Disneyland trip

So we survived our trip to CA. As many of you know we sent the first two days at Disneyland. It was so fun to see our kids enjoy different things. The first ride we took the kids on was the rocket ship ride (much like the famous Dumbo ride, except with rockets instead) and when it was over James cried because he wanted to go a second time and didn't want to get back in line... later that day we took him on Space Mountain. I was so nervous that he would get on and decided it was too scary and want to stop- and we wouldn't be able to stop it. Sean was in the seat next to him and I sat behind them. When the ride was finally over I leaned forward to get a report on how it went and I heard James say "That was fun!" He said it was a little scary but he later asked to go back to it. James also braved the Matterhorn (and so did Ben), as well as the haunted mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean. When I asked him about his favorite part he said "the scary part of Disneyland." It was especially nice to just be able to enjoy spending time together.
My sister Dot and her husband, my brother Garth and my Mom all came too. Half the time Mom came with us, and the other half the time she went with Dot, Jonathan and Garth. After discusing what Dot and her group did and comparing it to what we did I have decided that you can do a lot more, faster without kids...I knew that was true for running erronds, I didn't know it also applied to riding rides at Disneyland.
The first night we were there we had to leave Disneyland early due to their halloween event, so we spent an hour or two over at California Adventure. We got to watch the "World of Color" show- it was definately cool! But my kids only lasted for the first few songs before they fell asleep in their strollers. The second night we had tickets to the halloween event and stayed in the park. We enjoyed a couple of the attractions before going to the trick or treating- my kids also fell asleep in their strollers that night before we got any candy...
My favorite part of the experience was on Tuesday night. We left the group to take the kids back to our hotel, and on our way we heard some music and decided to get a closer look. It was a little dance party- and for the first time in an long time Sean really wanted to stop and dance. So we propped our strollers up a few feet away from us and stayed and danced for about 20-30 minutes. It was nice to dance with my husband again. Dancing with him always makes me feel young and in love again- even if I have to keep one eye on my two sleeping children while doing it. It was nice to share a fun moment with just the two of us as well.
After 2 fun filled and exhsausting days at Disneyland we drove to San Diego and spent a day at the Zoo. James loved the Snakes and the Lions best- and when asked to choose a favorite, he said "Umm, I just love them both." Ben seemed to particularly like the giraff, and the sea lions.
The next day was probably one of the best activities we did- we spent a few hours in the morning at the beach. At first Ben was a little nervous about the water, but after watching his brother James skweal with delight everytime a wave came up he finally warmed up the idea, and then he was very upset when we decided it was time to go. None of us had planned on going into the water, and all by my Mom and Sean had to change our clothes because we got all wet! After the beach we started our drive home. We didn't get in that night until just after 8:00 and we all slept really well that night.
Since comeing home James has asked me many times if I would drive him far away to see Disneyland or the zoo, and even the beach again. I'm glad we all had fun- and I was also glad to be home. My only regret was that I felt like I didn't really get to visit with my Mom and Sister- we had planned to play games and enjoy eachother, but we never really found the down time to do it. Oh well- it was fun just the same.
As for pictures...we used my sister Cassy's camera to take pictures because it is so much nicer than ours, and then the camera went home with Mom. I have requested they send me a CD with all the pictures and as soon as I get it- I'll post some.