California- Day 1

Okay, without any of my excuses, I will just start posting California details...

We got up really early Saturday morning (after very little sleep) to catch our plane to Long Beach. As a side note, the Long Beach airport is terrific! Very small, easy to fly into and find your way around. Plus it was cheaper than LAX or Orange County. The flight was a little frustrating. They overbooked, so seats got moved around and Brian was sitting three rows in front of the rest of us. Plus, the lady in front of me apparently did not believe in disciplining her son who was 4 or 5. He dropped his toys behind his seat (aka in my lap/at my feet/under my chair) multiple times. Plus, he almost never sat in his seat. I'm not exaggerating here. One of the attendants came and talked to the mom about FAA regulations and safety rules because the kid would not stay sitting down, even when the seat belt light was on, when we were taking off, or even when we were landing, despite having been asked politely over and over. AGGHHH. Alright, enough of that. The rest of the day was awesome!!!

Here's my mom- Grandma Nancy- outside the hotel lobby. Ready for a fun day!!

We had to wait in line to exchange our ticket vouchers for actual tickets. The kids were so great. They were so excited, and yet they were still patient. Zack and Russell passed the time by circling around a light post. What cute boys.

Our very first ride in Disneyland was the Jungle Cruise. We wanted to start with something we could all ride together and that would be fun for Russell. He loved it. We all had fun too.

This is one of the elephants trying to spray the tourists (that would be us).

You can tell by Russell's face he loved the ride.
Next was Tarzan's Tree House. Here's Zack and Russell on the wobbly rope bridge.
Brian & Russell rang the tree house bell.
By the time we climbed to the very top, we were really high up there! This wonderful view was part of our reward for walking up so many stairs.

Brian and Russell rode the big ship (I can't remember the name) while the other 5 of us rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. What a blast. Isn't Russell a cutie?

Of course we had to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, but apparently we jinxed it. Part way through, the boat stopped and we had to wait for... well, quite a while. It was at least 20 minutes, maybe even a half hour. Oh well, at least it was cool in there. When we started up again, the boats were practically end to end and the sound didn't work for some of it. The pirate fight is a bit less effective without the sound of cannons firing. We rode it another day and it went smoothly.

Here's an adorable pirate we saw in the gift shop at the end of the ride. Don't you love the hair?

To finish off the day, we went to California Adventure to see Aladdin on stage. This is an amazing production! You don't even really realize this theater is there, and when you walk in, IT IS HUGE! And the performance is absolutely terrific! They have the cave of wonders, the hilarious genie- blue face and all- a gigantic parade when Prince Ali arrives- complete with his bigger than life elephant, and a real flying carpet that flies right out over the audience. If you go, this is something not to miss. We love it!

This is a pretty bad picture, but it gives you an idea of how large the theater is.

After a long, fun, exciting, tiring day, we headed back to the hotel. We watched the fireworks from the balcony- we had a great view. The funniest thing was that when the really loud fireworks made their big BOOM there was one car alarm that would go off. It was one of those obnoxious ones that makes all kinds of siren noises. As soon as it would finally stop, you guessed it, another big firework would go off. The firework show is pretty long, and this happened over and over. We all laughed. I guess you had to be there, but it was hilarious to us.

Russell was really tuckered out. Here he is sleeping it off. We're right there with ya buddy!

Okay, there's the brief summary of day #1. Day #2 should be coming shortly.......