Disneyland! (aka hell on earth) - the journey continues

Well, we survived our first day at Disneyland. No kids lost, no parents ran away, DP held his liquid and Auntie survived as well.

Brimming with confidence we headed out towards California Adventure. Please note, the family is still looking somewhat happy and relaxed. Don't be fooled. It was early.

Some people, I WON'T SAY WHO, were a little over confident of their energy level:
Perhaps THIS contributed to her enthusiasm:
So we hung around this "Great America meets Santa Cruz Boardwalk meets Hell" park and I somehow always managed to miss most of the parade action:
So we headed to the rides - kiddie rides like Monsters Inc, the ride. Thank god I had seen the movie or I might have been seriously confused by the "intense" plot of the ride!
Auntie spent plenty of time torturing the kids with photo ops:
Mid afternoon and the family was all still standing. Well...almost everyone:
My niece took this great shot of a duckling. I must have been pottying one of the girls. Or on a coaster with the boy. Or buying something for the kids. Or "lost".
After a quick lunch ($75 bucks quick!), we headed back over the Disneyland, where we were absolutely convinced the lines would be shorter, the weather cooler and the crowds thinner.

Family is still standing, but you'll note the sagging posture, the leaning, the carrying of the toddlers...could be because we were waiting for the damn sign to change from photos of random people "enjoying" themselves in the park to the actual Disneyland word!
We managed to grab some time for a Disney classic - the Jungle Ride! I'd like to report the good news that the Jungle Cruise guides are still all approximately 19 years old, world weary, sarcastic and highly amusing to listen to. Example: "Oh, here comes that hippo - watch out for him! Didn't see that coming, did you? Well I do. Every seven minutes." Classic!
I took a moment to get a quick portrait of the family:
HAHAHAHAHAHA! (anyone? anyone?)

The ride is a classic that thrills everyone, except maybe the animals:
Then, while the parents and boy headed off to some roller-coaster, the girls and I hung in Fantasy Land and yes, we rode Small World Again!!

I think I'll do a separate video blog to showcase all the clips of Disneyland that I took. Got some great Small World footage!

Afternoon breaks are a MUST - so, we headed back to the hotel for some downtime:

We did actually watch the Fireworks show that night, but no photos to share. Too crowded to try. Tune in next for day three of Disneyland in all it's glory!

Disneyland! (aka hell on earth)

Some 15 odd years ago, after being caught in an overcrowded and closed down Disneyland nightmare (due to last Electrical Parade show) I swore to never darken the main street entrance of Disneyland again!

Well...here I am some 15 odd years later and my sister and hubby invited me to join them on their family vacation to hell...excuse me...I mean Disneyland.

They have 4 children. 2 Toddlers and 2 Tweens. Yes, think about that for a moment. I knew I would be signing up for days of endless tugging between Small World and Space Mountain. And I still went. What is wrong with me??

So we headed out to LA in two cars loaded up with snacks, babies and tweens. It was 108 on I5, by they way. It wasn't long before the inevitable pit stop in the pit stop known as Bakersfield took place:

The next day - we headed to the park - via car, then shuttle...I didn't realize you can't just "park at Disneyland" anymore. Getting in cars and in lines and on shuttles and off shuttles was a ride in itself!

Once we got into the actual park, we decided to throw all caution to the wind and let the 3 year old figure out the Disneyland map:
oh yes, did I mention who ELSE tagged along?
We started our journey in Fantasy Land...look how fresh and bright and happy everyone is! For giggles, we will compare this image to one taken on the last night in a later blog...
Snow White, Mr Toad, we hit the kiddie rides all morning:


a nice group shot of the kids on one of MY favorite characters...Dumbo!
Then it was off to the carousals!

and finally - the hit ride of the trip - Small World - I think we rode it 4 times over the course of 3 days - the toddlers could not get enough of the ride!
while others, I WON'T SAY WHO, were less enthused by the ride:
The toddlers spent the first day of the trip learning the vital Disney lesson - IF YOU WANT TO RIDE IT, YOU MUST SUFFER FOR IT:
But the end result was sweet!
Then it was TIME. To meet the MAN. Excuse me, I mean MOUSE:
Someone, I WON'T SAY WHO, was a little apprehensive of a 6 foot mouse:
but she warmed up:
while others, I WON'T SAY WHO, refused to come within 6 feet of a 6 foot mouse:

While waiting for Adult Supervised Group One to come out of Splash Mountain, I managed to get a great shot of them coming down the big drop. They are the three in the front of the log boat. The guy in the last seat was creeping me out as he looked like that creepy guy Dave from "Storage Wars" -I hate that guy. I hate that show.

But I digress! More to come later this week with photos from California Adventure, more Disneyland and the hotel pool!

Mid Summer Madness! Another Kid Party!!

Yes - I attended the party for a newly crowned six year old - yet again - the parties are endless with this tribe!

This child loves:

* the color pink

* Hannah Montana

* flip flops (ugh! a girl not after her auntie's sense of style!)

* Root Beer Floats

* her auntie (that would be me)

I started off with a little cake making for the princess, and enlisted her older sister to attend to such details as "decorations" and "pretty stuff":
You'll see the results shortly. As usual, the cousin crowd showed up to help the girl celebrate:
and goodie bags were properly handed out:
and there was the usual tomfoolery:
Then the star could wait no longer - presents had to contended with:

Then it was back to a bit of tomfoolery:

a tragic "boo boo" incident:

Then this sap had to show up at the party:
(ha! ha! Ha!....anyone? anyone?)

The party girl was duly impressed with her auntie and sister's cake creation:
and then it was time for the annual "breath test":
It was about this time auntie realized she had MISTAKENLY (I swear!) bought trick candles that not only sparkled, they re-lit themselves and threw sparks out...
The girl was slightly stressed by the danger...
But, being 6 years old now - she dealt with the situation was soon back to her smiling self!
Here's a last shot of the cake with monkey man standing guard: