Disneyland for Thanksgiving

For the Thanksgiving weekend, we always go down to see our families in California. And this year was no exception. We went down Monday after work and stayed with Dave's brother and went to Disneyland on Tuesday. This year was especially fun because we had my brother and his wife come with us. She'd never been to Disneyland before and it's been 3 years of trying to convince him to come. He finally gave in and we all had a great time. We hooked up with them around 11:30 and they hopped in line with us for Peter Pan. The girls took to them immediately and they were unseparable the rest of the day. Sorry guys, we hope they didn't ruin you from ever wanting to come back!!

Katelyn was a little unsure not going with mom and dad at first, but she soon warmed up to the idea.

Kelsey picked Rob to go with her, which we were all a little surprised because she is always talking about Jessica. But she knew what she wanted and they had a great first ride together. I think secretly he loved it!!

The girls love the carousel. I think a lot has to do with the recent affection they've found with Mary Poppins, in hopes that they will jump off the track and run a horse race, but that's just me!! We love it because it's the only ride slow enough to get good pictures on. And I'm pleased to announce that Katelyn has finally found the joy in this ride too!!

This time around, Kelsey is finally tall enough for the good rides. She went on Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain and Splash Mountain. Her responses for each:

Thunder Mountain: "That's a crazy train. It's too fast." She hasn't loved this ride but unfortunately for her, Dave isn't a fan either so she gets dragged on it with me because I love it!!

Space Mountain: We didn't buy the picture, but it said it all. Her head was pressed against the headrest and she was not loving this one either. But this is one of our favorites, often not worth the wait, but with the fast pass, we both love it.

Splash Mountain: I must admit, I don't like this one. But Dave LOVES it. And since Kelsey hates the drop in Pirates, I thought for sure she'd not like this one either. I'm pleased to report, Dave now has a new ride partner to go with. I was a little unsure, thinking she would fall out, but she held on and had the ride of her life. This and Matterhorn are her 2 favorite rides. Just see from the picture

Just waiting to see Mickey.

I love that my girls have never been afraid of these characters. They run up and hug any of them that they see throughout the day. However, you put on old guy in a red suit, she's not about that at all. Should be interesting this year.

I simply love Small World at Christmas. There is nothing better in the park. All the lights and Christmas music make it all worth it. We were standing in line at 5 and I noticed the lights hadn't come on. And just as I was asking why they weren't on yet, the whole thing lit up. It was amazing and so perfect!!

The infamous Autopia ride. Something about this ride and kids. Every kid I've ever known loves this ride. I remember begging to go on this when I was little, but now I just don't see the point to drive a car around a track when I can drive (and fit) in my own car. So we bribed (it wasn't very hard) Rob & Jess to take the girls. Let's just say from the comments from Rob, I fear when Kelsey can start driving on her own.

I love the castle at Christmas too, with the lights and icicles. It's so pretty. And we were successful to finally get a picture in front of it.

After the fireworks, we walked over to Nemo, which ended up only being a 20 minute wait. It was raining again by this point and the girls fell asleep while waiting in line. And we weren't wakiing them up for it. After Nemo we tried to see Fantasmic but it was raining too hard and they cancelled it so we headed out. The girls rode this way all the way back to the truck, and when we got them in their jammis and were headed home, Kelsey said, "We didn't ride Nemo."

Oh well, if that's all we didn't do the whole day, we're good. Guess we'll just have to go back again. I can't speak for Rob & Jess but we had a great time. I hope they did so maybe they'll come with us again. Maybe we loved it more because they didn't have kids and the girls wanted to go with them more than they wanted us. On second thought, maybe they won't come again!! The girls were so well-behaved and never even had one slight little breakdown!! I was so impressed, it made me even want to take them back again. Sorry Mark & Heather. We missed you guys coming with us, but we hope you had fun in Park City.