Disneyland

It was magical. Just magical. Except for when Rachel was being "a treat" in the afternoon due to no nap, which caused me to also be very grumpy until she finally fell asleep in "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride (dark, cool, and long) at 5pm. But after that we were set and were able to stay for the rest of the evening.

Let me start by saying that we got our Disneyland tix on EBAY - weird, right? Even weirder that we picked them up at an office a few blocks away from the park and had to return them later that night. But the ebay seller had 99.9% positive feedback and it was a pretty big $ savings, so we tried it and it was a huge success!! We both got 1 day park hopper tickets for $110, that would normally cost about $175! I was happy and if you want any more info, I'd be happy to tell you the seller we used, etc.

As soon as we got there, we saw Mickey and waited our turn. Rachel was so happy and all the characters are so sweet to all the kids! Then we met up with our good friends from law school - the Worthen's and the Packer's. It was so fun to get with them and it felt like we just picked up right where we left off back in Chicago. Rachel also had a lot of fun playing with their kids (like holding Lily's hand while waiting in line) and sharing her treats with them (like when she shared her box of raisins and she was a little nervous when they all surrounded her to grab some "yaisins" and also when we gave suckers to everyone and the Packer twins hardly knew what to do, the best was that Ethan just held onto it and didn't even taste it for a very long time - so funny! Way to go, Lauren, for not keeping many sweets around your house).

We went on lots of rides - the favorites for Rachel were probably Dumbo, teacups, It's a small world, and the roller coaster in toon town. But her FAVORITE part of the day was the Dance Parade that night. It was probably 25 minutes of the characters and Disney dancers singing and dancing - Rachel danced the entire time and was completely entranced.

I also don't want to forget about the "deal" Brandon made with Rachel. She told her that if she took a nap, that she could get some ice cream and pick out a toy. She FINALLY fell asleep and stayed asleep for about 45 minutes on Brandon's shoulder. The second she woke up she told us she was ready for her ice cream. So she got a Mickey-shaped ice cream right then. She also got to pick out a toy at the end of the day and she of course picked the largest Pooh Bear that they sold (and totally overpriced!), so we gently coaxed her to pick some Mickey Mouse & gang figurines that we knew she'd like to play with more than the stuffed animal. But she didn't forget about Pooh days later, so we ended up going to the Disney store at home and buying her a little Pooh bear to haul around (luckily she was ok with the small sized bear this time). She's a funny girl.



The kids - Rachel, Kate, Lily and Ethan during our churro break





Bummer that we didn't snap a picture with the Packer's, but here we are at the parade with the Worthens