It’s Mother’s Day and my sweet family spoiled me and loved on me all day. <3

I will get to that, though, because first up is my spectacular trip to Disneyland with my Sammy. I was over the top excited and, at the same time, heading off was almost bitter sweet because it meant the end of my California tour with Steven, Sammy and Amaya. What an amazing gift this has been.

Originally we had a flight scheduled for Wednesday morning and I planned Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday at the parks. A few weeks ago I realized that Sammy would be pooped by the time we got to the park on Wednesday (5pm ET) and we’d probably only get in a couple of hours. I made a last minute change to a Tuesday afternoon flight instead and it was 100% the right choice.

Obligatory fountain photo

Sammy was invited to the cockpit and the pilots were so kind & generous with their time. He even got to move a lever to “test” that it was working correctly.

Sammy insisted he was going to stay awake for the whole flight but, by about 8pm ET, he was out.

We landed at 6pm PT and then had an hour wait for our Disneyland Express bus to Anaheim. Sammy woke up for about 3 minutes when I transferred him from the plane to a stroller and then didn’t wake again until we got to Anaheim. He slept straight through the wait for the bus and on the entire bus ride. When asked, Sammy will be the first to tell you that he’s the best sleeper in our family.

Back at home, Amaya and Steven had a quiet Tuesday night together.

Since I made a last minute addition to our trip I wasn’t able to get a room in the Disney hotel we had booked for Wed, Thurs and Friday nights so we stayed down the road at a little motel. By 6:30am we were on our way to check in at Paradise Pier. Sammy was so excited to see real palm trees!

READY FOR FUN!

Disneyland didn’t open until 9am on Wednesday so I also made us reservations at PCH for a character breakfast. I’d never done anything like it but we had time to kill and it seemed like a great way to get into the Disney mood. Sammy loved it! He didn’t care that it was people in character costumes. It still held so much magic for him. (This is unlike the princesses, of course, who are the real princesses.)

This face. I saw so much joy on Sammy’s face throughout out trip.

By chance, we watched Lilo & Stitch for the first time on Sunday afternoon and it so happened that Stitch was one of the characters at our breakfast!

Our hotel was a short walk through Downtown Disney to the park. On the way we stopped for a beignet which had been specifically recommended by Ms. Shannon. She told Sammy that he’d get powered sugar all over his face and she was right. 🙂

Disneyland!! This felt very different than my trip with Amaya in October for a few reasons: I was familiar with the parks. I had a MaxPass which included FastPass and PhotoPass. And I knew we had 3 days so I wasn’t trying to cram the whole experience into one day. (Not to say that Amaya was slighted. We had a phenomenal time together and really did maximize our day there.)

Sammy and I planned ahead. We watched videos of some faster rides to be sure he was ready for them and made Big Thunder Mountain our first FastPass choice of the day and Dumbo our first ride of the day. It was he perfect intro for him.

“I am going to be in charge of when Dumbo goes up and down.”

This trip I was also more familiar with how to meet the princesses and an early stop was to meet Elena. Sammy was absolutely overcome with giggles through the entire experience.

“Elena told me about Avalor so she must be real which means Sofia is probably real, too!” There was absolutely no way I was going to break an ounce of this magic for him.

Sammy’s first roller coaster! Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! He looooooooved it. Omg this kid loves speed and thrills. Over the course of our two days at Disneyland we rode the ride EIGHT times – three on Wednesday and five on Friday. So much fun!

A big, unexpected treat was that Addie and Mary came to spend the day with us. So awesome!! Sammy was a little worried at first about what it would mean to have “new people” with us all day but he quickly realized that it was just fine. And fun.

Matterhorn! Sort of roller coaster-ish and another first for Sammy because he didn’t sit next to me on the ride.

Small World – we liked it but not as much as the faster rides.

Same restaurant we ate lunch at when I went with Amaya. <3

After lunch we headed to the Royal Hall to meet Ariel, Cinderella and Snow White. It was interesting – Sammy wasn’t sure he actually wanted to meet the princesses. I think it made him nervous. When we got in there, though, it was giggles, giggles and more giggles. He was so happy and excited.

Pure magic.

And then it was back on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

With our PhotoPass, we were able to take lots of great quality pictures around the parks. Addie commented on how cooperative Sammy was for photos. He has lots of practice lol. He was also having the time of his life.

Ready to watch the Belle show! I was proud of Sammy for sitting up front with the other kids. It’s rare that he’s on his own, without his siblings next to him, so I was glad to see that he was willing to go off without me.

One of our last rides of the day was Astro Orbiter – sort of an adult version of Dumbo where we fly higher and faster.

Showing off his pins. On our way back to the hotel we stopped in the World of Disney store and he was given two more! The next day, multiple people commented on how cool it was that he had 5 pins.

Addie! Saying goodbye was only made easier by the fact that I’ll see her in two weeks at Bitcherie Weekend 12.

All day Sammy was eyeing the Mickey bubble maker so, toward the end of the day, we picked up his first gift. (And, later in the trip, two more for Steven and Amaya.)

That was day one! In the gates at 8:30am. First ride right after opening at 9am. Left the park shortly before 5pm. So. Much. Fun. After a short shopping trip and a stop at the fountain, we made it back to the hotel and were both asleep by 7:30pm.

Day two was our day at California Adventure! Staying at the hotels, we could get into one of the two parks an hour early each day and Thursday was they day for Disneyland but I decided we’d skip that extra hour rather than do Disneyland two days in a row and I think it ended up being the right call for us.

On our way to the parks, Sammy stopped to check out the braille map of the area.

He loved this fountain. We stopped for a few minutes every day on the way to and from our hotel. Sammy did a great job reminding us to stop and smell the roses (literally) and make time for little moments that caught our attention.

Our first ride was Soarin, right at opening. Interestingly, this ride made Sammy a little more nervous than the roller coasters. (But not nervous enough to keep him from going again later in the day.)

Radiator Springs was our first FastPass of the day and we were able to ride twice, early. Good thing, too, because it got busy fast. You can kind of see Sammy in the photo behind the window.

Stopping to watch a Newsies show. He really liked the live performances.

Our longest line of the entire trip (thanks FastPass!) was to see Anna and Elsa. Sammy even work his Anna t-shirt on California Adventure day. Fortunately, there was a lot to keep Sammy entertained while I waited on line.

God, this was special.

“They didn’t even have to ask my name because they already know it from my birthday parties.”

One of the rides Sammy was excited about was the ferris wheel. A couple on line with us at the park gates told us the “swinging” ferris wheel was pretty scary but Sammy was determined to try it anyway. Such an adventurous kid and I didn’t even know it! I was queasy for a good hour afterward but so glad we went for it and so was Sammy. This is one of my favorite pictures of the two of us from the trip.

Photo credit: Sammy. The weather on the trip was overcast but warm enough to be pleasant.

Eating a churro (so much junk food!) and watching a show.

Mickey Mouse!!

Goofy!! He pretty much smiled like this for three days straight.

Toward the end of the day we decided we’d try out Grizzly Peak River Run. Despite the fact that I packed a change of clothes for us, I insisted on ponchos. Turned out to be the right choice because we rode this ride five times in a row! Definitely a top pick for the trip for both of us!

Sammy was having so much fun that I had to get a video of him on the ride. Oh, the laughing!!

Our one miss at California Adventure was the area with the superheroes. We saw Captain Marvel and Captain America but weren’t there in time for photos. Honestly, though, Sammy seemed okay with just the up-close. He’ll tell you that we were in line to meet Captain Marvel but she had to leave on a mission before we got our turn for pictures. (True story.)

An Agents of SHIELD vehicle!

This wrapped up our day at California Adventure! We were in the gates at 7:30 and on Soarin’ right after it opened at 8am. (First group!) We left the park around 5:30pm and stopped for pizza on our way back to the hotel. Sammy was a sleep by 7:30pm and I wasn’t up much longer.

Friday morning – Sammy living his best life with a room service delivered Mickey waffle.

The forecast called for rain and Sammy didn’t want to worry about wearing his “bag” (poncho) so I brought his raincoat. He actually didn’t need it but still chose to wear it for a good chunk of the day.

First fast pass of the day was for Space Mountain and first ride of the day was Big Thunder Mountain. It was so quite first thing in the morning that we were able to ride it three times in succession. First in the middle, then in the front car and, last, in the back car. We both agree the back of the roller coast is the most fun.

“I make this face better than you do, mommy.”

Aurora was meeting people for a short time that fit in our schedule but, for some reason, Sammy totally panicked and didn’t want to get out of the stroller to meet her. Okay! Princess Aurora knows how to adapt. 🙂

Sammy isn’t familiar with Alice in Wonderland but it’s hard to resist the Mad Hatter.

Sammy was most excited about the opportunity to meet Chewbacca who “came all the way to Earth from Star Wars just see us”. We made it a point to arrive at the Star Wars area right when it opened at 11am and were 2nd in line to meet Chewy.

I can not overstate this child’s awe. It was beyond.

My heart.

Sammy was happy that Chewbacca understands “human” even if he only speaks Wookie. <3

I think this experience was my highlight. Seeing Sammy’s face was incredible.

Sammy was adamant that he didn’t want to meet Rey. I think he was scared, though I’m not sure why and he couldn’t articulate it. Maybe it was an overload from meeting Chewbacca but he burst into tears at the thought of it. I really wanted to meet Rey for Amaya so I found him somewhere to stand where she couldn’t see him while I went to say hello. (I mean, he didn’t even want Rey to see him. “Not one bit.”)

Space Mountain! I wasn’t sure if it would be too much for Sammy but he loved it and we rode three times! Early, too, which was good because the FastPasses started booking up quickly.

With the upcoming opening of Galaxy’s Edge it was reskinned as Hyperspace Mountain which made it even cooler.

Friday was the toughest day in terms of Sammy’s mood. Every now and then something would set him off. I think it was just a lot of stimulation. To take a break from the chaos we went on the Riverboat ride. It was just the break we needed to take a deep breath and regroup.

“Take a picture of me here. Will Daddy know I’m on a boat because he’ll see the water?”

By mid-afternoon I was ready to give Splash Mountain a try and it was another winner! We went twice and I would have been game for a third if Sammy was but I think he thought the line was a little too long (even with his FastPass). This kid has no idea how spoiled he was with lines at Disneyland. 🙂

From my experience on Grizzly Peak I packed myself a 2nd pair of sneakers and socks which came in handy when my shoes got soaked.

Our last princess of the trip was Rapunzel who was in high demand with only a few meet & greets. Sammy was super excited until he saw Flynn Rider was there with Rapunzel and he panicked. Like, completely freaked out and didn’t want to see Rapunzel. Flynn Rider was kind enough to step to the side but I still needed to hold Sammy for the meet & green for him to get comfortable.

Since it was our last day we went for broke and stayed at the park through dinner. We wrapped up with three rides after dinner – Buzz Lightyear, Star Tours and Astro Orbiter.

On our way out of the park, there was one last, special meet-up. What a way to end our day.

If I recall correctly, here’s our three day tally:

Dumbo: 1
Pinocchio: 1
Carousel: 1
Big Thunder Mountain: 8
Matterhorn: 2
Star Tours: 2
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters: 5
Space Mountain: 3
Splash Mountain: 2
Riverboat: 1
Pirates of the Caribbean: 1
Roger Rabbit: 1
Astro Orbiter: 2
Small World: 1
Radiator Springs: 2
Mater: 1
Goofy Driving School: 2
Ferris Wheel: 1
Midway Toy Story: 1
Little Mermaid: 1
Golden Zephyr: 1
Soarin’: 2
Grizzly Peak River Run: 5

47 rides! It really helped that Sammy was so into FastPass rides. I don’t think we waited longer than 30 minutes for any single ride and that was probably the far end of our wait times. It was so, so much fun. Plus, of course, all of the characters & princesses that we met throughout our trip.

While we were wrapping up our trip, Steven and Amaya were meeting a frog in our yard. (And Madison was on point to accept delivery of 780lbs of play set!)

Saturday morning – the happiest bus from Tuesday night became the saddest bus on Saturday morning. Sammy and I were both feeling the end-of-vacation blues but, at the same time, I don’t think we had another Disney day in us. There were lots of mixed feelings.

Sky club while we waited. Sammy really liked the “big room”.

And we’re home! Sammy picked out a Gaston bow & arrow set and absolutely could not wait to try it out. Admittedly, it’s pretty cool.

Here’s what steps at Disney looks like!

While we were traveling home, Jason was off to t-ball with Steven and Amaya – their first time on the actual baseball diamond.

Mother’s Day! I was able to sleep in and then Jason and the kids brought me gifts and breakfast in bed. Sammy and I also distributed the gifts we brought home with us from California.

We had wonderfully lazy family day together – just what we all needed after the time apart. Plus, legos.

Someone sulked through lunch lol. She’s got that face down.

Scooters and My Little Pony. 🙂

We wrapped up the day with dinner out at Zingermans. This homemade shirt was one of my wonderful Mother’s Day gifts. I love it.

Amaya, sitting at the bar while we waited to be seated.

Finally, for the day, Sammy couldn’t quite hang for the ride home. Best sleeper ever.

Madison and the kids made this awesome frame for me.

The kids brought these home from school. I absolutely love that they all mentioned our travels. It’s so special to me and I’m glad it registers with them, too.

So, all in all, a spectacular week that’s hard to match.

Have a good one!