California Trip: Day Three

We had a 2 day pass to Disney so we planned to spend our second day in Anaheim at the California Adventure Park.  The day started with a fun character breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel.  Connor was thrilled to find an Autoptia car in the lobby.

Goofy's Kitchen had an amazing brunch that we all really enjoyed.  Especially the Mickey Mouse pancakes and waffles. :)

While we ate all the different characters came around to visit.

 I was surprised how much Carson enjoyed seeing them.  His face lit up every time they would come over.

 He made lots of friends.

Connor on the other hand was more reserved with them.  He would wave and say hi, but did not get too close.  The tables turned though as soon as the princesses showed up!  He ran right over to pose with Belle.  I was shocked to see him actually wanting me to take his picture.  Do you think Belle could make a trip to Austin for our family pictures in the fall? :)

True Love

 Carson thought they looked pretty nice too.  

After breakfast we headed to California Adventure where our first event was Disney Junior Live.  All of Connor's favorite shows rolled up into one... Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny, and Jake and the Never Land Pirates.

 This show was perfect for him!  There were no seats so everyone sat on the floor and the kids could stand up and dance around with them.

 This park had different sections all representing some part of California.  There were also tons of street performances and parades.

Connor was good at helping us decide where to go next. 

 Another highlight of the day... meeting Lightning and TowMater!  They were there to promote Cars 2 coming out this summer.

 This picture sums up Connor right now.  He is so independent and truly believes he is as big as everyone else.  Luckily it wasn't very crowded so he was able to have a little freedom and walk "all by myself."

 Headed to the boardwalk.

 Connor was exhausted so we cut the day short and headed back to LA.

After checking in to our new hotel we headed back to see Kevin, Rachel, and Owen. 

 Dinner at the Farmer's Market and cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery was the perfect was to end the day.

California Trip: Day Two

I realize there is a lot more detail in this post than most of you care to know (or have time to actually read), but I wanted to be sure to include as much as I could to document the boys first trip to Disney.  Scrolling through the pictures would be just as good. :)

Disneyland Park

Our hotel was only a few blocks away so we decided to just walk and made it to the park right as it opened.    We were so glad that Kevin was able to join us for the day.  

I was beyond thrilled to share such an exciting day with Connor as he got to experience Disneyland for the first time.  At the same time I tried to come with no expectations on how the day would go considering we had a 2 year old and baby in tow.

We headed straight to Fantasyland and made our first stop the Dumbo ride.  Connor was pumped up about seeing everything.  He was literally jumping up and down with excitement and had the biggest smile on his face while we waited in line for our turn.  After a short wait we boarded our "Dumbo" and Connor got really quiet.  Needless to say it was not a hit while we were in flight, but for the rest of the day he talked about Dumbo and even told me it was his favorite.  :)

Mimi and Carson waiting to ride Casey Jr. Circus Train

Thankfully, there was not a huge crowd that day so we had very short waiting times.

Taking a little ride in the monkey cage. 

Our next destination was Toon Town.  This was probably the best place for kids Connor's age.  He LOVED being able to run around and see all the silly things.

Of course the fire station and fire truck were a big hit.

Taking a little cruise around town.

Checking out Goofy's house

Getting to see where Mickey lives

and even getting to meet Mickey Mouse himself.

Before we left we visited Chip and Dale's tree house.  Connor thought this was such a neat place.  He would have stayed here as long as we let him.

 Lunch in Tomorrowland was next on the agenda.  The boys were both still doing great without naps so we planned out the rest of our afternoon activities. 

Kevin, Cole, Connor, and I headed to Autotopia next.  This by far was Connor's favorite ride.  He rode with me and helped me drive and giggled the whole way through the course.   

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster was a great ride for the whole family.  It was Connor's first "dark" ride, but he did great.  As you go through the ride each person is helping Buzz by shooting the targets with a laser gun.  Here are some pictures they emailed us from the ride.  Can you tell who really enjoyed this one? :)

Don't pay too close attention to our scores.  My excuse was that I was holding Carson.

Mimi, Connor, and Kevin rode right behind us where it was more about the ride than the competition.

It was finally time for us to ride one of the classic Disney rides- "It's a Small World."  If Carson could vote I think this would have been his favorite ride.  He loved all the music and bright colors.

The weather was great all day, but we decided it would be good to get out of the sun for a little bit and found a great place to rest in Innoventions.  It was a huge dark room connected to the exhibit where we could all take a break for a minute.  Mom ended up staying with the boys there while Kevin, Cole, and I headed to Space Mountain.  We had a Fast Pass for this ride so only had to wait a few minutes.

I felt so old after this ride!  I have always loved roller coasters, but  this one seemed so much faster than ones I have been on in the past.  Plus, being in the dark I couldn't brace myself for the next turn.  Definitely a big change from my Dumbo ride earlier in the day. :)

We hopped on the Disney Railroad for a ride to Frontier Land where we rode Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise.  After that everyone had reached their limit so we headed back to Main Street for a little shopping before we headed home.

Carson modeling his new Mickey ears. :)

He has got to be one of the happiest babies I have ever seen.

Connor was happy to get back and relax a little before bed time.  He picked out this Buzz Lightyear hat and wears it proudly every chance he gets.  

My mom was so sweet to offer to stay with the boys and let Cole and I go back to watch the fireworks.  It had really cooled off that evening so we made a stop at Downtown Disney to look for a jacket for Cole.  Of course we looked in ESPN Zone first. :)

After no luck with the jacket, we headed back to the park.  The firework show at Disneyland was AMAZING!

We grabbed a cup of coffee and found the perfect place to sit and watch the show.

I don't know how they do it, but Tinkerbell even flies all around the castle during the show.

Here is a quick video Cole took of the finale.

Lots of fun memories were made that day!

California Trip: Day One

Wednesday morning started early for us.  We left our house about 6:45 to catch an early flight out to Los Angeles to begin our trip.  I have told everyone that the flying part was easy with 2 babies and 3 adults.  It was the security line with 2 car seats, a double stroller, lots of electronics, several carry on bags, and a days worth of bottles and sippy cups that was the hard part.  I'm pretty sure we have become that family that you don't want to stand behind in the security line unless you want to wait awhile. :) 

Connor and Carson both did great on the flight.  The only time I got a little worried was while we were taking off Connor yells out "Go backwards!  I need to go home." :)  Once we were in the air he quickly adjusted and enjoyed the rest of the flight.

The DVD player with several new movies seemed to help. :)

Once we arrived in LA we headed over to Kevin and Rachel's apartment.  The boys both fell asleep on the way so Cole let mom and I run up to see Owen before our lunch.  He had grown so much and we were both so happy to see him!  

After a short visit we loaded up everyone and took a walk over to The Counter for some yummy burgers.  Only in LA can you enjoy a nice lunch while sitting outside and not burn up from the heat!

After lunch we went to the La Brea Tar Pits which was a great place to let Connor run free.

This tar pit is famous for all of the fossils they have found from extinct Ice Age plants and animals.

Cole, Connor, Kristin, Kevin, and Rachel (Owen and Carson were hanging out in the strollers)

Connor had fun climbing all over these trees.  He especially loved running up and down the huge hills.

Carson was laid back as usual.  Just enjoying being along for the ride.

Later that afternoon we headed to our hotel in Anaheim were we would spend the next few days.

After pizza and a trip to Target, we all headed to bed early knowing that the boys would probably wake up on Texas time.  It was a great first day of our trip!