ya think she's got enough badges?!

Over in Fantasyland, we got some pictures with the princesses (Liv of course freaked out) and Karter was a total rockstar. 

Blurry but hilarious all the same. Eventually Liv won't be afraid of everything!

We went on Pirates next and it was awesome! I haven't been on that ride in Disneyland in seriously probably 15 years! It was closed when I went 3 years ago and the one in DisneyWorld isn't the same so it was a really fun ride for me. 

Our phones were dying and Britt needed her charger, so we walked back to downtown Disney (huge workout btw!) to get lunch & be our halfway point back to the hotel... And we ate at Earl of Sandwich!!! Holy crap I freakin LOVE them. 

Liv and Karter took power naps while Britt ran back to the hotel for her charger. 

On our way back into the park (again, a total killer pushing our babes in strollers), we stopped to take the necessary pic at the entrance. 

We headed in through Main Street and saw Mickey there, a line formed to meet him & take pictures, so we wandered over and waited to meet him too. Livi was the most excited to meet him than any other character, yet she was still totally freaked out.. But just as we left she wanted to give him a high five. Silly Livi. 

We headed into the Hall of Presidents to feed the kiddos and charge our phones for a minute. It was absolutely FREEZING in there! At first it was a welcome break from the heat but man.. After about 10 minutes I was huddling under Karter's blanket!

Once our phones were decently charged and the littles were fed, we scooted out onto Main Street to catch the parade. 

After a few minutes I remembered we had fast passes to Indiana Jones right then so we bolted over to Adventureland. 

Brittany and I traded off with the babes, one person running into the ride, then the other swapping places goes on the ride while the other babysits. I went on the ride first and LOVED it!! Man, I haven't been on it in again, about 3 years? Anyway, it was really fun and totally better than I remember it being. 

We went to Toontown shortly after and let Livi and Karter out of their strollers so they could pull on all the fun sound-making doors and handles. Poor Liv was totally terrified of the loud sounds so we didn't stay long in that area. I did, however, manage to torture her by putting her in jail. 

Happiest place on Earth, right? ;)

Next on the list was the Toontown rollercoaster. It actually was really fast and it was a decently long ride too. 

We waited in line for about a half hour and when we got to the carts, the worker measured Liv (she passed by about 4 inches) while Karter was seriously like 1/2 an inch off. Total crap. 

We ran over to the teacups next and had. BLAST!! Liv was bouncing on her tippy toes, bursting with excitement, wanting to go on that ride more badly than she had any other ride thus far. 

Seriously giggles for days!

We then went about 10 feet and onto Casey's Train, sitting in the monkey cage car (naturally) and let Livi and Karter wander around in it, taking in all the fun it was being in the train. 

She's totes obsessed with trains now. 

After the train ride, we ate dinner at Pinocchio's restaurant and charged our phones again. 

These fireworks were the perfect icing on a perfect day. 

We rider-swapped again to hit up the Matterhorn next and lemme tell you.. it's changed SO much, for the better!! It's smoother, faster, funner (yep I went there), and Yeti-er! There were 3 or so different locations that the yeti jumps out at you.. pretty amazing!!  

We strolled to the castle again to grab some pics together. A super sweet lesi couple took our pic after I had taken theirs and I'm positive that we looked like we were a couple too, haha!

The babes were still out cold, so we wandered and shopped for a moment, but then left and took some empty streets pics. 

when we got back to the room, the kiddos transferred to their beds so easily and slept like angels. 

California Adventure

Day 2

I had only been to CA one time previously, and I totally forgot how amazing it was! way more kid friendly than I remember. 

Livi was just as stoked for the day as she was yesterday.. maybe even more excited. 

Ariel was a MASSIVE hit with Liv. as in she cried when we left the ride. she was talking about Ariel the whole day.. it melted my heart!

after Ariel we hopped on the Zepher ride and Livi was soooo enamored with the view! she kept saying "waaaaaoooww" as we flew around. 

seriously, can she get any cuter?!

we caught Buzz after our lunch (pasta at a yummy cafe that I can't remember the name of) and Livi for some reason, remembered his name immediately after and talked about him for the next hour straight.. even though she was way sad about taking a pic with him. silly Livi.  

even peek-a-boo didn't make her giggle. 

next we went on the Ferris wheel.. the swinging carriages btw. Britt was dying, it was hilarious! the kids were super brave but it was way more intense of swinging than I remembered before!! when I went with Maegan & Austin last, poor Maegan was literally crying on the ride.. so sadly hilarious!

oh these two lovers

is your heart a puddle yet??

Liv was totally all smiles on the Ferris wheel.. super brave little miss!!

next was King Triton's merry go round. as expected, Liv loved it. such a happy girl!

after this, the babes took a power nap and we swapped to hit up the California screamin' roller coaster. it was closed when I went last so it was a totally new ride for me and holy crap, it did not disappoint! way fast, pretty long actually, and a very unique type of roller coaster. unfortunately I got a wicked bad headache right after.. some ibuprofen & a Coke worked their magic and we went on our way. 

we headed over to bugs land after and went on some cute little kiddie rides.

Cars Land was next and it was DARLING! it was under construction when I went last so it was all new for me. the cars racing through the canyon was SO much fun! 

we swapped places for this one while the babes napped & I fed them some snacks. 

the kiddie ride of Mater's tractors was actually surprisingly strong in the whipping from side to side. and I accidentally smashed Liv into the side.. then I learned my lesson haha. 

turtle talk with Crush was next and it was sooo cute! while we waited for it to be open, we fed the babes in their main "lobby" and watched all of the animation shows. so. freakin. amazing. 

the end to the night was the world of color. we had a pretty good location and showed up a few minutes before it started the show was a newer one, celebrating 60 years of Disney Magic.. but to be honest I prefer the classic show better. 

Livi was a little afraid of the steam but otherwise loved the show. Karter was tired and didn't want to stick around for a bunch of water that he couldn't touch haha so it was a little rough in some moments. 

we ran through a couple of places last minute, did some shopping, then headed back to the hotel. 

Liv clearly had a lot of energy left. 

Disneyland

Day 3

we woke up semi on time, hopped on the monorail for once, and took it into the party. 

first on our agenda was tomorrowland. we started with Finding Nemo subs, or as I knew it as a kid, the yellow submarine. 

Livi was curious about it all until there was a "leak" in the hull and it was pitch black with red strobe light.. she hated that. 

after Nemo, we stayed close and did Autopia. Karter just BARELY slid through the height check.. thank goodness for gel and spikey hair!

I forgot that you have to actually drive be car.. and since I put Liv in the drivers seat, I had to reach all around her to not kill us. 

she thought it was so funny! silly Livi. 

we swapped to go on Space Mountain and I remembered why I didn't really care for the ride.. it's way too dark and disorienting to me!! yuck. but Britt loved it. 

fantasyland was next, so we started with dumbo. Liv unfortunately fell asleep like right then and was pretty sad & sensitive when we were waiting in line. 

Britt wrangled the kids as dad-mom today. 

after a few more fantasyland rides and fun. we headed to New Orleans for the haunted mansion next. 

LOVE this ride!!

Livi then chose this moment to have a big tantrum.. when we were waiting for the parade to start & got prime seats.

big bubbly nose, so cute!

we went on Astro Orbiters as Livi's last eight of the trip.

after the ride, we went back to our parade seats for the show... and it was amazing!!!

almost right after the "paint the night" parade, the fireworks were exploding above us.

leaving the park was really hard.. to say the least. the firework show made me cry (as it always does) and the thought that our girls weekend was over, that my magical time in the parks had ended.. I was definitely teary as we walked out of the gates. 

Liv, per the norm, stretched out as big as she possibly could.. that's my girl!

the next morning we packed, through our crap in the car & drove to the airport. 

Liv was the perfect travel buddy.. she slept on my lap for like 1/3 the flight and she was happy and playing quietly the remainder. 

it felt like it took us forever to land, and this is why.

we were re-directed multiple times because of traffic on the Tarmac.  we finally landed and found our bags & husbands.

We had an incredible time, made memories that will last us a lifetime, and spent a wonderful 4 days with amazing people in the happiest place on earth. Till next time Disney!

xoxo

Mandi