DISNEYLAND 2012

Biruk had never been to Disneyland and it was clear he felt left out.
We knew Elizabeth's jaw surgery would be this Spring.
John and I had just gone to Hawai'i (without kids!) ~ so we wanted to do something together as a whole family.

John and I decided to plan a surprise trip to Disneyland for the kids.

They had NO idea where they were going, who they'd see, or what they'd do.

Wednesday, Feb. 15th, John went to work like he always does, but left mid-morning to drive out to CA.
Around lunchtime, the kids and I headed to our airport to fly out to the LA area.

They were SO confused cuz we flew into Ontario.....they didn't know Ontario was close to L.A. :)

When we landed, daddy was there to pick us up!
The kids realized we'd be seeing daddy's family...but even once we got to our hotel, they didn't realize we were close to Disney! We were a few blocks from Disney, but you couldn't see it.

Wednesday night we had dinner with John's family across the street from Disneyland...that's when they realized why were there!!


Unfortunately -our surprise fun plans didn't turn out like we had hoped!

Wednesday night Andrew clearly had a cold -so after dinner we ran around trying to find a drugstore to stock up on meds and tissue.

Thursday AM, Becca woke up with a terrible fever.
Again, John ran to the drugstore to get some meds -hoping if we just kept her fever down she'd be OK to do the park.

Star Tours is now Star*Wars themed and in 3d.
Super fun -unless you're running a high fever. :(


they did have fun sportin' 3d glasses!

mad skills in alien-killing!

we were SO blessed that Auntie Paula took the day off and came with us to Disney!
We were excited to have her anyway, but especially with Becca sick, having another adult with us was super helpful!

of course we had to do the Jedi Training!

this photo still grabs my heart and I have to hold back tears.
Andrew is obsessed with Star*Wars.
seriously -obsessed.

He wanted more than anything to be picked for Jedi Training...and I wanted more than anything for him to be picked too.

He noticed that there weren't many more spots left to be filled for the training (kids are just jumping up and down yelling "pick me!" and the dude calls on them).....The dude picking the kids was calling on kids from around where our kids were standing...
So
Andrew picked up Elizabeth so she would be higher and the dude might see her.

He gave up his chance to be picked.

OH.
MY.

What made this even more bittersweet it that not only did Andrew and Elizabeth NOT get picked,

Biruk, standing right next to them, did.

Biruk really isn't a fan of Star*Wars.
We're happy he got picked cuz it was something fun for him to do....but oh how sad we were for Andrew.

Auto*pia.

I've decided that John will be teaching Biruk how to drive. :)

Biruk drove my car.

I think I still have whiplash!

But we laughed SO hard!!!

Auntie Paula took sweet Becca on the Dum*bo ride for us while we took the other 3 on a different ride.

Becca was pretty miserable by now. :(

And I was starting to feel cruddy.

Pirates of the Caribbean.

the last ride Becca did.

by about 2pm she was crying and begging to go back to the hotel to sleep.

I was pretty miserable too.

Becca, Auntie Paula, and I ended up leaving the park around 4ish.
John stayed with the other 3 'till the park closed at 8.

our thrill seeker.
she LOVED the roller coasters.

even did Space*Mountain and LOVED it!

crazy girl!

a fun day...but not as fun as we had hoped.

At least John, Andrew, Biruk, and Elizabeth were able to do everything they wanted.

The drive home was miserable for Becca and I, but we were able to get on antibiotics...we both had strep throat and probably bronchitis.

No wonder we felt so terrible!!!!