M-I-C...K-E-Y...M-O-U-S-E

First, to sum up. This is how our trip started...

Day One

And this is how it ended.

Day Three

Of course with tons of fun and excitement and cotton-candy and walking and waiting in line and getting lost in crowds of millions (I would say) and EXHAUSTION in between, but...this...says it all.

The first ride we HAD to go on, because Katie Jane insisted, was the Indiana Jones ride. If you've been to Disneyland you know that Disneyland has perfected the art of having you wait in line and trying to get you to forget about how long you are waiting in line. You're distracted with props and sounds and music...well, Emma started to get nervous as we waited in line and it only got worse as we got closer.

During the ride, I learned that no matter how many times you say "WAHOOOOO"...it doesn't make it any funner for a child who was scared and didn't want to go on the ride anyway. Emma clung to my arm the whole ride and started all-out crying about half-way through. I did get her to open her eyes and see the huge cobra snake, but other than that...her face was buried.

So Emma got to choose the next few rides...the Carrousel, Dumbo the flying elephant and Mad Tea party...all rides that totally made me dizzy, but the kids loved them. Jay did his best to act like he was having fun on the little-kiddie rides, but he's more like me anyway and doesn't really...what's the word...desire, to go on scary fast rides. Emma must be like me too.

This first day, we all took dramamine. Bad idea. I don't usually take motion sickness medicine, because I don't usually get motion sick, but I've noticed that the older I am getting, the less motion it takes to make me nauseated! All it took was the Mad Tea Party ride and I was joining the rest of my family in their woozy, tired, dramamine state. Katie Jane is the worst. She gets car sick just going to the store and Jay has been known to use the air-sickness bag on airplanes!

So we didn't have very much energy this first day. But we still got in a lot of fun.

This was Emma's favorite...Splash Mountain, she's tucked in between me and Katie Jane in this picture. And, as you'll see, we were too cheap to buy any pictures that were taken on the rides because most of them didn't show all of us anyway...if Will would put his arms down!

Classic...the kids faces totally showed their fear! They were smiling after, but even my heart was racing as you click, click, click your way to the top before you careen down the hill. I did it with one hand too (I know, Will rode down with no hands) but I was holding a child down into her seat...that motherly instinct to keep your kids safe on high-speed roller coasters and such, that you force them to go on because they're FUN (now stop crying and have fun)!

The Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki Room! Jay was the BEST whistler! ;)

Since we scared Emma to death on the first couple of rides...she and I hung out while the others made themselves dizzy. Here is Emma waiting to see her sisters, brother and dad riding the Thunder Mountain Railway...rumble, rumble rumble.

I took this hurry-and-get-what-you-want-because-then-you-won't-have-to-share-it opportunity to buy and eat a churro. Not worth $3, but...then we went looking for more edible goods. Emma wanted a bag of chips. Not your ordinary bag of potato chips. These ones were made with real gold. Must have been because they were $2.50 for a tiny snack size bag...anything to make her happy at this point!

We ended Day 1 at Disneyland by going back to the hotel a little early, and sleeping...ahhhh. Then we listened to the BOOM of the fireworks outside our window and vowed to be there the next night.

My feet hurt!