Before Ben left Seattle he was selected by the Make a Wish foundation to receive a wish. Want to take on challenge, figure out what the lifelong wish of a 2 year old is from minute to minute. He decided that he wanted to visit Mickey Mouse's house so we put in for the chace to have a family vacation in Disneyland.
The day finally arrived.
We left Anchorage on the 0-dark-thirty flight with a stopover in Seattle and then on to the Orange County Airport. The kids were pretty good on the flight despite being completely wired and excited. Alaska Airlines had our names as being on the flight as a part of a wish. They called the "Allred party" to the counter just as Cari and half of the kids headed to the bathroom for final pit stops. Once we got rounded up we boarded the plane and got first crack at complimentary snacks, digi-players, you name it. I felt pretty spoiled.
We got to Orange Co. and just as we stepped off the plane, standing there were two Orange Co. firemen, and two more sheriffs asking if this was the Allreds -- a little unnerving to have so many uniforms with guns looking for you. The sheriffs and firemen escorted us to the baggage claim and car rental desks, carried our bags, had badge stickers and color books for the kids and even took Nate for yet another pit stop while I was waiting in line for the car. We found out later that these guys came to do this all after their shifts. They were AMAZING. I thought Nathan was going to talk their ears off.
Well, we bid the OC firemen and sheriffs good bye and thank you and loaded the crew in the van and headed for the hotel. Both Cari and I were exhausted, not having slept on the flights. We arrived at the Paradise Pier Disneyland Hotel and the rooms were not quite ready for us so we hung out for a few minutes figuring out what we were going to do for the morning. One of the rooms came available so we headed there to get settled after taking a picture with Goofy in the lobby 
The rooms were nice. Because of the size of our group we had two adjoining rooms. That was really nice.
The kids were excited to get things underway. Cari and I were excited to rest for a minute or two. We compromised. The kids watched Disney on TV for 30 minutes while we got to rest. As you may imagine, it was not peaceful rest, but it was nice to close our eyes for a minute or two.
Next, the pool. We headed down to the third floor outdoor pool. It was a bit windy and we were the only people outside at the pool. Come on, it was over seventy degrees outside and having come from under thirty degrees, it felt plenty warm to swim and slide. There was a waterslide, a kiddie pool, a larger pool and a hot tub. After spending between two and three hours attempting to wear out all of the above we walked over to the rain forest restaurant in Downtown Disney for dinner. All of the food was great.
Next, back to the hotel to meet Cari's sister Threesa and their family for Family Home Evening. We had a lesson on Captain Moroni given by Joseph (cousin) and then went swimming again (this is going to be a recurring event throughout). We swam for an hour or so and then headed back to the room for treats and the kids watched TV while the adults played Pitt. I think we finally called it quits around 10pm.
All in all a great first day of vacation. The kids were finally tired and neither Cari nor I could focus our eyes any more so we all crashed pretty hard.
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