DISNEYLAND!*Sept. 1st-Sept 3rd*

Steven had been trying to arrange a shoot in California so that he could go out to California to film for the family documentary he is making for his family (Tons of work but it will be awesome! Probably about a $25,000.00 project if he was getting paid!). I kept telling him that we needed to go with him so we could go to Disneyland. He was very reluctant because he just wanted to get it done but I finally figured out a way to do it without Max missing too much school, without Steven being out of the office more than he would have been and without us spending too much money. We shared tickets with my friend Emily and stayed with my friend Amy...it saved us money and also made it so Steven's company had one less night to pay for at a hotel. Here's what we did.

Day 1 Wed. Sept 1st:
Left after school and drove straight to Riverside California to my friend Amy Gunnerson Smiths (and hubby Tommy) house. We arrived around 1am their time and Amy and Tommy were awake because Tommy is going to Law School and had just gotten home from studying. They have a guest room where Steven and I slept and put a blow up mattress in Ava's (their adorable little girl) room. Max and Elese had a hard time falling asleep so I had to lay with them for a while and then I threw up (yep, pregnant at Disneyland just like that last time we went) on my way back to my bed. What a great way to start out the trip.
Day 2 Thursday Sept 2nd:
Woke up, ate breakfast, stopped for gas and we were on our way around 9am. It took us longer than we expected to get there because of traffic but we arrived around 10:30. Our first stop was Daddy's favorite ride, Pirates of the Caribbean. This soon became Max's favorite ride but Elese was not a fan and wanted to get off immediately. Then we were on our way to the Haunted Mansion (I thought we should wait considering Elese's fear of Pirates of the Caribbean) when someone told us it was closed. I love that ride but was glad it was closed so Elese wouldn't be anti-Disneyland within the first hour of being there. We had just about enough time for one more ride before Elese and I needed to head over to California adventure for our lunch date with Ariel so we went on the rocket ride after we discovered that Star Tours was closed. Elese loved this ride and it is one of her favorites.

Ariels Grotto was our next stop, well at least for us girls. Steven and Max walked with us to California adventure where they went on the big rides while Elese and I enjoyed our lunch. Max LOVED California Screamin' and they also went on Moholland Drive and a couple more big kid rides. When we walked into Ariels Grotto Elese was immediately greeted with a "Welcome Princess" which instantly put a big smile on her face. Just before we were seated she got to have some one-on-one time with Ariel and then got to have her picture taken with her. Ariel really liked Elese's shirt. Once we were seated we ordered our meal which was SO much food for just the 2 of us! There was even a sea shell made out of white chocolate...that and the carrots was just about all I could get Elese to eat. It's not to princess like to spit out your food at Ariels Grotto.

Just as we were starting on our appetizers a man dressed as royalty came out singing and then introduced the princesses who all came to our table to visit with Princess Elese. Elese was very shy when they would talk to her and kept looking at me trying to get cues on how to respond. As Sleeping Beauty was leaving the table she said, "Goodbye Princess". Elese got a big grin on her face and said, "Mommy, did you hear what she called me??!!!" The smiles on her face made this little adventure SO worth the money, even though Elese needed to go to the bathroom 3 times during our one hour meal. Elese was the main reason I really wanted to go to Disneyland because she loves princesses and I wanted to get her there before she grew out of it.

After we finished eating we met back up with the boys and enjoyed some time in the Animation building. We thought Elese would love the Beauty and the Beast room but she was actually pretty scared and wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. Then we moved on to Soarin' over California...this is my favorite ride. Unfortunately we had to wait a while because once we got seated it stopped working but once we were in the other room we loved the ride and the kids thought it was pretty cool to feel like they were flying. After that we posed with Lightening McQueen and Mater. Someone in Max's Kindergarten class had told him to NEVER go on the Tower of Terror but he wanted to prove how brave he was so he and Steven headed over there while Elese and I played in the bugs life land. When the boys returned Max was as white as a ghost and grabbed my hand and would not let go. He told me that the ride was so scary and that now he knows why his friend told him not to go on it. He was sure that when he is 10 that he won't be scared of it. Then we headed back to Disneyland for some time in Fantasyland where we enjoyed the rides and Max tried to pull the sword out of the stone. Then Elese and I stayed there while Steven and Max went over to Thunder Mountain Railroad and Indiana Jones. By the time it started getting dark we were getting hungry and crabby! Nothing sounded good to me but we ended up at a pizza place. After dinner we went on the submarine ride which was really cool and then got a few treats and waited for the firework show to start. Like always it was amazing. Disneyland always goes the extra mile to make sure that everyone has a good time. We got back to Amy's around Midnight and went straight to bed.

Day 3 Friday Sept. 3rd
This was the day for Steven to go out filming so Amy and Ava headed with me and the kids to Disneyland. Max was Ava's helper while Amy was moving their stroller on and off the tram. We spent some time in fantasyland and Toon Town where we saw Mickey Mouse. Once Steven arrived to meet us there he and Max went off on their own while us girls went on It's a Small World where the music was making Elese's "bum dance". Elese and Ava both loved the Dumbo ride and the carousel. Then we let our kids pick a souvenir and headed over to the Rain Forest Cafe where we met Tommy for dinner. While walking back to the car after dinner there was a live band playing in Downtown Disney and Max was dancing like a maniac! We got back to Amy's around 9:30pm and were exhausted so we went right to bed, besides, we had to wake up at 4am the next day.