Disney was amazing. The ultimate and perfect first family holiday and even better as we got to spend time with Wendy. The kids had a blast getting to know her again and have talked non-stop about Aunty Wendy since we got back! Eli has also talked non stop about going back to Disney and the rides he/we will go on. It always includes Wendy! So you HAVE to come with us again Wend!
We have so many photos and David is going to make a little movie of it all but I wanted to post the photos anyway because as I've said before I'm going to print this blog each year for our memories (especially since we don't print photos anymore) and I definitely want Disney to be included in that!
Be prepared for this to be a mammoth (and possibly boring - unless you are David, Wendy or I!) post!
Maybe just skip the writing and look at the pictures!
After counting down for days and days and days....it was finally 'THE' day! On Friday morning we got up early and got the second ferry over to the the Mainland and drove up to the border. The wait wasn't bad, 40 minutes or so but then we had to go inside for Davids green card which took forrrrreeeeeeever. The kids were pretty good although Imogen started to get screechy and out of control right when it was our turn to see the so happy and pleasant officer. Grrr. Well what can they expect after keeping us waiting in line for an hour? Anyway got it out of the way and headed to Seattle. Stopped at Bellis Fair in Bellingham for lunch and some trying on of hats and sunglasses!
Spent the night, or part of it anyway in a hotel right across the road from the airport. We had to be at the airport for 4am. Yawn. Eli was so excited and really well behaved despite the early wake up. We had to transfer from one area of the airport to another by an underground train which was full of sleepy passengers (it was 4am remember) all barely awake and definitely not smiling... Until Eli climbed on! Super excited to be on a train and completely oblivious to the fact that we and all other passengers are barely conscious, he announces in his big loud Eli voice "there is nothing I like better than a good train ride". So funny. He managed to get a smile out of everyone! Imogen on the other hand was not so great! She whined and cried the whole time in the airport and then screamed for a large portion of the flight! Poor thing had been sick for the few days beforehand and it really bothered her ears combined with reeeeaaally needing her sleep so I could totally understand how she felt. The other passengers probably not so much! But what can we do?!
Picked up our car at LAX and headed to Anaheim.
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| Davids first driving experience on an LA freeway. |
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| Tired little boy slept the whole way there. |
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| Extremely tired little girl stayed awake and cried the whole way from LAX to Anaheim! |
Anyway we eventually got to our hotel (which is a whole other story that I won't tell and involves me not writing down the address of the hotel and being lost for quite some time...) and went straight to the splash park for the rest of the day!
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| Imogen in her jail like crib at the hotel |
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| Trying out his bed |
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| On our diddy balcony |
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| In the toddler pool |
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| having a break from playing |
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| first time down the slide on her own |
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| On the slide with daddy |
Got the kids dinner and then in bed early (since they'd been up since 3:30am) and ordered dinner from the restaurant which we then sat in the bathroom to eat since the kids weren't falling asleep and needed lights off and quiet. How nice would a suite have been...
Up and dressed and ready for our first day at Disneyland. Very excited little boy (and mummy and daddy!)
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| In the hotel room, about to leave for Disneyland. |
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| Mummy and Eli excited to be going to Disneyland |
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| Dancing his way out of the hotel room! |
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Walking to Disney
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We walked in the park and Eli saw the steam train and dragged us on that before we'd even had a chance to think about it! It was nice though as we got to see all around the park and decide where we went next. We then went to the Dumbo ride, the carousel, spinning teacups etc. The kids thought they were in heaven! Imogen and I went back to the hotel for a nap and David and Eli went on Autopia (car ride that Eli got to drive - one of his favourite rides) then they came back to join us for a swim. We had dinner and went back to Disney and arrived just in time for the nighttime parade! It was so magical, my favourite part of the whole trip. The kids were so excited that it made me get all teary eyed!
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| This was Imogens favourite ride of all. We went on it so many times. Fortunately it was one that didn't really have a line up! |
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| On mummys fave ride "It's a small world" |
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| It's a small world ride |
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| Promised it wouldn't go on FB but didn't mention the blog :-) |
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| SO by now Eli has decided he loves having his photos taken with Characters but we were literally on our way out of the park for the last time and the line up to meet 'Goof' (as Eli liked to call him!) was super duper long. So we had to settle for a background shot again. David had showed the kids a Mickey movie right before we went so they were very into all of the Mickey characters and Goofy is Eli's favourite. |
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| Harassing Aunty Wendy in the car! |
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| David was very excited to get to Bubba Gumps! |
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| Run Forest Run! |
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| On the plane |
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| Sleeping on the drive to the border from Seatac |
THE END! If you got here congratulations on what is most definitely the longest blog post I have ever done! Videos to come....(bet you can't wait!)
