Disneyland Trip

If anyone knows my husband, they know he HAS to do Disney! I have tried and tried to convince him otherwise, but it doesn't work. So, here we are at Disney again! Let me back this up with a quick note from about 7 years ago. When we first had our two little boys Marcus read an email about a dad that had two grown children. This dad said if he were to do anything different he would 1. take more vacations and 2. have more kids. Having more kids hasn't always worked with us, but Marcus insists on vacations. He does so we can "make memories." I used to roll my eyes at this, however after losing Ethan I realized all the pictures we have were of birthdays, Halloween, Christmas and Disney! (Now its harder to argue about what we do). We haven't always had the financials to do this, but somehow we make it work. This time we had free hotel and discounted tickets, so we didn't want to miss the opportunity. Marcus was like a five year old on Christmas morning on our way in to Disneyland. He was more excited than even the children. I picture Marcus at 80 taking his grandkids to Disneyland because that's how much he loves it and he'll want to pass that on.
This trip was also a FIRST for us. When I say FIRST, I mean a first without Ethan. Because Disney has been a big part of our lives (about once a year--or if I can help it--every other year), Ethan has always been there. He LOVED Disney --kind of like his dad. He would bounce all over, run from ride to ride and couldn't get enough. His enthusiasm and excitement for the park was missed. I noticed Parker's 'friend' this time was his dad, which is awesome. However, it just reminded me of all the times he and Ethan ran together and got excited together. The trip ended up being bittersweet for me and I had to hold back tears most of the time. At one point while Madilyn and I waited for the shuttle she started crying telling me she was thinking of Ethan and missed him. It made me cry. She then looked at me and said "Mom, its okay to cry when we miss our loved one." Counseling is helping.
Besides the bittersweet, it was an awesome trip. It was Brady's fIRST!! He spent most of his time in the stroller, but was an amazing sport the whole time. Madilyn loved the characters! We took pictures of her with Woody and watching Buzz just for her cousin, Camden. Parker spent 4-5 hours with his dad in the park after I took the smaller ones back to the hotel. He went on all the rides over and over. He couldn't get enough. He only had a small attitude when he didn't win a prize (does this surprise anyone?) . He's never been a good loser. I don't want to go on too much today because I have too much to do before 4:30 (family pictures). It was a great time and here are a few pictures. I can't figure out how to post to make them look normal, so I'll try again another time.