We are going to DISNEYLAND! Phil and I haven't been since high school (I don't want to go into how many years that is but it's a lot) so we're both excited.
But, first, we stopped off for a quick dinner and visit with the newest member of the Lo family: Edith Penelope! She was born just in November and this is the first time we've seen her in person. Adorable, no?!
It's hard to believe how much five months makes to a baby as you look at Conner vs. Penny.
And then, there's the 4.5 more years for the monkey to the left.
The Lo Boys!!!
After a long drive down, a short visit with Uncle James, and a night to rest,.. we are finally at Disneyland! Well, technically, we decided to go to California Adventures on the first day.
The park was PACKED!!! Mommy went to get FastPasses to Cars first thing when we got there and it was still not until 2:40pm! It's good we have four days here so we will take it easy today and just do the small rides.
We started off with Toy Story Mania (45min wait) which the kids LOVED. After the whole trip, that was still their favorite ride.
Then, we went on the ferris wheel, which we thought would be pretty tame. But we chose the side that swings and it made Avery (and Mommy) pretty nauseous. The baby enjoyed it and he just chilled in Mommy's lap.
We finally got to go on Cars ride. Avery got too scared but Zach loved it. He ended up going on the ride five times over the whole trip!
Nighttime meant parades!
Next day, we went to Disneyland. Much smaller crowd today and we took advantage of the FastPasses to do almost all the rides.
That night, we took the kids for a treat and ate at Goofy's Kitchen. I was skeptical spending so much money (~$150) on a character meal but the kids all had a blast! The kids even went on parades around the restaurant with the whole gang while waving their napkins.
Even Conner liked it as he gnawed on bread and watched all the excitement.
We visited Downtown Disney and the kids had fun creating Lego cars to race at the Lego Store.
Third day, and it was back to Disneyland we go, trying to take advantage of our one day of Magic Morning. Of course, we couldn't get up early enough so we just had time to do one ride before everyone else got in.
Nighttime's were hard. We brought a small portable bassinet for him to sleep in but it seems he's outgrown that. It just fits him and, when he moves, his arms/feet hit the sides. After a couple of nights of bad sleep, we asked for a crib to be put in the room. That was a little better but he was still waking up 3-4 times a night. Since we all shared a hotel room, that meant everyone didn't get great sleep but most of it fell on Mommy.
We also stayed up most nights to watch the parades or fireworks. After the first day, Mommy made everyone head back to the hotel room for a nap after lunch. That really helped the kids. On the last two nights, she also stayed in the hotel room after dinner so that Conner could sleep. The kids headed back out with Daddy to catch the rides and shows.
Conner did a lot of daytime sleeping to make up for it.
As an early birthday present to Avery, we took her to eat at Ariel's Grotto. There, she got to meet Ariel and a few of the other princesses.
She was very excited and told every single princess that today was her birthday. :D
The amazing part about the trip was how much walking Zach was able to do. Since the baby was in a stroller and Avery was in another umbrella stroller, Zach had to walk the entire time. We let him wear my Fitbit to track his daily steps and he averaged 28,000 steps a day! He never complained and always wanted to keep going. But when forced to go back for a nap, he was out within 5 minutes and was always the hardest to wake up. What an amazing kid!
The kids really enjoyed all the rides, especially Zach. He was scared only of Indiana Jones and it was mostly because of the scary setting as we waited in line.
Avery was scared of a few of the rides (mostly Hyperspace Mountain) but she loved It's a Small World. She went on that five times!
Conner didn't fare so well. He had a blast as we waited in line. He would smile and make friends with everyone. But, once on the ride, it was mostly too stimulating. So he did a lot of napping.
This trip also marked the first time that the kids slept in a bunk bed. Zach got the top bunk, of course. They thought it was an adventure and really enjoyed it.
On the way home, we dropped by Uncle James' again to drop off a present for Penny.
Everyone was super happy to be home again.
