Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Small world & friends part 3

"My heart is soooo happy!"


On to the final installment of our most recent trip to Disneyland with Days 4 - 7 of our combined family vacation with the Siapnos.

Day 4

It was a rough start getting out of the hotel that day. Both adults and children seemed crankier than usual and Gerald and I had a spousal spat that morning. Thankfully we were able to quickly put it behind us and on our way to the elevator, Gerald and Paul were talking about getting "Daddy Juice" at the Park. Code for "Alcohol." I said "Hey, mommies need juice too!" On our way to the park we stopped by "Bar Louie." We wheeled in our strollers and tots and downed our drinks (only 1 drink per adult, I believe ;D) My fellow juicers were not keen on taking pictures so I did not take any. But boy, did we have a jolly-ole-time on our walk to California Adventure, lol ;D

We juiced up here :)
We got to California Adventure and were greeted with wonderful SoCal weather. As the day progressed it got hotter and it felt like the barometer hit the mid 90's. For me, that is too hot and I whittled away very quickly.






Go Mickey, get busy 
The rest of the Brigade were riding a couple of rides and we all met up to watch Mickey and his dance troupe. Whoever got in that Mickey get up must be a hot stinking mess after all that dancing, but anyhoo, it was very entertaining and shortly after, we stood in line to get a picture with the big mouse.


Gigi a little shy


You were worth the wait Mickey!

We found an air-conditioned-haven inside the Sorcerer's Workshop where I rested while Gerald looked after the kiddies. He too agreed that it was too hot to walk around outside so we stayed in and explored the area.


Inside Beast's Lair..nice and cozy w/ the AC
"I'm a big girl mommy!"


A personalized storybook activity 


"Cheeeeeese!"



Ursula's Lair..so fun!


Our family honed our acting and singing skills :)
It was time to feed Gavin and we found an area to relax and take a couple of family-self-portraits. They turned out pretty good:













The sun set and a nice evening breeze set in. No need for a sweater, it was the perfect weather to be out and about at night. We walked to Downtown Disney and had dinner at the Jazz Kitchen. I remember the food being fairly good the last time we were there but this time around the food was ok. We even had the bread pudding that took forever to make and that again was..ok. I would suggest dining elsewhere. We did do something very special after dinner. We purchased Gigi's Belle outfit for the next day and she was ecstatic..and so were we!! We decided that the next day was going to be all about the Princess experience :)

We also ran into Mike, Caitlin, & Mikaela and of course took a quick picture with them :)




Day 5

While Christina did homework and studied for a test, Paul took Chloe & Lizzie to a movie and Gerald and I took Ben with us to the Magic Kingdom. The lines to see the princesses are usually pretty long so I wanted to do the princess-thing first thing in the morning. Gerald took Ben and Gigi to "The Royal Coronation" where the kiddies sang, danced, curtsied, bowed, and pledged that they would uphold their Princess/Prince-ly duties  while Gavin and I stood in line for the Princesses Meet & Greet.



Princess galore


...and more..

"I promise to uphold all my duties as Princess to the very best of my abilities..."
Arent we just precious!?!?

I searched all over for a Prince or Knight costume for Ben and they (Disneyland) did not sell them. Apparently dressing up is all about the Princesses. The best we could do was the above pictured Shield and Sword get-up. 

Then, it was time to meet the Princesses.

First up was Princess Tiana:


Brave Ben

Gigi really "gets" the whole princess phenomena now

Then *pause for effect* Princess Belle. Our fave!

I swear the woman who played Belle was spectacular!!!!!! Not only was she beautiful, gracious, and warm toward Gigi, but she spent so much time with us dancing, twirling, applauding, autographing, hugging, etc. that she literally held the line up! It was probably because Gigi said, "Belle, I love you. You're my favorite Princess everrrr!" And also, at her best, my little girl can be quite the charmer : )  As a girly-girl mother, I was in Princess heaven..floating..I was so happy! My girlish, princess dreams for my daughter all came true that day! 


Fairy tale-dreams do come true!








Here are more pics:








Then Ariel:



"Where's her fin?"




Ben passed up on Ariel, but gallantly stood for this solo pic :)

Then Cinderella:



Then a miscellaneous maiden and sir:

Ben, "I'm not used to taking soooo many pictures..I'm tired"

Gigi, "Are we suppose to fly now?"

 Then, story time with Sleeping Beauty:



The kiddies' and adults' tummies grumbled so we got some lunch. After lunch Gerald took Gigi and Ben to small world one more time. After that we got some sugary treats and headed to Fantasy Land to meet up with a dear friend, Marvin, and his family.

Our little ones

A dear friend and my birthday twin!
 After Fantasyland, we were on our way to see Star Wars but Ben was pooped and napped in his stroller. Gavin was already napping and when Gerald and Gigi returned from a ride, she conked out too. We decided it was a good time to head back to the hotel while the kiddies napped.

Later that evening the daddies looked over the kiddies while the mommies had a night out. Josey got to our hotel at about 6:30 pm and we decided to walk around Anaheim's Gardenwalk. Christina wanted to check out this store and we spent about an hour shopping there! I forget the name of the place but it had an H&M'ish SoCal flavor. I swear I LOVE SoCal fashion! It's so much more alive and hip that what NorCal has to offer :) I purchased a caplet, belt, headband, & shoes. Josey got a hip little flowered top and Christina got a colorful tunic and some flattering skinny jeans. We decided to "wear" out our purchases and strutted our new stuff!! LOL. It was so fun ;D


We decided to go back to Bar Louie since they were so nice and non-judgmental when we went there yesterday morning with the kiddies and all ;D The three of us had dinner and talked like tried and true friends do: from the heart :) We all benefited from our "girl time" and promised to pencil it in when either of us were in town. We ended the night with great big hugs, love yous, and conked out with our hubbies and kiddies.

Day 6:

The Siapnos left that day and it was a flurry of activity getting things packed. Here's a pic of Gigi & Ben's last breakfast together :) They're so cute!


After our roomies left, Gerald went to the gym and worked out. When he returned, I went for a  4 mile jog around the Disneyland/Downtown Disney area and found that the House of Blues was having a Reggae Brunch the next day.


When I returned from running, we took the kiddies to the pool one last time =)


We made a Target run that evening for formula, water, and got some microwaveable items that we ate while we watched Fringe back at the hotel. We conked out early, ready to go home the next day.

Day 7

Travel day usually has some built in stress to it. Gathering everything together, packing, cleaning (to me) is so anti-climatic and not fun. Then you add all the gear you've accumulated on top of the kiddie gear you've got, and its almost makes you want to scream (me at least.) Good thing Gerald is proficient at packing and decluttering without getting overwhelmed like I do. Go babe, you rock! Our last hoorah was at the House of Blues where we had Reggae Brunch and it was phenomenal! 

Gavin & Gerald (male bonding)

Fried chicken & waffles : chocolate chip pancakes and fried chicken..yummm!



That's all folks, 





Disneyland is all about magic. Our daily lives can be dull if we don't believe in the magic found in daily living. We adults need to remind ourselves to think and feel with our hearts where our inner child resides, make peace with whatever inner demons we have, and the inevitable will happen.

*Our very own happy ending*



Have a charmed & blessed week all!! :) = ) ;D

2 comments:

  1. Love this post!!!
    It's Helen :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Helen! What happened to your blog? Last week the sitevwas up but all entries were gone. This week it's just GONE :( *major sad face*

    ReplyDelete