As Promised...

So here we go! These Disneyland pictures are all from my camera. Hopefully after this weekend, I'll be able to get pictures from my in-laws. I'm hoping they took more pictures than I did, because even though I carried my camera everywhere, I didn't always pull it out when I should have.

Tom (Daniel's Dad), Daniel, Me, and Daniel's brother Stephen

This picture is the first day at Disneyland on the tram on the way into the park. Daniel's mom made us matching "Guglielmo Family Vacation" t-shirts. We all humored her that first day and wore them. And since the poll results were inconclusive regarding the fanny pack issue, I decided to give both options a try. The first two days I sported an awesome fanny pack and loved the hands free convenience. It was also useful because I had burnt my shoulders the very first day we in the pool. So my purse wouldn't have been kind to a fresh burn.

I discovered my camera had a neat firework setting. I played around with it during the fireworks show the first night and had a lot of fun.

I'm pretty sure that Pirates of the Caribbean might be my favorite ride. I loved it especially because we never had to wait more than 10 minutes to get on it, and a couple of times we walked right on and the boats were waiting for us. That was pretty much the story of our trip though. The lines were all really short and we were able to use fast passes to beat the crowds on the weekend. I think the longest we had to wait for any one ride was half an hour for the California Adventure Ferris Wheel. We got in a swinging gondola, and it was neat to be that high over the park, and all of a sudden start swinging unpredictably.

Dead Men Tell No Tales
Not so flattering self portrait on King Arthur's Carousel
We all went on the Jungle Cruise together, and because of the matching shirts with Guglielmo clearly spelled out, we were suddenly incorporated into the story told by the skipper.

dinosaur bones on Thunder Mountain

We took our niece on this ride, and amazingly she loved it. She may be only a 3 year old, but she did awesome on the roller coasters. She also loved the Matterhorn.

Resident Ducks who finished off Stephen's $17 breakfast.

We pent a surprising amount of time feeding the ducks at Disneyland. The deal that we got was five days for the price of three. Because the park was so empty, it felt like after the first three days, we had already done everything we'd wanted to at least twice, maybe three times, so days 4 and 5 were spent taking things a little slower. Thus, the ducks.

I always loved Pooh Bear when I was little, so I was really happy they made a Winnie the Pooh Ride. It was a little psychedelic during the hephalumps and woozels sequence, but overall, it was a great kids ride. I also got mauled by a tigger on the way down the hill from Critter Country. I was walking with Daniel and Stephen, when all of a sudden from behind me, I was getting bounced and patted by a big fuzzy neon orange tigger. It happened so fast and unexpectedly that nobody got any pictures, but it happened!

The hotel pool from our window

Sad to be packing up and going home!

We had a late flight on the 13th, so we drove out to Huntington Beach before we went to the air port. It was a nice beach, and we must have been at the dog area, because there were a bunch of cute dogs playing in the water and chasing each other along the shore.

I only got into the water up to my mid calf's, but it was refreshing, and not nearly as cold as the Washington beaches. I still prefer the ocean in Hawaii, but I love a good beach anywhere. I wish we'd had more time and beach equipment, because I would have loved to play there all day.

Daniel and Emma playing at the beach. Getting some last minute wiggles out before we got on the plane.

I can't wait to have kids. I know Daniel's going to be such a good dad. He adores Emma, and is so good with her!

I love Palm Trees. I'm certain I could live in southern California and be a very happy person. I love the sun and warmth, and ocean.

I also loved this purple tree that was growing near the airport. I don't know what type of tree it is, but it was gorgeous!

Waiting at the airport. The Long Beach airport was really small, and had a nice outside waiting area where we got our last does of California sunshine before we had to get on the plane and come back to the rain.

Love the scenery!

Stephen is such a weirdo. But we loved having him there. He made people watching very enjoyable. And even though the lines were short, there was still a lot of people watching to be taken care of. He also went on all the scary rides with me. Daniel didn't want to go on Tower of Terror, or the Maliboomer, so Stephen and I did those by ourselves. I may have screemed like a girl and felt nauseous the rest of the afternoon, but it was fun to try rides like that.

We also rode California Screamin' and Space Mountain so many times we knew exactly when to make faces for the camera. The last time we rode Space Mountain, Stephen bought a picture. I'll try and scan it, because our poses, (mostly Stephen's) are priceless. His last pose involved taking off his shoe during the ride, posing with it for the picture, and having it back on his foot when we got off. I've got to hand it to him, that must have taken serious skills.

I'm so glad I got to go on vacation. It was just what I needed. And after having been back at work for a week now, I'm sad that vacations have to end. However, all good things do end, but, I've got other things to look forward to, and life is good.