The Happiest Trip on Earth

We pulled the kids out of school a few weeks ago to take on So Cal with the Stephenson family. It was so much fun. We all loved being together and there couldn't be a better place.
On our days NOT at Disneyland, we went to Newport Beach, or as we like to call it:
HOME.
What's not to love about the beach? Our first day there was one of the best beach days of my life. Sunny, warm, just a slight breeze, great waves, and no jellyfish. The kids all found a million things to do and I got a little reading done.
This year at Disneyland, Kelly and I sort of thought that the older girls wouldn't be so interested in meeting the characters. Boy, were we wrong! They actually waited in line with us to meet Rapunzel, an hour wait. I can't believe that I'm admitting that we waited in line that long to meet a princess. Please tell me that your kids are impressed by this picture... please.


This Ariel was so pretty that Kelly almost wanted a picture with her.
We went to the World of Color show at California Adventure. It was, in true Disney style, amazing. All color looks faded after that and I'm pretty sure that's just what Disney wants us to think.
We waited in line for Space Mountain, which opened for Halloween while we were there. It was absolutely terrifying. Daisy loved it.
I could hardly believe that Daisy was tall enough to go on every ride in the park. It was awesome!

There were so many disappointed men coming out of the Tinkerbell Fairy place. I understood the minute I saw her new outfit. No more strapless mini dress. Fortunately, Lucy didn't care.
We are such dorks, even in public.
Daisy on the teacups. I could barely make it through the ride. So dizzy!
We ate dinner at the park only one night and we let the girls choose their dinner. Many of us ate corn dogs as big as our arms. Lizzie chose a Mickey pretzel, and Anna chose the giant turkey leg [shudder].

We finished the trip with one final day at the beach. The perfect way to take in the best of Southern California before returning to Appleton, where it has not gotten above 60 degrees since we've been home.
If you look closely at Lucy in any of the above pictures, you may notice the stitches in her eye. Here's what I think happened:
Somewhere in his life, someone told Kelly that they hoped he would have kids just like him. That's the only reason I can imagine for the fact that three of our four girls have been stitched. Lucy's happened the day before we left for CA when she slipped on a stair and hit her eye. I had a picture that Kelly snapped at the hospital, but censored it because I figured that blood and princesses are completely incongruous. Also, it was a bit graphic. But really, if we have to visit the ER one more time, I will seriously consider making all the girls wear helmets. Everywhere they go.

Clearly, we exhausted the girls on the trip. Kelly and I are so glad to be finished with the days of flying with an infant. I read and did sudoku and Kelly napped. Ahhh...
It helped that we took Lucy's five-point harness carseat on the plane so not only was she captive but she slept. Awesome!