my ducklings and me at disneyland

I say this all the time, so you may have already heard or read it, but when I was young and thought of myself as a mom, I always imagined all boys (haha, seriously - I thought I'd be the worst mom for girls - so thank you God, for knowing better!!) and I always imagined scenarios where we parents would be leading the way, and there would be my little ducklings behind me, following and enjoying and able to do all sorts of fun things. Not that I didn't love babies. Of course I loved babies and all the stages we went through. But when I HAD babies, I was thrown for a loop, because of how I'd always imagined motherhood in the years following babyhood.

Anyway, I have those little ducklings RIGHT now. That is what life is like. For the most part, everyone can do anything/everything - if we hike, everyone hikes. If we are at a restaurant, no one is throwing forks or opening sugar packets or needing a lid on their drink. If we're in the car, people are belting themselves in and usually enjoying the ride. It's sad, in a way, because they're growing up. But in a whole other way, it's wonderful, because we are capable of doing SO much, at lightning speed, which is how most of us operate around here!
I took the kids to Disneyland Thursday. By myself. I don't know why I had to say by msyelf. It's not really a big deal to take them anywhere by myself. Anymore. It used to be huge. But we are strollerless, diaperbagless, and that makes things much easier!
Before we went to Disneyland, I checked this site:
http://www.isitpacked.com/disneyland-crowd-forecast-predictor-calendar/
(That's the calendar for the month)
http://www.isitpacked.com/live-crowd-trackers/disneyland/
(that's the page that shows you the categories and what category TODAY falls under)
(this site was very helpful - it basically puts the crowd prediction in four categories, based on weather, history, school schedules, etc. - the four categories are: Ghost Town, Hey It's Alright, Yup It's Packed, and Forget About It.)
We have annual passes, just the Southern California Select passes, and lately when we go, we're experiencing some very packed days. But Thursday, March 22 - the website said it was going to be a "Yup it's packed" kind of day, and I pretty much agree, HOWEVER, the lines were pretty short! We have wisened up and ONLY ride Space Mountain or Star Tours if we have a fastpass - although they ARE worth the wait without the pass, we just would rather jump ahead with a fastpass and get on with it! For the first few hours there, we didn't wait any longer than 8 minutes in a line. But it still APPEARED really crowded around the rides in Tomorrowland especially (but that area's always looking crowded because the area in between Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters and Star Tours is tight and full of strollers and lots of little ones going on the rocket ride in the middle.
Anyway, we had a great time. We waited a little longer as we got to Pirates, Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain, but still, our wait never exceeded 20 minutes. So in five hours there, we got to experience Captain EO, Autopia, the Jungle Cruise, Space Mountain, Star Tours, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, the Disneyland Railroad, walked through all the homes in ToonTown, and had time to enjoy an ice cream and a pretzel.
I had a light backpack on, just in case we needed sweaters, which we didn't. And I didn't even bring a camera...just used the camera on my phone. Here are the few photos I snapped:

Also, while we are at Disneyland, I use an app called "Mouse Wait" which was free for my phone, and I love it. I have registered with an account, for free, so I can also help update the wait times in lines at Disneyland. I found it to be VERY accurate and helpful the whole day. I love how it even has wait times for things like the line for Dole Whips and other fun food places like Corn Dog Castle in California Park!
But, my favorite Corn Dogs are still the ones from the Red Truck at the end of Main Street by the Kodak shop and the mommy station. Yum.
I was so impressed with my three all day - we stuck together, no one got lost, and I frequently thought to myself "my ducklings are sticking with me, look at that!" We had SO much fun together. We were just missing Daddy, and saying the usual sayings he says at certain times, or wishing he was there to ride certain rides with.
We'll make sure to bring him next time.