DISNEYLAND!!!!! Saturday 5/15- Friday 5/21 (Post 1:Sat-Mon)

We FINALLY did it. Ben and I, who are famous "talkers" but not necessarily "do-ers", actually planned AND CARRIED OUT a family trip to the happiest place on Earth! We spent our first night in Mesquite before heading into Vegas for a few hours the next morning. Our favorite part of walking along the strip had to be the Bellagio fountains. We had perfect timing, walking right up to the optimal spot right as the best "dancing water" show I have EVER witnessed was about to start. It was choreographed to the song "All That Jazz", and it was truly SPECTACULAR. Mariah LOVED her new sunglasses and wore them everywhere we went!

Aside from the water show, our favorite part was visiting the M&M Factory. Mariah was so excited to meet actual live M&Ms! Unfortunately, the M&M movie was temporarily not running due to it being upgraded. Oh well, we will have to catch it next time!
Maybe the BEST surprise EVER was that my Mom flew in to Vegas to hitch a ride to California and spend the rest of the trip with us! It made the car ride a breeze. Mariah was SO good that we didn't watch ANY DVDs the entire ride (there or home)! Pretty amazing. Thanks Ben for giving me the idea to get some "Where's Waldo?" books from the library for M to look at! They kept her entertained for a very long time:)
So after TERRIBLE traffic almost the whole way from Vegas to Anaheim, we finally arrived at our hotel, Holiday Inn. Ben and M were very anxious to take a dip even though the weather was only 60 degrees or so. Glad to have Daddy there to give me an out!

After my RIDICULOUS run the next morning (I was turned around the whole time and kept having to check my map), we all got ready to head on over to Disneyland! Weather: chilly 60-67 degrees and overcast. Actually pretty great for Dland! We made to walk (about 20 minutes or so to the actual entrance) and arrived at Disneyland we smiles on our faces:)
After we made our gameplan, we headed off into the park. We saw Pluto, Goofy, Aladdin, Mickey, Minnie, lots of others and did TONZ of rides! It was AMAZING! Even more so since my Mom was there to keep me company when Ben was burned out and headed back to the hotel, which happened daily:)







Minnie's house was definitely one of Mariah's favs, especially the cake that kept "deflating". She even told Minnie the next day when we saw her at lunch that if she kept working hard, someday she would be able to make a cake that wasn't broken!





Ben's shoulders were no doubt Mariah's favorite mode of transportation! She sure missed Daddy's shoulders when he went back to the hotel:)(Though she was AWESOME at walking the rest of the time, with no complaints. What a gal!)
Ben and I were even able to sneak away a couple of times and enjoy some of the more grown-up rides by ourselves! (Thanks SO MUCH Mom!) This was in line at Space Mountain. Ben never fully recovered from it:)
Leaving the park the first day at 5:30 in the afternoon. The second we put M in the stroller, she fell asleep and STAYED asleep until 7 the next morning! No dinner, nothin'! Just transfered her to her bed and took off her shoes. That girl was pooped!