A Jedi Kind of Day!

When we walked out in front of our hotel this morning, this is what we saw. Did I mention we got a really good rate on our hotel?

In all reality, they were at the hotel next door. And, while we did get a great rate, our hotel is actually relatively nice all things considered.

We watched the Princess and the Frog's Showboat Jubilee today.

And we spent some time on Tom Sawyer's Island.

The kids enjoyed it, but Rob LOVED it!

Seriously, he was like one over-grown kid darting around the island!

My favorite kiddo's surrounded by loot!

We camped out for the Jedi show once again, in hopes of Logan and/or Titus getting trained to be Jedi's. With some valiant effort on our parts, Logan, Titus AND Leeann got to go up today!

This guy was having a whole conversation with Titus and he wasn't paying any attention at all. He was fiddling with his Light Saber. It was funny!

Leeann took Titus under her wing and was showing him the way of the Jedi before he got on stage!

Logan got to fight Darth Vader! Several times today he said that he's really glad he got picked to be a Jedi. We were too, because we didn't want to camp out for any more Jedi shows. Don't get me wrong, it's a good show, we've just done it a time or two... or four..l

Leeann took her job very seriously today.

The force is strong with this one! He was the last to fight today and everyone in the crowd was cheering for him.

Probably because he's literally 1/2 the size of the rest of the kids fighting today. See, he's the one in the front left about 6 kids over, leaning out looking at...?

Proudly displaying their training certificates! Notice Leeann's shirt it says "Princess Leia Rocks!" Aunt Suzy made it!

A Goofy Family!

We met up briefly with Jonathan, Jocelyn, Emma, Josiah and Lucas today. We got to sit with them while watching the parade! Rob went to college with Jonathan at WBC.

The kids all bought glow stick light sabers today. It took Rob about 2 minutes to decide that he wanted one for himself too. So, when they got back to the hotel they turned off all the lights and had a little light saber action going on. It was fun!

The princess was asleep (or at least pretending to be), but the boys had a blast!

And I had fun taking pictures of the action :0)

Daily Recap:

Matterhorn (2x)

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Laughing Stock Comedy Show

Tiana's Riverboat Jubilee

Tom Sawyer's Island

Jedi Training Academy

Holiday Fantasy Parade

Pixar Play Parade

9 rides/attractions and 11,882 steps

Character Fun!

Today was a cold, wet, rainy, windy, icky day in Disneyland. We Oregonian's persevered however, and stuck with it until the cold bitter end. And, because of that we got to enjoy some awesome perks--like riding Soarin Over California twice, Toy Story Mania 5 times in a row, going through princess Fantasy Faire 3 times in a row and riding Splash Mountain twice--all with little to no wait! We did a few rides today, but mostly saw cool characters.

Leeann was demonstrating how to do the Toy Story Mania ride to Ariel who was inquiring about what rides Leeann went on today. So cute!

We ended up seeing virtually the same 3 princesses in Fantasy Faire the first two times we went through, but decided to hop back in line one final time and it paid off because we got to meet Tiana from Princess and the Frog! Her movie comes out this Friday, and we already got to meet her! The line is usually an hour wait or more, but we went through in about 10 minutes. Priceless!

Belle was great. We saw her three times within a half hour so she remembered Leeann real well, and was very, very sweet to her! She's my personal favorite :0)

Cinderella snuck in just as we were exiting, but she pulled Leeann over for a photo so we got a bonus princess that time!

After we met the princesses we scurried on over to Pixie Hollow to meet Tinkerbell and her friend Terrance. They were funny bantering back and forth. Tink asked Leeann what she's good at, such as drawing or coloring. Leeann thought for a second then looked up at her and said, "I'm good at helping people when they're hurt!" And that she is. She's such a sweet girl!

We decided to go on Splash Mountain today since we were already cold and soaked (and wearing poncho's). It was Suzy, Weston, Logan, Leeann and I. The kids did great... none of them were scared a bit! In fact, they begged us to do it again and since there was no one else in line the cast member let us stay on the log and go again. Brave, brave kiddos I tell you. I was not nearly as brave as them!

Today's Recap:

Soarin' Over California (2x)

Toy Story Mania (5x)

Turtle Talk with Crush

Disney Animation Studio

Train Ride

Princess Fantasy Faire (3x)

Pixie Hollow

Indiana Jones (Suzy, Rob and Leeann)

Jungle Cruise (Robyn, Weston, Titus, Logan and Landon)

Splash Mountain (2x)

Haunted Mansion (Rob, Titus and Landon)

19 rides/attractions and 11,874 steps

Disneyland--December 6th

Today was supposed to be a rest day, but we were given a couple of extra tickets so Rob, Leeann, Titus and I headed to the park for a 'bonus' day. Suzy and the boys spent some time with a friend of hers who lives down here. It was a pretty fun and relaxing day until the evening rolled around. There was a special event going on at Disneyland tonight and it was PACKED. We decided to head back to the hotel pretty early tonight.

It's crazy because I feel like we've already had an amazing fun-filled trip, and we still have 3 days left! I love Disneyland!

When we went back to Bug's Life Land today the first thing Titus did was run up to the stick to measure himself to make sure he was still tall enough to ride the bumper cars. This is one measuring stick he stands proud next to!
He loves this ride. Leeann and Titus were taunting each other in line, "I'm going to bump you so hard!" Of course they go like .5 miles an hour. Still, it's a fun ride because they get to drive cars! Um, I mean... bugs...

Posing for a picture with my princess.

When we got over to Soarin' Over California Titus begged me to take him over to the measuring stick to see if he was tall enough yet. In a 4 year-olds mind perhaps you can grow 4 inches in a day!

We came across Mr. Incredible just as he was taking off so we didn't get his signature or a picture with him, but we did get a picture of him!

Today's Recap:

Toy Story Mania

Golden Zephyr

Blue Sky Cellar

Ariel's Grotto (lunch with the princesses)

Flik's Bumper Cars

Lighting McQueen and Tow Mater

The last part of Hollywood Backlot

Monster's Inc.

Turtle Talk With Crush (Titus asked Crush a question even... "Where do clown fish live?")

9 Rides and 11,548 steps

More Disney Fun!

Last night Rob's great uncle Spencer went to dinner with us. It was such a special treat for the kids and I to meet him and for Rob and Suzy to see him again, as it's been many years. He lives down here and gave us a ride from the airport. I love hearing his stories, he's been on many grand adventures in his lifetime... I hope to hear more in the future, he was a lot of fun!

Today we met a special new friend... Minnie Mouse! All decked out in her Christmas best!

We taught Leeann how to use my camera today. She took this one of me after our Toy Story performance adventure. These next couple of shots are some that she took. We were trying to give her some opportunities to perfect her new skill!

She took some other pictures later (that turned out blurry, so they aren't posted here) and asked us to kiss again since we had kissed here. It was funny the way she said it, as if every set of pictures needed to end in a kiss!

Toy Story Mania!

Titus and I rode on Toy Story Mania today. It's the newest California Adventure ride and it was a lot of fun. We went there right when the park opened (along with several hundered other people who had the same bright idea). It was a relatively short wait when we first got there, but was a 40 minute wait by the time we got out. We'll try it again on another day. I was player 1 just in case you were wondering!

We met Woody!

The kids learned how to be toys in a little production with the little green army men from Toy Story. I even got to be in this one by banging a giant tamborine!

We were right in front of the show. I love being in the right place at the right time!

We also got to meet Jessie!

A Big Day for the Princess!

They both wanted to be chosen to be a Jedi so badly. They even had shirts (Suzy made these too!), but it wasn't enough this time.

Instead, the cute little princess was chosen. We were glad at least on of the kids got to be chosen! We'll try again to see if we can get the boys each a chance.

Leeann on stage, training to be a Jedi!

Darth Mal came super close to us. Scary looking if you ask me!

Leeann got to fight Darth Vader. It doesn't get much cooler than that!

This smile says it all. She was so proud! We were proud too, she did a great job!

Standing proud with her class of Padawan's!

And the princess dancing with the High School Musical Performance!

When you push your kids until after midnight you end up with this. He fell asleep on the shuttle and was out like a light. There was no waking this kiddo!

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Yesterday was a just plain crazy day. There were too many people! We spent the morning and early afternoon at the park then came back for a good rest. Then we hit I-Hop for dinner and headed back to the hotel. Our plan was to push the kids as long as they could go. They were troopers—we stayed until the park closed at midnight!

Because of the craziness we decided that we’d skip the park tomorrow too (we had planned to skip Monday). Even though the hours are shorter during the week, it is so much more pleasant with fewer people. And, there’s a lot less waiting in-line which is more enjoyable for everyone!

Yesterday was a big day for Leeann. She got to be a part of the Jedi training academy and also got to dance in the High School Musical performance!

Here’s a recap:

Buzz Lightyear
Jedi Training Academy
Honey I shrunk the Audience
Innoventions home of the future (Suzy and I got to play Guitar Hero!)
High School Musical Performance
(A nice rest at the hotel)
Finding Nemo Submarine Tour
Tarzan’s Treehouse
Jungle Cruise
Tiki Room
Star Tours
Astro Orbitor
Sleeping Beauty’s Castle
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
Mad Tea Party

15 rides/attractions and 14,603 steps!