Disneyland April 2011

Drumroll please!  Yes, it's been 6 weeks and I'm finally getting around to sharing our Disney trip!  I had to wait for some pictures, hence the delay but here we are.

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What an amazing trip Mike, Noah and I had to Disneyland!  Ian stayed with Grandma Blick and Aunt Dana while we ventured to California with our friend Ginny and her daughter Maddie.  We stayed with Christy and PJ Quealy, along with their daughter Sloane.  The kids are all just a few weeks a part and we thought it would be fun to share in the adventure together.  Noah loved the plane ride.  He did very well and while excited, did not get out of control. :-)

While Noah started out a little bashful, he quickly warmed up to Maddie, and once we got to Sloane's, while it was briefly tough, the kids all quickly became buddies. 

We began the day at 7am with Breakfast with the Characters Friday morning.  I wasn't sure how Noah would respond to the big furry creatures, but he LOVED it!!  He embraced all of the characters and couldn't get enough of them.  Maddie was the same, but you couldn't get Sloane anywhere near them.

We were at the park, I think for 10 hours...Noah and Sloane did AMAZINGLY well - they kept their composure and were surprisingly cheery, considering the lack of sleep the night before (time difference and all) plus the early rise and no nap.  Maddie on the other hand, had quite a few meltdowns until Ginny was able to rent a stroller and let her take a nap.  I really felt for Ginny...both Christy and I had our husbands to wrangle these 3 year olds and she was on her own.  We did the best we could, but I know she was completely worn out. 

As for the rides, we made it around the entire park, plus went over to California Adventure.  Noah's favorite was visiting Mickey and Minnie - all he's been able to talk about since we left is visiting them and staying at Sloane's house.  We did take lots of pictures - of course, with Ginny's camera because while I laid our camera out, forgot to put it in the bag.  Yep, that was super smart of me!  I was devastated of course.  We made the best of it though. 


Here are some of the highlights...

Leavin' on a jet plane

Welcome to the happiest place on earth!

Character breakfast - we had lots of visitors

The ladies and their kiddos

Noah is in awe of the Great Mickey!

Noah's new girlfriend

Noah, Pluto, Sloane, Maddie (having a rough day!)

Besties:  Ginny, Corri, Christy

Noah's new cap - he didn't want his picture taken

Noah loved the Dumbo ride

Noah had to have a balloon before we left.  Since we couldn't take it on the plane, he traded it for a Minnie mouse.  Sloane is taking great care of it, and Christy says its STILL going strong!

Saturday we took the kids to the beach.  I think it was about 50 degrees outside, but you can see that did not stop them from being adventurous in the water.  Once they got bold, the clothes got wetter and wetter.  We had to buy towels and t-shirts to get them warm again.  Noah LOVED IT!!  We will definitely have to go back again sometime.

Sloane, Noah, Maddie

Sloane, Noah, Maddie

New besties

The weekend came and went all too quickly.  Noah bonded with Sloane and can't stop talking about her and visiting her and Mickey and Minnie again.  He's very into Disney right now - he wants to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse every day (we tape it) and has a Minnie Mouse that Sloane gave him that he carries everywhere.  I'm glad we had the time with him and I can't wait to take him back, perhaps when Ian is old enough. 

Cheers,
The Reichert family