Disneyland 2011

After graduation and our trip to Nauvoo, we had a few days to ourselves before heading out to the west coast. We flew from Chicago to LA so we could take Josh to Disneyland! Matt's family jumped at the chance to join us, and ended up treating us to just about everything the whole weekend. It was so much fun having the whole family together and watching Josh go nuts!

Here we are making our way from the hotel to the park. Matt insists on carrying my diaper bag everywhere we go. It makes him feel pretty.

Every ride is twice as fun when your aunts and uncles take you.

Here are the lovely grandparents resting with Jude while Josh and I wait in line to ride the rockets in Tomorrowland. I didn't give them much of a chance to pose for the picture.

Ohp, we're getting there...Murray, I think there's something wrong with your face.

There we go. Third time's a charm.

Here we all are on the train, before we realized it's more of a taxi around the park than an actual ride.

Space Mountain is my very favorite Disneyland ride. Matt won't ride it with me because he loves his sensitive stomach more than he loves me. But I guess that's what you get when you marry someone before they take you to Disneyland and show you where their priorities truly lie.

So I rode it with these clowns instead.
And we screamed the whole time.

Josh was looking for Lightning McQueen the whole day, and we finally found him at California Adventure just before his display closed. Unlike the other pansy little kids who lined up to get their picture taken and just stood politely where the fancy shmancy photographer told them to, Josh ran wild around both Cars, running his hands along the sides until he touched every reachable surface of each vehicle, taking in every detail until I had to chase him down and drag him out by his toenails. I love his excitement...sometimes.

Josh's last ride of the day was the new Toy Story game. It was about a 45 minute wait, and he was so tired by this point that he actually fell asleep like this on Grandpa's shoulders. Those Snow boys can sleep anywhere!

We tried every trick we knew to wake Josh up when we got to the front of the line. Matt even put him on the ground and stood him on his feet, but he stayed asleep and flopped right back into Matt's arms. It was hilarious.

All the Snow kids at the Haunted Mansion. If Michelle looks short to you, it's only because the rest of her siblings are at least 6'3". At 5'9"-ish she looks like a shrimp next to them. I never felt short a day in my life until I joined this family!

The Tower of Terror -- Grandma's favorite ride!

The next day, we all went to the beach before we caught our flight up to Sac. Josh was really brave playing with me in the waves. At one point, he was so brave that he ran off chasing a pigeon a long way down the beach. There were about three horrifying minutes in which I had no idea where he was. Stolen? Lost? Swept out to sea? If you're a mom who has ever thought she lost a child in the store or at the park, you know that it only takes about six seconds for your mind to imagine every terrible possible outcome of your negligence.  Luckily some people saw what direction Josh went and I ran until I found him with an old lady who was trying to ask him what color swimsuit his mommy was wearing. I'm grateful for good people like that.

We both bounced back pretty quickly. Thank you Snows for a splendid weekend! It was a wonderfully fun-filled couple of days...in which I realized there is no Newport Beach or Disneyland where I am planning on raising my children. Not even close! I'm not even from that part of California, but I still call it home. Frequent trips to the West will be necessary so they can learn of their sun-burned sandy-pants heritage.