Disneyland, at last.

The day was finally here. We were going to Disneyland.

As we entered the park, Mickey Mouse and his little band just so happened to appear around the bend. I could not believe our good luck. The boys were in complete awe as they got to greet their beloved Mickey Mouse, who was conducting the band. Complete with drums. It was double perfection. And truth be told, I got a little teary-eyed. It was priceless.

The very first ride the boys went on was King Arthur's Carrousel. It is currently Calvin's favorite ride.

And the Merry-go-round is Finn's favorite ride too, along with Dumbo.

The boys LOVED flying high.

Calvin adopted a particular hand wave that day, as seen above.

Mom came with us the first day and was in charge of Ollie.

Ollie wasn't a huge fan of the Carrousel or Dumbo, but he was totally enraptured by "it's a small world", and was clapping during the ride. It was darling.

Introducing, our first ever shot posted as a family of 6!

We took a pit stop at Mark Twain's River Boat, and of course we had to take a bunch of shots of Twain!





Twain was a complete and total doll the entire trip. We barely heard a peep out of him.

As the day went on, it became more and more crowded, so we only went on a grand total of 6 rides the entire day. The final ride of the day was the Nemo Submarine.

The Nemo Submarine.

I was initially very excited to go on this ride. And yes, I totally neglected to read the warning sign --Do NOT ride if you are uncomfortable in enclosed spaces...blah, blah, blah. I have never really considered myself claustrophobic, so I would not have been phased by the warning anyway.

The lights inside the cabin dimmed as the submarine started its voyage. The water outside rushed by and bubbles appeared as our submarine sank to deeper levels.

And that is when I started to panic. I game myself a little pep talk. "Focus on the cute fishy holograms outside the little cabin window. This is fun. Wee!"

But what if we all drown? What if the submarine springs a leak and we can't all get out in time? What if? What if?

Oh look it's Dory and Marlin! This is a kiddy ride. This is fun!

As we started to go through the 'ring of fire', the music became loud and sinister. And that is when Calvin lost it. He burst into inconsolable petrified hysterics.

Into the mouth of the whale we went, and Calvin burst into another fit of hysterics.

Finally the sub came to a halt. The ride was over. And there we waited, in darkness. And waited. Even mom started to look uneasy.

Finally the lights flickered back on and I could not get out of that death trap fast enough.

Later mom informed me that the subs never go completely under water. "See?" she said pointing to the tidy line of subs passing by.

Heh. That would have helped to know. Silly me thought the ride was real. In my defense...forget it. I have no defense. I am hopeless.

At least Finn thought the ride was awesome. And I have to admit, if it wasn't for my claustrophobic episode, the ride would have been really neat.

It was getting late and we decided to call it a day. We were staying the night at the hotel and had another fun day of Disneyland ahead of us.

The sky grew dark as we started to wind our caravan of strollers through Fantasy Land. And that is when things got a little crazy.

The sky erupted into a series of loud booms, as the Halloween Screams Fireworks began, DIRECTLY above us.

It was SO loud that poor Calvin burst into terrified gasping sobs once again.

And it was not the fireworks that bothered me. It was the spooky cackling of the Disney villains that did me in.

We got away from the fireworks as fast as our legs could carry us.

Whew. What an adventure. And even though we had a rough time near the end, still nothing compares to the magic of seeing your kids' faces glow on their first trip to Disneyland.

And the next night, we actually enjoyed viewing the fireworks from the safety of Main Street, where you could not hear the cackling, spooky music. It's all pretty funny now.

And the next day was the most blissful, wonderful day ever. It was like night and day, compared to the first day.

It was not crowded. The wait for the lines was minimal.

And the weather was nice, cool and breezy.

John's parents were able to join us.

(riding the Jungle Cruise)

John and I decided that Calvin was the perfect age for Disneyland because he truly believed that everything was real. He had so much fun playing in Toon Town.

Another highlight was meeting Pluto.

Ollie was so, so excited to meet Pluto. He was completely giddy.

And here is the obligatory Castle picture, as per request of my sister Jessica.

(and yes I AM wearing white sneakers with a black shirt because my toes were going to fall right off in the black shoes I wore earlier).

And a special thanks to Angela, for giving me the idea to make the boys the Mickey tees.

Workers would randomly call my boys by name when they read their embroidered names on their tees. I'm sure my boys thought the workers had special powers for knowing their names.

As far as vacations go, it will be VERY hard to top Disneyland!

And HUGE ENORMOUS thanks to this sweetheart for helping make our trip possible!!!!!