Disneyland {Part 1}

What a trip!!! We had the time of our lives and I KNOW it's something the girls will never forget, especially because they remind me about their favorite parts everyday.
We had a rough start getting to CA, muy macho traffico. We gave up about 40 times during the 3 and 1/2 hours it took to get from Vegas to Barstow, but eventually arrived in La Habra Heights, CA. The wonderful (and I cannot stress how WONDERFUL) Daltons, put up with us for 3 days/4 nights. Karen saved us hundreds of dollars on this trip, with passes (of all sorts!), tips, and a place to crash each night. Thank you Daltons!!!
Our first day we spent at Redondo Beach. It was such a treat after all our driving the day before, to see the looks on the girls' faces as we pulled up to the ocean.
First Picture of the trip:


Oops . . . Tessa wasn't happy on that stump. 2nd photo of the trip:


Success! We had a grand time strolling along the horseshoe shaped pier, checking out the barnacles, yummy seafood and crazy fisherman.


My children are very superstitious. "Don't step on a crack . . ."


The fisherman were CRAZY! I don't know what country (or planet for that matter) that they were from, but they were hilarious to watch. I sat there with my camera ready to take a picture of one of these guys' hauls. I couldn't believe how many hooks/fish they had on one line! I noticed this man taking awhile to reel these babies in, and I snapped a shot as soon as he had them on the pier. He saw my flash and started yelling at me! I thought, "Oh no - I broke an unknown fisherman law!" Nope, he wanted me to pretend I caught it for a picture! What an awesome guy, although we could not understand 1 word that he said. (That's him in the back ground in the white T-shirt.)


Relaxin' in the sun. It was a Gorgeous day.


And last, but not least, the water. They loved it! Emory has only been to the beach once, and that was when she was 6 months old in Hawaii. Tess had never been. Both girls could get used to living in California quickly! Emory skipped around like a little water sprite, while Tessa made sand angels and threw sand at all of us. Everyone had a great time till Emory fell in, and she turned into a grump immediately.



Day2 was Disneyland! Our girls were almost overwhelmed by it all , so we started off with the least sensory over loaded, nice and quiet ride there is . . . Small World. Yeah, right! They loved it though and quickly spotted many of their favorite characters inside.


2nd ride = Teacups. My face says it all.


Toontown and Mickey.


Then we headed over to California Adventure. As we walked in, Cory went for Fast Passes and we chilled. There was an enormous line to see Mickey (but wait . . . we'd just seen him in Toontown? Fast mover I guess.) right in front of the fountain. We were just relaxing when Emory yells, "Hey mom! Stitch is so sad!" She points Stitch out, who's on the other side of the fountain, crying because nobody want to take pictures with him. She runs over and this takes place . . .


It was precious beyond words! We sat and teased Stitch for about 10 minutes, all by ourselves! Apparently everyone else would rather stand in line for 15 minutes to get a single picture with Mickey; whatever floats your boat. Tess was a little nervous about Stitch so she did some glamour shots for me.


Lunch at Ariel's Grotto was fantastic. The girls begged for the chance to do this. It was expensive but worth it! Each princess comes out and walks around to every table in the restaurant and it was just plain magical. They would announce the princess, she would come out and wave and walk right up to our table!
Cinderella (As you can see Tessa was overwhelmed!)


Aurora (my favorite!)


Snow White (Bad picture of Emory, but Tessa is priceless!)


And Ariel herself.


Our AMAZING Ciopinno! Yes, those are whole scallops, shrimp, fish, sausage, and a lobster claw.


We finished off the day doing the Ferris wheel (scared the crap out of Tessa), carouseling, and riding everything in Bug's World. While standing in line for the Wheel of Doom, this girl walks up behind us. She looked about 20, had long black hair, wearing regular street clothes and was Greek or Arab or something. Tessa saw her, gasped, then whispered, "Pocahontas?!?" She walked up and the girl (soooo nice!) bent over and gave her a hug! I should have taken a picture, but I was a little embarrassed that my child was attacking a fellow park goer. It was so sweet, since we'd asked if Pocahontas was around and they said she was on the reservation.
The last ride of the night was this.


It's crazy how tiny she looks, compared to everyone else. We heavily debated if Cory should take Emory on the Tower of Terror, but eventually left it up to her. She decided she'd try it. Little did she know that this is, I think, the scariest ride EVER!! She was none too happy when exiting the ride, so we followed it up with easy going Monsters Inc. Top it off with a parade and we were pooped!