Disneyland!!

When Parker started a diabetic trial 9 months ago he said he wanted to go to Disneyland with the money. We knew logically we should put it towards a pump or medical costs, but we also felt that if he was doing the work of the trial he should have a say in how to use the money. As the months went on and the stress of the disease continued to build in the entire family, we all agreed that Disneyland was exactly what our family needed!! We started planning and preparing for the big trip! We found amazing deals on plane tickets so our kids were now even more excited!! Most of them have never flown before. After a lot of research, we found a hotel close to the park that could hold our entire family in 1 room. We got the park hopper tickets, and everything began to feel real!! Our family has taken a lot of trips, but never one just for us! They are usually for family reunions or funerals, or to visit family out of state, but never just a planned vacation for no reason at all. 6 out of the 7 of us have never been to Disneyland so I knew this would be a trip we would never forget. We learned a lot of lessons along the way, like the fact that everything from hotel rooms, to park tickets, to the food in the park cost way more than we ever imagined! We were determined though, and saved and made it work. We received many blessing, even miracles I would say  which made the trip possible.
The day finally came and we packed our bags and headed to Salt Lake. Before heading to the airport we hit the Disney store to buy matching shirts for the trip. I was glad we did it this way too, because it was cheaper and easier without all the crowds to shop.  Uncle TR dropped us off at the airport and kept our car for us for the week. The flight went great and the kids loved every minute of it. we were pretty tired once we got to Las Angeles, all the kids slept in the shuttle to Anaheim.

No one really knew what to expect our first day in the park. There was so much to take in and we had to take 7 opinions of where to go into consideration. At first we just went to all the rides with short lines and then branched out from there. It rained the first day off and on too. They canceled the light parade too which was a bummer. I was able to ride one of my favorite rides, Space Mountain, which made my whole day! Everyone but Carter (and Maddox who was too short) enjoyed the ride. We took a break mid day and went back to the hotel for a rest. Only problem.... no one wanted to rest but mom and dad. Big kids swam and little kids ran crazy around the hotel room. We enjoyed lots of yummy food too!! By the end of day 1 we were all exhausted and excited for day 2 in California adventure land. 

    

 Day 2 and 3 in California Adventure  was just that, an Adventure!! The first ride we rode on was "Sorrin" it was a virtual reality ride. It makes you feel like you are flying above the mountains and the Niagara falls, or the great wall of China. It was amazing how real it felt! Even though I knew it wasn't real, it totally freaked me out!! I was clinging to my seat and screaming a lot throughout the ride! I am glad I rode it, but don't ever want to ride it again :) California adventure Land had a lot more thrill rides which my husband and older kids enjoyed. Grant rode the California screamin roller coaster with both Allivia and Ellie. The rest of us wouldn't ride it if you paid us!! We loved cars land, bugs land, and the adventure part of the park which looked like you were in the woods. There were lots of nature activities for the kids and they loved it. My favorite ride in this park was the Grizzly Peaks ride i think it was called. It was a white water rafting ride and I wish I could have ridden it a second time. We loved the food at Flo's Dinner in Cars land. Probably the best part of the whole trip was watching the world of Color show. We got fast passes for it and was front row on the water. Luckily we had ponchos or we would have gotten soaked. The show was about 30 minutes long with a water and color show. They projected scenes from Disney movies and the music into the water somehow and it was AMAZING!!! The best part was the Pirates of the Caribbean scene. They blew fire out of the water. It was all so magical! Everyone in the park was playing a game called heads up to pass the time in lines. We had a lot of fun playing it. You basically hold the phone up to your forehead and it has a word on it, then everyone else has to describe the word for you to guess and it keeps going until your timer is up. Another awesome park of California Adventure was the Frozen show. It was a live 1 hour play of the movie Frozen. We had second row seats and it was amazing!! I love the theater so that helps. Its just so amazing to look around and see how Disney spares no detail in anything they do. Everything was over the top and amazingly real.

Day 4 and our last day in Disney was spent in Disney Land. I was in a panic from the start because there was still so much to do and see and we only had 1 day to do it all in!! We ended up pulling a 14 hour day and still missed out on a couple rides we wanted to ride. By this point we go Parker a disabilities pass which helped through the lines a ton! The heat and all the walking is really hard on his blood sugars. He did great all week but on the last day we were fighting lows some. The disability pass allows you to get a come back time. Then its like a fast pass, you skip the line and go to the front. We finally got a good routine where we would get a fast pass for one line and a come back time for another ride and just keep bouncing back and forth through all the rides. We made it onto a lot of the the classic rides on day four. Splash mountain, Indiana Jones, Star tours, and probably rode the carousel a half dozen times because it was Maddox favorite and always a 5 minute wait :)We ate more amazing food like the worlds best pulled pork sandwich in the new Orleans part of the park and waffle cones and root beer floats in the old west while watching a live show.  The last night was bitter sweet. We were all so tired! Maddox and Parker both fell asleep long before we left the park, but so sad to leave a world where there is nothing but happiness and quality time as a family.

Saturday morning we boarded the shuttle back to the airport. We had a connection in San Francisco which I loved even though it was only 30 minutes. San Francisco holds a special place in my heart and I love that city!! We hoped kids would nap on the flight home but no luck :) We were all tired and totally worn out from the trip! One of the flight attendants thought Parker and Maddox were just so cute and kept commenting on it. I can not even count how many times people made comments on the size of our family like we were the Duggers with 19 kids or something haha. They couldn't believe how many kids we had! Many commented on how well behaved they were which was nice also. One lady kept saying how patient I was at the airport to have so many kids. I wasn't sure if that meant I was a nice mom or that my kids were crazy and yet I was still smiling. I choose to believe she just thought I was a good mom hahaha. The kids all did do very well! We had tifts here and there but overall they were all very patient and happy. I truly hope we make it back one day! Disney Land truly is the happiest place on earth!!