SHIFLET SHOUT~OUTS!: California Here We Come!

So the day after our family reunion, we woke up, and decided that despite our exhaustion, and Jeff being sick, and my broken baby toe, that we were going to go to Disneyland! It would be our one last Summer horrah! We really wanted to do something fun with our own little family. So, we packed up, and left, and drove to Cali. We got there about 9:30pm, and spent the night in a hotel. Then Monday morning, we got up early, went to Denny's for breakfast, and then got on our shuttle to Disneyland. Now, you can't imagine how badly I wanted to take my kids. I grew up in So. Cal., so I went all the time as a kid. I also felt that Austin and Katelyn were at perfect ages to enjoy it, and even though Tyler would be hard to deal with, he was a member of the family, and therefore coming with us. Well....I was right and wrong! The best one out of the three was Tyler. He loved it! He didn't cry, fuss, fidget, he was so good, and loved everything. Austin was tall enough to go on just about everything, so we split up half the day, and Jeff took Austin on the big rides, and I stayed in Fantasyland with the smaller two. It was a little more than Austin bargained for. Katelyn was terrified of every ride, except for the ones in Fantasyland. We started on the Jungle Cruise (terrified), then the Pirates of the Caribbean (terrified). Then we let them climb Tarzan's Treehouse, which would have normally been fun for Katelyn, but she was so scared from the rides, that she was waiting for something bad to happen. So after that, we split up, and I took Katelyn to go meet the princesses, only to find a 2 1/2 hour wait! NO WAY! So, I got a shot of Cinderella way in the background, and Katie in front. Then I took Katelyn on all of the rides that she absolutely LOVED! Tyler and Katie had a ball on the everything else! Later that evening, we went to Tomorrow Land and rode the Buzz Lightyear ride, and the Autopia (which I still don't understand why that ride is popular, when in So. Cal. you sit in bad traffic all day), and we watched the parade, and later that night the Fireworks Spectacular! Okay, the fireworks show was supposed to start at 9pm. We decided to find a bench around 8 or so, and that I would stay there, while Jeff and Austin went to get us some food. While they were gone, people started pouring in around us, and were sitting on the ground right in front of our bench. There are ropes everywhere, you can barely turn around. The whole time Jeff is gone, Tyler is going nuts wanting to get down and run around, and I can't let him because it's too crowded. After about 45 min, Jeff comes back with the food, and I can just see on his face how irritated he is for the long wait, and the craziness around us. He walks up, and hands me the food, and Austin of course says "I have to go to the bathroom". So, Jeff had to fight the crowd again to take him to the bathroom. They come back, and Austin sits down, and immediately drops his Sprite, and it spills all over the place, and the people sitting there are ticked off. Austin is balling because he doesn't have his drink now, and Tyler has already eaten, and is going crazy again, and Katelyn falls asleep. They announce that the fireworks show is going to be delayed. Just then, Austin bites into his corndog, and said, "Mom, look, my tooth fell out!" He lost his tooth at Disneyland. After that, we tried to just laugh it all off, we were all tired, and questioning why we had done this, and then the fireworks finally started. They were really awesome. After that, we got our second wind, and ran back to Small World, got all of our Souvenirs, jumped on the train went over to Adventureland, and went inside the Haunted Mansion (abusive, I know) at 11:30 at night with scared kids. ("TOO BAD, We're Going") And then Jeff and Austin made a run for Splash Mountain, which had been broken down half the day. I was standing there watching all of these boats come out, listening to the screams, looking for the 2 red shirts of my guys, and I kept thinking after a while, maybe I missed them. Then I heard it. I heard it loud and clear, and I KNEW it was Austin. I can't scream that loud! About 10 minutes later, Jeff comes walking out with something in his hand. He said "I've never bought one of these before, but I couldn't resist, the faces are too good!" You'll see what he meant in the last picture.

Our 1st night in the hotel

Main Street!

Jungle Cruise.....Daddy smilin', Tyler smilin'...

See Mom...I'm not scared....I'm smilin'

Did I just hear a crocodile??????

"Mommy, this is too scary for me"

(exact quote)

The 3 Happy Pirates!

"Mommy, can we go home after we see the Pirates?"

Tarzan's Treehouse

Me: "Pretend to be Gorillas"

They immediately made the noises, while trying not to move! Too Scary!

Austin happily poses while Katelyn says

"I don't want that Chipmunk to touch me"

Finally, a sincere smile. I promised her a picture with Cinderella, and I got one without having to wait the 2 hours! Yea!

Katie's favorite thing in the world to do...

now Tyler's too!

Katie picked the yellow teacup!

Peter Pan's Adventure!

Mr. Toad and Katie (not the best pic, but I only had about 2 seconds to take it!)

Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down!

Katie picked the pink Flying Dumbo!

It's a small world after all!!!

Waiting for Autopia!

Okay, I know this pic is blurry, but I promised Austin that I would get a pic of him on the Matterhorn, and this is the least blurry one I got! (Bad photography, I know)!

Austin took this pic of me, Jeff and TyTy

I guess there was enough fear reserved for the scariest ride ever....Alice in Wonderland!

I love it!

Time for silly faces!

I know, Jeff's is better!

Katie got her mouse ears!

Okay, you know on Small World, how they have all of those bushes that are trimmed to look exactly like different animals, well there was a bear bush behind Austin, which is too dark to see, but he was imitating it.