Disneyland!

Disneyland!  I have to begin by telling you how much this trip meant to me.  Ryan and I both have wanted to go to Disneyland for a long time - well at least since we had kids.  But the time wasn't right I guess because it never felt like the right time.  Three years ago I had my cape business.  I was having pregnancy problems and decided I would keep working until we had enough money to go.  But pregnancy problems increased and that goal wasn't realized.  

I have been happy to see friends and family go but inside my heart ached every time I heard of someone else taking that trip.  I guess you could call it envy - I just longed and longed for the opportunity, especially since my oldest is almost 14 years old and we had missed the "magical" age for most of the kids.  It seems as time went by my heart ached more and more.

About a year ago we changed budget strategies.  When tax time came around this year, we decided that the time was right to spend some of that tax money on this trip.  It is also our 15th anniversary on April 8th and instead of Ryan and I doing something fun, we thought doing this vacation as a family would be better.  It just felt like the right time for us as we really put a lot of thought into spending that much money on this trip.

So, this is our families first official vacation!  (I consider trips visiting family not really a vacation.)  I guess we did have a little vacation a couple years ago and went to Dinosaurland.  So maybe this is our second official vacation.  :)

We stayed with my Aunt Luise and Uncle Van.  My magnificent friend Christie made our family matching shirts which we wore every day at Disneyland and saved my sanity!!!  

First day - we just walked into the park.  It was almost 90 degrees that day!

Me and my sweetie!

One of my kids favorite rides - Grizzly Mountain on California Adventure side.

Matthew's favorite ride.

Me and my great girls at the Bugs life part of the park.

Me and my Brandon.

Outside another favorite ride - Thunder Mountain

Jake and Rachael getting ready for Thunder Mountain.

Silly girls!  This was at the Bugs Life 4D adventure that was AWESOME!

Okay, my favorite picture.  This was my souvenir - a 5 x 7 of this ride.  My aunt came the first day with us so we got to go on this ride together.  I love the sheer emotion on my little boys' faces - especially Cameron.  This picture makes me laugh every time I see it.