The day we made their (our) dreams come true

When Leah was three months old, we packed up the car and drove out to California to visit members of Casey's family.  It was quite a big deal for us.  We were brand new parents to our shiny new baby, and we were worried that we might forget something she desperately needed.

When I say we loaded up the car, I really, really mean it.  We packed everything.  The pack and play with changing table attachment.  The bouncer.  The entire, giant stroller.  A million changes of clothes.  We even bought clothes once we got to California, though for the life of me I can't remember why.  I'm amazed the car didn't break down in the middle of the desert, gasping under the weight of our inexperience.

Just in case you thought I was kidding.  Yes, that's me with Leah and the whole, huge stroller-with-car-seat-attachment at New York, New York in Las Vegas at like 7 a.m.  Evidently it took longer than three months to discover that you can just carry the baby.  Some of us are a little slow on the uptake.

What can I say?  We were new at the whole parenting gig.  It took us a while to figure it out.

But one thing we did know for sure: we could not be that close to Disneyland without making the trip.  After all, it would be years before we'd make another trip out there.  Surely, we had to take advantage of the opportunity while it was available.

Yes, I understood that our little one was too small to hold her head up.  Yes, it occurred to me that there would be a ton of things we wouldn't be able to do.

But gosh darn it, we were a family, and we were in California.  What would it be without a trip to the happiest place on Earth?!

And, as you might have guessed... that's exactly what we did.

Well, thank the Lord we had the huge stroller!  How could a person possibly have a baby at Disneyland without it?!

Riding "Pirates of the Caribbean" 

We actually had a wonderful time.  It was one of those "I can't believe I'm really here with my child" moments that absolutely took my breath away. It didn't matter that we couldn't ride half the rides; the very fact that we were there with our very new family was more than enough.

We resolved on that day, when Leah was too little even to eat solid foods, that we would be back.  We would bring her back - with her hypothetical brothers or sisters - at a time when she could really remember and enjoy it.

And guess what???

That day is FINALLY here!

In just a few days, we are loading up the car (hopefully, a bit more sensibly this time!) and taking a road trip to California.  We'll make several stops along the way, but one of those will absolutely be Disneyland.

I am so excited, I could just burst.

In typical me fashion, I couldn't just come out and tell the kids.  No.  I had a plan.

I ordered these awesome shirts, and made a series of scavenger hunt clues that would lead them all around the house, and ultimately to uncover their destination.

Can I just tell you how much I love that Leah can read?  

It was SO MUCH FUN to watch her do this, largely by herself!  They had an awesome time running from place to place trying to decipher the clues!

I'm not the world's most creative when it comes to things like this, so some of the clues were pretty hokey.  Particularly because I was trying to make sure that they all rhymed.  Ha!

I also had some little helpers making sure we got the whole thing on video, which was pretty fun.

They did an awesome job.  After running all over the house, and outside as well, they ultimately had to go up to Olivia's room and look in her crib....

...where all the shirts were waiting for them.

I didn't take any photos, because I was busy with the video camera, but let me assure you: there was much screaming and jumping and celebrating.

They were absolutely thrilled!

And, who am I kidding?  So am I.  I can't wait to take those little sweet peas to Disneyland, and to watch the wonder and magic through their eyes.

And so... we are OFF!!!