San Diego Part 2

After our exciting Disneyland adventure, the next few days were much more mellow, as we explored some more of San Diego!  We realized after the fact that we probably should have saved Disney until the end of the trip since nothing else we did was as exciting for Leah :-) 

The next day we went to Old Town San Diego. It is a really neat area that used to be Mexico so there are lots of great restaurants, museums and shops. It was fun just walking around and we went to eat at a yummy Mexican restaurant.

Watching a blacksmith demonstration

Yummy margarita

After that we drove down to an area called Seaport Village. Another cute place with shops, restaurants, etc. right on the water.

Lil' chubby red cheeks :)

First little taste of ice cream! He kept grabbing at the cone for more, ha!

Loungin' :) The four of us sat in this swing for quite awhile. It looked out on the water and was the most relaxing part of the trip!

I guess I didn't get any pics on my camera, but Carter rode on a carousel for the first time! After a minute of looking pretty scared, he turned toward me and hugged onto me. Not a fan I guess :-)

Disneyland!

This was a place we didn't think we would go until the kids were at least 3 & 5 or close to that. We thought they were too young now, they wouldn't remember it or enjoy it, etc.  But when we realized we were only an hour and a half away, and with how into Minnie Mouse and the Disney princesses Leah is, we decided we had to go!!!

Even though we made the decision a few days before our trip, we kept it a secret from everyone, especially Miss Leah to make it that much more exciting! That morning, luckily the kids woke up early so we didn't have to wake them. We quickly got ready, ate breakfast, and headed up to Anaheim!

Leah didn't ask where we were going that morning which was good. When we got close to Disneyland, there are pictures and posters all over the place with Mickey and characters on them. Leah would say "Look, Mickey!" "Hey there's Mickey again!" "That girl has Minnie ears on!" Haha it was so funny.  Then we managed to get all the way into the park without her asking where we were. But I think she probably knew. Once we were inside we told her we were at Disneyland and she started jumping up and down clapping and saying "YAY!" First thing she asked was "Can we go see Snow White first?" :-)  We got her reaction on video and it is the cutest thing ever! Of course I took a million pics, but here are some of my favorites -

This visit to Disneyland was dedicated to Leah, so we did all of the things that she wanted. We spent 90% of the day in Fantasy Land and Toon Town, riding the kiddie rides and stalking the princesses and Minnie Mouse :-) This was also Dustin's first ever visit to Disney so it was exciting for him as well.

This was my first time on the Dumbo ride too!

Tinkerbell!

It's a Small World was Leah's favorite ride

Dustin and I decided that we should each get to ride one adult ride while the other person stayed with the kids. Dustin went on the Indiana Jones ride, and I went on Splash Mountain! Next time we go we will have to go with other people so that Dustin and I can go on rides together (hint hint Grammy and Auntie :-)

Mickey!

Carter was very unsure of Pluto until he started tickling him with his nose, it was so cute!!

Minnie!

Leah loved the rides. She and Dustin even rode a pretty fast little roller coaster in Toon Town. Little daredevil! :-)

Train ride

Daisy

Sleeping Beauty

We tried to go on all of the rides that all four of us could ride together. That included It's a Small World and Peter Pan's Flight. Carter wasn't too thrilled with the rides :-) 

Snow White is Leah's favorite princess! She was the hardest one to find at the park ugh!

Carter was such a trooper! Just hung out and went with the flow!

Watching the parade - sooooo excited

We are so glad we decided to take a day of our trip and take Leah to Disneyland. It was a wonderful day and completely worth it.  She loved it so much and I think she will remember some parts of it. We wish we would have had more than one day, but we will definitely be going back!

San Diego Part 1

We just had an awesome week in Cali!  We really took a chance by traveling with a 9 month old and 3 year old. The logistics of flying with them and all the stuff that they require (including heavy car seats), being off our routine, and then sleeping all in one room was almost enough for us not to book it.  But I am happy to report that both kids were AMAZING on the flights and the whole trip! Yay for us! ;-) I see lots of fun vacations in our future!

We were worried about their ears & the pressure from flying, but they were both completely unaffected! We gave Leah some gum for the first time, but she didn't like it and spit it out. :-)

This little angel didn't make a peep

On the trip we chose to disregard our normal sleep routine which included skipping naps and staying up later than normal. The kids would just fall asleep in the stroller or in the car between activities and we had no major meltdowns! And since we were on the go so much, they were so worn out and bedtime at night was simple as can be!

 We arrived in San Diego in the afternoon. So we just checked into our hotel and went to the pool!

 Carter's first time in a big pool! He loved it!!

After dinner (which was provided by the hotel on the weeknights, incl. beer & wine, score!) we took a walk along a long path on the bay which led to a neat playground in the sand.

 Then we hung around the grounds of our hotel before calling it a night.

The weather wasn't as warm as we would have liked. It was probably in the mid 70s each day. Nicer than Seattle though!

We had a few things planned for our trip, but no set schedule. For a few weeks before our trip there was one big thing we debated doing. We decided at the last minute to go for it and it was probably the most fun day we have had as a family so far EVER!!  Where did we go???  To be continued....... :-)