Thankful Thursdays - Deja Vu

This may look like just one post, but due to BLOGGER completely wigging out on me, and the "new" autosave improvements they have made, this is actually the SECOND time I am making this post!!!! Not bitter at all! Yeah, moving on!

So this week's Thankful Thursday is entirely dedicated to our recent trip to Disneyland. Even now, two weeks later (and I can't believe that it's been two weeks!) we are all still incredibly High on our experience! I am so thankful for the opportunity that we had to go to Disneyland with Jaxon; thankful on many different levels!

Living the Brady Bunchlike life that we do, our four older kids tend to receive double the opportunities for trips, double the gifts, double the fun! So needless to say, Chris and I try to make most of the alone time that we get with our little guy! The last trip that we took, just the three of us, was when Jaxon was just barely one year's old and we went to Virginia to have him meet his Grandma and Grandpa Cole! Yeah, it's been a while! This Easter/Spring Break left us alone with Jaxon, and with all that we've been going through the past several months, we decided it was high time to get the Hell Outta Dodge!!!!

We originally discussed going down to Vegas to spend a long weekend with our good friends, the McDermott's! We priced out flying, renting a car, a few Vegas Shows, etc. and I began wondering what it would take to fly just a tad bit further to sunny Southern-California! As it turned out, with my frequent flyer miles, our awesome Hotel discounts, and the special Disney was offering on tickets, we weren't that much off the mark! So I made the proposal to Chris, and that was it...we just won the Super Bowl and we were going to Disneyland!

This was the first trip for Chris to ANYTHING Disney related, and with Jaxon being at the fun age that he is, I was soooo excited to experience this with them. My past life trips to Disneyland weren't all that great, so it was kind of like my first trip also! We packed an awful lot of great activities...an awful lot of good times in our four short days there. I'm amazed that Mr. Jaxon did as well as he did. He must have been channeling Edward somehow, surviving on an "Adrenaline Rush" (You can Google it if you don't know what I'm speaking of!)

Chris and I decided to make this trip part of Jaxon's 5th birthday celebration! And as such, we took advantage of the awesome birthday events that Disney has to offer. Jaxon proudly wore his Birthday Badge everywhere we went! It was an absolute delight seeing his reaction when, regardless of where we were at in the parks, anyone who saw his badge was wishing him a BIG Happy Birthday! Disney folks know how to take care of the kids! Jaxon acclimated very quickly to everyone telling him Happy Birthday. So much so, that when our weekend ended and we were headed home, Jaxon expected nothing less from the Hertz folks, and all employees at Delta! Hilarious! "MOOOMMMM, That guy didn't wish me Happy Birthday!?!?!?"

We started out the weekend with dinner at Medieval Times, which was fantastic fun! Chris and Jaxon absolutely loved it! We found our way to Goofy's Kitchen for an amazing breakfast buffet with Goofy, Pluto and the gang; Easter Brunch with all the Disney Princesses at Ariel's Grotto; and a rip-roaring Hoe-Down Celebration BBQ with Woody, Jessie and all their woodland Critter friends (my personal favorite activity!) So much food, in such a short time span. I think it was worse than a cruise. At least we did a TON of walking to off-set the high caloric intake!

Some of Jaxon's favorite rides were the Jumping Jellyfish (he rode this one several times); Dumbo (Who doesn't love that ride); Tea Cups (which made Daddy Green, and I don't mean the be good to Earth kind); the Jungle Cruise (which I had never been on before); Finding Nemo Submarine ride (although the 1 1/2 hour wait sucked!) and last but certainly not least, It's a Small World!

Rides that he didn't like and actually scared him to death and had him clinging onto Chris or I for dear life, only to proclaim how AWESOME that was as soon as the ride ended were the Matterhorn; the crazy runaway mountain train ride (can't remember the exact name); Pirates of the Caribbean (even Captain Jack couldn't put his little nerves at ease); and the Haunted Mansion! We couldn't even get him close to Splash Mountain! One, because of the height, but Two, and probably more importantly, my OCD son LOATHES getting wet or messy!

All-in-All it was truly the most magical trip we have ever been on as a family. And yes, we are completely addicted now to the Disney experience. You'll be seeing the ENTIRE Cole clan at Disneyland again in the not-so-far future!

Here are pictures of some of my favorite moments! Enjoy...we did!

Sir Jaxon Cole at Medieval Times!

Awww, boys and their swords!

Jaxon posing for Mommy in his new PJ's!

Jaxon and Goofy at Goofy's Kitchen

Great Candid Shot of Jaxon and Chris waiting for me to get our tickets so that we could enter the park!

One of Jaxon's favorite parts was getting his face painted! Mommy had hers done also!

Chris REALLY wanted this Captain Jack Hat!

We all came home with our own individual Mickey Ears!!!!

Jaxon at the Celebration Round-Up BBQ!!!!

Did I mention how Yummy all the food was?

Coolest Birthday Dessert EVER! We're going to duplicate this for his birthday party!

Enjoy your first day at Disneyland kid???? Exhausted much????

Princess Ariel! "She's so beautiful Mommy!"

Chris liked Belle!!!!

Jaxon's FAVORITE Movie, and bedroom theme is Cars!

Completely Star-Struck!

Jaxon stayed in close contact with Grandma Johnson the entire time!

Jaxon chased bubbles for 30 Minutes at California Adventure!

One of my favorite scenes!!!

I LOVE this ride!!!! I'm screaming like a girl!!!

Jaxon had a doggone good time with Pluto!

It took us until the LAST day to find Mickey!

Arriving home from the airport!