Disneyland - August

So I was going to write up a big long post about Disneyland, but then I remembered that I kinda already had. It can be found here.

Here are a few more photos that didn't make it on that original post.

Happy Wednesday!

Entryway to the park.

 

On the jungle cruise.

Kelly

Saturday at the Park

Master Quinton and I headed over to the park this overcast morning to get some wiggles out and have some fun. This little dude sure knows how to get his heart pumping first thing in the morning. We were running all over the playground, playing tag on the grass and showing a little too much interest in the pinata on the other side of the playground.

The Q dude went down the slide all by himself today! Feet first, and on his tummy. What a smart little dude he is. :)

The park has a 'water feature' aka a giant whale and dolphin that spray water when you push their buttons. Quinn was a little intimidated by the whale but the dolphin and him became fast friends.

Happy {overcast and chilly} Saturday!

Kelly

A little striped parade

Hot, sunny and more fun than the slip n' slide soaked with dish soap. Okay, maybe the slip n' slide still wins, but it was a pretty great weekend. Master Q rode in the wagon with Miss Ellie in his very first 4th of July parade.

Would you believe me if I told you that he sat still for the entire ride? I know, I'm just as surprised as you are. I guess the throngs of people throwing candy and having a jolly time were just enough to keep the Q dude occupied.

Can you believe how much he looks like his daddy in the picture? I vote that he stop getting so big so fast!

Kelly

Walking is cool

16 months old

I worked from home today since my workstation was being moved at the office and I can literally do nothing without my computer. Waking up at 7:30 to a happy baby cooing in the next room is the best! I got my cute baby out of bed and put him in his favorite stroller and off we went for a quick walk/jog about the neighborhood. But not before applying ample amounts of sunscreen and a floppy hat, just for good measure.

Have a fun and safe 4th of July weekend!

Kelly

Pool Day

15.5 Months old.

I had a bit of a breakdown the other day. Complete with calling Eric and having him talk me down from a ledge. It was just one of those days I guess.

So as retribution I took the very next day off of work and spent the whole day with my boys. Eric is on his three week summer break and Quinn is always in the mood for some Mommy time, so we spent the day in Concord chilling by the pool and working on our tans.

Is it sad that my son tans better than me already?

Kelly

The Year of Disney May 2011

These are some pictures from our latest trip to The Happiest Place On Earth. We went this time with our friends, the Duffy's, and it was a great 3 days. We were there May 14-16, 2011.

Quinn trying to figure out what's going on at the "Bug's Life" area at California Adventure

Mater and Lightning were a hit in front of where the new "Radiator Springs" area will be. The guy who took the picture said that this was the picture of the day because of Quinn's big cheesy smile :)

Quinn and Kelly waiting in line for the Peter Pan ride.

Bunny ears were very appropriate for this picture. Quinn thought the White rabbit was pretty funny.

Just waiting for his breakfast.

Goofy kinda creeped Quinn out a little bit. He just wasn't too sure about a dog that's 7 feet tall.

What's scarier than a 7 foot dog? A 5 foot mouse! Quinn warmed up to Mickey after a minute.

Mickey's chair was just Quinn's size.

Quinn busting mommy out of jail.

I'm not sure what we're looking at, but I'm sure it was very interesting. This was during the River Boat Cruise.

This was day 1 at the park and as you can see, Quinn was very excited to be there.

Quinn saying, "I LOVE THE PLAY AREA IN TOON TOWN!!!!!!!"

Open up Mickey! Quinn needs to use the bathroom!

Daddy and Quinn discussing what is going to happen on the River Boat Cruise.

Mommy and Quinn Smiling for thee camera on the River Boat Cruise.

Just getting to the park and Quinn already wants out of the stroller. He had so much fun!

Kelly

The dead battery on Eric's birthday

Today is the day. This day marks the beginning of Eric's 29th year on this blessed earth.

And how did you celebrate this blessed day?

One might ask. Well since one asked, I am inclined to answer. We celebrated by taking a day trip down to California's Great America.

Oh how exciting, one might exclaim.

Yes, well... it comes with a bit of a story, as the best ones always do:

My travel hungry sister took off last night for her week long trip to the backwoods, a.k.a, Grandma's farm. She left her very awesomely tall and fun to drive Jeep with us for the week. (sah-weet!) After dropping her off in said awesomely tall and fun to drive Jeep at the airport last night I drove it home and automatically pulled it into the driveway. Whoops! Our car was already occupying our carport space. Luckily our drive way is a bit looong and so the Jeep came to rest pulled snugly up behind our car.

So today when I jumped in the Jeep it gave a very polite 'click' and then died. Oh joy! When I popped the hood I was presented with the gnarliest of battery corrosion ever. (over dramatic? I think not!) Can you say wowza! What great timing this awesomely tall and fun to drive Jeep has. (dripping with sarcasm)

Eric managed to push it out of the driveway and to the curb so that we could get our car out of the driveway. I guess tomorrow will involve buying a new car battery. Happy Birthday Eric!

Luckily the rest of the day went much smoother. We arrived at Great America at opening alongside the rest of the siblings and rode roller coasters to our hearts content; which ended promptly at 4pm so we could go pick up Q from the sitters. (Thanks Ann!)

We'll save Thor and dinner for another day I think.

A day without car trouble, thank you very much.

Kelly

(note: I wrote this mostly last night, which it why it says 'today' instead of yesterday.)

Sorry peeps!

I have totally dropped the ball! Here's a few things to make for up it, k?

Quinn being cute without pants on.

Trip to the zoo.

Kelly

The Year of Disney Part 2

Day two was a whole different experience. We started it off with a full day of rest and a tummy full of food. It’s amazing what those two things will do for a person. We arrived at the park at opening again, 9am, with a stocked Camelback, happy baby and a mission. We hit the Pirate’s ride one more time for good measure, finally made it to the Haunted mansion, let Quinn run around the Tarzan tree house (which he LOVED) and finally bought Quinn a Mickey hat with his name on it. So stinkin cute!!!

Mr. Toad’s wild adventure, the Buzz light year ride and a whole lot of walking later we called it quits and made it to Downtown Disney just in time for Quinn’s nap.

What we learned this trip:
1. Quinn isn’t a screamer. But he will grip the crap out of you when he gets scared.
2. Pack LOTS of snacks and drinks. I didn’t realize that Disneyland lets you bring outside food and water into the park for your kids. That came in handy on day two.
3. Quinn really likes to look at stuff, mostly the other kids. It was kind of impossible to get him to look at anything if a kid wasn’t standing next to or on it.

Overall I’d say it was a fairly successful first trip to Disneyland. We’ll be back in May for Eric’s birthday, if not before then. Did you know you get discounts on just about anything with season passes? We get free parking; one car per pass, 15% off food, and 20% off merchandise. And we get discounts at the Disneyland hotels, not that we can afford them, but it’s just nice to know our options.

Kelly

The Year of Disney Part 1

Note: I have a good bit to say and a great deal of photos to share about the weekend so I’m breaking this into two parts.

So a few weeks ago I was sitting at work thinking about what I wanted to do for family vacations this year. It was proving pretty difficult to come up with things that both Eric and I would truly enjoy doing. So my mischievous mind kicked into high gear and threw out the thought ‘Why not make this The Year of Disney’ with the stipulation that I get plan all vacation spots next year’? *note - this only worked, because Eric LOVES disneyland!* Sounded pretty sweet to me, so I posed the question to Eric who immediately said yes, and so we became Disneyland season pass holders.

We made our first of many trips down to Disneyland this weekend which turned out to be a little more than we bargained for. The drive down went well, except that Quinn went down for the night at 7pm and I started to get a tummy ache shortly after. When we got to the hotel Quinn woke up and thought he was up for the day, which meant he wouldn’t go back to bed until shortly after midnight. Naturally, when he did get up for good it was at his usual wake up time, around 5:30am.

Just to keep a tally; this puts us all at 5 hours of sleep, and Kelly with an upset tummy.

So we’re up at 5:30, dressed by 6:30, fed by 7:30 and at the park at opening time, 9am. Where Eric enjoyed a lonely ride of Indian Jones, we did a family ride of Pirates of the Caribbean, the Safari cruse and attempted to find a hat for Quinn.

Much to our displeasure there were absolutely no hats that fit Quinn in either Frontier Land or Adventure Land. I tried looking in all the shops in the bayou while Eric was riding Indian Jones and still came up short. But I did get these great shots of Quinn trying to take the hat off.

Shortly after all this excitement it was clearly Quinn’s nap time, which couldn’t have come sooner, since my tummy was not happy.

Quinn fell asleep on the way to the car but when we got the hotel he and I took a 2 hour nap, then when the Q dude woke up Eric took him to get some food while I nabbed another much needed hour.

Well rested, well fed and much happier we headed back to the park and made it to the Peter Pan ride just before I lost it completely. On the way to the Haunted Mansion I had to stop at least 3 times to sit down and finally had to call it quits. Quinn and I headed off to the Mother’s room while Eric hopped in line for the Haunted mansion. I think he made it about halfway through the line before I called him and told him to meet me at the first aid stand. I’d started feeling flu like symptoms; nausea, cold and hot sweats and severe fatigue. After being horizontal for a few minutes on the cot I felt a million times better, but we called it quits for good and headed home for the night.

The daily tally; Very little sleep, Kelly upset tummy, a total of three rides (four for Eric), 5 hours at the park, and still no hat for Quinn. See. It was MUCH more than we bargained for!

But we did get to see the best 'Wow' faces on the cutest kid, which is pretty much all you can ask for.

What was your first trip to Disneyland like?

Kelly