Disneyland Day 2

On Wednesday, September 3rd, the kids forgot about being on Pacific time, and woke up at 6:30 am local time. I was surprised they didn't sleep in any longer, with the lack of sleep from the day before, but they were both in happy moods. Joe had some work that had to be done, so I got the kids up and dressed, and we explored the hotel grounds a bit, and then went across the street to Mimi's Café for breakfast. I could tell the day was going to be a bit dicey, again, particularly since they woke up so early and the parks didn't open until 10 am.

 After trying to dawdle as much as possible, I decided that we should just head over to California Adventure and be at the front of the line for the rope drop, so that we could get FastPasses for Radiator Springs Racers. While the kids were happy to be finally headed to Disneyland, once we got there and they realized that they had to wait for a bit longer, Joseph turned into a bit of a grump.

Joe managed to meet up with us a few minutes before 10, and we decided he would get the Fast Passes, while I would take the kids to ride the Toy Story Mania ride, which we figured Joseph would like. It's very similar in style to Buzz Lightyear, but you wear 3-D glasses and are pulling a pull-cord style "gun" to hit your targets.

On the way, we saw Donald Duck, and Maddie shrieked with excitement. Joseph was still grumpy and refused to get out of the stroller, but Maddie was super excited to meet him! It was really cute to see her take the book and ask him to sign it. She refused to give up the binkie, but I was happy she didn't seem scared of Donald at all.

 

The kids liked the Toy Story ride, but I think it was a little difficult for Joseph, and the glasses didn't stay on Maddie's head. We weren't too surprised when Joseph said he liked it, but didn't want to go on it again.

The carousel in California Adventure is right next to Toy Story Mania, so we took a spin for Maddie.

 Then we wandered over to ride the Little Mermaid, with Maddie demonstrating some solid nose picking along the way. That girl!

 We were bummed to discover Little Mermaid was down for repairs, and they estimated it would be a couple hours before it was running again. So we continued on to the Bug's Life Land, which is designed for the toddler/preschooler crowd.

I suppose I should also point out that when I was planning the trip, I thought it would be fun to make coordinating outfits for the kids. I knew Disneyland would be our first day destination, and opted for the Minnie/Mickey theme. I spent the couple weeks leading up to the trip sewing a different dress for Maddie for each day, and making different shirts for Joseph. Joe thought it would be fun for us all to coordinate, so I picked this day, when Joseph and Maddie were characters from Monster's Inc.  We got lots of comments on all of their outfits, but the Disney cast members in particular loved Maddie's dress this day! I'm guessing it's not often they see a cute two year old wearing a monster dress :)

We had to make a few stops for Churros, although I ate far fewer than our trip last year, sans kids!

After spending a bit of time in the Bugs Land, it was time to go on Radiator Springs Racers. Maddie isn't tall enough, so Joe and I took turns waiting with her while we took advantage of our Fast Passes and the Rider Swap rules (which basically is Disney's way of not making the whole family wait in line when one person can't ride - Joe and Joseph went first, and got a rider swap pass, so that when they finished, Joseph and I went together and used the pass. It's a great system!)

Maddie had fun browsing around the shops, and enjoying a Red's Apple Freeze drink.

 I had also brought a few magic ink coloring books, so she hung out in the stroller coloring for a bit too. I was really pleased with how well she did just waiting. Although, really, she was getting to wander around, color, snack and do the things she loves to do anyway, so I don't think she even noticed that she was missing out!

Joseph loved the car ride. It's a great newer ride where you go on a leisurely trip through the scenery from the movie, Cars, and then you get either a new paint job or new tires, and line up next to another car with passengers, and the cars race through Radiator Springs. It's randomized so you don't know if your car will win or lose. When Joe went, their car lost, and Joseph was apparently bummed. Not enough so to not go on it again, but he was super excited when our car won!

As was becoming a popular trend, Joe took Maddie to eat lunch while Joseph and I were on the ride. We met up with them, finished lunch, and then headed back to the hotel for naps by about 1:45 p.m.

Of course, on the way out we saw Goofy just hanging out with no line, so we opted to get his autograph and snap some pictures. The kids were definitely wearing down, but we hadn't taken a family picture yet and I wanted to make sure we got at least a couple!

Back at the hotel, the kids quickly fell asleep, and Joe and I assumed our usual positions, hanging out by the one outlet in the hallway to recharge out phones. Our room had a balcony, but while it was great that it faced Disneyland, it meant direct sun in the afternoon and quickly became uncomfortable hanging out there. 

After naps we did a bit of park hopping - Joseph would not stop asking about going on the Little Mermaid, so we headed back to California Adventure, hoping that it was running again. We were happy to find out it was, with absolutely no wait, so we ended up riding it three times in a row! By the time we were able to get the kids off, the Pixar Parade was about to roll down the street, so we hung out to watch the parade. The kids loved it!

We then headed over to do the Monster's Inc. ride, and had to snap a picture at our favorite place in the park:

We then opted to run over to Disneyland to take in the Tiki Room show, get a Dole Whip (or two!) and ride Pirates of the Caribbean, which the kids loved. By this time it was getting close to 7 again, with the parks closing at 8. We had planned to watch the World of Color nighttime show at California Adventure, so we headed back over and found a spot in line. Joe opted to kill some time and took Joseph on a few of the rides in the back of the park that Joseph had wanted to go on, and Maddie made friends with the kids around us in line.

Joe brought back a few corn dogs for our dinner, which were really tasty. By the time the World of Color show began, the kids were getting a bit antsy, but were in awe when the lights and water started up. We saw the show for the first time last year and were amazed, and knew the kids would love it. Joseph still talks about the "movie on the water" and when we can see it again - it's a light show with scenes from various movies projected on mist over the lagoon, with water cannon and fire effects. So neat!

It ended about 8:45 p.m., and we managed to keep both kids in the stroller for the walk back to the hotel. Day two definitely ended a lot better than it began, and it felt like we were finally starting to get the hang of park touring with two little kids. I was a bit sad that we only had one more day!

Disneyland Part 1

Realizing just how many photos I have to upload, I figured I'd split up the posts about Disneyland by day. Joe and I had alarms set for before 5 am on Tuesday, September 2, and by 5:30 a.m. we had the kids awake, albeit groggily, and loaded into the van. Jill and Gary had arrived late the night before from New York, so she stayed at our house so she could help us get to the airport, which was a huge help. The kids were so sleepy that they never thought to ask where we were headed, beyond discovering we were at the airport. It become almost comical, as it took Joseph a solid 30 minutes after our first flight departed, before he looked at us with a funny look and finally asked where the airplane was going.

 

Once we told him that he was going to Disneyland, he started to get excited, but I don't think he really had any idea what was going on. Just being on an airplane was lots of fun for him! Both kids did great on the flights to Anaheim, partially thanks to the ipads and telephones.

 

We left them in their pajamas through the first flight, and opted to change them into their play clothes for the day during our layover. That way they would be ready to go when we hit the ground in Anaheim.

I knew when I booked the flights that Tuesday was going to be a long day. The planner in me was excited to land in Anaheim as the park opened for the day (10am), knowing we could probably make it to Disneyland by 11am. And we did. But since the kids had been up so long, and neither fell asleep on the flights out, so they were exhausted by the time we got there. We decided to just go in to Disneyland for lunch, do rides for an hour, and then head back to the hotel for naps.

 

 

Joseph remembered the Buzz Lightyear Astro-Blaster ride from Disney World and, thinking we were in the same place, asked to go on that first. We were happy to head over to Tomorrowland and do that ride, as it had about a 10 minute wait. I knew the kids were tired and hungry, but didn't think through what Maddie would think of a dark, noisy ride under such circumstances. I shouldn't have been surprised, but was when after a few seconds of being in the car, she started screaming, hitting and clawing her way to get out. Oops. Joseph had a blast, and Maddie was asking to go home. That wasn't the first impression we were hoping for! So we decided to head over to Fantasyland and get some lunch, then reassess the plan.

 

Of course, things never work out quite the way you plan at Disneyland, as who should we meet when walking through the castle, but Captain Hook! Joseph was beyond excited that the very first character he could see was Captain Hook, so he happily waited in the short line to meet him and have him autograph his book.

 

 

 

 While I waited with Joseph, Joe took Maddie to eat, which put her in a much better mood. I think Joseph was too excited to eat at this point, so we had to force him to eat a few bites before heading over to Toontown.

 Finally, Maddie was in her element. We let them explore and just play, which really helped to calm her down.

 

 She loved going inside Donald's boat and Goofy's house, and didn't want to leave. Joe and Joseph snuck off to go ride the Goofy roller coaster and Roger Rabbit ride while I let Maddie explore.

 

 

After a bit, we headed over to wait for the boys to get out of the ride, and saw Pluto in line taking pictures. Maddie recognized him and got excited, so we waited in line. Luckily, Joe found us just as it was Maddie's turn, and Joseph ran over to say hello. That definitely helped ease Maddie's fears, as she started off a bit unsure, but inched closer as we got a few pictures.

 

After meeting Pluto, the kids spent a few more minutes playing in Toontown, before we told them it was really time to head back for naps. Joseph was great about letting us push him in the double stroller; Maddie less so. Turns out, the more tired she is, the more she would refuse to sit anywhere but my arms.

 We had hardly made it past the Disneyland gates before Maddie fell asleep on my shoulder. I'm glad were weren't staying very far away, but it felt like a very long walk regardless!

 I was so thankful that the hotel allowed us to check in early and had our room ready. Maddie didn't wake up when we laid her down on the bed, and Joseph's head had barely hit the pillow before he was out. They napped for a while, and Joe and I waited out in the hall. Eventually we opted to go back in and rest ourselves. After a few hours we all felt better and were ready for a quick afternoon back at Disneyland.

Joseph was excited about driving a car, so we headed to Autopia. Maddie wasn't really sure what to make of it once we got going, so I did most of the driving for her. She never really found her groove during the whole day; I think the early morning and all of the craziness around her just threw her for a loop!

Luckily, she could be cheered up by a spin on the carousel, which we did just about as frequently as Joe and Joseph went on the Buzz Lightyear ride.

We made our way over to Adventureland, where the kids really enjoyed playing at Tarzan's treehouse. Both of them like the story and had recently requested watching the movie, they wanted to go through the treehouse a couple of times. We were hoping to get a few more rides in, but I also didn't want to push them - I had told myself before we left that we were going to let them explore, go on the rides that interested them, and it would be totally ok if we didn't go on some of the classics. I tried my best to stick to that, and I think we did pretty well.

 

We hoped to ride on Pirates of the Caribbean next, but the line was a bit longer than it had been all day, so we continued over to Winnie the Pooh. We had the chance to ride it twice before hearing from my friend from college, Jill, who was meeting us for dinner. So we booked it out of the park, passing the start of the nightly parade, over to Rainforest Café in downtown Disney.

We had a great dinner, and it was a lot of fun to catch up with her. We hadn't seen Jill since her wedding in 2010, which was our first "family" vacation with Joseph when he was 3 months old! We made it back to the hotel at a decent hour, and the kids quickly passed out. All in all, it was a very successful first day at Disneyland!

Maddie's pre-birthday party

Most of my family was going to be out of town on Maddie's second birthday, so they decided to come up and celebrate a week early. Mimi, Papa and Aunt Toots all came for Labor Day weekend, and we has lots of fun playing. 

We took everyone to the Tiffany Springs Aquatic Center, where Papa was happy to float around the lazy river with the grand kids on his lap. 

We spent a few hours there, then went home to eat birthday cupcakes that aunt toots bought. 

Maddie absolutely loved having everyone sing her the birthday song. She still requests it all the time!

We had a second round of singing and birthday cupcakes then next night, and Maddie didn't mind one bit. 

She also discovered a love of opening presents. She was very slow and deliberate but after she finished she wanted to know when she'd get more. 

Mimi and Papa got her a set of frozen themed chapsticks, which quickly became her favorite present ever. She loves stealing daddy's and trying to lick/eat them, so everyone was happy that she now has her own set to destroy!

She also got some musical instruments, a catch game, and Cinderella's carriage, all of which are getting played with frequently. 

Too bad this little princess didn't know that she was headed to Disneyland the next day!

Parkville Days

The weekend before Labor Day, Joe and I were supposed to be in Chicago for the Chicago triathlon. Last minutes changes meant we ended up at home instead and were able to partake in Parkville Days. We headed down to Main Street early enough to enjoy the pancake breakfast, then stood outside the Parkville Coffeehouse with friends while waiting for the parade to start. 

Maddie and Joseph had a lot of fun playing with the balloons and waiving American flags. The people standing near them were less amused. 

Eventually the parade started and the kids had fun collecting a decent amount of candy. 

It was forecasted to be near 100 degrees that day, so we opted to head to the carnival right away so we didn't have to stand outside in the heat for long. Knowing that in a couple of weeks we would be headed to Disneyland, and we had just participated in Olde Glory Days carnival, we only let the kids ride a few rides. 

They still had fun and weren't too happy when we told them it was time to go. 

Luckily for everyone involved, the kids were headed to Nana and Papa's for the night, so it was a good diversion from leaving the carnival for them, and date night for Joe and me!

I love how many festivals this small town puts on each year. It makes Parkville such a fun place to live!

And so potty training #2 begins...

Maddie has been seriously interested in potty training for weeks. I'm sure it helps that she watches Joseph, Joe and me just about every time we use the bathroom, and we have a "signing time" DVD that teaches some potty training that she loves to watch.

I wanted to wait until after getting home from Disneyland to start potty training, as I couldn't think of much worse than taking a newly trained kiddo to a place where we wouldn't be able to get to a bathroom quickly or easily. But last week, Maddie started asking to put her "pee pee in the froggy potty." So out came the training toilet, and we'd let her sit on it. She'd give us this look like, yeah, I'm here, now what happens?

Well, today as I was changing a poopy diaper, she asked again to sit on the frog, so I obliged. This time, she actually peed! In the froggy potty! Hooray Maddie! I had planned on starting potty training in earnest this weekend, so I guess we're off to the races.

Amusingly, she turned down a candy reward in lieu of having Joseph and me sing her the "Happy Birthday" song. She's been a fan of the birthday week celebrations to say the least.

I offered to let her wear a big girl pull-up, instead of a diaper. She was so excited. Until she saw the pull-up. I guess it hadn't really occurred to me, but that little girl is so used to seeing Joseph wear Cars themed pull-ups that she was completed distraught at the pink and purple Doc McStuffins pull-up I put on her. Oops! Glad I've stocked up on girl pull-ups, when it looks like I may need to go get some boy ones so she can match her big brother.