The happiest place on earth

We were so blessed to have the opportunity to take the family to Disneyland last week. It really is one of the happiest places on earth!

The whole family was so excited on the first day when both Jack and Tommy were selected for the Jedi Training Academy. If you want to know how to be sure that your little star wars fans get selected, simply have them hold up a bright-colored sign that says something like 'The force is strong with me' or 'Future Jedi right here'. (It worked for us!)

Here's Tommy listening carefully to the jedi master. They practice a series of moves before they took on Darth Vader himself. Tommy was very nervous, but nobody ever said that training to be a jedi would be easy.

Jack fought Darth Vader with total confidence. Maybe the force really is strong with him.

The Buzz Lightyear ride was a huge family favorite. I think we rode it at least 5 times over 3 days. And can you believe that we defeated the evil Zurg everytime?!?


Here's the family squinting from the bright sun. The weather was beautiful the whole time we were there.


Here's Grandma and Grandpa lookin' cool with the kids as we get ready to get on Toy Story's Midway Mania. This is an awesome ride that we had never been on before. It is over in California Adventure. You wear 3D glasses and play midway games while your on the ride. It was really cool!

I should mention here too, how awesome Grandma and Grandpa were to come along with us on this trip. They endured two 7-hour drives in the minivan, wet clothes from the river-rafting ride, many potty stops while at the park, and pushing strollers for miles, all with smiles on their faces. Never once did they complain when we did kiddie-rides over and over, and waited a while to get a character autograph and photo. Thank you, Gary and Chris!!!

Allie loves the Dumbo ride! I just love her smiles that we saw all week!

We had to get the family photo with Mickey!

Gadget's Go Coaster was another fun family ride. There was no line at all, so we rode it twice right in a row.

For some strange reason, this photo is so super precious to me. We were just hanging out on the porch at Minnie's house while we waited to get a photo with her. You can see vaguely in the background of this photo that Grandma and Grandpa are enjoying their coffee sitting by the fountain. But the image of my four kiddos just enjoying Disneyland is priceless to me. I hope that Disneyland will always be as special to them as it is to me.

Minnie's house is a fun place to check out. There are so many details that make it so interesting - that's true in all of Disneyland, not just Minnie's house.

We definitely had a great morning in ToonTown!

These two brave kiddos conquered Space Mountain! I don't think I did that til I was in high school. All four kiddos are way braver than I was at any of their ages - by far. I was especially excited to see how much fun Macy was having on some really wild rides! We even did Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Carribean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Indiana Jones! I'll ride with any of them on any ride any day!


This was on our walk to our hotel. We stayed at a hotel right across the crosswalk from Disneyland, so we went back there each day for lunch and naptime. It was a great way to re-energize!

On our last night there, we got to enjoy the fireworks show. It was absolutely fantastic! It was a great ending to a great trip.