The Mouse's House! Disneyland 2009

We spent 5 days of pure fun at Disneyland! Beautiful weather, no lines, family, and a ton of fun! The Lesyk family and Bubby were there too, which made the trip even better. Natalie stayed behind to enjoy a week with Mema and Pepa.

Below are some of the highlights...

• The trip was full of "firsts" for Peter. This was the first time he had been on an airplane...which he LOVED! We were a little worried taking him to Disneyland because prior to the trip, he was terrified of carrousels. He quickly got over that and had a great time on the rides. He's a brave little 3 year old boy! He went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Go Go Coaster, and his two favorites...the Teacups and Dumbo.

• We let all of the kids pick their own Mickey Ears. Their personalities really came out in the process! Peter chose pirate ears, Luke chose Fantasia ears (which he said looks like a party hat), Isaac chose a tie-dyed hat with crazy ears, and Reiley chose princess! All, absolutely adorable!

• Bubby proved to be extremely brave and went on Screamin' California, Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, and took the kids on the Teacups more times than I can count.

• Luke had a love/hate relationship with some of the bigger rides. We are proud of him for trying so many things including Grizzly River Run, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad and more. He's not a big fan of roller coasters and anything that "drops" in the dark. But, he LOVED Star Tours, Haunted Mansion, Soarin' California, etc.

• The highlight of Luke's trip was being chosen to be a young Padawan at the Jedi Training Academy. For any of you who are thinking that this is some silly Disneyland thing, don't be deceived. Luke was chosen, trained, and defeated Darth Maul, all within about a 20 minute time-frame. This is serious business to him and he informed me today that he is able to perform Jedi hand-push. I'm scared. Take a peek at the Jedi in action below.

• We are the Stewarts, which means that our trip wouldn't be complete without something that humbles our parenting egos or puts someone in the emergency room. Lucky for us, we escaped without any injuries, but not without a chink in our parenting armor. So, here's how the story goes...we are enjoying a nice lunch on a patio at a restaurant in the park. Disneyland was not busy, and there were very few other people eating. The kids were sitting at a different table and we weren't being quite as attentive as we should have been. Peter kept getting off of his chair and chasing little birds around. I was mid sentence talking with the adults when out of the corner of my eye I saw something HORRIFYING! It was two little white buns, in all their glory, for all of Disneyland to see. I screamed and Aaron went running, but it was too late. There was Peter, going potty in a little garden on the restaurant patio. As if this isn't bad enough, he was standing directly in front of a window and there are two people, probably in their mid 70's, with horrified looks on their faces, watching our son relieve himself, right by their lunch table. Their reaction made us laugh until we cried. I was expecting Disney security to show up any minute and kick us out of the park. What is wrong with this child??? Well obviously something, because he pulled that move again, but this time on a tree on main street of California Adventure...in my defense, Aaron and I were on a ride and he was in the care of some of our above mentioned family members. Needless to say, we watched him like a hawk after that and tightened his little pants until it was impossible for him to remove them on his own. Ahhhh the glamorous life of a parent!

• Overall, the trip was incredible and we will hang on to the memories and smiles until we can go back again.

Here are some fun pictures from our trip...