Disney Land 2010

Well, I'm only about TWO years late recapping our trip to Disney Land!!  No joke that this has been on my to do list for TWO years.  We are surprising the boys in a few short weeks with a trip to Disney World, so I had to write about these memories before they got too foggy.

{I cannot believe how young Nicklaus looks in these pictures!  He was 3 1/2 then and 5 1/2 now}

A few years ago, JP had a conference in Disney Land and I jumped at the opportunity to take Nicklaus, who was a little over 3 1/2 at the time.  Oh my goodness...did we ALL have an amazing time!  I think Nick had a permanent smile on his face the entire trip.  It was such a special time for us in that we got to spend so much one-on-one time with him.  We of course missed Conrad to pieces, but the alone time with Nicklaus was such a special treat!

Magic Kingdom

The first day, JP was tied up with his conference, so Nick and I hit the park first thing.  During the week, in the middle of October, was the best time to go!  The weather was perfect and the crowd levels were so low.  We rode rides over and over and hardly had to wait!


The Tea Cups!

Alice and Wonderland

I'm such a sap and had tears in my eyes the entire 3 days we were at Disney.  It was so fun to see the excitement in Nick's face, plus all of the rides brought back so many great memories from my childhood.

Dumbo

The Carousel 

The grounds at Disney Land were nothing short of amazing.  And I swear the employees take happy pills.  Everyone was so nice and helpful and the park was immaculate.

JP was able to join us on the second day.  Nick was loving all of the one-on-one time too!

The Pirates of the Caribbean

The Haunted Mansion

Splash Mountain
Could not believe that Nick went on this ride - TWICE and sat on the first row!

I was so bummed that It's a Small World was closed for renovations!

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Mary Poppins and Bert!
This was a highlight.  We spotted the characters walking down a pathway and we followed them to where they were heading to perform.  Nick, along with some other kiddos, were picked from the crowd to help with the performance.  He loved every minute of it!

Meeting Mickey Mouse!  He was SO excited!

Sugar rush!!!

Heading to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.
This was such a fun night.  During the weekends in the month of October, there is a kid friendly Halloween party at the park after hours.  It was a late night, but Nick enjoyed every second.



Waiting for the fireworks to begin!



More sugar!



Rest time at the hotel.  Nick wanted to sleep with his new Prince Phillip sword and Peter Pan characters...

We of course dined at many character meals and Nick just ate this experience up!  He wasn't even familiar with all of them, but smiled nonetheless.

We spent an afternoon at Disney California Adventure Park so that we could see the Pixar Parade.  The costumes were outstanding!

Mickey waffles before we headed back to Houston!

We were so excited to see this sweet face and shower him with gifts from Disney when we got home!  I'm so glad he really had no idea (he wasn't even 2 yet) where we were.  He was just happy to see us...and of course get toys.

We leave for Disney World in May and I am just so excited.  I plan to surprise them with the news the morning we leave, but haven't decided just how I am going to do it yet.  I promise to post details on that trip much sooner than this one!  Goodness!