Wednesday, March 4, 2009

disneyland

january/february were rough months for me. i didn't do well with the whole winter thing, and i was just feeling a little overwhelmed with some other things that were going on. so what do you do when you need a boost? and sunshine?

head to disneyland, of course!

i know, i know, i was there 6 months ago. some of you might think i'm crazy. others of you might be totally jealous. i don't want to fall into the trap of only going to disneyland on vacation, but i really wanted to show jayson how excited mae is when she's there. so we left wednesday afternoon and spent thursday, saturday, and monday at the parks.

we met our favorites right off the bat when we went in. mae was thrilled. so were we!


our first stop, naturally, was dumbo--mae's favorite ride.

sorry i cut off your head, honey.

i gave jayson a little pep talk before we went in. if you want to really have fun at disneyland, you have to let your inhibitions go and sometimes be a little dorky. he caught on.

mae was still a little short for some rides. it was ok, it didn't stop us.


peter pan is one of my favorite rides.

we love heimlich's train too. especially when they spray you with animal cookie scent.

and the bumper cars, even though they only went 3 miles an hour.


saturday morning mae was way more interested in playing with her cousin allison than coming to disneyland. so we left her at my sister shannon's house and went by ourselves. and tried our hardest to hit all of the adult rides (after taking a dose of dramamine--we're pathetic). we hit most of them.

jayson was pretty stoked to see cars outside of one of my favorite rides, soaring.

mae rode the carousel six times. it was her second favorite.

we loved the new toy story ride. very fun.


the family in front of mater. love him.

and mae in front of her favorite, mcqueen!


it's a small world opened the weekend we were there, and it turned out to be one of my favorite rides. i loved it!


the first morning was pretty beautiful (notice we're all in short sleeves). but that afternoon it started sprinkling, and then it down poured for the rest of the weekend. yeah, yeah, i went for the sunshine, blah blah.

this is, hands down, my favorite place in both parks. i grew up in san francisco, and i have this unhealthy love for really really good sourdough bread. as far as sourdough goes, it doesn't get better than boudins. especially if it is full of clam chowder or slathered in butter. we ate here everyday...sometimes twice.


we saw the bugs like movie twice. mae hated it, but she looks so cute in those glasses.


the highlight of the trip had to have been this moment where mae got to meet minnie. she was beside herself. she kept telling minnie that she was her favorite. can you tell by the look on all of our faces how thrilled we were (i'm sure minnie doesn't smile that big for all of her visitors).

mae also loved to meet the princesses.


she sang for mulan (lets get down to business to defeat the hun!)


at that time, sleeping beauty was her favorite princess, so she was pretty excited to meet her.

i don't think this opened all weekend.

walt disney and the castle. (and tulips!!)


entrance photo taken on our way out the last day.

and the drive home. we left around 5:00 on monday and drove half way home. it was so great to escape for a little bit. my sister shannon and her family were so awesome to let us stay at their house and spend time with them. we had a really wonderful vacation!

(maybe i'll get pictures up from our friday excursion as well!)

19 comments:

Brandi, Dan, L and B said...

I will admit I am jealous. I hope you bought season passes ;) I am glad you had fun.

darcie said...

I'm soooo jealous! It looks like you guys had so much fun and hopefully it'll beat the winter blahs until winter goes on it's merry way. I wish I could go to Disneyland, we haven't been since Liam was little. It really is a happy place!

Bummer about the rain but I see a rainbow in the corner of your picture and rain in California is better than snow/slush/hail, right?

I know I always say this but Mae is so cute! She just looks like she turned 4 or 5 all of a sudden. They grow up so fast! I love to see pictures of her! And you and Jayson, too. I am loving your hair...oh no, another thing to be jealous about!

Garner Family said...

I already miss disneyland! That is so great you guys got to go! Looks like it was so much fun.

buttercup said...

We are going to take the kids to Disneyland this year! Just need to make our plans! So glad you guys had such a un time!

Denise said...

So, so jealous! Before we leave we want to take Abby to Tokyo Disney. She's still a little too young right now. Mae is so lucky :)

Carey said...

oh so much fun! I'm so glad that you got to get away and renew your smile. Love to see the beautiful pictures of your GORGEOUS family.

austinamasandra said...

I'm sorry to hear you were having a hard time...BUT happy to see how much FUN you guys had @ Disneyland!

SNSsoup said...

Awesome pics- really; especially the first one where you guys got the family pic with BOTH goofy and mickey- we've always seen them at the entrance but had to always choose between whom we wanted a picture with- never had the option to get them both in the picture. We were just there during the last week of November and I'm already wishing we could go back after looking at your pictures. Isn't Disneyland so much fun when you have little kids that LOVE it- I love watching there eyes light up when ever we're on a ride or pass by a disney character. I know exactly how you feel about winter- I get the winter blues too and Spence doesn't believe me but the winter blues are real! I'm so excited to see things starting to warm up around here!

SNSsoup said...

ps. Mae's doing pretty well on the height factor- Noah still has yet to get to go on some of the rides due to being about the same height as Mae and I think he's a whole year and then some months older than her! Lucky her, she's got tall parents!

Alison said...

That looks like it was a lot of fun. Mae always has such a huge smile on her face - no wonder where she gets it from. I love Boudins and miss it too! I always go when I'm back in the bay area!

Jolie said...

I'm sorry to hear that you have been down this winter. Where do you go to beat those winter blues?? Why, the happiest place on earth, of course!! It looks like so much fun. We haven't taken the kids yet, so I showed them all your pictures and they loved them all!
They'll have to live vicariously through your experience until we can go. ;-)

That Girl said...

I went to Disneyland for my senior spring break while all my friends went to Cancun. I totally had the better vacation.

Wanna come with us when we (finally) take our kids?!

janae said...

Yeah, I think jealousy is the common emotion. Since my grandma lives just 15 minutes away from Disneyland, we'd go at least twice a year or more all growing up. I used to have the part memorized, but I haven't been in nearly two years now and SO MUCH HAS CHANGED!! I'm so excited to go again. Some day.

By the way. I love your hair. I mean LOVE love. You are a darling brunette.

janae said...

by 'part' I meant 'parK' ;)

shannon said...

very JEALOUS!
That's my favorite vacation ever.
Honest.
Oh, sweet Mae. What a doll. Love her.
It really is a magical place.

Jake Likes BYU said...

In 6 months, van you take me?

Jake Likes BYU said...

I mean can, not van.

Freedom Warrior said...

Thanks for sharing these awesome photos! You guys are so much fun... I wish we could have been there with you. We are looking forward to the family trip someday. Maybe by then Mae and Papa will be tall enough to ride ALL the rides!

Papa E.

Jamie Meacham said...

So much fun! Isn't Cally the best! I miss it. Hope you are well. love ya