Jeni and Crystal have been telling the girls for a couple of years now that when they turn 8 they can go to Disneyland. Crystal would remind Lyla every time she was feeling impatient that she had to be patient in order to wait in the lines at Disneyland. We sure wish Crystal had been with us in Disneyland, but Jeni kept her promise and took a couple of cute little 8 year olds to Disneyland, and I am so grateful that I was able to go with them! We rode as many rides as we possibly could have, we ate giant pickles (Crystal's favorite), we wore purple, we saw some Disney and Pixar characters, and we even spent some time at the beach and saw some dolphins!
Our first day there! The girls were so excited! Our first ride was "Soarin.'" Possibly one of my favorites, I think. Alya hated it. She was terrified, because it really did feel like we were just kind of hanging in mid air...but we rode it three times so I think it's safe to say she overcame her fear. But she refused to go on the Incredicoaster...which Lyla loved! If you ask either of the girls now, though, they would tell you that Soarin' was their favorite ride. (Alya also said she loved the "It's a Small World" ride).
We saw lots of characters; Minnie, Mickey, Chip and Dale, Goofy, Donald, Daisy, Woody and Jessie, Lightening McQueen, Mater, Ant Man, the boy from Coco, Elsa, the Headless Horseman, etc. They had a little booth set up by the boy from Coco and we got to write a little note of remembrance and hang it around their booth. It was a pretty sweet little moment, and I think we were all thinking about Crystal while we were writing our notes.
Alya was very afraid of pretty much all the roller coasters/ rides that took you off the ground. She was very brave though and took lots of deep breaths and still rode them despite how afraid she was. Lyla is a little thrill seeker and loved all of the rides.
Lots of tears were shed by Alya, but I'm glad she ended up smiling after each one. (It might have taken both the girls a little while to smile after Splash mountain and the Matterhorn! Haha!!)
Grizzly Gulch was another favorite. You wouldn't know it by this picture because they were very nervous the first time we went, but this is one ride we did over and over again.
The girls got to ride some of the rides all by themselves!
We loved the animation studio! The girls are definitely little artists!
I think Jeni and I heard the girls talk the most about the palm trees! They were so excited to see a palm tree and wanted us to make sure they could get their pictures taken next to a palm tree! So cute!
We got to spend some time on the beach! It was a little chilly but that didn't stop the girls from playing in the water! They had so much fun!
Unfortunately, Lyla didn't feel super great for most of our trip. (Thank goodness for Tylenol and Coke!) But she was such a trooper! You can kind of see it in her eyes in this picture that she wasn't feeling great. Poor girl!
They found this giant pile of kelp and tried to move it up onto the beach. They kept yelling "Kelp!" to try and get me and Jeni to help them! Haha! They are clever!
We had so much fun! I really am so glad that I was able to go on this trip with them, and I am grateful to Jeni for arranging the while thing!
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