Califonia Family Vacation: Disneyland, day 1, part 2

We were able to sneak the kids up for a decent view of the parade.  They loved seeing all the different characters and Princess Belle blew Kaylee a kiss!! 

For dinner that evening, we rode the monorail over to Downtown Disney and ate at the ESPN Zone.  Our vacation package included a game card, so after we ate the kids were able to play a few games.   We then explored the Lego store and made our way back to Disneyland for the evening.  Matt & Maxwell went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride and Kaylee & I explored ToonTown. 

Califonia Family Vacation: Disneyland, day 1, part 1

The first day of Disneyland arrived and after a quick breakfast at McDonald's we were off.  The weather was beautiful and we were all very excited!!  As soon as we got in the gate, there was a band performing so we stopped for a few pictures and to listen to them play. 

Our first stop was Star Tours - the star wars ride that everyone had on their to-do list.  Maxwell was SOOOOOOO excited, he was almost bouncing off the ceilings.  Kaylee was overwhelmed, excited and nervous and by the time we stood in line and got to the entry doors for the ride, she had had enough....So her and I got out of line and explored the gift shop instead.  I'll admit I was disappointed and worried that my 2 days at Disney were going to consist of a lot of gift shops. 

Kaylee calmed down while we waited for them to end the ride and from that point forward, she was now ready to enjoy our trip at Disney.

California Family Vacation - arrival

We left for our family vacation on June 18th.  It was going have a lot of firsts for the kiddos...we were all very excited.  In preparation, Kaylee & I went to have our nails done.  We both had pedi's and she also got her fingers painted.  She LOVED it! 

Wednesday arrived and we were off to the airport.  We flew out of the Humphrey terminal in Minneapolis - which is the smaller terminal and was perfect for our first flying experience as a family.

The kids were nervous to go through security, so we had watched videos from the TSA website and also learned that they would not need to take off their shoes.  We were able to go through the "old" detectors and the kids stuck right next to us to the whole time.  It was pretty quick and easy and then it was off to find our gate.  They kept busy with their new activity books, reading and Kaylee got really nervous.  She experienced many nervous and excited tummy aches during our vacation...

Finally it was time to board the plane.  We sat with Maxwell by the window, Sara, Kaylee on the aisle and then Matt sat in the next aisle seat.  Gramma Lanna sent along suckers for the kids to eat while we took and off and landed to help with their ears.  They seemed to work well and the kids were happy to have a little treat from Gramma!

We had a very uneventful plane ride (a little patch of turbulence) until the landing.  The landing itself was just fine...but Kaylee was SO nervous and frightened.  By the time we landed she was in tears and was very worked up.  Thankfully we had a direct flight because I am not sure if I could have gotten her back on another plane that day.

After missing our dinner reservation because of LA traffic, we ate at a restaurant near our hotel, got checked in and then watched the Disney fireworks from our balcony.