Disneyland

The Christmas gift from Santa to the kids finally arrived. I should say the day finally arrived, we were off to Disneyland. We were taking advantage of Ellie's Winter Break aka Ski Week, that was during the Presidents' Day Holiday. We also took advantage of the chance to visit Katelyn.

We drove down on Sunday and met up with Katelyn for dinner near UC Irvine. We also made a Target run to restock her dorm with all the necessities, you know, beef jerky, popcorn, essentials. We stayed at the Marriott - Fairfield Inn, which was nice and recommended to anyone going to Disneyland. It was about a 5 minute walk to the park, in fact, waiting for the light to cross the street was always the longest part.

Although Lukas had been to Disneyland before, when he was about 5 month old, this was his "real" first time. The first time he got to run around, ride the rides without being held, etc. And it was everything you, or Disney, would have imagined. When he saw the characters, he went OUT. OF. HIS. MIND. They both did really. Ellie more so when she realized that she was tall enough to ride all the rides. And ride them all she did. If you ask her, I'm sure she'll tell you her top three rides were Screamin', Tower of Terror and Radiator Springs Racers.

Lukas loved the characters and would scream for them, but he needed to be about 6 feet away. Any closer, like when it would be our turn to take a photo, and he got a little scared. But nothing a quick high five wouldn't fix.

Meeting Thor was also a highlight. Considering how into the Marvel Superheroes both of them are, they were awestruck when they saw the hammer-weilding god.

Meltdowns were minimal, in fact both Ellie and Lukas were troopers. We were in the park as soon as it opened Monday - Friday, and only on Tuesday did we need to go back to the hotel for a nap. The rest of the time Ellie bounced from ride to ride, and Lukas did as much as possible until he needed a quick recharge in the stroller.

In addition to just being a Disney trip, Steph's birthday fell right in the middle of it, so we toasted her birthday at the Wine County Trattoria in California Adventure with friends Jack and Haydee (and their girls). The food was good, however we were seated about 20 minutes late because the Trattoria is right along the Pixar Parade route, and all those dinning before us took a break to watch the parade (although, since the parade happens everyday I'm wondering why they don't account for this?). We mentioned the delay, and they gave us reserved passes to see World of Color.

Now we had seen the show earlier in the week, but from the backside. The benefit of watching from the backside is that you can watch right from the rail and can stroll up there just minutes before the show. This eliminates the need to find a seat in front early. However, it's not the best view. The reserved passes we got from our dinner delay put us right in front. In fact, the only thing in front of us was water, so there was no getting any closer. The delay was worth it, and all we had to do was ask.

The following Saturday we hit the park one last time for about half a day. Around lunch time when we were exiting the park we broke the news to Lukas that we were heading home. As this video shows, he wasn't a fan of this news.

We made a stop just outside of LA to visit with some extended family members of Steph's side that we hadn't seen since our wedding, 11 years ago. So that was fun, although much to quick. But it was back on the road for that fun-filled drive up I-5.

It was a great trip, and we certainly can't wait to go back. But until then we have plenty to keep us busy. Ellie is finishing up basketball and getting started with softball. Keeping Lukas broken-bone-free is a time consuming job by itself. And then there is all the "regular" stuff.