Disneyland: Tuesday

On Tuesday, we got to go into the park an hour early, so we headed back to Fantasyland to ride some of our favorites

The Teacups

The Carousel

And Dumbo again
Then we headed off to the Princess Faire to meet some princesses and go to the Royal Coronation

Waiting to go into the Princess Faire

Sharing a snack

Laughing with Daddy while waiting

Friends!

Emma met Sleeping Beauty

Ariel

and Mulan

Then it was off to the coronation where Emma helped celebrate by dancing around the May Pole
Back on Main Street, we ran into a special friends again


Who got some scratches on the nose from the girls
After a good nap and some swimming in the pool, we headed off to Brother Bears's hiking adventures


And then headed to the Disneyland night time parade

Emma claps to the music

Here comes Mickey and Minnie
We ended the day with one more ride on....

You guessed it, Dumbo!

Disneyland: Monday

On Monday, Emma had one of her own dreams come true. With our trip package, we got to go into "Toontown" Where Mickey and all of his friends live one hour before it opened to the rest of the park visitors. Emma was one of the first children into Toontown and she got to meet all of her special friends one on one (with no lines!)


Emma meets Pluto! She is jumping up and down with excitement

Then she sees Dale. She is still jumping!


She actually took the time to give Minnie a Hug

Donald was a little sad because Daisy is on vacation, so Emma gave a little hug to cheer him up


Goofy was so tall that Emma only reached his knee caps!

Then Emma got to see Mickey himself

Unfortunately, she decided not to look at the camera for this one

Playing the piano in Goofy's house
There were also some great decorations in Disneyland! This was one of our favorites

The "Mickeylantern"
After a good nap, we headed back to the park for the Pixar Parade

Waiting for the parade

Kisses!

Then we headed back to the hotel, where Mommy and Daddy got to go out to dinner while Emma stayed with Kaylie and got a good night's sleep

Our Trip down South Part 2: Disneyland Sunday

On Sunday, we visited Saddleback Community Church before heading to Disneyland for 4 days of fun. We met Emma's friend Kaylie and her family at our hotel and then headed off to the park. We started out in Disney's California Adventure where the girls tried out some rides in the "A bug's life" area

Peek-a-boo

Emma and Daddy spin on the ladybugs
We got to the park just in time to see all of the halloween decorations. I have a slight "Seasonal Candy Addiction", So seeing all this candy corn required us to buy our first bag of the season :)

Emma Poses with the "Candy Corn"


Kaylie and Emma

Candy Corn as big as their heads!

The Decorated Golden Gate Bridge

The entrance to Disneyland

Streetlamp decorations

A friendly Scarecrow
In the evening, we headed to fantasy land where Emma rode one of her favorite rides

Dumbo!
Then we got ready to watch the fireworks

Emma and Kaylie are ready to watch

Holding hands
The highlight of Dan's day was when he and Kaylie's dad were checking into our hotel. I was standing with Emma in the lobby and a man came up to me with a very special surprise. It seemed that he had gone to the park that morning and been given 2 "Dream Fast Passes" for the day, but they were leaving so he gave them to us! Dan has been dreaming about getting this Fastpass which lets you skip the line for all the most popular rides.A certain number are handed out each day in random locations around the park. During nap, he and Kaylie's dad got to go and ride all the rides they wanted to using their passes.

It was a great way to start our trip!

Our Trip down South Part 1: Legoland Adventures

Emma was off on more adventures last week with a trip down to Southern California. We flew in on Saturday and made our way to our first stop....

Legoland is a wonderful amusement park designed especially for young adventurers. All the rides are based on lego blocks and there are many different structures made entirely of Legos! Emma loved it!

Posing with another "Tourist"
Coming in at a respectable 34 inches (okay she is on the smaller side :)Emma just made the height requirement for many of the rides


She and Daddy fought fires in the Fire Academy

They flew a helicopter for the Coast Patrol

A boat ride around the lagoon

And a climb up the rope ladder
There were also plenty of places to build your own creations


Emma really enjoyed being creative
Daddy did try out one of the scarier rides, so Emma decided to practice her ballet moves :)

We walked through replicas of big cities all around the United States... Here was our favorites

We miss our east coast home :)
We ended the day in one of the great playgrounds designed especially for Emma sized friends

Emma drives the tow truck

Works in the market

Smells the flowers out the window

And drives one of the many lego cars.
The day was overcast and cool and the park was not crowded so it was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon