California Day 8

After our crazy week Greg wanted to sleep in a little so we didn’t leave our hotel until 10:00. It took us 12 ½ hours to get home. That is with stopping every three hours to feed Colt and having one sit down meal for dinner. Even though the dinner took us an hour it was really nice to get out of the car. Everyone did amazingly well. Colt was a real trooper. He only cried a couple of times when he got too tired, but for the most part he was amazing. The only bummer was our umbrella stroller. It finally bit the dust. It was good little stroller, but obviously one Disney World trip and one Disneyland trip was it limit.

California Day 7

Today was our last day in the park. We headed in early to hit a bunch of our favorite rides and then went to Minnies’ for brunch. The kids meet a lot of characters. Chip and Dale were a lot of fun. They kept playing with Forrest and Eliza. Forrest was having a staring contest with Chip. He lost of course. I think Chip cheated. After lunch we went on a couple more rides and then headed out. Today we were heading for the beach so we packed a picnic lunch and headed out of there. The beach was really windy, but the waves were really cool and they were having a surfing contest. It was fun just to sit there and watch the waves crash together. There was some pretty big monster ones. It was also fun to watch the surfers. Some really took a beating out there. As the waves would come in Eliza would start yelling at Forrest to run. Forrest could have stayed there all day, but after about three hours Colt was done so we headed back home. Everyone cleaned up and we headed back into the park for our final rides. Everyone picked their favorite ride and we rode it one more time. Greg was on a real kick. The park was open until midnight and I think if we didn’t have Colt he might have tried to stay that long. I finally convinced him that we either had to stay and buy food in the park or head out. Greg really wanted to eat at Tony Roma’s so we headed out. This is the night that we ate dinner at 9:45 pm and got to bed by 11:00pm. What a late night, but everyone did great, including Colt.

California Day 6

Today was our day to meet the characters and have some fun. We let everyone sleep in a little bit and then headed over to meet the princesses. After waiting for an hour we were finally able to meet, Belle, Ariel and Tatiana. For sure when we go to WDW we are just going to do a Character Meal. The waiting just about killed us. After the princesses we headed over and staked out our spot for Jedi Training. I was really worried that Forrest wouldn’t get picked the first time and we would have to come back, but he was one of the first ones chosen. He took his duties very seriously.

Once we finished up with all the meets and greets we headed over to California Adventure. We hit some rides over there and then headed back for a swim. Luckily no one needed rescuing this time. After recharging we headed back into the park and went on a bunch more rides. Once again my kids ate dinner at about 9:00pm and were in bed by 10:00. What a horrible schedule we are on.

California Day 5

We woke up early this morning and were at the park by 8:30. With the masses we ran to our first ride. Well Greg ran I fed Colt in their wonderful Baby Center. It was nice to have some place not so exposed to nurse Colt. We spent the morning riding a ton of rides. The kids had a blast. At 1:30 I told Greg it was time to head back. He resisted a little, but once we got back in the room and got our shoes off we all agreed it was a great idea. While I feed Colt Greg took the kids over to Pirates Cove, a swimming area at our hotel. It had a slide, splash pad, hot tub, wading pool and a big bucket that would dump a huge amount of water on unsuspecting children. The kids had a blast. Toward the end I came over to watch and take some pictures. Eliza came over and got her swimmies and then went into the hot tub. She then brought her swimmies back. I followed her to find out what she was doing. She decided to go back in the hot tub. I stood by the side to make sure she stayed on the step since she couldn’t touch. Of course she decides to go deeper and immediately can’t touch. I of course jumped in after her, fully clothed. The good thing was I had emptied my pockets of my cell phone and our Disney tickets. I also only had flip-flops on instead of tennis shoes, but it was still a soggy mess. Greg stayed with the kids as I went back to change.

After a quick sandwich we headed back to the parks. Greg took the kids on Space Mtn., which Forrest loved in WDW, but hated here go figure. Eliza also didn’t like it. When she got out she told me she didn’t want to go to the moon anymore. Also on Star Tours Eliza thought we were actually going on a trip. She was worried that we were leaving Daddy and Colt. It was pretty cute.

At the end of the night we happened upon the parade. Eliza was entranced. They invited some of the kids to go out and dance with them and she immediately volunteered. It was very cute. After a long day we left the parks about 8:30 and went to get dinner, and then it was off to bed for everyone by 10:00.

California Day 4

This morning we packed up and headed to the zoo, that is of course after sleeping in a bit. Forrest has been wanting to see real panda bears forever. We went and some them first, and then hit some of their other cool exhibits. We really liked the Elephant odyssey. The kids saw an elephant being feed, one having its feet cleaned and one getting a bath. It was a lot of fun. Eliza decided half way through she was done. She just wanted to play at the playground after seeing a couple more animals we headed over. She was in seventh heaven. She kept pretending to take our food order and then making us some food. It was really cute. After the playground we went and petted some animals and then headed up to Anaheim. We were really lucky and didn’t hit any traffic. Once we checked into our hotel we went out to dinner and then hit Target to restock our food supply. We kept driving past Disneyland. Eliza was so excited to go, but we told her she had to get a good night sleep and then we would go tomorrow.

California Day 3

Today was our first day of big activities. We were finally going to Legoland. Forrest was so excited. Greg was excited because the Hotel offered a shuttle. For Greg that was the best part of the day. They loaded us up into a mini van and then dropped us off at the gate. No headache or worries.

We rode all the rides first. Eliza is our little daredevil, she loved anything that was fast or scary. Forrest liked the more tame rides. The whole purpose of going here was so that Forrest could build a car and then race it. We saved that for the very end. He of course thought that was the best part. After we did everything we wanted we let the kids buy something. They had been saving their allowance for about six months now. Forrest came out with bionicles and Eliza got a sword and a cape. Of course after that anytime we went anywhere Eliza would immediately say “I want to buy something.” She is quite a little shopper.

After the shuttle picked us up we headed out to a nice restaurant. Everyone was in love with Colt. They even offered to watch him while we ate. We graciously declined. When we got back the Hotel Colt fell asleep @ 6:30 and was asleep for the night. Forrest and Eliza headed out to the pool. They keep it really nicely heated. Even though was in the low 60’s the kids stayed in for a long time. It was a great day.

California Day 2

After breakfast we were ready to get to California. They kids did much better on this part of the trip. Before we left Greg’s Dad had bought us a GPS. I spent most of my time playing with it. I really wanted to go to La Jolla beach, but it didn’t look like we were going to make it. After stopping for a late lunch at IHOP I picked the address I thought was the Hotel, but it was actually the beach. (They had very similar street addresses). It was pretty funny when I figured out what I had done, but it was a great mistake to make. La Jolla beach was a blast. It was nice to get out and stretch our legs. We played on the beach for a little while and then headed up to see the seals, look in the tide pools and climb through a cave. We hit it at just the right time. It was low tide and everyone was leaving so we got a great parking spot. After a couple of hours we hopped back into the car and headed to our hotel. This hotel was a little bit of splurge, but we loved it. They had cookies and milk for the kids before bed time and the staff couldn’t be any nicer. We had a picnic in the room and then we all went to bed.