More restrospective - I'm leaving on a jet plane

***WARNING - this post is long so whilst it looked beautiful in the preview, Blogger has a tendancy to screw with the format once I publish and everything goes pear-shaped. If that happens I'm too tired to go back and try to re-jig it so I warn you in advance. Oh, and sorry for any spelling/grammar errors - tiredness***

So back to the departure from the States. After packing up the apartment, we packed what we were taking to China into the car (and on the roof) - here's a photo in the carpark at O'Hare -










and headed to Chicago in the early hours of Sunday 10th August. We were all very tired having spent a non-too-restful night in the hotel. At least the kids slept part of the three hour drive to O'Hare. Thanks to a friend, Paul, we would be able to drive the car to the airport, leaving it there for him to collect and drive back to C-U.

We were heading to LA - staying with Josh's mum - and seeing Disneyland before heading off to China. Had to get in one photo of the seating arrangements with a toddler and "lap" infant.














We took both carseats because we were hiring a car in LA to get around and back to the airport and I must say that, having not travelled with carseats on planes before, I found it to be a good idea and would do it again. Here is the car we eventually ended up with - after Brett had upgraded, we ended up with an SUV - a fitting end to our stay in the States!










Josh's mum was lovely (every now and then she'd say something that would stop me in my tracks as though Josh was right there) and made us a lovely home-cooked dinner. We were able to get up in the morning early and leave to ensure we'd be at the park for it's opening. Here the kids are waiting for Daddy to buy the tickets.














We had decided ahead of time to tackle the park at Alex's pace - after all, it was principally for her that we were there (though I was excited to see what Disneyland was all about). Of course the part of the park where we spent most of our time was the Princess area - and quite possibly we may have spent all day there had that been a choice open to "us";)

We planned to walk all the way to the back and then move forward so that we'd end the day near the entrance to the park. On the way through the first section, we saw some rides. It was here that I realised that it was unlikely that Alex would be on any rides today - after lining up with Daddy for the little train, she refused to board and they climbed over the fence to get out of line.










This is the closest we got to the spinning teacup ride for the Mad Hatter's Tea Party - the one I'd seen on the Sunday night Disney movie promo growing up as a child - sigh.









And this is the closest we got to the Dumbo ride (near the first little train ride) which is in the background.














Then we came across the princess area on the way through to Toontown. Alex was in heaven. If only I'd realised that she could have worn a dress-up, then I would have had a strong impulse to bring hers. As it was they had a little princess shop there where children could buy costumes etc, have their hair and face paint done. So we opted for the cheapie facepaint option of around $15 and Alex was happy - though she did point out these lovely princess "gowns" for around $85...gulp!

Alex got to choose the style of facepaint she wanted ("sparkles" was the request) and she got to sit in her own beauty chair.

The masterpiece takes shape.










Final result.














Then we spent some time around the "castle" stage area














as there were some performances we could watch. Alex had a great time - though she wouldn't join the princesses when they asked people to come and join them to dance - and even now dancing (including bowing and curtseying) is her preferred playtime with Daddy.










We were also treated to a story told by Aurora.














We got to sit on little carpet circles - here are some of the children who dressed up.










We headed onto Toontown - but not before Daddy had a chance to "dance" a maypole dance! (you can just see his head above the lady in the brown shirt - click on the photo to enlarge it)










- and came across Minnie Mouse in our walk.














By now it was late morning so we thought that we'd get an early lunch to beat the crowd - though Alex and Sebastien didn't argue.














Onto Goofey, Minnie and Mickey's houses. Alex and Daddy went into Mickey's house and lined up to see him - Mummy was looking after a sleeping Sebastien in the shade outside.

Alex playing the "piano" in Goofey's house.

It would have been nice to take Alex on some of the rides - however she was too scared to go on any and we couldn't talk her into going on any with either of us with her. Family photo time in Toontown - just to prove we were all there!










Eventually we headed onto Critter Country which was where Winnie the Pooh and his friends hung out. Brett took Sebastien in the stroller over whilst I managed to get Alex onto the train that did the circuit of Disneyland. Of course, I wasn't expecting for it to go through a tunnel atone stage and have some Dinosaur panoramas that included thunderstorms (Alex is not a fan of thunderstorms - to put it mildly). But we made it in one piece - and if you ask her about it now she will matter of factly say that it was a little scary.
Here she is waiting patiently for the train.














On one of our walks, we came across this wagon foodvan selling...










fries, fries and more fries (oh, and drinks if you're thirsty).

So having found Pooh's friends - so we had to get more photos:












And then I conned (there is no other word for it) Alex into checking out Pooh's house (knowing full well it was a ride...). Boy did I feel bad when I realised that it was in the dark, and it was representative of Pooh's psychedelic nightmare after having stuffed himself full of honey and dreaming of Heffalumps...Alex nearly peed her pants and my hand still hasn't recovered. Thankfully it ends with all the friends celebrating Pooh's birthday - phew! Here are some shots taken in the dark of the nightmare ride (you better check whether Alex has forgiven me).




















We had decided to try for the early parade (one at 3pm the other at 6 pm) to allow us time to head to the airport, return the car and make our flight - unfortunately there would not be time for us to see the nightly fireworks over the castle.

So having seen Pooh and his friends, it was time to try to make it to the grand parade. Of course, we arrived in time and staked out a good spot - in some shade - and this happens:










I saw the parade and got some shots, but because the "main lady" missed it we stayed for the second parade - which everyone was awake for.

The parade started with the good fairies who visited Sleeping Beauty at her birth














then came Peter Pan and Tinkerbell riding a train (Alex didn't know who they were).










They were followed by Aurora (Beauty) and the Beast (Alex was a little taken aback by the beast but bounced back quickly as she loves the story).














Then came Ariel and Sebastien ("the crab")














followed by Ursula the Seawitch (someone who's glossed over a little in the Little Mermaid story Alex remembers so she was extremely scared by Ursula's float - especially as she moves and "talks")














Finally was Simba and the dancers were spectacular - with acrobats on assorted springy pogos and stilts. Quite visually impressive.














But the finale to the parade was...

wait for it...

Mickey and Minnie and their friends - and the princesses! Alex was in heaven because the float stopped just in front of us and the princesses are very good at interacting with the crowd from their places on the float - Alex was convinced that they were waving and blowing kisses just for her!










To prove that they were awake this time!










Phew - what a finale! We made our way back to the car by getting taken on the people mover which each must take around 150-200 people at a time, and they were constantly shuttling back and forth.

Now the fun didn't stop because we left Disneyland - oh no...stay with me for the next post which continues our departure from LAX.