Just the 3 of us...: The Happiest Place on Earth

Disneyland!!!

We have been looking forward to my Spring Break for quite awhile. We have seemed to make this our time to take vacations - last year going to Arizona and this year, Disneyland! After being home for a good 24 hours I am already ready to go back! We had so much fun! We drove down to Anaheim Easter Morning and arrived about 4pm. Chad's brother, Troy, who lives in San Diego and my brother, Matt, who is in LA met us to hang out for Easter Dinner. It was great to see both of them and it was obvious Cooper enjoyed their company. We had an awesome Dinner at ESPN Zone and strolled Downtown Disney. Cooper enjoyed all the different musicians playing their music - he loves to dance by either shaking his head side to side, or his upper body and sometimes pumping his hips forward and back - he definitely gets his dance moves from his mommy! :)

Coop and Uncle Troy

Uncle Matt and Coopie

On Monday, we woke up, got ready and walked from our hotel to Disneyland. We stayed at the Red Lion - which is only .5 miles away - so walking worked out perfect. It was great to be back at Disneyland - it had been at least 4 years since I have been there and it was awesome to see Cooper's face and hear his little comments while we walked down Main Street for the first time. I even almost shed a tear when Cooper first saw the horse carriage and said "Neeehhhh" so loud...the sound of voice was pure happiness and excitement. Gosh, being a Mommy is an amazing feeling!

So we walked around, went on many rides - Snow White, Storybook Boats, the Train, Roger Rabbit, Tea Cups, Alice and Wonderland, Buzz Light Year and more - we looked for the shorter lines because there was no way we could see Cooper staying in a line longer than 30 minutes. We spent a lot of time in Toontown, playing around in the houses and the best part - seeing Mickey! Cooper's face lit up...he gave Mickey big huggies, stared into his eyes and loved to touch Mickey's big, black nose. We also watched the Celebration Day Parade and saw the fireworks at night.

What a great 1st day at Disneyland!

So happy to meet Mickey!

Family Picture with Mickey

Cooper loves doggies so of course Pluto was one of his absolute favorites!

Chip and Dale's Tree House

Coopie's in Jail...probably for screaming "NOOOOOO!!!!" at the top of his lungs

(that's the only bad thing he seems to do lately)

Posing with Daddy and the Sword

Giving Mommy kisses while waiting in line patiently

Waiting for the parade with a very happy Daddy!

Cooper LOVED Buzz - so we "had to" get him a Buzz toy on the way out of the ride.

On Day 2 we had hoped to get up and be at Disneyland by 8am...haha, we tried, I guess. Cooper is not a morning person and he often stays in bed until we drag him out (another thing he probably got from me)...so if he is sleeping so good it's tough for Daddy and Mommy to wake, too! We ended up getting to Disneyland about 9:30am...still early enough to catch some good rides before the lines were too long. We went on It's a Small World and Dumbo, which were 2 of the buddy's favorites! We also went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Autopia, the Jungle Cruise and visited the Tiki Room. At about 12:30 we decided to go to California Adventure - and experienced all the fun stuff there. Cooper loved the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Show and all the Bugslife rides. It was definitely a successful Day 2 at Disneyland. We ended up going back to our hotel at about 4 to rest and then went around the corner to the Anaheim Gardenwalk for Dinner. It was a relaxing evening after a couple long days at the Happiest Place on Earth.

Cooper and Mommy happy to be on Dumbo

Family Picture time on The Jungle Cruise

C is for Cooper and C is for Chad

Mommy's 2 little bugs!

Posing on the little "yewoh" chairs! He didn't want to get off these things.

Scooting along oh so slowly on the catepillar ride

On Day 3 of Disneyland we were also driving home the same day so we drove and parked at Disneyland this day - so we were able to ride the tram to the park - or as Cooper would say the "choo choo" and move his arm up and down. We went on all the rides we had not been able to ride yet - except for the Submarine ride - that line was always at least an hour and we couldnt bare to do it...so we will save that one for next time! We went on the rockets, the Buzz ride again, the Haunted House, Pinnochio, Winne the Pooh, the Carousel and Cooper was able to play in the petting zoo - which he could have stayed in all day! Such a little animal lover he is. We left the park about 12:30 - and headed back home after a perfect little family vacation.

Mommy and Cooper on the "choo choo" Tram!