happiest place on earth?!?

apologies in advance for the long narrative.  i want to make sure i document this experience in detail should i ever consider taking a two-year old to disneyland again.

john had planned a two week trip to visit our dear friends ari and kelly in uganda, so i decided it was only fair if the kids and i took a little vacation as well.  i knew disneyland was pretty ambitious but since uncle mike and auntie keet LOVE disneyland, i figured this could be a great pellegrini family trip!

it was really fun for me to see disneyland as an adult as everything looked so much smaller than i remembered.  of course, that means everything looked huge and somewhat intimidating to the kids.  we started off pretty slow with rides like the carousel and the teacups (which ended being their absolute favorite).  however, livi would whine in line for every ride and it was clear the anticipation of the unknown of the ride was making her anxious.  i'd push her a bit and she'd usually end up enjoying herself, but for some rides, like the choo-choo train, she just sat on my lap and buried her head in my neck

the late nights and shortened naps coupled with being overstimulated with the rides and characters (i've never heard liv scream with such terror when i tried to get a picture with mickey) definitely caught up with us.  my little liv had more meltdowns this weekend than she normally has in a month.  a few times a day, she would scream as loud as possible, throw herself on the ground, and be inconsolable for about 20 minutes.  i literally did not know what to do so would just wait while her tantrum ran it's course, which usually ends in a big hug.  it was emotionally draining for me as i'm the only one she wanted to be with so i literally could not get a break. the poor thing was just a wreck (and it was totally my fault!).  thankfully, jacks was an angel during our outings.  he was thrilled to be keet's little buddy while i tended to liv, and he also didn't share the same fear level to all the rides and characters as his sister.

despite the craziness of livi's temper tantrums and the sheer exhaustion we all experienced, the highs of seeing their smiles on the teacups, quality bonding with mike and keet, and accomplishing a major feat on my own (well, with keet!) was worth it all.  if i had to do it all over again, i would cut our days at disneyland in half and spend half of the day just relaxing at the hotel...or i'd just leave liv at home.

the trip home on sunday was a bit rough given i was flying alone with the kids and had to wake them at 5:30am to get to the airport.  all three of us were exhausted!  both were whiny and crazy walking through the airport.  they were fabulous on the plane, which i was thankful for, but it was painful getting them to walk or sit in the stroller to get to baggage claim and the car.  jacks would throw himself on the ground so i would carry him, but as soon as i carried him livi would come over screaming at me to carry her.  last time i checked, i cannot carry two toddlers and push a stroller at the same time (although i did try!).

needless to say home never felt so good. we all went down for a 4 hour nap on sunday and were in better moods when we went grocery shopping that afternoon (yes, we needed to eat).  and did i mention it was my birthday?  after an especially long tantrum by jacks in the evening, i truly believed that the three mini cupcakes we bought earlier would go uneaten, and it would cap off the most depressing birthday ever.  BUT jacks pulled himself together and calmed down while we read about 30 books so we were able to end the evening on an extremely high note.

over the past few days, they've caught up on their sleep and are mostly back to their usual cheerful selves.  thank goodness!  i did drag them to a work potluck this evening at 7pm, which they did great at, but made sure we left at a reasonable hour for bedtime.  i'm not going to compromise their sleep again anytime soon...i've learned my lesson!

luggage checked in and we're ready to go!

watching the airport train...over and over and over

keet and jacks became instant buddies

getting in their last views of land for the next hour

strapped in with cookies and a movie
(i even managed to get in about 20 minutes of reading!)

finally made it to the hotel...look who's excited to see mickey!

they insisted on wearing their backpacks to breakfast

still the highlight of their day no matter where they are

liv and her best bud

we've finally arrived!

we stuck with something familiar for our first ride

she knows her limits and chose to sit on the bench rather than a horse

the teacups were definitely the biggest hit

yeah, they weren't so fond of mickey...
livi screamed like nothing i've ever heard before

buddies!!

choo-choo time!

waiting for their turn on the cars
(they actually did surprisingly well in the 30+min wait line)

we headed to downtown disney for dinner.
this was probably the most peaceful they looked all weekend!

the joys of dinner out with toddlers

sharing a chocolate covered mickey pretzel

so happy diana drove down to meet us for dinner!

baby and monkey made their debut appearance at disneyland
(we figured their "friends" would bring them comfort if needed)

getting ready for the fireworks show

hooray for letting someone other than me hold her!

can you tell how much he enjoyed the show?

late night teacups were actually quite magical!

these two were a huge help in making the cup spin

day two started off with jungle cruise...they were skeptical at first
(we swore it was not fast or dark, and there were no tunnels or dinosaurs)

they ended up loving it - so many cool animals to see!

snack time while keet and mike took a kid break on thunder mountain

enjoying the view of tom sawyer island
(i figured if they both were red, it would be easier to spot them if they wandered!)

the bridge at tarzan's treehouse!
should we do it?  

tackling it together

off they go!

running from the gorilla!

livi lasted one minute until she looked back
and noticed i wasn't pushing her

winnie the pooh...ended in tears
(to be fair, it was too dark and loud for me too)

teacups...one last time!

their smiles on this ride made all the tears (theirs and mine!) worth it

taking the monorail to lunch

this is when liv was officially nicknamed "livi lucifer"
...she just couldn't let jacks sleep in peace

this was the best i could do in capturing one of her 10+ meltdowns

all smiles for round two of autopia

birds-eye view of sheer joy =)

i literally could NOT have done this weekend without keet - best auntie ever!

a special gift from autine keet and uncle mike

this about sums up the weekend...quite disheveled 

finally down for her nap at 5:30pm while i got gas...
original plan was to then pick up food for dinner but i didn't want to wake her

of course, miss lu-cifer woke up when we got back and all we had to eat was an array of snacks

i was very thankful that the plane rides were so easy (even at 7am)

i even got some jacksie snuggle time

my birthday was spent napping, unpacking and grocery shopping

but at least it ended with cupcakes with my babies

it made the whole crazy weekend worth it!

and then...monday i was greeted at work with a sweet treat from john
(eating a cupcake or two in solitude was the best gift i could have asked for!)