Disneyland--Continued

Our Disneyland Trip, part two . . . We had such a perfect time in Disneyland!  Although it cleaned out our pocketbooks, we'd do it all over again tomorrow if we could!Gabe couldn't believe he was actually standing by "Racecar" and Mater--what a happy moment for him!
Esron & Brian were so good to the kids!  Esron's holding Kaleb, Vance & Brittney's cute little chunk, and Evie's enjoying some time with Uncle Brian.  I love when little cousins get to talk to each other!

We seriously put Esron to work--he and Brian were amazing with the kids, and the kids loved them!

I see this picture and realize that I just have to love this boy, even though he's standing at my elbow now screaming and poking Evie in the head . . . he's just lucky he has those big brown eyes!

I love my little family!  See Evie in the background with Grandpa King, and I think Jacob was by me . . .

Did I mention how much my kids love Esron?

My girls!  I love this picture.  They couldn't see me, so Eleni didn't have time to pose or complain about keeping her eyes open--she just looks natural.  And that cute look on Lydia's face--I love my girls!

I was blessed with a special treat--the last day of Disneyland, Gabe & Eleni were exhausted and not too interested in going back.  (Of course a few days later we started hearing complaints of all the rides they'd missed . . . )  We also had to check out of our hotel, so Seth, being the amazing husband he is, offered to watch all the kids and clean the hotel room so Jacob & I could go to Disneyland by ourselves.  Lydia was willing to stay and help him with a promise that she would have a special date with both of us that evening.

It was so fun!  I felt very blessed--we timed things just right with fastpasses and lines.  We were able to hit the Matterhorn first, then Splash Mountain, where I sat in front, thank you very much, and ended up completely soaked . . . Indiana Jones was closed, so we rode on the pirate ship instead, and Jacob savored every bite of his own churro.  I pretty much had to beg him to let me get it!  He doesn't ask for much in the way of food or prizes, and whenever I offered to treat him to lunch, he'd say, "That's okay--I'm not that hungry.  I don't want to waste any money."  I finally talked him into a bag of dried apples.  Honestly.

Later in the evening, Abe and Chelsea offered to watch the three middle kids, so we dropped them off in Irvine, then zoomed back for an evening with Lydia and Evie, our two easy peazy kids (at the moment).  We caught the parade and waited in this line for the Matterhorn.  We split up for a minute and Lydia & I enjoyed Alice in Wonderland, one of our favorites. Lydia just eats up "dates" like this--she was so happy!  Having three fewer mouths to feed, we were able to eat at a yummy restaurant and had a perfect view of the fireworks and Tinkerbell.  It was a truly magical evening!  I know Disneyland can be commercialized, but we love that place!  We went there for our honeymoon, and once again Seth and I were re-converted to the magic of Walt Disney--special man, special place!