The Ladies' Disneyland Trip

So I love Disneyland. Love it!! I've worked a deal with Ben that we get to go there every time our kids turn 5 to celebrate their birthday. This makes him happy because we don't have to go too often. This makes me happy because I always know it's not way too long until we can go again. This deal has worked great so far. Don't get me wrong, Ben doesn't hate Disneyland. He just doesn't love it like me and going with kids is not completely relaxing, as fun as it is. But, back to me loving Disneyland. I would honestly go as often as possible. My sister has a season pass and lives in Ogden. I don't think she's at all crazy and I'm even kind of jealous. But a deal's a deal and so every other yearish, we get to go to Disneyland. We're still a year out until Kade's birthday so a D-land trip seemed so far away. Except an exception came up....
My girls, Adrianne and Sara, and I got to talking a few years ago about how much we love Disneyland and how our supportive husbands just like Disneyland and how much fun it would be to go, just us girls, to that happy place. We talked about it for a year or so and I really honestly did not think it would pan out into actually happening. Awhile back we came to the realization that there might be a window where none of us was pregnant or nursing and that we'd be free to go. We all ran it by our super awesome husbands (who all had been on their own "man trips") and the dream became reality. We finally had an all girls trip to Disneyland!!!So we took off on a Wednesday around noon and headed straight down. We stopped twice-really just twice-once for a potty and once for gas and dinner! We were down there in like 9 hours. It was amazing! When we go with kids I think we stop about 5 times, at least, and every stop takes forever. It was so breezy. We were able to get down there quickly, pick up our tickets, and check into our motel, and get snoozing before too late.
The next morning was our first day at D-land. We went on our early pass which meant getting to D-land at 6:30 am. It was kind of crazy because we hadn't slept that much so we were all a little sleep happy all day long. We breezed through the parks (D-land & Cali Adventure). Not having to juggle kids, naps, potty breaks, etc., etc. was so easy!! We went on so many rides in just one day alone. It was awesome! My parents happened to be there at the same time so I got to see them for a bit at the Aladdin show which was fun. We had such a great day even though we were so pooped at the end of it. I'm sure we laughed a gagillion times-and it was those huge full body laughs-to the point that you're crying-laughs that are so good for you. It was great!!
The next day we slept in a bit and then headed to Cali Adventure when it opened. It was a good thing we had gotten in so much the first day because it was crowded!! There was a Cheerleading competition going on and there were cheerleaders everywhere! We were able to wrap most of the rides and start on seconds for everything. Two things that we got to see that haven't been at Disneyland forever were Captain E-O and the Main St. Electrical parade. It was super fun to see both. I mean, Captain E-O is just so cheesy that it's awesome! Also, I had forgotten how much I loved the parade, even if the music gets annoying after a half an hour. I'm glad we were able to see it because it is on it's way to Disneyworld in a few weeks and my kids are stoked that I filmed it for them to see too. That night, we headed back early to the hotel so we could sit in the hot tub. Again, we had a ton of laughing. In fact so much, that someone actually asked "What was that?" to my laugh. Kind of embarrassing....
**And well, here's were the pictures end. I was smart enough to get the first two days off my camera and put them on my laptop. The last day at Disneyland and some pics from our morning at the beach are now lost somewhere in Cali. Yup, I lost my camera. Bummer! I seriously don't know how because I know I had it when I got in the car after the beach and then we just drove home. But, needless to say, it's gone. The good thing is that we were all using our cameras to get shots of everything and we were planning on swapping them so I'll still get them from Adrianne and Sara (maybe I'll post more later) but since I'm impatient at posting this, just use your imagination for the rest!!**

The last day at Disneyland was super crowded! Joining the cheerleaders were a bunch of choir groups and it was a madhouse. We spent some time getting souvenirs for our kids so they would forgive us for heading to D-land without them. We were able to go on rides for the third or more times and left feeling like we had seen everything that we wanted to see and do. We had such a great time and it was sad to have to leave!!
The next day we packed up and headed to the beach for awhile. I think it was Huntington but we were being guided by Adrianne's OC surfer hubby, Spencer, via cell phone so I wasn't paying too much attention to where we were. We walked around for awhile and just soaked in the sun. It was like 81 degrees that day and just absolutely beautiful!! Have I mentioned that I just love, love, love the beach-even way more than Disneyland!?! Every time I'm there I dream of the day that I will live close enough to go there on a regular basis. It doesn't even need to be in So. Cal. I just want to live near the ocean. I don't know how to even describe my love for the beach, but it just feels like home to me. Some day, some day.
So it was hard to leave Cali and I always feel a little depressed about the whole thing but I had to head back. I couldn't convince Ben to pack up the kids and move down there and since I missed them all like crazy, I drove us home. It was bittersweet. We had such a great time!! I feel so lucky to have such good friends that I can feel totally comfortable and laugh so hard with. I totally lost my voice from laughing so much that weekend. We had the most fantastic time and we are definitely going to make this a tradition!!


P.S. I have to totally publicly thank and gush over my super awesome amazing husband who totally sacrificed for me to go on this. The weekend I went was a less than mellow one for him and yet he was happy to let me go enjoy some time with my girls. He had three birthday parties and a baby shower to take our kiddos to, along with just the craziness of our every day lives. Then on top of that, he had finals and grades to get done for his classes that he teaches. I am seriously the luckiest to have that man!! Thank you Ben!!!! You're the best!! Are you prepared for next year? You best be! Ha ha ha.