Allen Family: Disneyland 2009

This past spring we took the kids and went to Disneyland. It was the first time the kids had been. I have to say, hands down, that this trip was the best family vacation we've taken yet!!! Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth. The weather was gorgeous for us and the kids were at great ages to really enjoy it. Laine was only a few months old but she was an angel, as usual. Shane was 2 1/2, Wyatt almost 6, and Abigail 8. Jeff and I talked before we went on the trip and decided that we really wanted to make this a trip that the kids would never forget. We new we were going to have to loosen up the purse strings and relax a little. :) So we decided that we were going to try to say yes to everything. So, if the kids wanted 3 Cotton candies in one day, we said yes. If they wanted to go on a ride a few more times that they had already been on lots, we said yes. If they wanted to stay out late we said yes. You get the idea. :) It was so freeing and made the trip so much more fun for Jeff and I to feel like, with in reason, we could say yes to the kids on everything and really keep them smiling the whole time. (Thanks to Laura Mitchell for this great advice!) We had the 3 day park hopper passes so on our first day we went to California Adventure. What a cool place that is. We saw everything we wanted to except the Aladdin show. We heard it was amazing. It didn't happen to be showing the day we were there. Oh, well. We'll catch it next time. After a full day there we went back to the room and fell into bed. Then we spent the next 2 days at Disneyland, riding rides, meeting Disney characters, eating food, and laughing and smiling. Abigail and Wyatt were tall enough to ride all the rides and I was so proud of how brave they were. Even if it looked a little scary and they were nervous, they still took a chance and rode the ride. They always had fun and never regretted getting on. Jeff and I took turns riding with the kids and there were those occasional rides that we could all ride together. Shane and Laine were such amazing sports and didn't mind waiting sometimes for their big brother and sister. We had breakfast at Goofy's kitchen. That was super fun. Then we took some time to walk around Downtown Disney and shop. The lego store there is awesome.

We were truly sad to leave and didn't want our trip to end. It's hard to get back to real life when you've just had that much fun. We feel so lucky to have been able to do this trip and it's one we'll never forget. The kids still talk about it almost a year later and ask, "When can we go back?" I told them that we could go back when Laine is as big as Wyatt is now so we can all ride the rides together. Never underestimate your kids because Abby and Wyatt took that very seriously and immediately started trying to feed Laine more food!! They would say, "Here Laine. Eat and grow big fast so we can go back to Disneyland!" Gotta love it. Can't wait until I can post again some day about our next trip to Disneyland.

Our Favorite rides in 09:
Jeff- Giant Orange Swings
Tracie- Indiana Jones
Abigail- Thunder Mountain Railroad
Wyatt- The Matterhorn/Jedi Training
Shane- Buzz Lightyear
Laine- It's a Small World

Any thing 3D was cool!