Nick, Tara and Molly: Disneyland

I am amazed at how magical Disneyland still is. I remember it being magical, but that was almost 25 years ago. I fully expected the "magic" to be gone by now... but it most certainly is not. The best part was experiencing it for the first time through Molly's eyes and seeing her light up when she experienced the magic.

We spent 5 days in Southern California with a portion of Nick's family - Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Liz, Uncle Tim, Cousin Sarah, Cousin Whitney, Cousin Spencer, Aunt Julie, Aunt Carrie, and Uncle Kevin. We spent the first day traveling and getting settled, and then we drove out to Newport Beach so that I could get some Sprinkles cupcakes (!!!!!). I had to buy almost one of everything so that we could taste it all. It was certainly delicious, but not what I had made it out to be in my head. The experience was awesome though, and we enjoyed cupcakes for the entire trip.

The next morning we hit Disneyland bright and early. We tried to get on Peter Pan first, but it broke down - so we started with the Carousel and Dumbo. We got a lot of rides in the first day and then we spent the evening on Main Street for the Christmas Parade... which was amazing! My favorite part was when all of the Princesses came dancing down with their Princes. Molly watched with such excitement and loved every single second of it. There was a cute little girl sitting next to us - maybe 7 years old. She was so cute with Molly and Molly just took to her. Molly went over and gave her loves and then turned around and sat down on her lap. So, she sat there and watched part of the parade with this little girl. It was adorable! When the parade was over we headed over to California Adventure for the World of Color show. I had no concept of what it was we were waiting for, but W-O-W... it was spectacular! It was similar to the water show at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, but so much more! They project a show on to a mist of water while they do the water show with amazing colors and music. It was just amazing. And Molly was absolutely captivated by it - even if it was a bit chilly.We were sad that Daddy had to miss a lot of this day because of a stomach bug, but we were happy that he started feeling better soon..

The next day, we started super early in the morning because we had early admission that day. We started with Peter Pan, which Molly loved! Some of the other rides that Molly loved on this second day were: Pirates, Tea Cups, Safari, the train, and then there was Small World... I don't think I can express how much Molly loved it! She was so excited the whole time, dancing to the music and pointing (and Mmm-ing) to everything she saw. She just loved it! That evening we watched the firework show over Sleeping Beauty's castle. It was so magical! There was Christmas music playing and at the end it started snowing (Disney-generated, but snow none the less)! Molly was enamored!

The third day, we spent some time in California Adventure. We started the day at a Bug's Land (little kid rides). There was hardly anyone there so we got to walk on all the rides... and for most of them, we were the only riders. It was so much fun to watch Molly get to spin and spin and love every second of it! We were also able to watch the Aladdin show (broadway type) that was playing and it was amazing. Genie was hilarious! If I didn't know better, I would think it was Robin Williams down there on the stage. Molly absolutely loved it (at least for the first half before she got tired and hungry). She was clapping, squealing, and dancing to the music. It was definitely a hit! After a nice long nap so that I could recover from complete exhaustion, we caught one more ride on the giant Mickey Ferris Wheel... this time (2nd time we rode it), we chose the swinging cars though... not sure how Molly would do.. but it was obvious that she loved it! As she would tense up as we began to fall and then just clap my arms as it came to the end of the fall, it was obvious she was having fun. As we walked off the ride she clapped and clapped the whole way up the ramp. She loved it!

We packed so much into five days and took very little time to rest. Molly was an absolute trooper! No matter what we threw at her, she handled it like a champ. She is such an amazing little girl we are so blessed to have her and so blessed to have been able to spend this Christmas season at Disneyland with her and the Bellamy family. Molly was really able to bond with her Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. It was such an amazing trip! We just feel so blessed!