Disneyland Celebration! || Personal Post

Tanner worked so hard the last three years and graduation was quickly approaching. We wanted to do something fun in celebration of this exciting time so we decided to take a trip to Disneyland! It worked out well because we ended up matching there in California so the transition was.... i'm going to go with doable:) We were really excited to go because we felt like Grahm was at the perfect age to enjoy it and Nova was still free! Yay!!! I was excited because I LOVE Disneyland, but I was also a little nervous about it. We decided to go at the busiest time of year. Start of the hot summer months, graduation season AND they were opening the new Star Wars land Galaxy Edge. Yeah, I was nervous. We weren't going to change our minds though and decided just to make the best of it. We invited our families to come with us and all of Tanner's siblings and his mom decided to come! We all stayed in an Airbnb close to the park and seriously had the best time.

Before our trip, we tried to prepare Grahm the best we could. We showed him YouTube videos of the different rides that he would go on, and watched some Netflix shows about Disneyland. We wanted to keep it fun and exciting for him. As part of preparing him for this trip, from time to time I would remind him that we had one rule. (Some may not agree with this, but I looked at it like trying a new food) The rule was that he needed to try all the rides he was big enough for just once, and if he didn't like it, then he didn't have to ride it again. He did really well with this rule. He was nervous for some rides and I would just reassure him that it was going to be really fun and that mom and dad would be with him the whole time. The first day I think he was excited but he had a funny way of showing it. I think he was trying to keep his cool and he wasn't showing a lot of emotion to the point where I was wondering if he really was having a good time or not. At the end of the first day, Grahm said to me "Mom, my heart is so happy it has a smile on it!" That just made me feel so happy!

Having this time with family was so much fun! We always have a really good time together. There were two more people besides Grahm, experiencing Disneyland for the first time and that was exciting. We tried new treats, enjoyed the shows, met lots of characters and hit our favorite rides a couple of times. It was hot, but we got through it and the crowds really weren't that bad. We had a good system down using the fast passes so it wasn't as stressful as I thought it was going to be. Grahm was a great sport and loved every minute. His favorite rides were Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion. Soarin over California, It's a Small World and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad even though it was a little loud. I loved creating and sharing these memories with my family.

I made a fun little video of our time spent there. Because it was our kids' first time, I wanted to be sure we captured those moments and memories to hang onto for life! Watch and enjoy!