Happy 4th Birthday Samantha

And the birthday celebration continues......

We left my parents house and headed towards Disneyland.

We've heard mixed reviews on the Disneyland Hotel, so we took a tip from a friend, (thanks Marina!), and stayed at an AWESOME hotel about a mile away from Disneyland.  It was the perfect hotel for us, kid friendly with a city/business vibe to it.  Also, it was nice to have some separation from Disneyland, because let's be honest, there are only a certain number of  people in the world who can stomach Disney 24/7.

After we checked in

and the kids got over the excitement of their own room and bunk beds,

we headed over to the OC Brewhouse in the hotel

for some delicious burgers and beers.

Within the restaurant, they have a perfect area for kids with small tables and chairs plus a big screen TV that plays Disney movies.  Todd and I were actually able to relax and enjoy our meals.  

Here we are on the shuttle to Disneyland which was not on our original agenda.  We had planned on spending the first day enjoying the hotel pool, enforcing naps so that both kids were in good spirits, and going to Downtown Disney for a birthday dinner.  Having already taken Samantha to Disneyland last year,  we knew that one day at the park was plenty.  However, a family approached us while we were eating lunch and offered us FREE tickets to Disneyland.  They had 5 day passes and were all Disney-ed out.  How nice were they and how lucky were we?!  We scratched our original plans and headed over to California Disneyland.

We wasted no time once we got in the park and went on the new Little Mermaid ride.

As soon as this scary lady appeared, Samantha was hysterical!  Last year she was all about the rides, she even went on the Matterhorn, this year, not so much.  To be fair, most of the character rides seem to start off  happy and cheery and then all of a sudden they get extremely loud and dark and then BOOM, you are surrounded by some sort of monster or frightening thing.  While Samantha was shaking with fear, Thatcher was squealing with excitement.

Ready for the Toy Story ride!

For the record, I was player #2. ;)

Hugs from Jessie!

A new character, Duffy the Disney Bear. 

The first of many sweet treats

Here we are at The Bug's Life 3-D show which scared the heck out of Samantha.  It scared her so much that she wanted to go back to the hotel!  

We saw a very, VERY slow ride where the caterpillar from Bug's Life drives you around.  At this point, Samantha was not trusting us (can you blame her?) and went right up to the person working the ride and grilled him, "Does it go fast?", "Is it dark?", "Is it loud?" "Are there any monsters on it?"  The guy assured her it met all her requirements so she boarded the ride (nervously).  Thankfully, the ride ended up being a hit and she wanted to go on it again, phew!

Poor Thatcher was completely bored.....

Samantha was so excited every time she spotted a character walking around.  She would run right up to them, give hugs and take pictures. 

We watched The Incredible's parade

and saw Mickey Mouse perform a hip-hop routine (which I really enjoyed).

Thatcher lucked out because they have a Monster's Inc. ride which is his favorite movie.  The first thing that Thatcher asks for in the morning is, "Inc.", after nap he asks for "Inc.",  and even when he is closing his eyes to go to sleep at night, he is still asking for "Inc.". 

He cried when it was over because he wanted, "MORE INC!"

We stayed at California Disney for about five hours which was just enough.  We ate dinner back at the hotel where the kids met some new friends and got to watch "Tangled" while Todd and I relaxed and once again got to enjoy our dinners. 

Thatcher went from 6:30 AM until almost 9 PM without closing his eyes AT ALL which is by far the longest he has ever stayed awake without even taking a quick power nap. He was OUT as soon as we got back to the hotel.

Our hotel room had a view of Disneyland which was great because we got to watch the fireworks show right from our window that evening.  After the show, Samantha climbed up to her top bunk, which was a BIG DEAL, and woke up in the morning to all of us serenading "Happy Birthday" to her.

The Birthday Dance

FINALLY, she was four! 

Day 2: Disneyland

Samantha was ready with her new princess hat, autograph book and her "Happy Birthday Samantha" button pinned to her shirt.  We had told Samantha that Snow White knew it was her birthday so she was completely shocked when all the characters, workers and even visitors at the park were coming up and wishing her happy birthday by name. 

The first order of business was meeting the princesses, of course.

Thatcher was stomping around the princesses yelling, "ROAR, DINO, ROAR!"  It is funny because the Princesses never break character and you could tell he was sort of throwing each of them for a loop.  They weren't sure how to respond to him. 

Thatcher was growling at Princess Tiana.  See the look she is giving him! 

 She kept saying to Thatcher in her southern accent, "Oh my! Don't you have a lot of energy!" 

It was cute how all the characters were dressed up in their Christmas attire.

Minnie's house

Goofy's House

The Cars

I would have been very shocked if Thatcher didn't crash at some point. 

Samantha began filling her autograph book page by page

 

When Thatcher woke up he was still pretty tired.

Pluto had to pry him off his leg because he was still half asleep.

I love this picture of Thatcher and Rapunzel.  He was so transfixed by her that he forgot to perform his dinosaur routine.

Look at the funny smirk on Flynn Ryder's face, just like he is in the movie.

While Todd and Thatcher went on some rides (Dumbo, The Rockets and Buzz LightYear), Samantha and I headed over to Pixie Hollow to meet some pixies.

We lucked out and were able to get a front row spot for the holiday parade.

We passed the time waiting for the parade to start by eating lots of junk food...

The sun finally went down, the lights came on and I'd say the best part of our trip happened.

Both Todd and I were teary eyed seeing how excited both kids were while watching the holiday parade. 

We had to save these seats for almost 2 hours but it was worth it. 

The princesses were shouting "Happy Birthday" to Samantha as they passed by.  Samantha was beside herself with excitement!   She kept saying, "Mommy, when I'm five, I want to go to Disneyland for my birthday. Actually, I want to have EVERY birthday at Disneyland!  I can't believe Snow White told everyone it was my birthday!" 

After the parade ended, we decided to call it a night and end on a good note.  As we were driving home, we got to watch the fireworks from our car.

Moments later Thatcher was out.

And then the birthday girl.

Overall, we had such a great trip.  We couldn't have picked a better time to go.  The weather was perfect, it was not crowded at all (virtually no lines), and they do such a great job at Disneyland during the holidays with all the decorations and lights.  While we had a few hiccups with some of the rides for Samantha, that was easily overshadowed by her love of meeting all the characters.   We are looking forward to going again soon!