Disney for the Holidays

As soon as I knew we were going to Palm Springs for Thanksgiving I started plotting a way for us to visit Disney too. Luckily it was not hard to convince Mel to jump on the bandwagon. Unfortunately my dad was feeling under the weather, so only my mom was able to join us for the visit.

This was Olive's 1st trip to Disneyland and Nikos' 2nd (both the kids visited DisneyWorld first - wahoo!) In addition we were celebrating Kira's birthday (which was the next day.)

While we waited for Mel to rent a stroller we spotted Goofy and took some quick pics. Olive was mesmerized.

Love the suspicious look on Nikos in this one.

No, the poor kid was not a Goofy hater, he was just hungry. Yes, Nikos HUNGRY. I can probably count on one hand the number of times in his life he has told me (or acted like) he was hungry. This is not an exaggeration. When we got there and he told Taki and I he was hungry we knew he wasn't crying wolf so Tyke ran off to get him something.

Please note the back of Taki's "I will not let you ruin the fun by making us pose for a lot of pictures right away" head.

The castle
Mel + family (think Mason was behind her)

Waiting in line for our first ride, Autopia.

My mom volunteered to wait at the top with Olive who was seriously 1/4 inch too short for the ride. The bummer is if she had been in tennis shoes than she totally would have made the cut. They are on the right on the bridge in this picture.

I rode with Mai. She wasn't the best driver (I got a little carsick) but she did read me EVERY sign on the route.

Taki and Nikos passing underneath us!

Here's everyone on the Carousel - Olive's favorite ride.

Mel and Mace

Niko Pico

Tyke and Olive

Mom and Kira

Maile

Niko waves hello to all his fans, real (Uncle Vernie) and imagined.

We used Fast Passes for Buzz Lightyear's ride (always a big hit.)

Mel's family pic by the castle.

We timed lunch so that we could watch the parade. Here's a cute video I took (it is awful of the parade itself but I was trying to capture the kids' reactions.) It's kinda long but the first 20 seconds are cute.

When Mrs. Claus rode by on her float she said "Happy Birthday Kira"!

Woody

When Buzz's float came by Olive got so excited and started saying "Buzz, Buzz, NIKOS BUZZ!"

And some shots on Dumbo.

I didn't get any shots on Niko's favorite ride, Matterhorn or his second favorite, the Teacups!

Can't wait for our next trip!