A Disney vacation is the hardest vacation to come home from. It's like a crash landing after being on cloud 9. You slam back into reality and let's face it, real life sucks. Churros, Mickey Mouse, fireworks, Coke, sunshine, roller coasters, pool side lunch, ice cream in the morning...that's the stuff that makes life worth livin'. I've been tempted to grab Todd, twist his arm really hard and tell him if he takes me back to Disneyland now, no one gets hurt. But here we are, back to stupid work, and stupid school, and stupid laundry, and stupid dishes.
But on a less bitter note, our trip was totally great! We did have a bit of a rough start but all is well that ends well. The twins are almost 5 and have never had a tummy bug, but as fate would have it, 36 hours before our plane was set to leave, Charlie started puking. Awesome and not stressful at all. Thank the Lord his tummy settled down and he was on the mend. But my biggest fear that the other Rufflings, or yours truly, were going to continue with the puke fest {on the plane or at Disneyland} were put at ease a bit as we loaded up the car at 3:30 a.m. and set off to the Magic Kingdom, no one else having tossed their cookies during the night. The boys all wanted to wear their flight suits on the plane, so cute and practical since it was still chilly here in the Pacific Northwest that early in the morning. I just put them in their Disneyland tees and some shorts, and zipped their flight suit up over the top. And little did we know how important that suit would be for Mitch...as we started to descend into sunny California, he threw up all over. And as fate would have it, not a single air sick bag in any of our six seats. So we unzipped his defiled flight jumpsuit and uncovered a cheery Planes shirt, and we were off to catch the Disney express mostly intact, but mostly not smelling very good. We waited outside the airport and soaked up the sun and sucked in the fumes and smog as we watched every possible shuttle and taxi pass us by. Dawson was thrilled beyond belief to see his beloved palm trees, he was happy as a clam just to see them. The kids tried their hardest to wait patiently as we stood for a solid hour for the bus. I utilized what was left of my stash of snacks that hadn't been devoured on the plane. Which means they were eating Tootsie pops by 9 o'clock in the morning. But our ride finally came, and we were on Main Street by noon, just as we'd hoped, and we got right to business pigging out and riding rides. Charlie continued to feel off for most of our trip. His sickness morphed from the vomit stage, to fevers, to a hacking cough and runny nose, but he was a trooper. We had a great time with my parents, the weather was beautiful, having been in the high 90's the week prior, and in the 100's the week after we were there, we felt very blessed to have mild weather. The kids {and my Dad} were really well behaved, for the most part. There were a few "moments" which resulted in Todd telling me we're never going back to Disneyland, ever. But Pirates was closed and that's always our 1st and last ride, and we never got to sit and watch the fireworks like we promised the kids {they were cancelled because of wind}, and I am craving a Dole whip, so we have to go back. And not "someday", soon.
Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll stop rambling and let the photos tell the story. So without further ado, I bring you the Ruffling Disneyland tour, 2014...
Never in all our days have we ever been this excited to be out the door by 4 a.m.
Killing time till our 6 a.m. flight.
Watching the beautiful sunrise and watching for our ride to the magic.
The sweet flight attendant offered to take a family pic, she must be a mom;)
Dawson's a little cranky after his brother barfed next to him. And our 3:00 wake-up call is starting to take it's toll.
We made it! We're all tired but that's nothing a churro can't fix.
Since Pirates was closed {sob} we had to change tradition. Thunder MOUNTAIN was our 1st ride of the trip. Yeehaw, it's the wildest ride in the wilderness!
The kids pretended they were pooping out cannon balls. Who raised these heathens?
Our beloved Olaf. He was talking to all of us, so adorable. Too bad it was a 5 hour wait to meet the Frozen girls.
Need I say more?
My sweet Charlie needed some take-it-easy rides since he wasn't 100%, he loved Storybook Land.
Dawson driving on the Autopia. I'm sure I'll blink and he'll really be driving. With me alongside him like this of course.
Space Mountain! Dawson did it! He didn't do it again, but he did it!
Our view of the Haunted Mansion from the tree house.
About 5 seconds after we entered the petting zoo, Charlie got in trouble for climbing the barrels with the goats. We are completely uncivilized.
Ella went onstage and danced with the jamboree band;)
My traditional Disneyland bedtime snack ~ dark chocolate caramel covered marshmallows. Sweet dreams...
Day 2 we started off at California Adventures!
All the boys' first ride on Soarin' and became a fast favorite.
My Dad is a very patient Papa.
1st magical owie. Hey, I've got just the thing for that, a Mickey Mouse bandaid!
We couldn't wait for our 1st time on Cars! But boy did we wait, an hour, with a fast pass.
The girls. And my Dad is of course photo bombing with that stupid hat again!
Was so worth it, one of my new favorite rides of all time.
Best grandparents ever!
Stopping to smell the roses.
Don't judge me. We told the kids for months they could have some Coke at Disneyland.
Dawson yelled out in the middle of the walkway "I love this place!"
Someone's just a little bit excited about cotton candy.
Dawson is very concerned that he's allowed himself to be talked into Splash Mountain.
Whose that crazy family in the front?!
Matterhorn in the morning! Ella entertained us all by yodeling in line.
Happiest ducklings on earth. Seriously, talk about lucky ducks, do they know just how lucky they are?!
I always try to grab a handful of water on Thunder Mountain and splash the lucky family member behind me:)
Notice my Dad photo bombing in EVERY sword in the stone picture with his dumb Broncos hat. He is such a brat!
Dawson decided he was too cool for the carousel. So after the rest of us went around a few times our eyes focused on this sight: My Dad had taken him to get a churro and a Coke. At 10 in the morning. Only Papa, and only at Disneyland.
The kids and Eeyore melted my heart! Dawson just snuggled right up to him and was rubbing his fur, and Eeyore kept running his hand over Mitchy's hair, so adorable.
This is what snowmen do in the summer! Mitchy thanked us profusely for his Olaf, over and over, all day, every day. So precious. He is definitely worth melting for.
Ella was selected out of the crowd to be in the Jedi Training Program! Was a highlight of our vacation.
Darth Vader and Darth Maul were scary, they looked real, these kids are so brave!
Battling Darth Vader!
Pirates was closed but we were grateful to eat at Blue Bayou and at least smell Pirates of the Caribbean.
In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki room!
Don't laugh at me, but I actually got teary eyed on Dumbo! When you get up high and it's dusk and you can see the castle and the whole park lit up, it really is *MaGiCaL*.
How we found Ella's bed when we got to the hotel that night.
A terrifying morning:) Nothing like starting the day with Tower of Terror.
Even the Starbucks cups are Mickey'd up.
This is Ella's maiden voyage on Screamin'! I can't believe how stinking cute she looks. She wound up going on it FOUR times that day, that's my girl!
Ice cream before lunch? Why not!
Tom Sawyer's island.
Paddle boat ride on the Liberty Belle.
Naples, one of my all time fave restaurants there. The kids got animal balloons, a dragon and 3 penguins.
My Dad got my Mom one too, Aurora:)
Catching a glimpse of the light show.
Splash Mountain, one of my favorites!
Mickey Mouse ice cream!
Love the sun-is-in-my-eyes-but-I'm-trying-to-smile look on the kids' faces. Not possible to get a decent family picture, ever.
Pool side nachos, Coke, sunshine, smiles...this is the good life.
We actually rescheduled our vaca when we found out Indiana Jones AND Pirates were closed so that we could at least get on one of them. Indiana Jones was set to open Friday, and Saturday was our last day. But the dumb ride kept closing off and on all day, even once while my parents, Todd and the bigs were in line! We finally got on it Saturday night, and this was Mitchy and Dawson's very first time. Such a fun memory watching Mitchy's reaction.
Bubble guns gone wild.
Our very own Malificent family.
Sacked out in under 5 minutes. Our last night... goodbye Disneyland.
At the airport, Disneyland detox is painful.
It's not the ride, it's who you're with. And this is me in all my glory after Screamin' with my favorite ride buddy, my Daddy.
Shuttle ride to LAX. Another early morning. Why is everyone always sleeping except me?
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