DISNEYLAND!

Yaaayyy, the day has come! It's Disneyland time! Cami was so excited for this day....the girls had been anticipating this all year long. The one thing that Cami cared about on this whole trip was going to Disneyland.

After our beach time in San Diego, we drove up to Anaheim on Monday night to stay in The Peppertree Hotel. It is a really cool spanishy-feeling hotel, with bold colors, tile floors, and nice wooden furniture. Our room adjoined Grandma and Grandpa Yospe's, and both rooms included 2 queen sized beds, a living area, a full kitchen, and a hallway and bathroom. Oh and a walk out balcony. After the last hotel which was small and cramped, this felt luxurious! The only thing the girls missed from the other hotel were the bunkbeds, and the heated pool and hot tub. They were bummed that they couldn't swim at this new hotel, but there were plenty of adventures and activities to make up for it!

The only other downside was that there was not a full, hot continental breakfast. There were only pastries offered at a restaurant next door. So in the mornings, the girls filled up on Ding Dongs, Ho Ho's, doughnuts and Froot Loops. Blugggh. But the plus side was that we had those nice kitchens to cook in. So we had some big breakfasts all together on some days, and otherwise I made myself fried eggs, toast with sunflower seed butter, honey and bananas, and instant oatmeal with almond milk. Yum.

But on this morning, all we cared about was getting to Disneyland! The Disney Fairies made a surprise visit in the night and left princess shirts and fruit snacks for the girls to find when they woke up. Here's Cami, all Frozened out in her Elsa shirt, and too enthralled with Disney Jr. to look at me.
                  
Lexi Lou with her Rapunzel shirt and Tinkerbell fruit snacks, all set to go!

We meant to get there before 9, but it took a lot longer to drive, park, walk to the tram, ride the tram and get in the entrance than we thought! Good thing it was a fairly non-busy Tuesday, and we had no set schedule, just a goal to have fun! And we lucked out with gorgeous weather.

The first thing we did in the park was meet Pluto, who was the one character that Lexi was most excited to meet and hug!

Quite the Christmas tree!

The castle looked beautiful, all decked for Christmas.

The first ride we went on, I believe, was Snow White's Scary Adventure. It was NOT the girls' favorite. Cami plugged her ears the whole time because she was scared and didn't like the witch's cackling.

We started out in Fantasyland. Here are the girls trying to pull the sword out of the stone.

A carousel ride with Grandpa! I love that he's actually riding the horse. So cute.

Yeah right, you would NEVER catch me on the teacups. But they make for a nice photo opp. :) But I was super surprised that Grandma took Lexi on the teacups while we were on the Matterhorn. Now that's sacrifice!

Matterhorn time! Cami rode all by herself and looked so little in that big seat! I must say, it's not my favorite ride. Super uncomfortable and as Grandpa described it, "It rattles your bones!"

It's a small world after all! It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all, it's a small, small world!

The girls are somewhere amongst us here.

Such fun holiday decorations and songs.

On to ToonTown!

Cuteness!

It was a bit hot by the afternoon, waiting in the sun for a long time to meet Minnie Mouse. But we finally made it into her house!

Yay, there she is! Cami brought her autograph book from the Princess Festival last summer, and her new Frozen pen from the Disney Fairies. :)

These girls were so excited! Disneyland is so magical for 5 and 3 year olds!

Next came Goofy, who took one look at the title "Princess Autographs"

And threw his hand over his eyes and guffawed! He was appalled.

He signed his name "Princess Goofy". :) Cami got a kick out of that. I love this family picture!

Chip n' Dale's treehouse

Grandma and Lexi in the front of the coaster, followed by Cami and Jake. Fun times!

Clark and I waited in the shade and relaxed. We also enjoyed lunch there in Toontown, with our packed sandwiches, carrots, grapes, chips, and things. Saved a lot of money to pack food everyday!

Next we headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean! 

Cami thought that ride was pretty cool. I like how they added Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow in parts of it. Then we went on Tarzan's tree house. Jump Cami, jump!

The Jungle Cruise was turned into the Jingle Cruise for the holidays.

Jake rode Indiana Jones while we went into the Tiki Room, and then we tried to find a spot to watch the parade. We went to the Main Street Cafe and got some food, and tried to catch a glimpse of the parade from afar. Then we used our Fastpass for The Haunted Mansion. And of course that was all decked out with Nightmare Before Christmas! And you know Cami loved it.

And finally, we ended the night with Splash Mountain, since it was chilly and late and there was no line. Check out my face- I was petrified! I can never get over that feeling of dropping, and your mouth is left wide open but no sound comes out!

And yet again.

As you can see, Cami absolutely loved it. They proceeded to go on it about 4 more times that night. She's a crazy thrill seeker! We all had a blast our first day, and were wet and tired as we went home. We left at 9, just as the fireworks were going off. In the van, Cami kept herself warm and occupied with Grandma's sweatshirt and one of our favorite games on the trip- the 5 second game. You basically say a topic and the person has to name 3 things. (Name 3 kinds of fruits, name 3 things you do before you go to bed, etc.) Cami was our backseat game leader.

Ready for another fun day of adventure!