California Screaming: day one and two

We’re recently returned from another trip to glorious Southern California. I know it’s trite to love Southern California, but we love it, so I guess we’re trite.

We took this trip with three of my brothers and their families along with our trite friends the Davies who also joined last year.

The excitement started when we arrived at the park-n-jet lot and rode the shuttle bus to the airport. We met up with the Davies there.

Then to the airport. The kids had a blast running from window to window look at all the “Jet-Blues” taking off and landing.

The real thrills, however began as we boarded the plane. It was the first flight for most of my brother’s kids. Not mine though, they are totally jet-set kids. 


Alyssa loved looking out the window and seeing the clouds go by. It really rocked her world to see clouds just beyond the window.

Sunny loved getting away with all she could. Her favorite shenanigan was standing on the tray table. We thought she was a bit rowdy on the way over but if we had known what she would be like on the flight back we would have enjoyed her temperament a bit more on the first flight...


Aside from Scott and Tammy’s family, we all stayed in the same Hotel. Holiday Inn Anaheim Resort which I would give three and a half stars. We were on a different floor than everyone else, but it was fun (and stressful) to be close. The kids had a blast being in a foreign place together.

We arrived late Tuesday evening, settled in for the night, woke up and went to Disneyland. We parked at the Disneyland lot and rode the tram to the park. Excitement was in the air as we rode over, it was my brother Randy and his family’s first time in the park.

Right away we ran into a few characters, first Cruella DeVille. Alyssa really liked her sass.
Next was Snow White’s vane queen. Alyssa was practically hypnotized by the queen. The queen asked Alyssa if she knew where Snow White was. Alyssa replied that she didn’t. The queen then told her to find her and tell her she was looking for her. Alyssa told her she would. We set up our picture and Alyssa said “Cheese” as she always does. The queen said…”Don’t say cheese, say Apples.” Alyssa then spent the next hour trying to find Snow White and talking about how she had to find her for the queen.


We went and took care of the most important things first, meeting the princesses. We have looked forward to this for a year. We met up with Jason’s family and waited and waited and waited. Then we waited some more. I mean, we seriously waited forever. But….it was worth it.


These little girls just ate this stuff up. They do love their princesses. It was Alayna’s first time meeting them. It was just mesmerizing for them.

Sunny likes the princesses okay too, but what she really liked was the backdrops they were standing in front of. They, for some reason were fascinating for her. The bars the kept the lines were also very fascinating to my one-year-old.


Then, we found Snow White. Alyssa hesitantly, but on her own, walked up to Snow White and delivered the message. Snow White played right along and asked her if the queen was making apples today. YES, Alyssa said! She told Alyssa not to tell the queen where she was.



Although we waited forever to see the princesses it was worth it, and we were glad we had it over with right away.


We made it to the Small World ride right away. It was closed last year when we were there. The girls both loved it. It was in their top two favorite rides.


As much as we were looking forward to the Princesses for Alyssa, we were looking forward to Pooh Corner for Sunny. She somehow had a pretty good infatuation for Tigger and Pooh. Unfortunately, Sunny fell asleep on the short walk over to Pooh Corner. We let her sleep while we waited in a short line to see her furry friends. We woke her up when it was our turn.

She was pretty sleepy, so we actually went through the line twice in a row, she enjoyed it much more then second time.

Notice how well I match my good friend Pooh in the picture. I can’t believe he wore that. If I had known, I would have worn a different color.


We met up with our group for the Pixar Play Parade at California Adventure. As we waited for the parade to begin at 5:15pm we decided to take a few pics of our cute girls. Unfortunately, it was more than Sunny could handle. She was pretty tired at this point. We took them anyway. What a treasure.

WE had a blast. The kids LOVED the parade. It is such a fun parade. Even Randy who is not impressed by anything was impressed.

The iconic Tea Cups was the other ride Alyssa couldn’t get enough of. We rode it at least half a dozen times. When I was a girl, I had a fantasy about riding in the Tea Cups, so I was delighted that she loved it so much.

Somehow we didn’t take any pictures with our friends Skyler and Elise. They came a met us Wednesday evening at Disneyland and we spent the evening with them. We always have a blast being with them. I’m so disappointed we didn’t get any pics with them this time.

By the end of the day. This is what our crew looked like. We ran them hard all day.
Grandpa Charlie would have been so proud. Time for bed.