The Olsen's: The Happiest Place on Earth!

I guess I will start the moment it began to feel like a true family vacation...

As we neared the boarding gate everyone silently prayed they were not seated next to the screaming toddler running full speed toward the gate, leaning forward to support the weight of his backpack.

He may have yelled "airplane" an uncountable amount of times until someone flagged us down to board because we were obviously traveling with a young child. He settled into his seat still yelling out the window while knocking on it with all his force in hopes of catching the attention of another airplane. He wasn't perfect for the next 2 1/2 hours but he definately wasn't as bad as we had feared...

After retrieving our luggage he jumped up on the largest bag to catch a ride throughout the airport until he immediately fell asleep in the rental car before leAving the parking lot. We spent some time settling in and hitting the hotel pool but decided to jump in the car and drive to Huntington beAch for the sunset...We were exhausted so room service and a bottle of red wine to celebrate our wedding anniversary called our names very early....Can't wait for tomorrow... The happiest place on earth...

After hotel coffee and a little Disney pep talk for us and Bennett, we boarded the shuttle to take us the bloack and a half to Disneyland! Since I am also a first timer I had no idea what to expect or plan for but as we walked past the 100ft+ Disney Christmas Tree and down Disney main street I knew we were in for fun. We spent the first part of the day hitting some rides, Dumbo, Teacups & It’s a small world “Holiday Style”… before we knew it we were starving and Bennett was showing the need for a nap. We grabbed lunch before finishing up the morning on the Disney Choo Choo where Bennett completely hammed it up by waving eagerly at everyone like he was in a parade.

He took a fabulous nap and we headed on back for more Disney.. We were able to hit the Autopia where Bennett barely made the 33 in. height restriction… he was so proud. We went to wait patiently (or not so patiently) for the Holiday parade. It was not that easy to keep a toddler in a 2 square foot piece of concrete for an hour wait… it was a joint effort and took an enormous bucket of popcorn.

Saturday was our buffer day between two big days at Disney... We knew Bennett would want some time to run free so we packed up the rental compact and hit pacific coast highway, our first stop... Laguna beach!

Joel and I decided it was the Kirkland of California, a cute little water front town with lots of dog walkers, difficult parking and great little shops. It was adorable, we parked our little family of three on some hotel towels and played in the sand, it was a bit foggy so after a bit we decided to hit the road again and maybe even let B fit in a quick nap. It was a success and we landed in Huntington Beach for an early afternoon snack in the sun... This beach was our favorite and can't really imagine a better place to spend the afternoon to let B run wild and people watch. Bennett got really good at yelling at the sea gulls and throwing sand. After a beautiful sunset we packed for our temporary home... After a well needed bath and some take out in the hotel we snuggled in and found a Christmas movie on TV... A beautiful day to enable us to recoup for Disney Day Dos tomorrow!!!

The accountant in me was in full effect as we mapped out our big Disney Day… The early morning coffee was brewed and we were on the way to the Disney enterance before 7:30 am. We hit about a dozen rides that morning and enjoyed the 87 degree sun. We had icecream and Bennett zonked out in his stroller in the mid day sun. It was perfect! We had dinner out and headed to Disney California Adventures at dusk. It was not busy at all and we were able to walk on to a last couple rides like the ferris wheel and some rocket thing that Bennett LOVED… we bid farewell to Disney with the Holiday Firework show… it was a great ending to an amazing trip with our little family.