After dedicating our whole summer to summer sales in Houston, we decided that a vacation was much needed. Sometime around the end of July, my sister Megan ask us if we would like to go to Mickey's Halloween party with them in October. I asked Dee if that was something he would be interested in and to my surprise he said yes without my having to persuade him. Two days later I purchased our tickets for Mickey's Halloween Party and that was all I could think about for the next few months.
Before we knew it, it was already almost October 16th, time for us to head down to California to attend Mickey's Halloween Party. We had planned on leaving early October 15th but we ended up leaving sometime after 3pm. Early on we decided that we would plan to not plan.. in other words we decided to go with the flow. If you know me this was a difficult task, but I managed to keep the planning to a minimum, so although we had wanted to leave earlier in the day, 3pm was totally fine with us.
Elsie fell asleep for the first two hours of our trip, which was super nice because Dee and I got to listen to "Where the Red Fern Grows" on CD. After Elsie woke up we found ourselves in Vegas so we decided to stop to take a walk around. Then we got back on the road and eventually (After 30-40 minutes of screaming and crying) Elsie fell back asleep and we made it to Barstow California and decided to stop there for the night.
In the morning we got stuck in traffic and didn't get to the LA area until after 11. We headed to the Newport Beach Temple because our Hotel Check-in time wasn't until 3pm. After arriving at the temple we realized Elsie was asleep and decided against waking her up. We decided to find somewhere to eat for lunch instead. Because we are poor and had a ton of gift cards we looked all over for a place to eat that revolved around one of the gift cards we had. Finally, after a hour of looking (mainly getting lost because the GPS leading us to a non-existing restaurants a couple times) we found an Applebees.
Because it took us forever we didn't get to our hotel until after 3pm with little time to rest and rejuvinate before we spent the rest of the day at Mickey's Halloween Party from 4pm-12am. While Dee rested I got myself and Elsie ready. Then we loaded ourselves into our car and headed over to Disneyland for a magical night.
Although I had been day dreaming and imagining what Elsie's reaction would be since I purchased the tickets, nothing could compare to the real deal. You think you love Disneyland now? Wait until you have a child of your own and you take them there for the first time... it's ten times better. Seriously. I know Elsie won't remember this particular visit, but I know I will always remember.
Elsie loved King Arthur's Carousel and the Pooh Bear ride the most. She was not a fan of waiting in line (& who can blame her??) She was a bit cranky some of the time (she was getting her top molars in so again.. who could blame her?) She loved the $8 balloon that Dee got her and she loved running around the dining chairs whenever we were taking a break. She loved getting treats when we went "Trick-or-Treating".. I do not think she got the concept though. As soon as they gave her a piece of candy or whatever it was she wanted it right then and there. It was cute. Everyone called her princess and it melted my heart (I know.. I know.. they probably said that to every little girl).
We were lucky because all three kids (Elsie and our niece and nephew) were asleep by 10pm so Dee, my sister, my brother-in-law and I were able to trade off going on the big-kid rides the last 3 hours which was kind of nice.
Our Disneyland trip was perfect. I definitely recommend taking your young children to Disneyland. I think you definitely have to go with the flow and know that there will be a few tantrums but other than that it is simply magical! I cannot wait to take her again!! (:
We were exhausted to say the least and didn't get back to our hotel until close to 2am. Elsie ended up sleeping through the night (She usually wakes up every 1-3.. sometimes 4.. hours during the night).
The next day we went to Newport Beach and enjoyed our break from school and work. Elsie loves the ocean!! She loves the waves and the sand. We only stayed for a couple hours and then we headed back to our hotel with Panera Bread for lunch. (Best macaroni and cheese ever!!)
We headed home Sunday October 18th. It was a short vacation, but it was much needed, and well deserved. We wouldn't have been able to go if it wasn't for the $250 that Dee won through a contest during summer sales and all the restaurant gift cards we had saved up.
That's all for now!
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