Disneyland!

For Cole's third birthday we decided to go to the happiest place on earth, Disneyland, where dreams come
true. FYI Walt, I take cash or check for all endorsements. Last
Thursday, we packed up the family, and Gaga, and flew down to Orange
County to meet great grandpa Bill and Diane and stay with Kaki and Dan
in San Juan Capistrano. Flights are always so fun with small kids,
and this was Caden's inaugural flight; Cole already had seven states under
his belt and probably enough frequent flier miles for a first class
upgrade. Regardless, Cole was a little unsure about the airplane and
its noises, while Caden was none the wiser. Cole was even concerned
about an "emergency" when the stewardess told the passengers to read
through the pamphlet in case of an "emergency;" "Mommy, what's the
emergency?" However, once we got flying Cole zoned out watching
cartoons on the laptop but Caden refused to take a nap until Gaga got
him down for about 10 minutes before he popped up wide awake again.
He never really fussed too much, but it took a small army to assuage
him for the two-and-a-half hour flight. In his defense, he does have
a honkin' front tooth poking through.

After waiting for our luggage for half-an-hour, just to realize it was
pulled off the conveyor belt before we could claim it, it was
time to face my fears and rent a mini van. Maybe it was a good thing
to purposelessly wait for our luggage, because by the time we went to
pick up the mini van they didn't have anymore; so they upgraded us for free
to a Ford Expedition extended version. Boy, this thing was a beast but
it was nice to haul around 7 people at once.

For the first half of the vacation we hung out around Kaki and Dan's
house hitting up the usual breakfast spot along with In-N-Out and some
new restaurants. The weather wasn't too warm but it was definitely
shorts weather for us Washingtonians, so naturally we had to visit a
couple beaches, which Cole and Caden loved.

On Sunday we headed up to our hotel by Disneyland and happened to
check-in during a lull, so we were upgraded to the top penthouse floor
overlooking Dinseyland for free. Lucky for us, the outdoor pool was heated
enough to swim in 50-some degree weather, so we all went for a dip.
You would have thought our kids were part porpoise for how much they
love the water. We somehow coaxed both kids from the pool to get
some dinner before a good sleep prior to the big day. Five minutes
after Cole fell asleep we were treated to a perfect view of the
Disneyland fireworks show that lasted about half-an-hour.

The next morning Caden woke up at about 6:15, so he and I patronized a
superbly located Starbucks in the hotel lobby. Two hours later, we
managed to have everyone ready and boarded a bus to Disneyland to
ensure we arrived before the 9am opening.

Caden mostly perched up in the backpack, leisurely checking out the
sites and sounds, while Cole took it all in sunk down in the umbrella
stroller. We had a Mickey sighting right away but he quickly left, to
feed Pluto or something, before we could say hi. Our first stop was
Dumbo and everything went great but Toad's Wild Ride was another
story. We quickly learned that any subsequent rides that were indoors
and dark were probably not going to be a hit with Cole. Caden, on the
other hand, didn't mind the dark one bit and even clapped his hands
after getting done with Monster's, Inc., while Cole's constant
objections could be heard in the background. You would have thought
Cole passed the bar already with the arguments he was mustering up in line for
Pirates of the Caribbean so he didn't have to ride on it. I just told him he could close his eyes so
he wouldn't be scared, and half-way through the ride he scared himself
to sleep. Although, I could have easily fell asleep as well.

With so much family there, Nicole and I were able to go on some bigger
rides by ourselves, like Space Mountain and the Hollywood Tower of
Terror, which we were actually able to get Gaga to ride as well.

After finishing up some rides at California Adventure and a Pixar
character parade, we headed back to Disneyland and ran into Mickey and
Minnie. There was a line-up for pictures so we put Cole off to their
side and after a timely call out of "wave to Minnie" by Kaki, we were
able to get a picture of Minnie and Mickey waving to Cole. The look
on Cole's face was precious; he was so awed they were standing right
there in the flesh, or er...felt. Cole did a couple more spins on his favorite rides: Dumbo and the Rockets, but the line to It's a Small World After All was too long, and Cole already took a nap so we didn't need to go on it. By this time the park was about to close so we took the bus back to the hotel, were Cole was still going strong; however it didn't take him long to go too bed.

The flight home was on par with the flight there, but this time Caden slept the second half, which was awesome. Cole has already started inviting people to his fourth birthday at Disneyland, which we were not aware of yet. Well, they both had fun and it was great to share it with Gaga, Kaki & Dan, and Great Grandpa Bill & Diane.