Disneyland - Day 1

Day 1 - December 10th

Here we go!  It's about 7:30 a.m. and yes there are a lot of us...and yes Brandon is scared... and yes it is Brandon's 40th birthday today and this is just what he always dreamed of doing in celebration.  I mean what's not to love about managing our 7 kids, 10 and under, at Disneyland?  

Okay so he wasn't that thrilled about it, but it just goes to show what a good Daddy he is.  This ended up being the week that worked for everyone and the week between Thanksgiving and Christmas that was projected to have the fewest lines, so he agreed though this would not have been his first, second, or even third choice of how to spend his day.

Thanks for being such a good sport Honey!

#partyof20

Party of 20!

Troyer

Kaufman

Moss

Buzz Lightyear

Our first stop was Buzz Light Year.  I had downloaded an app called Touring Plans that was suppose to help us navigate around the park and avoid lines, which in theory sounded great.  However, it seemed to have us walking quite a bit which isn't awesome with a big group of kids, and because the park wasn't really that busy we ended up just scrapping the whole thing pretty quickly.  I think it might be worth trying again under different circumstances, but it was evident to me almost immediately that I wasn't going to be able to be looking at my phone and keeping an eye on my kids at the same time, and it wasn't worth stopping to show someone else how to use it.  Keeping a group this size moving and together was definitely a challenge, as was making decisions, but that was no surprise.

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Autopia

 Wyatt

 Sadie

Cooper and Caleb

Daddy and Hazel

Mary Poppins
The kids got their first signatures for their autograph books.

The Matterhorn

Teacups

These are my crazy husbands favorite.  No one spins a tea cup like Uncle Brandon spins a teacup!

Just hearing the music sends me right back to Disneyland.  I love it!!!

Mickey's House

It's A Small World

3:00 and this one is all tuckered out.

Star Wars

At this point we split up for just a bit.  The big 3 headed over to the new Star Wars land with Daddy and Uncle Caleb while Grammy and I took the youngest to get some snacks and find a spot to watch the parade.

The oldest kids LOVE Star Wars and this was definitely a huge hit.

They even got to meet Chewie!!!

The Disney Parade
I'm a big fan of the Disney Parade.  I will never forget how it mesmerized our three oldest on their first trip here 5 years ago and I think they loved it almost as much this time.  However, the best by far is watching it all come to life for the littlest ones.  Disneyland is so magical and experiencing it at Christmas was pretty fun!

Disneyland 2019!

We have been talking about this trip for such a long time.  Grammy took the grandkids 5 years ago and we all had such a great time that we decided we should do it every 5 years.  However, back then Grammy was only taking 2 families with 5 kids between us.  This time around we took 3 families with a total of 12 kids, all 10 and under.  There was lots of back and forth on if this was a good idea and honestly it was a little bit crazy, but it's not the first and probably won't be the last time I push for something crazy for the sake of making memories.  I think I get this from my mom! :)

Anyways, the kids have been so excited about this for months and months and I have been too.  I was really nervous about how the twins would do, but in my mind it was going to get a lot harder before it got easier with those two.  Right now they are still happy to be carried in a baby carrier and they still sleep in the pack and play pretty well.  I think the hardest part will be feeding them as they're not really doing much in the way of solid foods yet. 

Here we are leaving school the Friday before our trip.  The kids are missing a whole week of school for this which is something we never do.  They are sooooooo excited!!!!

Monday, December 9th at 6:20 a.m.

Our flight leaves at 10:30, has a layover in San Jose, and then lands in Orange County at 2:20.  We will be in the plane for just over 3 hours with a 45 minute layover.  Should be an adventure.

Security ✔

Uncle Brian and Auntie Amy cut it close for this flight.  In fact we really thought they were going to miss the flight and have to catch one later in the day.  We were loaded and ready to take off before they boarded.  Amy says think Home Alone as they ran through the airport to catch the plane.  We were just so glad they made it :)

Boarded and in our seats ✔✔✔

Daddy sat with Farley and the Nut.

Mommy manned the boys and Aubrey.

Grammy sat with Caleb, Maddie, and Sadie.

All and all everyone did really well on the flight.  I'm sure we got a lot of looks as we all boarded and swapped babies back and forth during the flight so that I could nurse them, but I was very relieved that no one lost it.

The layover wasn't anyone's favorite but we survived.

Except maybe Payton's because she got some baby time.

Once we landed Daddy and Caleb went to rent a car with a lot of the luggage and Grammy, Hazel, Evie, the babies, and I called a Lyft driver.  This was my first experience with one of these services and it was pretty slick.  We knew from the very beginning that car seats and gear in general were going to be one of our biggest challenges but I think we did pretty good.  I should have taken a picture but I was able to hook both of the infant seats to the handle of our double jogger, I wore the babies, and then either Evie and Hazel or the extra stuff rode in the stroller.  That left only the big 3 walking and Daddy with hands for Hazel and Evie.  We were exhausted managing it all, but I think all things considered we did well.  As far as car seats, we packed a booster for Hazel and a Ride Safe vest which we borrowed for Evie in one of our suitcases and just pulled them in and out when we needed them which was only for the ride to and from the airport.  I didn't feel like everyone was as safe as I would have liked them to be but thankfully we really weren't in the car much.

 The plane ride of course was too exciting so these two were wiped out by the time we loaded them into the car.  They were literally out within minutes.

I set up a grocery delivery for shortly after we arrived at the condo which worked out great and Brandon's Dad came by to see the kids and to take Brandon and the older kids out to dinner.  I stayed and waited for our groceries, set up the kids in their bedrooms, and prepared for the adventures to come.

 Aubrey (L) and Maddie (R)

How convenient that our condo had 2 high chairs.  

Grammy made these cute cookies for the kids and gave them autograph books for the park.

The kids had planned to go miniature golfing but by the time they got there it was closing for a private party so they ended up playing for just a few minutes and then getting pizza and playing games there.

I think everyone was pretty wiped by the end of the day.  I know I was.

We ended our day trying to unwind from traveling and doing our best to plan for Day 1 at Disneyland!