8 1/2 YEARS, WELL WORTH THE WAIT!

The time is finally upon us. Jared gets a sabbatical every 7 years at Intel and he finally took his (a year and a half late but worth the wait for sure). Jared and I decided that we wanted to take the family on a vacation because we haven't been on one since Emma was 3 years old. It was a struggle in many different ways to get there but we did, we made our dream vacation a reality.In the end we decided to leave the twins at home with my parents for many reasons but the key one being that the other 2 haven't gotten to do much because I have either been pregnant and unable to do things or we have had 2 babies and life just hasn't allowed us to yet so we decided to take the older 2 and give them our undivided, much deserved attention. People have asked, "did you miss the babies?" After they pulled away in my dad's car, I went in the house and cried but then once we arrived at Disneyland we were so busy there wasn't much time to be sad and before we knew it, we were home again and squeezing on them.I have said I use a lot of pictures but this time I really mean it so consider yourself warned :)In no particular order...Tuesday morning the day started off at Ariel's Grotto. It was a breakfast where Emma got to eat and meet 6 different Princesses and she was in complete Heaven! (I think this might be the last trip we are giddy for Princesses so it was fun to go out with a bang!)
The family at breakfastJasmine and EmmaEmma and ArielBelle and Emma Sleeping Beauty and Emma Snow White and Emma Cinderella and Emma Eli loved going on this ride because he knew when it was over he could get us to take him to the Buzz Lightyear ride This is our conversation on the Pirates ride.
"Mommy, what's a wench?"
"uh, ask daddy."
"a person who serves you"
"oh so mommy is like our wench cause she serves us!"This is how you could find Bubbas every night - fast asleep with all his action figures (it didn't even bother him that Buzz had his foot in Elias' mouth). We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and as soon as we got our room key we turned around and Goofy was waiting there to greet Emma and Eli, she loved it, Eli...not so much Jared and Emma riding Splash Mountain (they are the 2 in the back) Wednesday morning we were lucky enough to get into Toon Town an hour before the rest of the people so we walked in and after meeting Mickey and a few other characters it was time for the show when Mickey and the Mayor of Toon town pick a family to become "Honorary Toon Town Citizens" for the day. We got lucky again and were picked as the family to go up on stage and hang out with some fun characters in front of everyone Check out the look on Emma's face, that is pure happiness Taking the Toon Town oathEli fascinated with Mickey and Minnie talking to him Because we got into Toon Town an hour early we were able to ride the rides before it got crowded so we went on the red Toon Town rollercoaster over and over and over (4 times in a row...as soon as we got off Eli would tell us "mo, mo" and would run and get in line again) Look at my kiddos in the front row and then look at me in the 4th row, some people decided they didn't have a clue as to what was going on and somehow got in between us I just love the happiness on their faces Aunt Randi told us we had to find Cruella DeVille while we were there and mission accomplished...we found her on our way out of the park to head home Eli would make a chomping sound and puff out his cheeks every time we passed by the food on Heimlich's ride in CA Adventure Emma finally got to meet Tinkerbell and Silvermist, her 2 favorite fairies A little known fact about our family, on our last month of Clomid and steroids before we went in to do IVF, Jared and I went to Disneyland to celebrate his 30th birthday, that's where we got our best souvenir ever...Elias...we named him after the man himself...Walt Elias Disney as a small tribute for our little boy. We made Elias take a picture in front of Walt Disney so he would know who he was named after...he wasn't as excited about it as we were Eli's favorite ride...Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin Emma and Eli loved going to all the 3D shows, he was a bit braver than Emma was - she got a little bit too into them :) The 3 of us and Captain Hook Minnie Mouse and the family Elastic Girl and Mr. Incredible Daddy and Emma on Tower of Terror (they are in the back corner). Emma looks like she is enjoying herself but the picture was taken during the little drop, after the big drop and her body came off of the seat she left the ride in tears Eli loved going on the Jungle Cruise and pointing out all the animals and making animal noises (ask him what a dinosaur says...he makes the monkey noise) Eli's now second love in life...Lightning McQueen and Mater Elias even got to wash Lightning McQueen Emma and me on Splash Mountain (we are in the back but check out our lady in the front) We thought she didn't exist in Disneyland, we were wrong. Emma and Pocahontas Emma, Mad Hatter and Alice in Wonderland (they were trying to escape but they stayed for an autograph and photo with Emma) Us standing in front of Pirates of the Caribbean. When we came out of the ride our stroller was missing, I haven't forgotten where I left it the entire trip so why would I our last day? We looked and looked for it and couldn't find it and then we thought we spotted it so we went over to it. There it was, a blue umbrella stroller with the shade thing connected to the stroller and the kirkland water bottles in the net bag but the net bag was all twisted so I decided a cast member moved my stroller but upon further inspection we discovered that someone took our stroller by mistake. They left us almost the exact same stroller except their shade cover is annoying, they cheated us 1 water bottle and they were warm, they took my list of the things to do our last day and their stroller is ripping...but other than that...pretty much the same one. We wish we could have been there when they realized what they had done...I hope they enjoyed my list, my cold waters and basically a slightly better stroller...actually now that I think about it, they probably switched on purpose, ha ha Eli, Mommy and Pooh Bear, I believe he actually touched this character with his pointer finger which is a huge step for him The famous Castle aka The House, as Elias called it What?! Is that a smile on Elias' face next to Woody and Jesse?! Daddy and Bubbas in the Dumbo ride The family and Pluto My favorite part, each day Elias would crash in my arms, man I love this kid Emma loved every ride that had to do with water. I am not sure what the point of doing her hair every morning was because by lunch time it was ruined by the water rides. Here she is on the Rapids ride Awh the Churros! Thanks Aunt Randi and Uncle Mike for letting us get Churros everyday and lovin' every sweet moment of it The kiddos and the mouse himself, Mickey Mouse Daddy and Elias on Autopia (notice Buzz in his hands, that thing has been everywhere with him, on rides, in the bath, to bed, he ate dinner with him, etc...Buzz, his new love) Elias crashed as we were leaving Disneyland headed to our car to go home. We had a great trip and are so grateful for the chance we had to come on this vacation. A special thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Rodgers for watching the twins for us!