DisneyLand - Part 3, Cars, Meeting Peter Pan, and Scaring Nanny

Our second day at DisneyLand we made a b-line for CarsLand! The line was long, but it was certainly worth the wait! Mayah was a bit scared of the 'race' portion, but enjoyed it otherwise. 

Here are the 2 oldest waiting in line for Radiator Springs. The line had some cool things to look at and get you ready to hit Route 66!

My Dad, Chiara, and I - front
Annoying guy videoing his family in the car next to us, David, and Mayah - back

We had not seen this sign since we went to CarsLand first thing, but when David, my Dad, and Chiara were on Tower of Terror and Mom and Mayah were on Soaring Over CA, the little ones and I heard an announcement!  I waited in the blazing sun for a while.....but it was WORTH IT!

Got lots of shots, but this was one of the better ones to see the Endeavor.  Such an awesome American moment that I am so happy all my girls were part of!

We went over to Disneyland and met up with Minnie.

Leah requested Dumbo. I sat with Mayah. Most boring Dumbo flight ever.  We learned this trip that Mayah is afraid of heights.  I think Mayah learned it too.  We stayed low, not so bad on Dumbo, but wait until you see what happens when you stay low on the rocket ships!

Poor Emma....we wore this kid OUT!  It was hot and she was tired.  Love that lower lip.

Mickey.  Emma was excited to see him, but kept her distance.

After leaving Toon Town we saw they were sectioning off for a parade.  We had not seen this one and wanted to get shade and a good view.  We asked a cast member where a good place to sit would be and to our surprise she blessed us with VIP seating tickets!  WOW!  We were able to go right to the roped off section at the beginning of the parade.  Awesome.  We met Sarah (above). She chatted it up with the girls....lots of talk of Peter Pan...hmmmmmm

Leah was hot and her legs were tired.  Nothing Nanny's snack mix can't fix!

This was Emma the ENTIRE parade!!!!  It was so cute.  

When the cast from Peter Pan came out Sarah came back over to Leah.  I must have snapped 20-30 pictures....

Peter Pan came over to Leah!!!!  He was pointing to Tinkerbelle and talking to Leah....

Here he is yelling to Tink to say hi to Leah because it is her birthday!!!  Tears of joy streaming down my face as I snap these pictures!  What a special moment to make her birthday extra special!

And of course...Tink waved back!!!

Then Sarah took us all over to the Peter Pan ride and we got right on!!! Blessings and joy. 

Like I said, on Dumbo low is not so bad, however the rocket ships tilt out if you stay low and the higher you are the less you feel that.  Well, Mayah stayed LOW.  Nanny's face on this is worth the entire trip for me.  Hilarious!

Our first trip David was on this with our, then, four year old Chiara.  Here he is with soon to be 4, Leah.  Love it.  She loved the ride and I think David enjoys it too!

One more day at Disney to come!

Disney-Part 2 (Continued)

Apparently, I had too many pictures for blogger on the first part of this post. If you want to read that just click here. 

 

Nanny and Leah getting whipped around! 

While Emma slept in the stroller Leah was dancing with DJ-the car and his crew.  So cute!  Nanny took these pictures for me.

The big girls met Red.

On the tire 'bumper car' type ride. Chiara is surely enjoying it!

We watched the Pixar Parade and this was the beginning of the wave. Emma was waving at everyone in the parade and enjoying every second of it.  It was such a cool moment.  Being only 15 months old you never know how much they will understand or participate.  This was certainly the beginning of her being just one of the girls!

Disneyland 2012 Part 2, Princesses and Upside down fun

I love going to Disneyland! Just about every person you see is happy-especially my sweet girls! Our first day was originally going to be a stop at CarsLand (in California Adventure side), but Leah (the birthday girl) decided there must be a carousel ride to start her celebration.  Nanny was thrilled!  So, we made our way into DisneyLand and headed to City Hall.

Leah got a phone call from Goofy and her Birthday pin. Little things, big joy.

As soon as we headed out of City Hall we saw him. DONALD.  We had not seen him in either of our prior two trips and the girls were so excited to meet him, get his autograph and picture.  Before leaving Donald, Chiara turned to him and said, "I have been waiting 3 years to meet you!"  Made Donald's day.  He grabbed her and gave her a duck kiss!  CUTE!

This picture just about sums up Emma's feelings towards the characters (except the princesses). It says- I want to see you, but stay back.

We happened to get off the carousel to learn that Rapunzel's line would be opening.  Woo Hoo!  A must see on this trip.  They were hilarious.  Just like you would imagine Rapunzel and Flynn together.

After seeing Rapunzel we let out another surprise within the surprise.  I had packed dress up and crowns from Nanny and we were headed to Ariel's Grotto for lunch!  Emma was already in a mood so we did not change her, but as you will see she went well with Ariel.

We had not dressed up when we came for Mayah's 4th Birthday celebration, so this just added to the fun!

All four. 

Cinderella came by to say hello. I love that Leah wore her crown from Nanny and her crown from the grotto! The entire time!

One of the attendants came by and asked Leah if he could sing her a birthday song.  With a big smile she said yes.  Here is how it went, "This is your birthday song!  It isn't very long!"  Hilarious.

Belle...she was so sweet that she came around later to say hi to Emma.

So sweet.

By the time Aurora came over Emma was out of her seat and being one of the big girls.  

Love.

Snow White. 

Since we were outside we could watch Goofy's Fountain Show.  Cool.  There were only a few other groups outside.  My three princesses with some others who came to watch.

After lunch Chiara asked if she could do on "Screaming California".  She was not tall enough for this a couple years ago and could not wait to try it out.  I think she is nuts, but I also love that she and her Dad can do things like this!  Makes it special.  I had not watched this ride before since David went on by himself.  They SHOOT you out from the start!  It is crazy and Chiara LOVED it!!!!  She went on another time immediately after getting off and then again our last day....more about that in Part 4!

Here they are upside down!  

Look at her face!  Total Joy!!!!!

We headed over to CarsLand to hang out for a bit.  The wait for Radiator Springs was long so we decided to do some other rides and wait for the big one the next morning. Here I am with Chiara and Mayah on Mater's Tractor Ride!

Nanny went on with Leah. 

This post is continued here.

DisneyLand-Part 1, The Road Trip Out

Surprising our girls takes a lot of work! Lots of sneaking around, working on things after they are in bed, and tons of whisper conversations. It is all worth it though to see the JOY on their faces and as Chiara says "Happy Tears"!It was a Wednesday morning and they thought Daddy was home to head off to the Chandler Train park to have some 'family time'.  When they got in the car, we had all packed, they each had Mickey Mouse ears on the seats (one's my parents got in 2008) and it took milliseconds for Chiara to figure it out!  I got it on video and will cherish the moment!  This trip was to celebrate Leah turning 4.  Her actual birthday is in November, but it is cheaper and warmer to go in September. (We learned that it is not always cooler though!)

We had a few more tricks up our sleeves, but nothing was to be revealed until it was time.  

We headed to Nanny and Grampy's house (of course that was Leah's first question-she wanted them with us!).  After a stop there we all headed to California!  Crossing the state line is exciting for the girls.  David did the countdown from three and even something little like that he made big.  Love it.

Our first surprise within the surprise was stopping in Cabazon at the World's Biggest Dinosaurs.  It was recommended by a friend and I am so glad we went. Mayah and Leah both like Dinosaurs-Leah is really into them right now.  There are huge dino's and moving one's too.  I love that it was all Creation-based information.  A little hidden gem and a great way to break up our road trip.

ROAR!

Digging for rocks to get a dino prize.

 

My Mom, me, and my Dad! I am so glad they come on this trip with us each time. 

Emma and Nanny panning for gems and fossils.

Roar! I'm a Dinosaur!

This was the T-Rex that we climbed up!!!!  To the teeth!!

All 4 girls got in

It was a nice view and just about the only breeze.

Our sweet Leah got a bit dehydrated (I think it was 104* or higher) and sick when we were done.  Poor girl.  Once we got her hydrated and asleep in the car we were on our way to Anaheim......