Disneyland!

 I have been putting off the Disneyland post because I knew it would be impossible to narrow down photos and to put into words what an incredible time we all had. Well, I tried hard to narrow down photos, but there are still a ton! Ever since James was about 2 and started to "know" Disney characters, I have been excited to take him to Disneyland. Leading up to this vacation, I was giddy with anticipation. I can honestly say that our trip lived up to all the hype for everyone. I knew James would love seeing the castle and the characters and just enjoy the general atmosphere of Disneyland, but I wasn't sure how he would like all the rides. Well, he loved every single second of everything. He was a total daredevil and rode every possible ride that we wanted to take him on-nothing scared him! As for Mac, I just kind of figured he would be along for the ride and wasn't sure how he would react to anything. Mac absolutely had the time of his life. He got so excited about the characters, the castle, and just about everything he saw. One notable exception was the It's a Small World ride which he cried all the way through. He went on to ride Pirates of the Caribbean without shedding a tear. We stayed in a resort on Disney property, which was awesome. We got to get into everything an hour before the general public, which absolutely made the trip. We pretty much had Mickey's Toon Town to ourselves and the kids got to meet all the characters without waiting in line at all and we got to go on a bunch of rides with no wait. It was awesome! Sharing the trip with my parents and Jenny and Zephyr made it even more special.

In Mickey's house-each classic character has their own house in Toon Town and the boys loved exploring each one.

Props to my mom for making the adorable matching shirts for the kids. If there is one thing I love, it is a good themed shirt!

 We celebrated my mom's birthday on Monday night with a great dinner and then watched the World of Color show in California Adventure. Mac slept right through it and James was completely enthralled byt the water, lights and music show.

Day 2 in Disney, we got into the park at 7 am and rode about 5 rides in our first hour and a half! The park was decorated for Halloween, which James loved.

 Driving Ama around in Autopia.

 For the boys' birthday celebration, we had breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen on Tuesday morning and got to meet even more characters.

 James decided that Chip and Dale were his favorite Disney characters going into this trip and meeting Dale at breakfast absolutely made his day!

James requested to ride the teacups with Ama and Grampa and says it was one of his favorite parts of the trip.

Mac was a champ and took naps both days in the stroller so we didn't lose any precious time at the parks! Thank you to Jenny for letting us use their old BOB. Seriously, it made our trip SO much easier having that thing!

 I really wanted to take James on Dumbo, so Ama stayed with a sleeping Mac on the sidelines and Grampa was on photo duty.

The Haunted Mansion was completely redone for Halloween and all decorated with The Nightmare Before Christmas. This was the ride Tim most wanted to go on with James and both of them loved every second of it.

What makes Mac happier than pretzels and Mickey Mouse? Answer: a pretzel SHAPED like Mickey Mouse. He was in heaven.

 

We ended our two days in Disney with the parade down Main Street. This was my favorite part of the trip. Both boys honestly could not have been more excited or loved it any more than they did. Watching them so happy and so excited literally made me tear up. It was a very memorable way to end an incredible trip.

 Both boys ended up with arm fulls of new buddies. Chip, Dale and Donald for James, and Goofy and Jake (from the Neverland pirates) for Mac.

Anytime a new float would come by, Mac would start clapping wildly and thrust both his fists into the air shrieking the characters names. Melt. My. Heart.

 Both boys are still talking non-stop about their trip. Anytime anyone mentions Disney, Mac shouts, "E Mouse!" "Pooh ride!" Apparently his two favorites. James has a new favorite thing anytime you ask him. I think this will be a trip that James will remember for a long time. And even though Mac probably won't remember it, I certainly have enough photos of him enjoying it that he can re-live it again and again :-) Thank you to Tim, my parents, and Jenny for making this trip possible and for coming with us. It really could not have been a better first trip to Disney for our family!