The Ricks Family: Disneyland 2016

A few weeks ago, we planned a somewhat spontaneous trip to Disneyland. I always feel like I need an escape from the long, gray days of winter by the end of January. After checking online and seeing that almost all of the rides were open, we decided to go for it. Last time we were there (about a year and a half ago) we talked about how fun it would be to stay in the park. We chose the Grand Californian for convenience and we were so glad with our decision! The boys oooh'd and ahhhh'd when we got to the hotel and they thought the little chairs in the lobby in front of the tv playing old cartoons was amazing.

The boys were so excited to have their own bunk beds in our room. There was a trundle that pulled out from the bottom also, which was perfect for Davis. It was such a great set up for our family.

We got to the hotel in the afternoon on the first day and the boys immediately wanted to go swimming. Thankfully the pools are heated since they are outdoors.

It was still a bit chilly that first day, so they opted for the hot tub after awhile!

That evening we hung out in Downtown Disney, which was sort of fun to see since Sean and I hadn't been there in years. We didn't stay too long because everyone was pretty wiped out, but the boys did love the Lego store.

We spent our first park day in Disneyland. It seems like a lot of times we will go from park to park, but we didn't this time and it was really nice. We met Mickey right as we walked in. Davis was REALLY excited and had such a big grin on his face when he saw him. He got nervous or star struck or something though whenever he was right up next to the characters for pictures. It was so funny. He would not smile for anything! But the second Sean or I grabbed him and would start to walk away, he'd be waving and smiling and yelling, "Bye-bye!"

First ride was a family favorite-- Splash Mountain. Even I broke the rules and rode it :)

The boys were pretty excited about the Star Wars stuff they had in Tomorrow Land. We signed Bode and Jackson up for Jedi training and they both loved it.

Davis's face cracks me up in this one. He knows evil when he sees it.

Cruising around Disneyland like he owns the place ;)

We were all excited about the new "Paint the Night" parade. It was awesome because we had friends who were also in Disneyland at the same time and we got to watch the parade together!

And in case you're wondering, the parade was awesome. We all loved it and the fireworks after!
It was sort of fun too because Disneyland was celebrating its 60th anniversary, which they were calling the "Diamond celebration," so the castle was all blinged out.

View from our hotel room at the end of the night.

We spent day 2 in California Adventure, where Jackson wanted to start the day off with a bang with California Screamin' (they are in the middle).

Always a good time on Midway Mania

Davis REALLY loved the carousel between California Screamin' and Midway Mania. He'd get so upset when the ride was over.

Our boys also really loved the Wilderness Explorer Camp. It was a good place to let them run free.

Davis just rode this slide over and over.

Another favorite. Davis's first time riding it and he was grinning from ear to ear.

While the big boys were on Radiator Springs Racers, Davis and I got to meet Lighting. It was fun because he is just starting to get into Cars.

The nice thing about staying in the park was that we could go back to the hotel for a break mid-day. It was a really nice day, so the boys wanted to go swimming.

Davis and I enjoyed lounging and napping by the pool.

I was obsessed with the lemon trees around the pool!

More rides after our break:

Front row this time!

Riding Mickey's Fun Wheel for the first time. I don't know why we've never done it before, but it was one of my very favorite parts of the day, if not trip. It was fun riding it at night and being all together.

Jackson decided to spend his money on a new RC car he got to build at one of the stores in Downtown Disney at the end of the night.

On day 3 we headed back to Disneyland. One of our first rides was Astro Blasters. The ride got stuck a few times and we were so excited because we were racking up points like crazy! I was over 1 million points the last time I checked, but unfortunately, the last time the ride stopped, they shut it down and we all lost our scores. They weren't legit scores anyway, but it would have been pretty awesome :)