I posted all the pictures last night but didn't get to write about the trip at all. So....
We left around 9:00 Tuesday morning. Paige rode with aunt Mollie and Cason and I followed them. Paige couldn't wait, and apparently I misled her into thinking we would be going to Disneyland THAT day. Oops. Cason was really excited too, although he didn't know why. He just knew everybody else was, so he went along with it. He kept saying "BYE MOWWIE! BYE PAIGE!" and "FOWWOW MOWWIE"! Then we picked up Tyra, ate, and headed out.
I'm sure there was LOTS of chatting between Mollie and Paige, but Cason mostly entertained himself.
He had to get pretty creative after a while. That's where "sock mittens" came in.
Paige had lots of fun and bonded with Mollie I think, but at Victorville she moved to our car, and told me she didn't want to be alone in the back anymore. When we got there we checked into our rooms and then went out to downtown Disney for dinner. We were waiting for our shuttle the first time, and Paige and Cason were so excited. They ran around and danced.
Paige got her character call during that wait. It was Minnie and Mickey, welcoming her to Disneyland I assume. She LOVED IT!
I wanted Cason to listen too, and put it on speaker, but he completely ignored me, and busted a move on the sidewalk instead.
Paige took off with the phone to let her aunt Mollie hear too.
Cason did nothing but dance, but she was excited enough for both of them.
After the
heartbreak of our last trip when Paige met the Fairy Godmother, Mollie treated lucky Paige to her own princess Belle dress and matching shoes. She wore them ALL day. I brought along socks and tennis shoes, but she wasn't about to wear those when they didn't match her gown. The first day at Disneyland I found the crown to match, but I don't seem to have a picture of her with it on. But here's the rest of the ensemble:
She was very fancy in it.
I was wondering if I'd find anything cool for Cason, and in the same store I got the crown they had a prince Philip sword and shield, and it was AWESOME! His face lit up when I got it out of the bag. He was wielding the sword and telling everyone to "WOOK!" I even heard him tell a guy sitting nearby to "wook".
Paige was determined to ride the dumbo ride again. Which she did, at least 3 times, with a new family member each time.
Cason was perfectly happy to just pose on the dumbo outside the ride.
With everyone, including Izzy. He loved her. She IS a baby after all.
She loved him too apparently.
Paige really bonded with Mollie, Mindy, AND Michelle. Probably because they waited in lots of lines and rode rides with her.
I tried to take her to a princess show, but there were no seats, and it turned out to be a bit lame. But she did get to pose for a picture in this fancy spot.
She wanted a picture with the prince but got scared when we got close to him. So THEN we moved on to the 60 minute wait to meet 3 princesses. That was excruciating. Being 6 months pregnant is already tough walking around Disneyland, but a 60 minute wait is REALLY rough. Especially when Paige fell asleep and I had to hold her too. Luckily Michael came to the rescue when Cason woke up from his nap, and we traded kids. Cason is only 10 pounds lighter, but it felt like more when I switched to holding him and Michael took Paige.
We woke her up about a minute before meeting the princesses, so she was a little groggy and especially shy. Tiana was first, and she SORT of posed with her.
Then Michael had to hold her for pictures with Jasmine and Ariel.
She was excited to have met them, but was pretty disappointed she didn't meet her favorites: Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Snow White. I didn't realize she cared much about Cinderella, but she said she wanted to meet her too. So a while later I stayed to watch a Princess show so I could get off my feet a while, holding a sleeping boy, and some of the others took Paige to Toontown. That of COURSE is when Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Cinderella came out. But it's alright. Apparently she had lots of fun in Toontown, meeting characters. Her favorite of all of them was Minnie. She got not one, but TWO stuffed Minnies this trip, a mama and baby Minnie. I guess they waited forever in line to meet Minnie...
...toured her house...
....and then Paige wanted to go back to show Minnie her Minnie doll. They said they convinced her to just hold it up as they walked by, for Minnie to see as they left. So they got away without another wait in line.
She also rode the Peter Pan ride, the carousel,
and the teacups several times.
Both kids took a turn on this choochoo, and Cason was NOT a fan. We had to ride in the monkey cage, and I think he thought he'd be trapped forever. He screamed his head off for a good portion of it, and wanted off IMMEDIATELY when we came back.
In fact, he wasn't a fan of too many rides. He preferred to spend his time playing with his Woody and Buzz Lightyear, or "Lipeyear" as Paige calls him.
And also dancing. LOTS of dancing.
He got really excited when we saw Woody and Jessie, but definitely preferred to be at least 6 feet away.
They had SO much fun and were SO tired when we got back.
The second morning Paige told me she was just going to wear clothes. The dress must've gotten uncomfortable after walking around in it and the matching shoes all day long. We had brunch at Carnation Cafe I think it was, and it was the best meal I ate the whole trip. The chef was walking around, and I think Paige was at least as excited to meet him as any of the characters. She was grinning and waving and introduced herself. I couldn't seem to get a picture at a good moment, but here they are anyway:
She rode her favorite rides again, and went back to see Minnie again. She allowed me to join her in line with Michelle, so I could actually see a little of her during the trip.
She was really excited during the wait when she picked a little clover from Minnie's front yard and noticed it looked like Minnie's head.
She met Mickey too, and they told me Mickey crouched down to pose with Paige, but Paige crouched too and cuddled him. So cute.
I don't know exactly where these pictures are from, but somewhere in Toontown. I just sent Paige and the camera, and got lots of surprise pictures.
I didn't seem to get as many pictures the second day, but they had lots of fun again. I forced her, SCREAMING and crying and begging, onto the Small World ride, because I knew she would love it. She's developed a fear of any ride with boats, since going on Pirates last time. But once we got inside of Small World she stopped screaming, and was eventually smiling and told me "It WASN'T scary!" That was one of the worst parts of the trip, forcing her on while she screamed in horror. Luckily it was short-lived. The other worst part was when we waited outside the Tiki Room. When it's about to start the statues start talking and doing their intro. Cason got nervous, and then the huge tree with a face carved into it started talking. It had this booming voice, and was pretty scary. Cason started screaming "RUN! RUN MAMA! RUN AWAY!" At first I thought he was being silly, because he likes to play games involving running away in fear. But I looked down at him and his Buzz Lightyear was going crazy with it's spinning parts and I realized he had a death grip on the legs, (which activate the spinning and lighting up when they're squeezed) and his hand was shaking. He looked SO scared, for our lives I think. It was the saddest thing, so I picked him up and hurried out. Poor little guy was worried for his safety AND mine.
Later that night Michael and I waited for quite a while with the kids, in line for the Nemo ride. They were so sleepy, but then there was a crazy show going on nearby with lights and dance music. Cason would dance with me holding him, but eventually got so into it I had to set him down with Paige, which set off a CRAZY dance party in line. The girls behind us LOVED it. They had the whole group clapping and squealing. Their moves WERE getting pretty crazy though. Cason was really shaking it. Haha. It was awesome. I REALLY wish I had video. That was definitely one of my favorite moments of our trip.
They liked the ride, but Paige got pretty nervous during a couple scary parts. Those parts startled Cason, but he LOVED the rest of it. His face lit up when Nemo showed up the first time, and he looked SO amazed and cute, and went "NEEEEMO!"
When we got back to our room, they both passed out pretty quickly again.
In the morning Cason woke up, stumbled out of bed, and went straight for his sword.
We left in the morning, and stopped at EVERY possible location for someone to go the bathroom or get coffee, or sometimes both. So we took a while getting home. But it wasn't bad. There was sleeping, and of course more dancing.
Then we were finally home. It was so nice, AND Jess had cleaned for us. Although he was supposed to be gone camping until Saturday evening, so that was a little disappointing. I let the kids sprint around the playroom. Cason especially was so happy to be free to run after all the drives and being pushed in a stroller. They somersaulted all over the room
And then I turned around and Jess was standing there! His mom and dad were in Winslow, and picked him up on their way home so he could get here early and surprise us. We were SO happy to see him.
We had SO much fun, thanks for spoiling us ALL Mollie! Mindy too actually! AND thank you to everyone who waited in lines and carried my kids and pushed strollers to give me lots of breaks. I don't think my feet and back would have survived it otherwise.
We went for a walk tonight, and the sunset was beautiful.
Paige rode her bike actually, and after a while she wanted to bring it home and walk instead. She ran in the house to change shoes too for some reason. It took her FOREVER while we waited in the driveway. When she came out we'd given up because Cason was getting upset waiting in the stroller. We told her we could just play out front instead. 
Jess got them hunting for snails though, and she recovered. Jess just poked his head around the corner and told me they're "filth-stricken", so I'm off to start a bath.
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