Annie’s 1st day of school

First day of 1st grade!  Excited, nervous, hopeful . . . . lots of emotions are at play on the first day of school . . . . for the both of us!  Annie really was so excited to start school this year.  She has a terrific teacher (Ms. Forman), but only one boy from her kindergarten class last year is in her class this year, so she’ll have to make some new friends in class.  1st grade also means going to school ALL day . . . . which really is bittersweet for me.  It’ll be nice for James’s nap schedule not to have to take her to school in the middle of the day, and Annie won’t get bored from being at home for most of the day.  But this is the beginning of a new era for me.  For the next 20 something years, I’ll have to get kids up and ready for school early in the morning.  No more slow and relaxed mornings for us!  Which I guess is a good thing:)  And I’m going to miss Annie!!  But she is ready.  So here’s to a great school year!  I know you’ll do great, Annie!!

Disneyland Music Video

Haha . . . . isn't Dan awesome?  I love how well he documents our trips.  He had a lot of fun at Disneyland with his new GoPro video camera, which has a waterproof case so he can take it in the pool and on the water rides.  And I love that he enjoys making movies with our vacation footage.  The kids LOVE these movies and they watch them over and over again.  So now he's working on the movie from our Disneyland trip . . . . here's a sneak peak!

Cole Family Disneyland Trip!

So, after much planning and trying to figure out what to do for our Cole Family trip, we finally decided that a magical weekend down at D-land would be the perfect easy summer trip for this year.  Dan and the kids and I drove to my family’s house on Tuesday night (July 19th) and early the next morning 4 cars full of excited kids (and adults) made the trek down to So Cal.

 

We arrived at our hotel, unloaded our stuff, and hit up Downtown Disney for Ashley’s 20th birthday dinner!!  The kids loved sitting at their own table at the Rainforest Cafe, and we loved watching (from a nearby table) the confused looks on the waiters’ faces when they came to take orders.

After dinner the birthday celebration continued at Haagen Dazs . . . . YUM!

We were celebrating Ashley for another reason as well . . . . her and Spencer got engaged the day before!!!  (On her last day as a teenager:)  Congrats guys!!   We are all just thrilled.  Aren’t they the cutest?!?

Ok, enough of Ash hogging the spotlight . . . . now on to Disneyland!  It’s funny, because when we decided on a Disney trip, Dan and I thought, ok, we were just here 3 months ago . . . . we can take it slow, it’s okay if we don’t get to EVERYTHING, we can make it a more relaxing Disney trip . . . . YEAH RIGHT!  I think we did just about the OPPOSITE!  By staying at the Grand California (more on that later:), we found out we could get early entrance into the park 2 out of our 3 days.  Which meant we could enter the park at 7 a.m., an hour earlier than the general public.  So-long relaxing Disney trip!  And hello Disney crazies! 

But oh man, it was so fun . . . . not the waking up at 6 a.m. part, but the part where we were lined up outside of the front gates in the early morning with the other couple hundred Disney crazies, joining in on the countdown for the gates to open, and then running down main street with our double strollers to Fantasyland to try to be the first one on Peter Pan.  I mean, seriously, doesn’t that sound fun?  Haha . . . . why have we never done this before??  I said to my sister, “After all these years, we’re finally figuring out how to really do Disneyland.”  But seriously, it’s amazing how much you can do in an hour when the park is practically empty.  We knocked out all of Fantasyland in the cool morning air before the park even opened.  It was awesome. 

Our first day in the parks (Thursday), we spent the afternoon at “A Bug’s Land” in California Adventure.  The kids wanted to “get a little wet” in the fountains . . . . which of course we all know how that always ends up: They were completely SOAKED, but had soooo much fun!

The kids noticed these safety signs on the slowest little kid rides, and they thought it was hilarious.  It was so funny seeing their sense of humors come out as they saw the ridiculous of it.  They would say, “Oh, yeah!  Why would someone do this on the ride?” as they copied the pose of what not to do:

Checking out the new Ariel ride in California Adventure:

We love Toy Story Mania!!

Dan was happy when Brigham, John, and my Dad flew in Thursday night to join in on all the fun!  Now he had someone to be all matchy matchy with!  Here they are all ready for Day 2!  

We loved the new Mickey’s Soundsational Parade!                                                    

Peter came right up to Leah and pointed to her shirt, and said, “Hey!  My favorite color!”  She loved it.  

The teacups!!  Always a favorite.  Not for me though . . . . too much spinning:) 

Then we tried to take some pictures before it got dark . . . . the 3 girls: 

The 4 boys:  (These boys are all 5 months apart.  Grant was born in October, James in March, Ryan in August and then Jacob in January.  They will be good friends someday, but for now, Grant isn’t too happy that he is in the “baby boy” category.  And yes, this is the best one we got.)  

And then my mom said, “I’d really love one of all 9 grandkids!”  HA!  Well, we got one.

And the one picture we got during the whole trip with ALL 22 of us in it!!

And we’ll end Day 2 with a picture of our little family: 

Day 3 (Saturday) found us again at the front gates of Disneyland at 7 a.m. joining in on the countdown.  But this time we figured out another trick as well . . . . instead of getting in one of the lines with a hundred people already in it, we stood in front of one of the side gates knowing that right when the park opens and they start letting people in, a few workers will come open up this gate as well . . . . well, we were hoping they would.  We saw them do it on Thursday, but we were feeling a little self conscience as everyone in the other lines were watching us with that look of, “What are those people doing?  Do they know something we don’t?  I hope they don’t get it before us when we’ve been waiting out here way longer than them . . . . ”  Sure enough, it worked.  The workers came over to our gate and opened it up and we were some of the very first people into Disneyland.  We again ran straight to Fantasyland and went on every ride with NO lines.  Oh how we love that early entrance!! 

Just pull a little harder, guys!!

And because we were there so early, we had to do breakfast on the go . . . .  

I think we were the only ones on Small World!!

And the train early in the morning is refreshingly empty as well:)

Then we headed on over to the princesses a little before it opened . . . no avoiding lines here, it was already pretty long.  But always worth it!!

Ariel was so sweet . . . . she got down at eye level and talked to the girls for a long time, asking them all kinds of questions and answering theirs, like when Halle asked her, “Where’s Flounder??” 

Then on to Toon Town!

This picture is kind of random, but it’s just so hilarious I had to add it in.  Later that afternoon we all went on the Grizzly River Run and as we were about to get in line Michael whips out this sweet get-up to stay dry.  So funny!

So the best part of this Disney trip was that we stayed in the Grand California Hotel.  We’ve always wanted to try it out, and this was the perfect time.  We LOVED the hotel.  Not only was it a nice hotel, but it was just so awesome being right there, exiting our hotel right into the parks.  We didn’t have to load and unload sleeping kids and folded up strollers onto shuttle buses at midnight.  We didn’t have to lug our sweatshirts, jeans, and blankets around with us all day because when it got cold at night, we just made a quick stop at the hotel to change into our night clothes.  When it got really hot in the middle of the day and the lines were long, we’d just go back to the hotel and swim in the pool for awhile before heading back out to the parks in the evening.  It was fabulous.  We joke and say we can never do Disneyland any other way now . . . . but then again, we’re not really joking:)                               

We also have the Fast Pass system DOWN . . . . we hardly ever have to wait in line.  We love our nights at Disneyland when all the kids have passed out in their strollers and the adults hit up all the “big” rides over and over until midnight.  We usually do Thunder Mountain 3 or 4 times, Splash Mountain twice, Indiana Jones, and then end with a few rounds of Space Mountain, all within that last hour and a half.  We’re in our silly adult moods, and it’s just so fun.  And we still end up with tons of leftover fast passes we never even used!                          

Yep, we are definitely figuring out how to really do Disneyland . . . . it was another successful trip . . . . thanks so much Mom and Dad!!!

Cole Family Vacation – Disneyland – July 20th – 24th, 2011