Disneyland with the girls 2013

 We drove Ali and girls down to Anaheim for 3 days of Disneyland and California Adventure Park.  On the first day, the first ride, we hit the good old-fashioned carousel.

 Avril riding next to her mom.

 Papa watched McKel on this one.

 You can't do Disneyland with little girls and not do princess stuff.  McKel is enjoying a dried mango while they wait for a "Tangled" enactment.

 Many dried mangoes were consumed on this trip!

 Rapunzel and the thief turned good-guy posed with reluctant girls for some photos.

 Later we sat at the beginning of main street to see the Mickey Mouse parade from the perfect spot!

 This float featured Rapunzel and Snow White and other leading Disney ladies.

 The tea cups are just as popular as they were in 1956, when Disneyland first opened.  I was surprised at how much the girls liked spinning around.

 We even went into the whale like Pinocchio.

 Dumbo was as fun as ever.  Although this pose is in a stationary Dumbo on the ground.

 And Fantasmic was an awesome show of lights, lasers, sprays, actors, boats, etc.  We saw fireworks too.

 We stayed at the Fairfield Inn right across Harbor Blvd. from Disneyland, which was very convenient.  We were able to come back to the room mid-afternoon so the girls could nap while I jogged in Anaheim.

 Our main mode of transportation was a double stroller for the girls.  Here is one of the park's work horses.

 The Disney characters were ubiquitous.

 I dropped this dumbbell and am trying to pick it up!

 One of Avril's favorite treats now.

 Minnie had the girls over for a chat and photo op.

 Even the hotel room was a fun change from the daily home routine.

Ali and Avril.

My face probably reflects how tiring it is taking little kids to Disneyland.

 Tom Sawyer still has an island in the park and you still use the raft to get there.

 "Caves" on Tom's island.  The girls enjoyed exploring.  Here they follow me into an opening.

 On our last morning of the stay we went to the outdoor pool and the girls had a blast in the water.

 Then we went over to the Santa Monica pier so they could see the ocean.  This was on the pier.

 Ali and I take the girls into the water to chase waves back and forth.

 They both loved the beach and water.  It was about 75 degrees and with a marine layer of fog just above us, but only a few miles inland the temperatures were already soaring.  We stayed in North Las Vegas that night and the next morning as we packed the car it was over 100 degrees already.

 Just before leaving I showed Avril about the sand crabs and we spent several minutes digging up a bunch of them.  She liked letting them crawl on her hands.