Disneyland Paris

My family has always been lovers of Disney parks. We went many times while I was growing up. Partly because my grandmother only lived an hour away and partly because we just like it. When the opportunity to visit Disneyland Paris came I enthusiastically said "YES PLEASE". We had such a great time too. Luke LOVED seeing all of the characters. Evelyn loved riding the rides. It was a great 2 days! Here are some pics and a little description of what's going on.


The Tea Cups. Evelyn was a little nervous when we sat down, but once we started going she loved it. When the ride stopped she quickly signed and said "more". She was a little upset that we had to get off. Luke liked it ok, but was much more cautious and ready to get off.





It's a Small World. Boats- Check. Dolls- Check. What's not to love?




This was one of Luke's favorite rides. He got to drive the car himself and was so excited. Evelyn fell asleep while we were waiting in line so she and I skipped out of this on.


We met a lot of Disney characters, but this was one of our favorite memories. Here's the story. We stuck out a lot in Disneyland Paris. Obviously we didn't speak the same language as almost everyone else, so when Captain Jack heard us talk he asked us where we were from (in English). He was very excited to hear that we were from MI and spent several minutes talking to us and to Luke. He wrote on the page next to his signature St. Clair Shores. Hmmm... Is Capt. Jack from MI? Who knew?!? Luke of course doesn't know who he is, but we'll tell him the story when he's older.




I'll end on this one for today. It was and is such a let down for me. Here's the story. Luke was dressed in his Disneyland shirt. Evelyn was in her Minnie shirt. We saw Mickey Mouse signing autographs with only 4 children in line. AMAZING! We quickly jumped in line and waited for our turn. I had this great vision of the cutest picture in history. Standing next to Mickey. Huge smiles on their faces while actually looking at the camera. It was going to be great! We get to the front of the line and we're next. YAY! Luke then proclaims that he doesn't want to meet Mickey. "Oh, but it's Mickey and it will be really quick. And it will be the cutest picture. I'll go with you, Luke. Don't worry!" It's our turn. Luke then plants his feet and starts bawling. Not just crying mind you, but bawling. Loudly! He refuses to go near Mickey. Fine. Evelyn can have her pic with him. Nope big brother is upset, so clearly she has to be too. My perfect picture is now this ^. How sad is that?

Oh, Dog-Dog! How we've missed you!

I know I said I was going to post about our wonderful trip, but I just couldn't resist posting about this first. Here's the back story:

We arrive to the airport for the third day in a row and hurriedly get out of the car. We grab all of our stuff (and it's a lot) and I do a quick eye sweep of the van looking for anything we may have forgotten. Looks great! Off we walk at a steady pace to check in and hope that we actually have seats on our flight. We do! YAY! Check in goes smoothly. Customs for the third day goes smoothly. 2 security check points where today they decide to bomb partial test our camera. We passed by the way:) We get to our gate where Luke asks, "Mommy, can me have me dog-dog?" "Just a minute, Lukey, while mommy puts down all of our stuff." Ok, stuff is down now where is dog-dog? Hmm... Not in this bag, not in this suitcase... "JD, have you seen dog-dog?" I ask. "Let me look" he says. Nope, not in here. Not in this one. Oh no!!!!!!!!! We both go into a panic. Where is dog-dog? Did we drop him while waiting in line downstairs? Did we drop him while we were getting out of the car? Where is he???

We call JD's parents (his dad had graciously dropped us off- again). Dad's not home, but they'll check as soon as he gets home. Unfortunately, we got on the airplane before we heard anything. All during the flight (9 hours) we had to tell Luke that grandpa was going to check the van and if he wasn't there we'd look online to buy a new one. Luke was pretty upset! He cried. I cried. It wasn't fun.

Fast forward a little bit. Dog-dog was found in grandpa's van (thank goodness!) and mailed to us the next day. We've waited and waited and waited for him to come in the mail. A week is a long time for a little boy to be without his beloved dog-dog. Well, today he arrived! Luke had a HUGE smile on his face and couldn't wait to open the box.


Alas, dog-dog has returned to the arms of a little boy who loves him so much. We're all so thankful that he was found. Shew!


(And as you can see there are other treats for the rest of us. Thanks, GG and Grandpa!)

Sneak Peek

More pics and stories to come!