The Happiest Place on Earth!!

Well I think I am still on a Disneyland "high" because each time I think about or talk about our trip I just get soooo happy! We had the BEST time imaginable....Travis is probably laughing at the fact that I am saying that. He just couldn't understand how this trip was considered a "vacation". He had fun too....just won't admit it like the rest of us.

We drove to Cali on Friday, did Disneyland from 10am-8pm on Saturday, ran the Half Marathon on Sunday morning then did California Adventure from noon-10pm, and headed home on Monday. Relaxing? No.....So much fun??? YES!!!!

OK so I posted the wrong pic of the family but did not want to start all over again to get the one with Ella looking at the camera....we do have one though.

Ella was sooo hesitant as we walked into the park....she has a panick attack every time she sees a character of any sort, whether it be Pluto or Mary Poppins. It took her a while to realize that they wouldn't be around all day. In a good way, her anxiety cut down on a lot of wait time....no waiting in line at the Princess Fantasy Faire or to see Rapunzel and Flynn. She (nor really any of us) would dare go on a scary ride...so that helped with timing too. We were so relaxed the whole time and just followed her lead.

Ella is OBSESSED with elephants and couldn't wait to ride Dumbo.

But first she had to go on the Tea Cups....luckily Memaw was willing to take her since her lame parents can't stomach rides like these.

While Ella was on the teapcups, Mimi and Papa waited in line for Dumbo and they took Ella and Jonah. Both loved it.

A dream come true for Ella....

And then it was off the Casey Jr Train (the Little Engine that could from Dumbo)

And by about 2:00, Jonah was toast. We took him on It's A Small World and then Trav and Greg took him back to the hotel so they could ALL nap.

The crazy crew...Ella LOVED the "small world" ride....which made me happy since it was my favorite ride as a kid.

She and I went on it twice...

This look gives away her emotion for the whole weekend.....she was in pure bliss.

Toon Town....

The "Soundsational" Parade was spectacular.....gave Ella the chance to see all the characters without the fear of having a heart attack.

Ariel waved right at us!!!!

Mimi and Papa loved spending the day with their little princess....

And of course, they each got their own set of personalized Mickey/Minnie ears.

It has taken a few days to detach from the his best friend "the Pacifier"...it was his saving grace through this busy, off-routine, trip...and I am thankful for that!

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Sunday morning, my mom and I were up at 4:15am for the Disneyland Half-Marathon. What an AMAZING race....it was a lot of fun; very motivating but very crowded - which made way for some slow running. But that's ok cause we had a blast!

Donning our oh-so-cute Minnie tees...

Success....we finished strong and kinda can't wait for next year!

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Who hasn't ridden on one of their parent's shoulders at Disneyland???

Once again, by mid afternoon Jonah was toast and graciously, Mary and Greg took him back to the hotel for a nice long nap. That gave Ella and us the chance to see "Aladdin" live on stage. What a great show!

Three generations at Disney.

Ok so since Ella was so petrified of the characters, we didn't really scope out any. As we were walking into Bugs Land, we spotted Chip and Dale doing photo ops and signing autographs so I stood in the short line and got Ella, what she apparently always wanted, an autograph. She stood about 100 feet away and just watched but then talked and talked and talked about how she got their autograph. Funny, I would have done the exact same thing as a kid.....luckily I became a little braver as I grew up.

daddy and ella on the bumper cars

mommy and ella on the spinning lady bugs....as said before, I DO NOT stomach these rides well and I am not sure what I was thinking going on this other than that I knew Ella wanted to and there wasn't a grandparent in sight. I seriously felt horrible for about an hour after this 3 minute ride.

And then we come to The World of Color.....such a perfect way to end our Disney adventures. It was a magical experience to say the least. Ella and Jonah both loved it and it even brought tears to my eyes because it was soo good (well that and the fact that they showed when Mufasa died on Lion King and I cry every time I see that part).

Just mesmerized....it is all she keeps talking about.

This was our view of the back of CA Adventure from our hotel balcony. Miss Mary got us the presidential suite at the Hilton for the weekend.....score!!

Our dining room and living room....

Half of our balcony. We had a perfect view of the Disneyland fireworks each night....

This trip couldn't have been more perfect. Thank you to my mom for signing us up for this race and getting this whole ball rolling. Thank you to the Mantle's for getting this fantastic room (hope these hook ups last forever) and for taking care of Jonah while we hung back at the park. Thank you to Travis for being filled with patience all weekend....good job, you did it!! Thank you to Wayne for not being too mad when we forgot to order your breakfast two mornings in a row!! Thank you to Ella for not crying or throwing any fits...well maybe just a few on the last night. Thank you to Jonah for going with the flow as well as you could. And thank you to the "Happiest Place on Earth" for entertaining my family for two days. We will never forget this trip....it was our first but definitely won't be our last. (Don't worry Travis and Greg, we will give you a few years to recover before the next one)