Oregon Trip Day 3

We were so lucky to be able to visit with Molly and her family in Portland, plus she was kind enough to let us stay in her home! The girls LOVED spending time with their cousins! I love seeing my children get along with their extended family. They were so cute holding hands and calling each other friend. Makes my mama heart happy!

 The girls loved seeing the "giant cheese" at the Tillamook Cheese Factory! And the ice cream, of course, was absolutely delicious!

Even though the weather suddenly turned overcast and foggy, we still took a little time at the beach because all three girls LOVE the water. Aurora immediately fell in love with the ocean!

 When we pulled up, you could see much, much further past that rock island. Five minutes after taking this picture, you couldn't even see the island!

 

Basically, I need to live near the beach. I love these pictures, I loved this day, the girls loved their time there (and pretty much refused to leave). :D

Disneyland: Day 3, pt. 2

It took us over TWO HOURS to finally see Bert and Mary Poppins. INSANITY. Also, since they're supposed to be on a stroll, they never stop. So if you want pictures, you'd better run in front of them to get it!

 We learned that the Dapper Dans would be part of the Disneyland Band parade and show so we watched the beginning at the castle again but this time joined them as they marched back to the Main Street entrance. Following them meant we had a great view of all the characters and cast members in the show! Chip even came over to the girls to give them a high five. :D

  

The heat in the afternoon was crazy, crazy, crazy.We decided to find an air conditioned show and settled on the Frozen Sing-Along in California Adventure. As we walked over, we stumbled on the Newsies show (performed with Mickey Mouse) so we stopped to the girls could see him again. As the show was winding down, Minnie joined them for a moment, then went to a little area to meet friends. What luck! We hurried to her queue (and just made the cut off!) and learned that the outfit that Minnie is wearing is so expensive that she almost never makes appearances. Adelaide thought it was her lucky day to see Minnie twice--and in a pink dress this time! They were so happy!

The sing along was in a cute castle and had two "historians" sharing the story of Anna and Elsa. We were even visited by Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff! It turns out the male historian (far left in my picture) was one of the same guys from the Royal Theatre the day before and Clark and I were so pleased! That guy is seriously so talented.

After the show, Clark needed to change the baby's diaper, so he headed to the restroom while I took the girls to see Olaf a second time. Glad we did, because the lighting was better (hee!).

Sticking with the a/c theme, we remembered that we had wanted to take the girls to see "Turtle Talk" which is an interactive show with Crush from Finding Nemo. Adelaide loved sitting right where the turtle was and listening to him chat with people in the audience. Azucena was even willing to sit on the floor for the last few minutes of the show!

Just outside the turtle theater, Princess Sofia was meeting with friends! We got in line and the girls loved meeting her. They even told her that their pajama dresses are the same as hers (they have Sofia pajamas).

We began to head toward the Paradise Pier area of the park to try a few more attractions. Azucena had wanted to go on the Jumping Jellyfish the night before but it had just closed. Adelaide was upset that she couldn't go with her sister and father and it was a light struggle to keep her with me instead of climbing over the gate. Azucena really liked the ride, though. I don't know if it's because they're young or because they're nothing like me, but all three girls had zero trouble getting on the rides and being tossed around.

After the Jumping Jellyfish, we got in line for the Ferris Wheel. We had the option of being in a mobile cart or a stationary one. Bless Clark for letting me be in a stationary cart. I'm pretty sure my stomach could not have handled a moving one. Those things were crazy. Unfortunately, that meant a slightly longer wait (it was a 2:1 ratio) but the girls didn't do too terribly. And once we got inside and moving, they were enthralled. They kept saying things like, "we're up on top! Look at all the stuff down there!" Clark had a rough patch when we got near the top, but he was awesome and still smiled so I could get a picture of us.

Disneyland: Day 3, pt. 1

Thursday was our Magic Morning! As you can see from these pictures, TONS of people take advantage of the extra hour.

 We headed straight for Tomorrowland so we could get Fast Passes for Star Tours. Turns out, Star Tours doesn't open until the regular opening time. We went ahead and got on the Buzz Lightyear ride (where Clark kicked our trash with his 90,000+ points versus my 26,000 and the girls' 2,000) and then the rocket ride at the very front of the area. Soon, we found out that a scheduled update to the Star Tours ride had gone awry (they're starting to incorporate new Episode VII footage) and the ride would be closed until further notice. UGH. :(

We ended up looking at the map to see what rides were close and noticed that Finding Nemo's Submarine wasn't too far away and only had a five minute wait. We hustled the girls over and got on and the girls really enjoyed the fish and water and bubbles. Finding Nemo was Azucena's first movie and she has loved it for three years. I'm so glad we were able to get her on the ride!

After that, we looked at the wait times at Toon Town (because we still hadn't run into Minnie, Donald or Daisy) and saw that Minnie's house was just about to open and so her wait time should be minimal. We gathered up our things and headed that way. When we got to her house 15 minutes was posted and we got in line. The girls knew exactly where we were and kept saying it was their turn to see Minnie. It was all we could do to keep them with us in the line!

This. This picture. This moment sums up why I wanted to take the girls at this age to Disneyland.

 We spent a lot of time in Minnie's house. The girls loved looking around, sitting at the table, fiddling with everything. Even after walking out of the house, there was a patio area where they got distracted again and had to go over every detail. So dang cute! They sure do love Minnie!

After Minnie's home, we headed over to Donald's boat hoping that he would be home but, alas, he was not. We also tried to look up Daisy but apparently she just doesn't come around often; she wasn't on the docket any of our three days. Poor Adelaide! While checking out all that information and visiting the bathrooms to administer diaper changes, Clark saw that Star Tours was up and running so he ran back to Tomorrowland to get the Fast Passes while I gathered up the girls and everything else.

Clark was able to get the tickets, but they weren't for another hour and a half. So we went back to the carousel (the girls had asked for it again). Also, Clark mentioned that he had seen Bert and Mary Poppins while running and I just had to see them! It took about 45 minutes (and five cast members) to find out where they were supposed/going to be. Like, really, they're ninjas! While looking for them, we ended up in Frontierland again and decided to get another Dole Whip to cool off ourselves and the girls. Have I mentioned yet that Aurora would just suck it all down?! I don't know if it was the fact that it was something cold on a hot day or the flavor/sugar but that girl ate over half of my Dole Whip!

 Finally it was time to return to Star Tours! We headed back and Clark got to go in with Azucena first. (Actually, the plan had been for him to go by himself and all the girls to stay with me but as Azucena saw him walk into the building, she started to freak out and yell "Daddy! I want to go with you!" so that changed our plans immediately.) Adelaide, Aurora, and I headed into the Star Wars shop where the ride exits (of course) and looked around a little bit. When Clark and Azucena came out, I took her hand and we headed back to the main entrance. I was so excited to see R2 and C3P0!

 Azucena and I got to be on the very end. She was adorable. She had her headphones on, kept her 3D glasses on her face the entire ride, and held my hand, too. So. Dang. Cute.

Disneyland: Day 2, pt. 3

After getting off the boat, we headed to Critter Country for the Winnie the Pooh ride (which was mildly creepy but the girls LOVED it) and when we got off, it turned out that Tigger and Eeyore were outside! Adelaide was so excited but refused to bounce in front of Tigger. :/ Also, it was all one line so you had to see Tigger before seeing Eeyore.

After leaving Eeyore and picking up our stroller, we passed the queue again to see that Pooh had replaced Eeyore. No one was waiting to see him but I had a sneaking suspicion that you had to go through the giant line for Tigger again. The cast member confirmed that. The girls really wanted to see Pooh so I told them they'd just have to wave from where we were because we'd already seen Tigger and the line was even longer than the first time around. The girls were so sweet and waved and said "love you Pooh!" The cast member who was helping Pooh walked over to him and whispered something along the lines of "you have a moment to say hi and give hugs" and so he did! He walked over, gave each one a hug, and then waved as we walked away. They were ecstatic!

Since it's October, the Haunted Mansion is all done up in the style of the Nightmare Before Christmas. The line was ridiculous (the shortest time anytime we checked was over an hour) and there was no way I was going to make our children suffer through that, so I just took a couple of exterior shots for Nicoel.

We decided that we would go see the World of Color that evening, which meant spending time in California Adventure again! They are running an abbreviated version of the Broadway musical ALADDIN there so we went over to secure seats to that. There are three options: orchestra, mezzanine, and balcony. We chose mezzanine so as not to disturb the awesome people in the great seats but to have a better view than the balcony provides.

The production was AMAZING. Photography and video was allowed but I promised myself on this trip that I would try to experience everything rather than photograph it. I got a couple of shots of the cast taking bows and that's it. Great voices, good acting, aMAZing sets, fun gadgetry, such a good show! It made me really want to go to New York to see a few shows out there.

 We went ahead and visited Flik's Flyers again, too, because the girls had wanted to sit in the "sunshine" (raisin) box instead of the applesauce one from the day before. 

After that we headed to IHOP for dinner which was great because it turns out children under 12 eat free when an adult entree is purchased! What a great way for us to save money (thank heavens)! On our way back in, I checked in with a cast member trying to find out where we could watch World of Color from since we'd been unable to secure tickets. She told me to visit the Information Desk in California Adventure (which is called the Chamber of Commerce). I asked the cast member inside where would be best to sit and watch with three children. He asked how large our party was and excuses himself for a moment. When he came back, he had three tickets for us to go to the viewing area. I cried. We gave him one of our thank you notes. What a kind person!

The show did not disappoint either. WOW. What a spectacle! If you go to Disneyland, please see the show. It's outstanding.