Happiest Place on Earth

We just returned from our family excursion to Disneyland and here is a recap of the trip. I'm a little disappointed with the pictures. There's so much pressure to take good pictures on vacation. You get too busy doing things and on the last day you have to capture as many moments as possible. We had a fabulous time. Thank you mom and dad for everything you did on the trip. I'm so glad we made this trip happen.... best Christmas present ever!!!

Randy, Hank, and I flew to California and everyone else drove. It was Hank's first plane ride and he was beyond excited. From the window seat to the peanuts, he couldn't believe he was flying in the air. He was such a good helper and loved rolling his own bag through the airport. We met up with everyone on Wednesday night at our time share which was a beautiful place to stay.

Mickey was there to greet us when we got to the park. Hank loved seeing all the characters and this is only half of them we got pictures with.

Mickey, at his house in Toontown

Minnie gave him a little kiss on his cheek!

Randy's personal favorite Frozone--they really made a connection!

Elastigirl aka Helen Parr had some serious sass going on with her thigh high boots.

Hank's favorite ride, Splash Mountain...excuse the poor quality of the picture...too cheap to buy the original photo! His face is priceless. He loved being in the front and getting "soak and wet".

Isabel, Lucy, Hank and Grandpa Curt at the Rain Forest Cafe. The food was really good food and we spotted Kobe Bryant and his girls walking outside the restaurant. He's even hotter in person.

A bit of a role reversal, Dan playing Andrea Martin and Isabel being Dan. (Andrea Martin is her rock star alter ego)

We thought watching "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" would be a nice, relaxing, thing to do with an over stimulated child but it turned out to be scarier than anything else.

Miss Photogenic Lucy Ross!

My mom and Hank at the Pixar Parade. It was the cutest parade I've ever seen. Every movie Hank loves was represented but the highlight was the actual Lightning McQueen and Mater cars.

I wonder why Sarah's eating a huge pickle.

Hank spotted a little area in California adventure that had water randomly squirting and kids running around trying to dodge it. I figured, what's a little water...his clothes will dry, after all it was almost 80 degrees. I should have known what my son would do. He has a thing for getting wet and before I knew it, he looked like this.

Randy was dumping the water out of his shoes and ringing out his clothes. We put him in the stroller with nothing but a sweatshirt on and covered him with a blanket until we could buy him something else to wear. In true Disney form, we spent 75.00 on a cheesy Mickey outfit and underwear. Not the smartest idea I've ever had but he had fun and I guess that's all that matters.

My mama and sisters....if you're wondering who took this picture...

Isabel took some of the best pictures of the trip. Look at the sassy knee popped out! She was our comic relief on the trip and by far the most fearless of all the kids.

This is Hank and I in front of the new Toy Story ride which is really cool. He absolutely loved the Buzz Lightyear ride, although I'm convinced it's because it ended in a toy store.

Hank was definitely a daddy's boy on this trip. He really wanted nothing to do with me as long as Randy was around. Hank got overwhelmed a few times on the trip and Randy can deal with his irrational behavior much better than I can.

I love this kid!! Waiting on the trolley at Toontown. We tried the entire trip to get him to ride Pirates and the Haunted Mansion and he resisted until the last two hours of the last day at Disneyland. We finally got him on both rides and he loved them. He kept saying "I can't believe I went on Pirates and the Haunted Mansion, I can't believe it".

Disneyland is a bit much for a 3 year old. He finally crashed after one of the biggest tantrums Hank has ever thrown. Sarah and Brett can attest to it, and it was a sight to behold. He was on sensory overload and finally just exploded. You can't throw fits at Disneyland, its the "happiest place on earth", right?

My family means everything to me and it was really fun to spend some quality time with Hank. We were so excited to see Max on Sunday! It's just not the same without the Minskers. I have a feeling he won't be scared of anything when he goes to Disneyland with us next time. He had so much fun with Jeri and Scott. Thank you again. Max would not have had much fun at Disneyland. Now back to reality, 40 degree weather and laundry, yuck! At least we have Christmas coming up.