Disneyland!

We just returned from a trip to California with my family. My sister Becky was graduating from college, so my parents invited us all to visit LA with them for the occasion. Of course, it was a great opportunity to take the girls to Disneyland. What a fun trip! We spent three days between the two parks (Disneyland and California Adventure), so we had plenty of time to see all the things we wanted to see. We have lots more pics I need to get off my sister and mom's cameras, but here are the highlights of ours.

Our first ride was Dumbo. This expression pretty much sums up Anna's attitude the whole time we were there. If you have spent any time with her, you know she is a very enthusiastic girl. Well, imagine that enthusiasm times 100. But a little apprehension too because she has never done anything like this before. 

And here's Norah on the teacups. Norah is generally a fearless kid, up for anything. But the rides were a little much for her. Not too scary, just overstimulating. After we got off we would ask her what she thought and she would usually say "too scary." I think that was her way of saying, "that was a little to intense for me." Her favorite part was meeting the characters.

Here's one of our character encounters. You might notice that Norah was not very cooperative with the picture taking on this entire trip. 

We were fortunate to have my parents there with us, so they would take the kiddos back to the hotel for a nap in the afternoon and Joel and I would stay in the park with my sister Sara and her husband Geoff. This is the day we rode Splash Mountain. Sara and I were being really girly about it and didn't want to get wet. We were standing in line trying to decide who was going to sit where in the log, and this random guy told us that if you sit in the front you don't get wet at all. So at the last minute, we decided to sit in the front. That guy must have been playing a dirty trick on us, because we got soaked! And not even on the big drop at the end. It was the little ones in between. We were pretty much cracking up the whole time. Except me, I was usually screaming.

Norah really loves the movie Monsters, Inc. so this was one of her favorite rides.

Sara and Geoff on one of the rides at California Adventure.

Meeting Ariel. Oh my goodness, this was quite an experience. We went to lunch at Ariel's Grotto restaurant where to get to meet Ariel AND the other princesses. They come to your table and talk to you and take pictures with you. The girls were thrilled. Norah doesn't exactly look thrilled in this picture, but she keeps talking about it. More princess pics to come (those are the ones on my mom's camera!).

Even more exciting than meeting the princesses was meeting Pooh. Norah loves Pooh. She has a little Pooh she likes to carry around with her. He got to meet Pooh too. 

She's actually smiling in this one! 

Joel wanted us to take this family picture to show what it is REALLY like at the happiest place on earth. We look happy, don't we? But the girls are trashed. 

This one was taken a little bit later that day, after Norah had a little snooze in the stroller. She still looks trashed to me!

She's better here. I think she just had a treat or something to perk her up a little bit, only to crash later that night.

So fun. Despite the tired kids. Joel and I were tired too. But we all loved being able to spend so much time with Joel on vacation!