disneyland!

a few weeks ago we were talking with some friends about how much they wanted to go to disneyland. i had never been and honestly have never felt like i was missing out (not generally a big fan of theme parks) but i let it slip that i would like to take Ruby and Mabel someday. disneyland is a bit of a rite of passage, right? anyway one thing led to another and less than a week later we were all on our way to california. last minute trips are kind of stressful with two small kids, but they can also be thrilling and somehow things kept falling in to place and working out in our favor. it seemed like it would've been stupid NOT to go after all was said and done. anyway we had a great time and i'm glad we decided to go for it.

i brought my big camera, fully prepared to "properly" document the experience, but that thing never left the bag (no regrets). that didn't stop me from taking a thousand cell phone photos though! here are some from my phone and some from our friends. 

in case you're wondering how popular the frozen characters are, here's what you have to do in order to meet them: 1. buy a three day park pass in order to get the "magic hour" pass (allows you to enter the park one hour before the general admissions). if you don't have the magic hour pass, there's no way there will be reservations left by the time you get in line. 2. get to the gates early so you're at the front of the turnstiles. 3. as soon as you get through the gates, run as fast as you can across the park to where there is another line. 4. wait in that line for over an hour so you can get a ticket. that ticket is your reservation for an assigned time to come back. 5. come back at your assigned time so you can wait in ANOTHER line for almost an hour to meet with elsa and anna (for less than 5 minutes). i don't know that i would do it again, to be honest, but at least we have that photo!

Mabel's favorite characters were chip and dale. she shared a special moment with chip during the character breakfast. 

Ruby still loves carousels and is just as particular as ever when picking out the perfect horse. 

 it was a great trip and i'm already looking forward to when we can go back. yay disneyland!
p.s. Ruby's favorite part of the trip:

Mabel's favorite part:

and Tyler and my favorite part: