Ever since we returned from our Disneyland trip last March/April with Kevin's side of the family, Clara and Janie talk about all their amazing memories of our time in Disneyland. They look at the autograph book of all the characters, tell us about all the rides they remembered and even found a Disneyland fun app on Grandma Jan's iPad that they beg to play every time they see her. Even though a Disney trip is far from a relaxing vacation, the warm fuzzy feelings that our girls give us when they talked about going, made us start thinking about making another trip. These years (ages for Clara & Janie) seem to be pretty magical and it is such a fun feeling to see your little ones caught up in all the fantasy.
Kevin had been traveling a lot this spring and ended up with a few weeks at the end of May that were free so we (somewhat impulsively for us) booked a Disney vacation less than 3 weeks out. Before we booked we told Grandma Jan about our plans and she got excited and wanted to tag along to experience Disneyland with her granddaughters. We made plans for 3 days in the park, which is about all our girls could handle.
We sure made the most of our 3 day passes at Disneyland and California Adventure and created a lot of special memories for our family.
With Grandma Jan along we were able to do a little more than we could with just our family including taking Clara on Splash Mountain while Grandma & Janie rode Pooh Bear a few times AND for Kevin & I to get to spend an evening alone in Disneyland.
Our favorite moment of the trip for Clara was watching her spot Merida across the crowd and take off (without asking, which is really unlike her) from the line we were waiting in to run over to greet her. She was in heaven and had such a great interaction with Merida telling her about having a BRAVE birthday party and dressing up as Merida for Halloween. We were touched with how much time she took with our girls and how loving she was toward them. Big Highlight!
Our Janie highlight was seeing her get so into the "It's a Small World" ride. She asked for it remembering it from our last trip (or possibly the iPad app) but insisting that we go on it right away and then continuing to ask to watch the "singing dollies at Small World." Since the line moved fast, Janie got a few extra rides with Daddy when we were doing other activities with Clara. It was easy to be a pushover for her cute response to this ride!
Our Merida - She had fun posting for some cute photos with the castle in the background!
The girls each got to select 2 princess dresses to bring on the trip and Janie's 1st choice was Snow White. She insisted on wearing that one to our special lunch at Ariel's Grotto.
Janie gave Ariel quite a giggle with some of her silly faces.
Clara & Grandma having fun on the Jumping Jellyfish. Clara was kind of afraid of this ride but knew it was one of Davis' favorites and wanted to be brave and give it a try - check out that smile!
By the final afternoon we were all wiped out but left the park with happy hearts and some super special memories of our little ladies having their "dreams come true."
