Howell Family: The Land of Disney

I think we were a little bit crazy, but we did it - we took the girls to Disneyland. It was so much fun! (Although I'll be waiting a few years to do it again.) We met my dad, my sister, Alisa, and her family there. Sophie was soooo excited to go. For a month leading up to our trip, instead of saying goodnight at bedtime, she had to say "I'm so excited for Disneyland!" and if you didn't let her... disaster! She was mostly excited to meet Rapunzel, obviously. But she was also excited to see Hazel and Grandpa. Clara really didn't know what was happening and I think she was a bit too young but she still had a ball.

This was in the car at like 6am on the way to the airport - she was totally ready to get her California on.

Clara clearly didn't get the memo that California is warm.

Sophie and Hazel were attached like velcro to Grandpa.

We bought those sunglasses just for this trip. And Sophie has been trying to pack this dress for a month (and then pulling it out of her backpack to wear) - she really needed to wear it when she met Rapunzel.

I gotta admit - I was kinda nervous that my girls would freak out on the rides but they did great! Neither of them really had any qualms at all and even actually enjoyed themselves. A lot.

Clara was pretty attached to me the whole time - Disneyland is pretty overwhelming for someone her age. Well, for someone any age.

Drew was just happy to be along for the ride.

Clara napped great in the stroller on the first day we were there. The rest of the time, her sleep was pretty disastrous. For both naps and nighttime. We may have even plopped her in her crib with my iphone when she refused to sleep in the middle of the night. Maybe.

Fantasyland was the most popular with our little group. And with everyone else in the world. Also, the whole park was popular with everyone else in the world - it was insanely busy! We went on a Sunday, Monday and Tuesday so we thought at least the weekdays would be mellow but... um... no.

Hazel, Mickey, Drew and Sophie. Drew wouldn't stop kissing Mickey. Sophie said hi and then sat down to pose.

These two had so much fun together! When I asked Sophie after the fact what her favorite part of the trip was, she said it was seeing Hazel.

We got pretty lucky on the characters front. We never even waited in the insane line for the Princess Faire and we still met quite a few. Aurora noticed that we had a pink overload going on.

And Cinderella was the sweetest. She hugged the girls and twirled with them and taught them how to curtsey.

I have to add that we did, in fact, meet Rapunzel and Flynn. I only have a long video of it and there's not much to see. There was an hour long line to meet her so thank gawd for Grandpa who waited in it while we fed the kids. Once we got into her tower, Sophie was thrown. Sophie was not expecting Flynn to be there - she thought it would just be Rapunzel. She really needs to practice stuff like this in her mind first so it really messed with her that it wasn't just Rapunzel. She basically grabbed my neck and wouldn't let go. She wouldn't even look up when they tried to talk to her. Flynn tried - he showed her his satchel - but she couldn't relax. I felt really bad that it seemed like a total bomb - the ONE thing she'd been looking forward to about this trip - but she talks about it fondly now. She says that she got to see the crown in the satchel and so she's glad that Flynn was there. But she also said that next time, she wants to just see Rapunzel.

Small World was both of my girls' favorite ride. Can't you tell by their expressions? I'd never exposed them to that stupid song before but now both of them can (and do) sing it. Although Clara makes it into three syllables - "It's a small wor-uld after all..."

The highlight of Clara's trip was the pet-a-goat pen in Frontier Land that none of us even knew existed. I kid you not - she was happier here than anywhere else. We seriously could have kept her home and gone to the zoo. She kept chasing them and saying they were "funny" and "silly".

The highlight of my and Nate's trip was Sunday night. After the kids were in bad, Nate, my dad, and I went back to the park and hit all the grown-up rides. We were practically falling asleep in line but we stayed til the end and hit every big ride we wanted to (Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, etc). Thanks to Tom, Alisa and their unborn fetus for making that possible :)