Disneyland!

We finally, as a family, went to Disneyland. This was a first for all three of our kids and they loved it! My parents bought tickets for the kids for Christmas last year and so this trip was in the planning for a long while. So, it was my parents and my sister's family and us that went. Also, Jeremy's family, his parents and his brother's family, came over from Utah and spent the week there in Disneyland too. There is so much to tell of all the happenings that went on, so I guess I will just explain each child's experiences.
Madison, who is seven, was able to go on all the rides. She chose very wisely and her all time favorite was the Haunted Mansion. At Halloween time the Haunted Mansion is all decorated in the "Nightmare Before Christmas" and Madison being my Christmas lover, just thought the ride was amazing - she would ask all the time "are we going to the Haunted Mansion now?" I could see that she loved the Disney atmosphere - the only complaining I heard from her was at the end of the day "my legs are tired".
Dawson, who is four, had a little harder time with the ride riding. We took everyone on the Jungle Cruise for our first ride and everyone enjoyed it. Then we took him and Madison on Splash Mountain. He complained the entire time in line and I just kept telling him that he was big enough to go on this ride and I did not want him to miss it (Splash Mountain is my favorite ride - I love Brier Rabbit). So, needless to say he got on the ride and he didn't like it - either did Maddy - the waterfall was a little too much for them I guess. Almost every ride after that he didn't trust us very much, and some rides we just picked him up kicking and screaming and made him ride the ride and it turned out that he loved the ride in the end (Haunted Mansion was the worst getting him on it). The one thing I will never forget was seeing his face when we sat down to watch the Jedi Training - when the Storm Troopers came out and Darth Vader - he was awe struck! (it was awesome). His favorite ride, that we stood in line for an hour, both times, was the the new Toy Story ride in California Adventure. He is my game boy and the entire ride is playing a game and he loved it! He also loved Soarin.
Jackson, who is two, I think loved Disneyland the most! Every morning he was all "see Mickey", it was adorable. He was a great ride rider - his favorites included Nemo, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, and Prirates of the Carriabean. He not once had a trantrum in the parks, and only took power naps in the evening - I don't think he wanted to miss anything. The one moment I will never forget with him was when he saw Lighting McQueen the car - he starred at that car like he could not believe it was actually real.
One morning we went to "Goofy's Kitchen" for breakfast - the kids had a blast and good old Goofy - Dawson does not like Characters in costumes - Goofy would not leave Dawson alone. He was all hiding his face and freezing up - I had told him before we got there that if he didn't feel comfortable with the characters he could just hide behind someone - well that was bad advice, because Goofy was not going have us leave breakfast till Dawson showed his face and gave Goofy some attention. At one point Dawson slid under the table and Goofy went right under the table too! I think Dawson at one point kicked him in the face, oops! But Dawson didn't cry once, Goofy had him laughing at one point under the table. I don't think Dawson will ever forget that.
While we were there, we celebrated my Dad's 60th birthday. We went to a resturant in Downtown Disney and a balloon guy made my Dad a special party hat!