Disneyland - Day 2 - Green Shirt Day

Our second day at Disneyland we wore our green shirts again. This shirt idea came from Rebecca. I mentioned this shirt earlier on our beach day, but this close-up of the shirt will make things more clear.

Each one of the older grandchildren was assigned a letter from our last name to decorate. We all signed our first name on Dallas's computer. Then Sarah worked her magic to make it all come together in this finished product.

When we got to Disneyland, we found a big crowd with long lines outside of Disneyland. This is the crowd waiting to get through the security check before we could get in a line to get into the park. It was crazy busy that day. 

Not only was it very hot and humid, but it was also a random teacher work day at the local schools, so the park was extremely crowded all day long. It was a bummer because that week typically is one of the lighter weeks at Disney and we weren't expecting such crowds.

Look at everyone waiting so patiently in line for our first ride of the day.

This is the castle backdrop while waiting in line. It was the only castle picture I took. I kept waiting for a good time to get a group shot in front of the castle and it never happened. Sad!

We're on our way to the It's a Small World ride. I love that ride.

I especially love that ride when I am on a boat with this good-looking group of people.

No teacups ride for me, thank you! Spinning and twirling is definitely not my cup of tea!

Another one of my favorites is the jungle cruise ride. Glen and I took the little people who weren't big enough to go on the Indiana Jones ride. Natalie stayed with us because she was still trying to get over her bronchitis illness.

I loved the intensity of Eli, Logan and Carson's faces as they looked at everything in the jungle the guide was pointing out to them.

This was the day we had some excitement when we got back to the parking lot at the end of our Disneyland day.

Glen got this panicked look on his face as he was digging around in each one of the pockets in his cargo shorts for his car key. Each pocket yielded no key. He peered inside the car to see if he may have locked it in the car first thing that morning and no key was spotted.

This posed a serious problem since we couldn't just call Triple A to open the car for us. The key wasn't in the car, so that wouldn't help. We had no spare key with us.

Thankfully Jeff and Sarah were getting ready to exit the parking lot at that point and we flagged them down for a ride back to the house.

The problem was they had very little room for four extra people. Glen sat up front with Jeff. Sarah moved back to sit between Carson and Lincoln's carseats. Ben propped himself halfway on the seat where Eli was sitting. The other seat in the back had been taken out to make room for the double stroller. Haley wedged herself in the space by Eli's feet.

That left me perched precariously on top of the wheel well with the gigantic stroller as my armrest.

Thankfully the house is only about a mile away from Disneyland. 

Thankfully we arrived back safely at Belle's Castle with only a slight delay in getting dinner ready for the group. Looks like Madison enjoyed her dinner.

Glen made a call to the local Toyota dealership to see if they could make us a new key, but they needed the car to do it and we weren't ready to pay to have it towed at that point. We were still trying to figure out all our options.

Dallas suggested we have a neighbor send us our spare car key. That was a great idea!! Our neighbor Kathy Jacketta happily got the key and overnight FedExed it to us to solve our problem.

In the meantime, we were down one car for a couple of days and that was a bit obnoxious, but we made it work.

Quotes of the Week

"Before you quit, try. Before you talk, listen. Before you react, think. Before you criticize, wait. Before you move on, forgive." 

 -- Author Unknown 

"Make it your business to draw out the best in others by being an exemplar yourself." 

 -- Epictetus 

"If you are too busy to laugh, you are too busy." 

 -- Proverb 

"Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything." 

 -- Mary Hemingway 

Disneyland Here We All Come!

After all the hype about our Disneyland trip, we were finally going to go to actual Disneyland. We wore these snazzy red shirts that Dallas helped design.

The children all have Disney lanyards around their necks with Disney pins on them. They can trade their pins with any Disneyland employees they see. The pouches can hold their entrance ticket, money or (in Luke's case) lots of candy that the Excell family was sharing with the family.

Off we went first thing to the Carsland part of the park.

Look! There's an imposter in our midst! We learned red is a popular color for people to wear to the theme park.

I don't know exactly why Natalie looks a little funny in this photo, but I do know this was the day she was really not feeling very well. She was coughing a lot and feeling downright miserable. So much so that the next morning Jacob took her to a doctor where she got diagnosed with bronchitis. Poor girl!!

We managed to get all together in another big family photo--minus two babies in strollers.

It was easy to spot our group as they moved along in line while I stayed outside with a napping baby.

Newland joined in the street show where the green army men were conducting an interactive activity. Note: Newland is the short one and the two other kids in red are not part of the Thomas family.

Time for a lunch break. I just love it when Spencer sits cross-legged.

FYI: We learned Disneyland gives out free cups of ice water whenever and wherever you ask for it. Believe me when I say we asked for water often because we happened to be in Anaheim during a heat wave. It was so hot and sticky every day we were there. Ice water was our saving grace!

There was a fun wilderness/explorer area where a lot of us congregated at one point during the day.

Another time we made a big hook-up was for the parade. We got front-row seating so the children had a great view of everything that passed by.

Doing the Mickey Mouse ears while waiting for the parade to begin.

We all hooked up for a family dinner at one of the Disneyland restaurants that evening.

Ahhh, family togetherness. Gotta love it!!