The week after my half marathon, the girls and I had a bit of relaxing fun (swimming, Hurricane Harbor, etc.) and also spent some time shopping, cleaning house, and generally getting ready to have company. Julie's family and Diane's family all drove down to Disneyland on Tuesday, June 21st. They stayed in a hotel right across the street from Disneyland, and spent a few days there playing.
The girls and I joined them for one day of Disneyland on Thursday, June 23rd. We woke up early to get ready and drove down as fast as we could (but, of course, there was awful traffic for more than half the drive ... even after you'd expect it to die down. You really can't predict LA traffic). We met them in Fantasyland and spent the day with them. It was way too much fun! Brooke and Makai were the absolute cutest! They love each other so much and are such good buddies that they had to spend every moment together. But not just together; they had to be holding hands, or walking with their arms around each other, or touching in some other way. Julie and I were cracking up all day watching them, and we couldn't get over how cute it was.
It was SO crowded at Disneyland that day, and fairly warm. So it was a little difficult to maneuver 3 strollers and upwards of 10 people (counting the littles). But, fortunately the lines for the rides we were going on weren't all that long. When you're doing Disneyland with little kids, and a couple of pregnant women, all you can really do are the little kid rides, and there usually aren't long lines for those ones. Camille loved Small World and the Carousel (we did each of those at least a couple of times); but that's about it. She didn't really love any of the other rides; but she also didn't hate them; she was just sort of like, "whatever" about everything else. Pirates of the Caribbean scared both her and Brooke a bit (although Brooke kept saying she loved it). Brooke loved almost every single ride (but we did really love the Winnie the Pooh ride. I think she went on that one 3 times). But I think she was just enjoying being with all the cousins.
I was sort of waiting for Camille to drop off to sleep; she seemed to be taking a really long time to do it. Then, we all went on the Haunted Mansion ride. Drew rode with me and Millie, and I just held Camille on my lap. I was a little bit nervous that it might be a little scary for Millie, even though she still doesn't have any concept of that spooky kind of scary. But I needn't have been worried. When we were at the end of the ride, getting ready to get off, I realized that she was fast asleep! It was a bit tricky transferring her to my shoulder, out into the sunshine, and then into her stroller, all the while keeping her asleep. But I managed it successfully, and she got, maybe, a 45 minute nap. I just couldn't get over her falling asleep in the Haunted Mansions, with me being all nervous for her!! Apparently it wasn't scary enough for her. :)
At the end of the day, after we'd done dinner at IHOP with the whole family, we all split up. Diane and I took Owen and the girls back to Disneyland, and the Dunnihoo family went to CA Adventure (I think Hou went to hang out with his sister at this point...). It was really a lot of fun just hanging out with Diane. The Dunnihoos are quite intense about their Disneyland trips. And there's nothing wrong with that, but it does sort of put the pressure on; and when there were times when we were standing around or waiting to make a decision, Diane and I felt a little anxious, feeling like Julie was unhappy about the time we were all wasting. So. While it is so fun to go with Julie and her family, it was kind of nice to be a little more relaxed at the end of the day. In addition to this, everyone was waiting and saving seating for the night parade, so there were almost no lines for rides! We hopped in line for the teacups, because that's Owen's favorite ride. Brooke was excited about trying out the teacups ... until we actually got inside one of the teacups, and then she started crying and saying she didn't want to do it. Diane and I were mean. We made her do it. I think we both knew that she'd love it if she tried it. And, of course, she did! We went on the teacups a couple of times after that!
We did a couple more rides with short lines in Fantasyland before the parade got going, and then tried to find a spot to watch it, which proved difficult, especially with little kids. I had Brooke on my shoulders and Millie in my arms for much of the time, which wasn't easy, and ended up leaving me sore for a couple of days.
It was a nightmare trying to get out of the park after the parade!! A full-on nightmare. People were cutting us off as we're pushing the strollers, not letting us through; Diane finally just cut her way through people, not even caring that she was cutting a bunch of people off, and I eventually had to follow her lead. It was awful.
We bought Dadda a little Goofy pen before saying goodbye and heading out. It took a really long time getting to the car, as well. And Brooke, poor thing, pooped her pants before we could get to a bathroom. Ah, well. Such is life. It was quite the adventure tackling Disneyland with the two girls by myself. And we did have a wonderful day there with our family.
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