Our Trip to Disneyland

I was waiting for the perfect experience to blog about and I think Disneyland counts as just that. I have been so nervous about writing anything because I read so many of my friends and they are such good writer's. I feel like I will disappoint anyone reading this. I have realized however that I need to just look at this as a journal and not be so presumptious that anyone will even read it. With that said, we just went to Disneyland! The last time we went was almost 6 years ago. I was pregnant with Sydney. It was in July and I vowed never to go in the summer again. So we decided that when Syd was 5 that would be a good year. No strollers. No naps. Everyone would be old enough and tall enough to have fun. So with much planning and much begging I talked Terry into using our Federal Government Stimulus Check for our trip. After all we're supposed to stimulate the economy with the check, not to mention create great family memories. So we left on Monday and headed to San Diego to see my niece Kayla for lunch and then hit the beach. We went to Pacific Beach. It was a little cool but the kids didn't care. We spent a few hours and then continued on to L.A., got settled in to the hotel, had dinner and then tried to get some sleep before our big day at Disneyland. We got up really early on Tuesday and took off to the park, hopped on the shuttle and stood in line with great anticipation but when we finally got to the gate to give our tickets we were told that it didn't open for another hour. It was only open at 9:00 for guests of the Disney Hotel. We were so sad. So we sat in the sun for awhile and then got back in line to do it all again. This time we made it. We headed straight for the castle. The first ride we went on was Snow White. It was so fun to see it through the kids eyes, and surprisingly the boys were OK with letting Syd get the first few rides out of her system. Next on to the teacups. Anyways, we walked for the next 10 hours and rode the rides to our hearts content. Then on Wednesday we did it all again. Only this time we went to the park at the right time. Day two was fun because we knew which rides we wanted to do again and we also went over to California Adventure. We only spent a little time there. We saw the Bugs Life 3-D movie and Josh and Terry rode the big rollercoaster "California Screamin." We never knew Josh was such a dare devil. I think if we all had to pick a Ridgway favorite it would be the Matterhorn. But our list of favorites probably include Pirates, Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain. By the end of day 2 we were exhausted but if we could have done a 3 day we wouldn't have passed it up. Thursday morning we headed home but we hit the beach again. Thank goodness for Fatburger and their 25 cent bathroom to change in. They have so many homeless in that area they charge you to use the restroom if your not buying food. Josh was thoughtful and left some change on the sidewalk near our car for the homeless to find - but they didn't find it by the time we got back to our car; he was a little disappointed. Looking back, even though we all had some cranky moments, we had a blast and I will cherish the memories made with my family. Now on to talking Terry into a trip back. Maybe we won't have to wait 6 more years.