Disneyland 2010

Minnie Mouse taking care to be gentle with Nathan's casted arm. She kissed it better too!

Grandma, Grandpa, Nathan and Lex hanging out on the pier at California Adventure

Nathan and Minnie Mouse (at like 11 at night)

Lex, Nathan and Jolli at Pooh's Hunny Pots

( I loaded the pics in the wrong order and am to lazy to delete and reload! Sorry!)

I got the hair-brained idea a while ago that the grandparents (both my mom and Greg's parents) should go to Disneyland with us. Our trip was originally scheduled for the first week in December of 2009, but due to some issues that my in-laws had with another trip we had to postpone to Feburary. We did get some rain while we were there, and I got a roaring case of the 24 hour stomach flu, but all in all it was such a fun trip. By far one of the highlights was that Greg's best friend from school, Jeff, was able to meet us there with his family, that is his daughter Jolli in the picture with my kiddies. We spent our days riding everything we could. We flew in on Wednesday afternoon, got checked in to our hotel and had some lunch and headed off to the park. It was a fun afternoon and evening with very little crowd. I will never forget walking thru Cinderella's castle on Thursday morning and having Lex bouncing in her stroller yelling "ride, ride, Ali ride!" It was a hoot. It did not take her long to figure out what she liked and wanted to do. I have to get the rest of the pictures from Grandpa, he has a much better camera then I, so I just let him take all the photos this year. I also got a few on my mom's camera that I need to get from her, too.

I didn't go to Disneyland for my first time until I was 15 (I turned 15, the day after we were there) and seeing that this was Nathan's THIRD trip, I really wanted my mom (and Greg's parents) to see what it was to see the place thru a child's eyes. Needless to say my children DID NOT dissapoint. This was Alexandra's 2nd trip, but seeing that she was only 9 months old last time we were there, it was pretty much the first time for her. She loved getting to ride the rides. Everything was new and exciting, and by darn that kid has NO fear. She was game for anything. The only thing it took her a minute to warm up to was the characters who were people. Goofy, Mickey......no problem. Mulan and the other princesses took a second for her to decide they were in fact okay. It was hilarious to watch, as are most things "Ali".

Nathan was a trooper. Even though this was his third trip, it is safe to say it is the first time he had done the mouse with a cast. I, foolishly, thought it might slow him down. I was sooooo wrong. And for that I am greatful. Never even gave it a second thought. And by far, one of my favorite pictures is of Minnie Mouse, late at night (like after 11) as he and I walked back to the hotel just the 2 of us. We stopped on Sunday, our last night becasue we had not gotten a picture with her, and she was a doll. She looked at his arm and made all the motions to ask what was wrong. We told her and she kissed it better and patted it sweetly and really took quite a bit of time with him. Nate was smitten with it all and as you can see in the picture, he just was super happy. Despite being exhausted. It was one of those mommy moments for me, that seem to happen less often as he grows into such an amazing boy from the little boy he has been. WOW, sappy moment! Sorry 'bout that !

Greg and I had a wonderful time. There is something so wonderful about watching grandparents and grandchildren, especially when it is your parents and your children! I loved that! It was so great to have them there. And then to be able to add the Clay family to the mix was like icing on the cake for me. The last time we saw Jeff, he was one of the best men at our wedding and now he is married, and a dad. Onica, Jolli, and Oliver were so much fun to get to know and so wonderful to be able to include in our family!

So big thanks to everyone for going along with my crazy idea. I think it was wonderful! And I hope we can do it all again! And really, if you have young kids and parents...you need to haul them to Southern California and have some fun too. (Man, that mouse needs to send me an endorsement check!)