California- Part 1 DISNEYLAND

*we ended up leaving on Tuesday evening (Sept 8th) around 7pm....quite a bit later than initially planned. Poor Jesse had some work problems that came up last minute that he had to take care of. I was also exhausted because I had worked the night before; leaving me awake for over 24 hours= cranky mommy. We almost cancelled our trip completely {thank heavens we didn't}. Because we left so late, we didn't arrive at our hotel until around 2am. Maddie and Eli both slept almost the entire way, but Robby was a different story. He had taken a late nap and slept until 5pm, so he was WIDE awake until around 10:30pm. We both thought that all three kids would be so tired that they would just stay asleep as we carried them inside. That didn't happen. Then we thought that surely with it being so late they would all lay down and go right back to sleep. Again, that didn't happen. We were laying down trying to get some shut eye and Robby was literally RUNNING around the hotel room. This of course kept Maddie and Eli wide awake and laughing. We finally resorted to plan B and set up the one man tent, zipping Robby inside that sucker and after 5 minutes of crying he layed down and went to sleep. But at this point the other two were still awake with Maddie starting to wander the room and Eli was totally busting up laughing in his pack'n'play. All Jesse and I could do was look at each other and laugh. Finally I resorted to climbing in bed with Maddie and around 4am we were all eventually asleep. Needless to say, we were all pretty tired the next morning.

*that morning we got up & ready for the day, sang happy birthday to Miss M, and had brought one present for her to open. Included in it were the sunglasses that accompanied us to Disneyland. We then loaded up the strollers and walked over to "the Happiest Place on Earth." We stayed in the Best Western right across the street, making it so convenient. Even though Robby was Mr Cranky to a T, we had a great time! Some of the highlights include riding Dumbo, spaceships, Autopia, Pirates, It's a Small World, etc; eating lunch in Toon Town; meeting 3 princesses with Miss M (even though we waited almost an hour= ripoff); watching the Celebration Parade in the evening.

*we ended up leaving right after the parade passed by Main Street and headed back to the hotel. All three kids fell asleep fairly quickly and we all entered dreamland by 10:30pm- HOORAY! *my three kidlets outside our hotel and READY for some fun!

*my cute hubby with the kids for a sunglasses photo* Maddie loved being able to wear a special pin for her birthday....if you can't tell :)

*all the employees at Disneyland would wish Maddie a happy birthday as we walked around. finally she turned to me and said "Mom, why does everyone know my name?" I never thought about how creepy that might be, to not understand how people would know this tid bit of information. After I showed her that her name was written on her pin, she was okay with it.*Mommy and the kids

*Maddie at the Sleeping Beauty castle...I had to practically drag her out of this one *Mommy riding the carousel with Maddie & Robby

*Dumbo ride: Robby had a really hard time waiting in line for this one. He kept yelling "my turn" when people would get off the ride and was trying to climb over the line dividers.

*It's a Small World

*snack size cheetos were a must at Disneyland *I think that this ride was probably the favorite for all three kids. They had updated it with more dancing people & they all looked around in amazement *riding the train

*we ate lunch at Toon Town, which consisted of Robby wandering around the entire time. even though we brought lots of snacks and juice boxes with us, we had to buy lunch. It was such a rip off and next time we will plan better :)*Mark Twains riverboat tour

*Tarzan's jungle playhouse; Jesse took the kids on this and I stayed with Eli as he snoozed in the stroller

jungle cruise; Robby totally jumped and hid when the piranha's came out of the water

*the infamous spinning teapots, or "puke" cups as I call them. Jesse was kind enough to take one for the team and ride this one with the kids*me & my little E; the big kids and Jesse went off and rode Autopia while we hung together. I ended up taking Robby & Madde back on Autopia for round 2 after they were finished. I think that it might have been the all-time favorite ride for Robby. He LOVED steering the car

*waiting in line for the princesses

*Maddie loved being able to meet some of them, but it was sad that you wait in line for such a long time and then only meet three. She kept asking me afterwards where Cinderella, Snow White & Sleeping Beauty were.

*Miss M with Jasmine *Ariel*Maddie was in heaven when she finally met Belle. she walked right up and proudly announced that Belle was her favorite. what a cutie pie!

*our 1 family picture

*I could eat this little guy up; that is how cute/smiley/cuddly/loveable her really is

*Robby pretty much gave me this look the entire day, we call it his "perma-scowl." this kid does NOT function well sleep-deprived.

*and lastly the kiddie spaceship ride. after this we got some dinner and only ate part before Robby had completely LOST it. So what to do? We packed up our food and headed out to watch the parade and then quickly walked back to the hotel.

a few tidbits I learned for next time:

*arrive much EARLIER in California= better sleep for the whole fam

*somehow find a way to bring the double stroller, it has so much more storage space and can hold all three kids- when needed; plus the seats recline for naptime and there is a canopy to shade kids

*if at all possible plan on 2 days at Disneyland so you aren't so rushed into fitting EVERYTHING in on one day

*stop at Subway and bring your own Subs for lunch