california trip part 2 (disneyland!)

Day two of our California trip we were joined by Braden, who had a late-night class the evening before and took a late flight to join us the next morning for...

Disneyland!!! Someone was pretty excited.

And that someone was obviously Braden. ;)

Tickets in hand and ready for some Disneyland magic!

First time to Disneyland as a family of four! Brooklyn was Evan's age the last time we went -- this time she could really get excited about it.

We were so excited these guys wanted to do Disneyland with us!

Once we got inside the park, we didn't have to look very far to find the first Disney princess of the day!

We always get a picture of Braden by this poster since he used to be absolutely terrified of this ride.

Main Street! Evan's like "what's going on here?"

Sleeping Beauty's castle! We made it!

First stop was Fantasy Faire, where they have several princesses for kids to meet and greet and get books signed. Brooklyn got to meet Cinderella...

...Belle (again)...

...and Snow White.

And then just outside the castle was the princess Brooklyn was most excited about seeing -- her favorite -- Princess Aurora!

There was no line for King Arthur's Carousel so we hopped on. Evan had a blast.

Then we met up with the rest of the crew at Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.

When ________ years old you reach, look as good you will not.

Down the stairs to the submarine on the Finding Nemo ride!

It's a Small World was Brooklyn's favorite ride last time we came...

...and it didn't disappoint this time. Evan was a fan too.

Brooklyn went to meet more Disney celebrities -- we had no clue who this fairy was.

Brooklyn knew who this was though! They were silly together.

Evan took his first selfie with Grandma! Pretty cute.

Another must-see character was Minnie Mouse.

Evan's favorite character was Mickey Mouse. He'd been saying "mee-mo?" all day. :)

Casey Jr's train ride!

Mid day we let Grandma and Grandpa and Braden and Breanna go do their own thing and we watched a parade with the kiddos.

Brooklyn was pretty excited about it -- all the princesses and main characters had their own floats and dancers.

Then it was off to see more characters. Tigger was really cute with the kids.

Evan's other favorite of the day was Winnie the Pooh. Aw :)

The last ride of the day was Pirates of the Caribbean. All things considered, Brooklyn did pretty good.

We finished the day with an ice cream and headed back to put the kiddos to bed.

After the kids were in bed, Austin, Laura, Cheryl, and Braden went back over to go on Soarin Over California and to check out California Adventure at night.

Austin and Braden stayed until close and got on the Cars ride and then three straight Grizzly River rapids rides. Day 1 was a success!