Happy New Year everyone!  I know, I know.  We’re practically halfway through the year and this is my first post of the year.  Don’t worry, I made a resolution to blog more consistently this year and you have to start somewhere right?

So, what happened over the last few months?  In one word: plenty!  I’ll try to fill you in as time permits, but tonight we’re talking about the trip we took in February.  Last year sometime, my parents thought it would be a good idea if they took Slugger to Disneyland.  You see, when my sister was three, her grandfather took her to Disneyland and Papa Pat thought that he should do the same with Slugger since she was now three.  Keao and I agreed to his plan, but we had one condition: we had to come along too!  There was no way Slugger was going to experience Disneyland without us to experience it with her.  So since we were all going to go, we invited my brother Stanton and my sister Sara-Anne and her fiance Vince.  So seven adults and two children met up in Anaheim for a few days of magical fun.

Even though we kept our itinerary pretty relaxed with rest days between parks we still managed to exhaust ourselves with all the fun and excitement.  We hit up Knott’s Berry Farm, California Adventure, Disneyland and Legoland.  All in all, Slugger did very well.  Actually both she and Sunny did very well, but since Sunny was just a little to young to really ride the rides she mostly enjoyed riding in her stroller and eating whatever managed to fall her way.

First up, Knott’s Berry Farm!

Unfortunately, much of Camp Snoopy was closed for renovations.  Luckily though, Slugger and Papa did manage to find some things for her to ride.  Since we weren’t sure how well she would do on the rides, we really tried to ease her in to them so she wouldn’t be too afraid.  We may have been projecting though, she had no problems whatsoever.  She loved the rides.

Of course after a long day of rides, you need to eat Mrs. Knott’s fried chicken.  Here are some happy diners right after they finished dinner.

Next stop: California Adventure!

California Adventure is perfectly set up for children Slugger’s age.  The Bug’s Life area was definitely a hit.  She loved this ladybug ride so much she rode it twice.  I’m glad my parents took her too as the spinning type rides tend to make me ill.

Not letting my parents have all the fun, Slugger and I jumped in the bumper cars.  I’m not sure she understood the concept though as she kept trying to avoid everyone.  Defensive driving like that will set her up well when she gets older.

Naturally we needed a picture with Minnie.  Amazingly, there was practically no line.  We only waited a few minutes to snap this shot.

Then the main reason for our trip, the Happiest Place on Earth: Disneyland!

After watching a documentary on the Sherman Brothers and knowing they just got a window on Main Street, I felt compelled to take a picture with their window.  Those guys are seriously Disney Legends.

As the night wound down, Slugger made Uncle Stanton and Nana take her on the teacups a few times.  Seriously, I don’t know how she can handle all that round and round spinning.

After driving about an hour south, we hit our final park: Legoland!  Unfortunately the rest of our party had to leave so it was just the four of us, yeah man the core of us.

Legoland is definitely set up for children 3-5 years old.  Slugger was in heaven with everything she could ride.  What they lack in Disney-type theming they make up in volume of little kid rides.

We thought Slugger would be scared of this free fall ride, but the smile on her face told us that she was having a blast!

Before you start thinking that we completely neglected Sunny, she had her own fun in these giant Lego cars.

One of the coolest rides for Slugger was this car that she got to drive all by herself.  No tracks or false steering, she had complete control of the car.  She did very well and didn’t crash into anything (although she was going rather slowly so even if she did crash she would have been perfectly fine).

Overall, this may have one of my favorite trips of all time.  Our whole family was together and everyone made sure that Slugger had the the time of her life.  If we do it again, we would probably split the two Disney parks over two days, but for a first trip, I think it went fantastically.  Slugger keeps asking when she can go back to California and to the castle, but really I can’t wait until Sunny gets a little older so she can enjoy it and we can do it all over again!