Disneyland with Dad for Megan’s birthday
We got to celebrate Megan’s 26th birthday at Disneyland with Dad. I love birthdays at Disneyland.
Disneyland
Good timing
My Dad took Adelaide and August to Disneyland one morning, with plans to meet up with Kyle and me later. When Kyle and I arrived at the park with Hazel a few hours later, Kyle noticed the photo queue at the entrance of Disneyland was short, and why don’t we take a picture?
We rarely take photos with park photographers, but hey, why not.
We got in line, and as we stepped up to take a picture, we heard “Emily! Emily!” behind us. Having a common first name, I hear “Emily, Emily!” at Disneyland pretty much every visit, so I ignored it at first. But when the photographer motioned behind me, we turned around to see my Dad calling us from up above. He was with Adelaide and August in the Disneyland Railroad train car, which had just rolled into the Main Street station.
Now that’s good timing.
A few days with Dad, Megan, and Perry
One fine spring day, we went to Disneyland with Dad (a.k.a. Grandpa Percy), Megan (“Aunt Megan”), and Perry (“Uncle Perry”).
We hung out on Main Street.
We drank coffee and ate cake pops.
We posed in front of the train station.
We saw the world through small eyes.
We waited for fireworks, but if I remember correctly, they got canceled “due to winds at high elevations…”
(But that’s OK, it just gave us time for pictures.)
Funny, it looks like the person in the background is wearing the same shoes as Adelaide.
And we did a lot of rides and shows ‘n’ stuff.
On the last morning, we went to breakfast at the Original Pancake House.
We waited and read the menu.
We waited and picked dandelions.
We waited and drank non-dairy creamers.
We waited and played the guitar and sang.
We waited and played in the grass…
…rolling down hills…
…and walking back up, hand-in-hand.
Finally, we got a booth.
Thumbs up.
There were clouds in my coffee.
Not pictured: Swedish pancakes, German pancakes, buttermilk pancakes, bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, and an omelette.
We took a group photo with a self timer.
Then we hit the road.
Adelaide and Elsa
We were waiting to cross the street on our way to Disneyland when this truck rolled up.
Last Disney trip of the season
We squeezed in one more Disney trip on this year’s passes.
It was a busy day, but we did a few rides.
We went on the Disneyland railroad.
Then we spent some time in Fantasyland. Adelaide said she wanted to go knock on the door for kids. So we went to ToonTown, where there are lots of little houses and stores and trick doors for kids to play with. Adelaide pretended to be a puppy.
And Augie copied her, because he’s her little shadow.
Then a bunch of fireworks went off in the Acme building across the way.
Later we went back to Fantasyland, and Adelaide said she wanted to knock on the door for kids. Turns out this is what she was talking about:
It’s a little house outside of the teacup ride. Apparently it’s a thing to knock on this door, because there were other kids doing it, too.
Now we know.
Sister Megan’s California Trip
Sister Megan came to visit us in June!
We took walks
We went to Disneyland
We went to the beach
We sat around on our computers (Augie took this one)
We said goodbye with a back adjustment and a 20 second hug (to release oxytocin)
Hope to see you again soon, Meg.
Disneyland May 23, 2014
We took the day off to go to Disneyland with some friends a couple of weeks ago. We didn’t realize was that the park would be open 24 hours that day. Needless to say, the park was full, and more people showed up by the hour. But we still had a fun time. We got there around 11 and stayed until 8 or 9.
Our friends discovered on the tram ride that their passes were blocked out that day (sad face) so they upgraded their passes so they could hang out with us (happy face). I took some pictures of Adelaide and Augie while they figured out their options at the ticket booth.
(Shortly after these photos, Augie fell and bumped his head on the concrete. As usual.)
The fun part about busy days is that you end up doing things that you don’t usually do. We rode the Mark Twain. We rode the Storybook boat – which Kyle and I found extra enjoyable this time. We rode Casey Jr. and the teacups. We went to California Adventure and did some rides in A Bug’s Land. Then we went to the woodsy playground area over in California Adventure and let the kids run around while the adults sat and talked.
I guess Adelaide wasn’t too excited about taking a picture.
Oh, we also rode the rockets. Look how busy it is in the background.
(That’s our friends’ daughter sitting with Adelaide and Kyle in the rocket.)
One thing we didn’t get to do…well, two things: We didn’t get to do the Frozen Sing-a-Long – it was full by the time we got there, 10 minutes early. And we didn’t get to see World of Color, which our friends have never seen. It was just too crowded, and by sunset, we were all pretty tired.
When we left, the park was more packed than ever, and there was a line of cars backed up from the parking garage onto the freeway offramp of people just arriving for the overnighter. We were glad to be making our escape.
Until next time, Disneyland…
Throwback Thursday
Kyle’s working on our garage, which means a bunch of our old stuff is out on the patio, which means the kids are getting into a bunch of our old stuff.
Augie’s been bringing me pictures all evening.
Here are a couple from when we went to Disneyland with my Dad six years ago.
– I was about 5 months pregnant with Adelaide in these pictures. Now I’m about 5 months pregnant with our third kid! And we’re going to Disneyland tomorrow.
– My dad bought us Disneyland passports, which we’ve renewed every year since.
– a 1-day, 1-park pass was $66 in 2008. Now it’s $96.
– I was wearing a button up polyester shirt with a pointillist shipyard scene that I bought from an antique store in college. Kyle was wearing a yellow sweatshirt…I think it was American Apparel via the thrift store. It must have been chilly because I’m also wearing a sweater and a Members Only jacket.
– We were so young, so emaciated, so pale, so poor. But we had The Rock (our church), choir, WIC, and each other. And Disneyland passes! (Thanks, Dad.)
– The Submarine Voyage is closed down now.
– I look a lot like my dad, especially with the sun in my eyes.
Disneyland with Grandma Debbie
My mom came to visit us for a couple of days last week. So of course, we went to Disneyland. And In-N-Out Burger. Apparently Kyle did not make it into any of the photos. (Sorry, babe.)
Rapunzel Rapunzel
We went to Disneyland yesterday and happened to catch Mickey’s Soundsational Parade. Whenever the princesses see little girls dressed up like them, they make a fuss. They point to their gowns and point to the girl, and give them a special wave or blow a kiss. It’s pretty cute.
This time, Adelaide was wearing her Rapunzel dress and long braid, and the Rapunzel in the parade held up her hair and waved at Adelaide. Laidey jumped up and down in her seat and clasped her hands together. I’ll admit, my eyes teared up a bit.
I was so happy when I found out our friend, Alex, caught the moment on camera!
Disney magic strikes again.