Disneyland Vacation!

We have been wanting to take our little family to Disneyland for a while now. So when our friends (Robert and Kim Crossman) said they were going in April, and we found a GREAT deal for that same week, we decided it was time! The deal included 5 nights at the Disneyland Hotel and six-day park hopper passes to Disneyland and California Adventure! We have never stayed at a Disney Hotel before and Mike and I have always wanted to, so it was so fun for us! They are currently remodeling he hotel and only have 1/2 of one of the towers finished -- and they put us in the newly remodeled part! It was so nice! Here are a couple pics of the hotel:

Mickey's Sorcerer's hat as you walk into Downtown Disney:

In the lobby where you check in they had a little miniature couch and TV {playing old shows/videos of mickey cartoons) for the kids to hang out while you check in. The kids thought that was pretty cool!

The hotel grounds are {obviously} decked out Disney style!

As I said we were in the newly remodeled rooms and they were pretty neat! They had these pillows on the beds:

And this way cool headboard/wall decor that was pretty neat of the castle. There was a switch on the lamp below it that when turned on fireworks lit up around the castle and it played a little bit of the song "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes." It was really cool!

And as everything else in Disneyland, there are small details everywhere! Such as these lamps on the wall in the bathroom - notice Mickey's Glove holding it and the little mickey mouse head/ears around the top and bottom. :)

There also was the famous "Never Land Pool" that we got to enjoy - the kids loved it! Complete with waterslides and all!

And now here are the rest of the pictures from our vacation.....the parks!
What would a trip to Disneyland be without a picture in front of the flowers & train at the front gates to Disneyland?! Here is the whole group of us:

It was so much fun being with our friends the Crossman's the whole week! They have three kids each just a tad older than our three kids and so it was perfect! They all got along so well and had fun being together just playing and playing!

Then here is just our little family:

As I said before, the kids all got along so great that even waiting in line for rides they had a good time together. Here they are waiting in line for the Peter Pan ride:

Mike & Shawn and Emily, Brady & Connor on Dumbo:

And all the kiddos enjoying King Arthur's Carousel:

Kim with all the kids in the teacup. :)

"Don't spin that teacup too fast boys, it'll make you sick!" :)

In the animal cages on the Casey Jr. Train ride:

And one of our favorites - the Pirates of the Caribbean ride!

(I have a strange husband, don't I?) :)

In New Orleans Square we got to see Princess Tiana do some singing and dancing:

Tarzan's Treehouse:

And one of my favorite sights in all of Disneyland - Sleeping Beauty's Castle!!

We thought it was so cute that Brady and Kylee would hold hands almost everywhere they went. They had so much fun together!

Emily and Connor in front of It's a Small World:

And "the boys" - Shawn, Isaac, and Brady:

All of us riding It's a Small World:
(I think we forgot to tell Shawn it's not a roller coaster and he can put his hands down!) :)

Our three cute boys riding the Ferris Wheel in CA Adventure:

The kids just hanging out having a good time!

Here's our family in front of the Pacific Wharf in CA Adventure:

One of our kids favorite things to do was to see all the characters throughout the week. We never stood in the long lines to see anyone, but when we would happen upon someone with no line then we were sure to get an autograph and take a couple pics!
All of us with Buzz Lightyear:

Mr. and Mrs. Incredible:

Because of an "incident" that had happened with our hotel room, they gave us (all 10 of us!) a complimentary "Character Breakfast" at the Grand Californian one morning. It was so cool! And the kids got to meet lots of characters that way. Here they are with Koda:

And Keni (no idea how to spell that one!):

Chip was a favorite!

Pluto was really funny and Connor loved him because he is a dog and he is obsessed with all things "puppy" :)

Terk from "Tarzan":

and Dale was our very favorite of the day because of this:

He sat and played with Connor forever! they poked each other's eyes, gave each other 5's, hugged, etc. It was so cute!

At the end of the breakfast they had all the kids line up for a little game of follow the leader and a couple other fun games. The kids loved it!

On our way into the park that morning we also got to meet Goofy:

The kids with Tinkerbell and Terence:

Aladdin and Princess Jasmine:

Our package that we got also included one morning of "Mickey's Toontown Morning Madness" where we got to go into Toontown an hour before everyone else and meet the Characters and watch them do a little "ceremony" where they made all the kids honorary members of Toontown. It was pretty cute! Here is Mayor Mickey:

and all the other characters:

The kids had so much fun playing in Toontown! Here are Shawn and Brady in Mickey's car:

And in Goofy's car:

the fountain in the middle of Toontown:

We got to play in Minnie's House:

And in Mickey's House:

The kids had fun climbing through Chip N Dale's Treehouse:

As well as climbing on the "rocks" around Toontown:

At the end of the Rodger Rabbit ride:

All the kids taking their turn in the "Dog Pound":

And the best "character meetings" of all, of course, were Minnie Mouse:

And Mickey Mouse!!

Just a picture I thought was cute of Connor hanging out on Mike's shoulders so he could see the parade. :)

It was such an amazing week! The kids (myself and Mike included!) had such a blast! It was A LOT of walking though and I think we wore the kiddos right out!! Here they are on the car ride home:

We are so glad we were able to go and make some "magical memories" for our kids! Thanks to Robert and Kim's family for playing with us all week! {and for letting us "crash" your vacation!} We all had such a great time!