Day 5 - Disneyland!!

Oh yeah!  The long awaited day finally arrived.  I was shocked beyond words to see everyone in the family show up with the blue Disneyland shirts on as we headed to the park.  I thought I would see the shirts at the family photo opp and that would be the end of it.  Not so.  R and Andy were good sports and everyone else was on board to varying degrees.  Score!
Claire had the day all mapped out in advance.  First off we went to the Star Wars area to get a number for the kids so that they could do battle with Kilo Ren and Darth Vader.  It turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the day.  And so, without further adieu, here is our day at Disneyland wearing matching shirts that really helped us keep on eye on each other.

Annie checking out Kilo Wren.  She wasn't a fan.

It was another huge day from opening at 10:00 am to close at 9:00 pm.  We all left with happy smiles and thanked Grandpa Rickey for making this day possible.  

It was his idea in the first place and he paid for us all to go!

Day 4 - Goofy's kitchen, Disneyland main street, and a fire pit

Following a full day at California Adventure, we scheduled a slower day to follow.  We started off with breakfast at Goofy's kitchen.  It was a breakfast buffet and our group had an area all to ourselves.  We first posed with Goofy and then went to get our plates and start to eat all the various breakfast offerings.  The food was great and the best part was the characters who came around to visit our group.  The kids loved it!

Charlie, Lauren and I have birthdays near our visit
and so we all got a special button and cupcake
and everyone sang happy birthday!

Margaret LOVED Minnie, especially her shoes!

Pluto was a hit as well.

Chip or Dale, don't know??
One had a red nose and the other had a black.

Bacon lovers!

Nap time.

It was really fun to see the kids interact with the characters and give them hugs and the characters were so good to go with the flow.

Afterwards, we wandered down Disneyland main street and dropped a few bucks buying some treasures.  

 When we got back we just hung out, enjoyed the hot tub and game room and watched a movie.  

Claire had asked everyone to tell her a favorite song of theirs and then she burned us all a CD with the 20 songs that everyone choose (including one of Jake's favorites.)  We loved listening to the songs and having a dance festival.  Everyone got into it and it was a lot of fun!

After dinner and the music festival, we had a bonfire around the fire pit with smores and everyone said something complementary about everyone else.  It was so sweet to hear what people said and to be reminded of the importance to always look for the good in each other.  A lot of expressions of love were shared. It was such a fun day to be together (maybe even my favorite day of the trip.)

Family.  It's everything!