Disneyland trip

Warning: this post is long, picture and video heavy! :)

We just got back from a crazy fun long weekend vacation! Last Wednesday, Joseph and I flew out to LA, meeting Jill, Gary, Lisa, James, Ruthie, Linda, Ethan, Mike, Susan and Angelina (Gary's daughter and granddaughter) for a 3 day trip to Disneyland. Dan and Joe met up with us on Thursday evening, after our first day at the park. I'm in the process of going through all of the pictures (we only took a few hundred!) and posting them, along with some of the funny videos we took. 14 people, with 5 kids under 5 was definitely a challenge, but I think we all had a great time.

Knowing full well that Joseph probably isn't going to remember any of this trip, we tried our best to balance the time spent in the park with fitting in his "normal" naps, which usually meant a mid-morning nap in the park, in my arms. Especially when he'd look this relaxed (read: sleepy) before we'd even left the hotel in the morning!

They redid the Small World ride recently. We heard it was nice... :) never made it in for a visit!

Thursday morning we headed to Fantasyland for the first part of the trip, and hit many of the popular rides - Dumbo, the Carousel, Pinocchio. By that time, Joseph was ready for a nap so we hung behind while the rest of the group took the train ride and had some snacks. He wasn't really ready to wake up, and was happy to cuddle with Nana while we headed off to the next ride. Nana didn't mind much either. :)

After he was more awake, she tried to share her cotton candy with him. He didn't really know what to make of it, and had more fun just feeding it to Nana!

After a few more rides, we headed over to Toon Town to try and meet some of the Disney characters. Joseph had a blast running around and exploring.

 

And pretending to hide from me. :)

He also had a lot of fun making faces at people sitting behind us while I tried to feed him some lunch.

He didn't really pep up after eating, so I took him back to the hotel for what I thought would be a quick nap. Nope! Three hours later, we managed to meet back up with the group for a few early evening rides on Pirates, Nemo and the Haunted Mansion before heading back to find Dan and Joe and bedtime for the little guys.

The next morning we were able to get into Toon Town an hour early, thanks to passes we had for staying at the Disney resort hotels. The characters put on a little show, then took their places around the area for pictures and autographs.

Joseph wasn't really sure what to make of the experience at first:

But then he warmed up, especially after watching his cousins do much better.

Ethan was absolutely adorable at getting to meet Mickey, and I had to post this video of him getting his picture taken. He looked totally starstruck!

Since he'd missed the first day at Disney, Joe wanted to take Joseph on some rides. We headed over to the rocket ships where Joseph started entertaining the other people waiting in line.

Getting ready for take off!

If you enlarge this picture, you can tell they were both having a great time!

After a few more rides, we headed to the Disneyland Hotel and Goofy's Kitchen for a lunch with the Disney characters. The food was amazing, and we must have had our reservations at the end of the lunch because the restaurant wasn't crowded at all, which was so nice.

We told them we were celebrating Joseph's 1st birthday, so they brought a cupcake and sang to him. He then wiped his plate clean and started flirting with Alice!

Periodically the restaurant would play music and encourage the kids to get up and dance. They were too cute not to record!

After lunch, Joe took Joseph back to the hotel and he managed again to get a 2-3 hour nap in. I headed over to California Adventure with the rest of the group and rode a few rides while waiting for 6 and 7 to meet back up with us.

At the end of the night we headed back into Disneyland for the Jungle Cruise ride and the Tiki Room, one of Joe's favorites. Turns out, Joseph enjoyed it too! Of course, he was getting a little slap happy by this point, and just about anything was making him giggle.

Friday night we put the kids to bed, and Mike stayed behind so the rest of us could go back into the parks. We got some ice cream on Main Street, then watched Captain EO and did some of the big kid rides - Indiana Jones and Big Thunder Mountain before the park closed at midnight.

Saturday was our last day at the parks, so we got up early. We headed first to the castle for family/group pictures.

Lisa brought her professional camera to take good shots of everyone, along with documenting parts of the trip. We are so lucky to have her and her talent!

Joe decided to get Joseph a churro while we waited for everyone to finish pictures.

He loved it! (No surprise there!)

He also got really good at walking during this trip. Sure he still stumbles, but he's definitely a walker now, no crawling unless absolutely necessary! Such a cutie.

We all decided to head our own ways to make sure we were doing the rides we wanted. Joe, Joseph and I headed back over to Fantasyland for a trip on the train and a few rides on the carousel, which was defintitely Joseph's favorite Disney ride.

Joseph started to melt down and napping in my arms didn't work as well as the first two days, so Joe and I both headed back to the hotel for a nap and lunch. Once again, 7 managed to sneak in a 3 hour nap... guess who's buying blackout curtains for his bedroom once we get moved back in at home! Those things are magic!

We met up with the group in California Adventure, and played in A Bug's Land for a bit, before waiting for our fast passes for California Soarin' to become available. I had brought some bubbles, thinking they might come in handy while waiting for rides, so we had some fun just hanging out and playing with bubbles.

We then went to the back of the park, hoping to squeeze in a ride on Mickey's Fun Wheel, a giant ferris wheel with cars that will swing around as the wheel turns. The line was deceptively long, and it took some effort to keep Joseph entertained.

Until we got to the end of the line, when Joseph learned it was fun to try and climb between the gate posts. After that ride, we learned that Dan had found front of the line passes to the new Toy Story ride, so we all hopped on. It's a great 3D ride where you pull a trigger to shoot at targets. It was so fun!

There was time for one more ride before Joseph was totally ready for bed, and luckily for him, another carousel was right next to the Toy Story ride.

Yes, I know I shouldn't have been laughing, but he was mouthing the pole like the kid in A Christmas Story and it was just too funny.

 Once again, after all of the kids were in bed, Jill and Gary stayed behind, so the big kids could go out for a nice dinner and hit Disneyland for the last few hours. We had such a great time!