Disneyland 2009

Disneyland was magical and fun! We chose to drive down late Friday night for two reasons: so that the girls could sleep while we drove and so that Brooke, who doesn't do so well in the car, wouldn't have too much of a fit and throw up in the car, which she usually does on car rides over 20 minutes. Driving until about 3:30AM and ending at a hotel over the grapevine, it was a success! Brooke actually did very well staying up until 11PM in the car watching Baby Einsteins.

The next morning we had time to waste before checking in to the timeshare, so we headed for Santa Monica Pier. It was enjoyable to people watch and have some lunch. We took a long stroll down the beachwalk and played some in the ocean, which was packed!

We met up with my mom and Ezra later on at the timeshare and waited for an extra great room...and it was! My good friend from Hygiene school met up with us at Cheesecake Factory for dinner, then we headed back to our mini porch to watch the firework show!

The next 4 days were spent at Disneyland and CA Adventure. My mom was able to meet up with a childhood friend as well, which we all enjoyed. Brooke wasn't so sure about most of the rides and seemed to anticipate the scary parts of each one. She did enjoy Small World (much to our dismay) and the Playhouse Disney show. Towards the last day they both warmed up more to the idea of taking pictures with the characters and Brooke always tried to hold their hand.

Faith was a complete joy most of the trip. The second night we watched the fireworks from Main St. in Disneyland and she was flabergasted. I was holding her for the first half and her face was lit up and soaking in the magic. She kept squeezing my neck tight and saying, "I love you, Mommy! Mommy, I love you!" I think that was her only way to release the joy inside b/c it was bursting out of her! When Tinkerbell came out flying around the castle it was over, icing on the cake! Grammy was holding her by now and Faith grabbed her by the face and from 2 inches away was squealing, "Grammy, it's Tinkerbell! It's the REAL Tinkerbell!"

I skipped ahead of myself because our last ride that first night was Soarin' over California. We'd told Faith a little about what the ride was like as we were waiting. As the ride lifted us up high we were in the dark, so the first 'scened' it opened to when we started 'flying' was like we were in the clouds. Her face lit up with the biggest smile and bright blue eyes, she opened her arms and outstretched her fingers wide as if she were feeling the clouds....she was in awe. It was priceless.

She also loved the Matterhorn, always shouting "Woohoo!" and Space Mountain she kept saying she really liked and went on three times, but her face didn't always look so excited. We also did the "Build-a-Bear" workshop and Faith picked out a pink monkey, gave it mouse ears and a Tinkerbell shirt and named it Tinkerbell as well. She sleeps with it as I write. Oh, the other ride she loved was Peter Pan (my favorite).

The single perk we've found to having CF is that we can get a special pass which allowed our group to go into the fast pass lane or straight up through the exit on most rides. The reasoning is so that she's not stuck in line next to all kinds of people with who knows what bugs all day long, as well as the heat exposure in the weather became more limited. "Regular" people aren't always excited nor understanding of why we get to pass them up, but Disneyland is the place where we get to play that CF card and by golly, we will!

The ride home went MUCH better than expected considering it was a mid-day drive...and Brooke only vomitted once :) Weren't you wondering?
~Stephanie