We went to Disneyland!

The next morning we packed a lunch and headed out for Disneyland. One of the perks of living in Southern California is that you can buy a "membership" to Disneyland and go when you like (within a few boundaries). Another advantage of living in southern CA is that you probably know someone who works at Disney (or know someone who knows someone) and can get your visitors in for free! You can't beat a free day at Disneyland!



Thomas and Katherine were very happy to be there.


For our first ride we went on the carousel.  Thomas loved it.


And even though it wasn't her first time, Katherine seemed to enjoy it too.


Next it was time for our first long line of the day (Sheena said it was much more crowded than a usual non-summer Friday...we think some folks were on spring break), to ride the Dumbo ride.


Finally it was our turn.  Sheena and the girls picked their Dumbo:


And Thomas and I got in ours:


He was a little nervous about going high, but he enjoyed it.  Here he was in mid-flight:


In future Disney trips, we'll stand in line to take all the appropriate pictures with various Disney characters, but Thomas was really too shy to pose anyway and that just wasn't important on this particular visit.  Instead, I tried to take pictures of some of them as they rushed by to go take a break or something.  Like Winnie the Pooh...


And here's Thomas (down in front in the stroller) waving to Tigger:


If you asked Thomas what he enjoyed most at Disneyland, he would probably tell you it was riding the train that went around the park.  He loved that train.

Notice he even was wearing his favorite shirt that day...a train shirt.

Anyway, the ride was great fun for him...


We rode the train all the way around, and made a few stops along the way (this was at the main gate area).  We got on at the New Orleans Square area.




Next we went to Tomorrowland and rode the rocket ride:


Sheena decided to sit this one out with (7-month old) Lauren, so I took the two children with me. 


Thomas was in front and he was a bit nervous at first:


But he finally relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the ride. 

Next we headed over to Toon Town (VERY young child friendly).  The kids enjoyed playing in some stationary cars:


Then Aunt Sheena took them into this large boat while I sat out with a napping Lauren.


Then we (the kids and I, while Sheena was feeding Lauren and we were waiting for Pete to join us) went in Chip & Dale's "house" -- which was a treehouse you walked into and then right back down some stairs.  So I was thinking (wrongfully) that Mickey's house would be the same.  I didn't think Mickey would be there.  Then I found a line at the back and thought Mickey was right around the corner.  Those Disney people are smart.  You can't see much of the line in front of you because it kept going around corners.  Before I knew it, we were at a point where we might as well wait, but it was quite a wait (at least 30 minutes).  At least there were entertaining props along the way.




Then we got to last section before we got to see Mickey.  It was a movie theater like room showing old clips of Mickey Mouse.  Thomas was entranced.  Finally it was our turn to go in and meet Mickey.  Both the children initially went up to him, but as soon as I pulled out the camera, Thomas ran to me and Katherine turned shy.  :)


I managed to get Thomas back in the picture by standing there with him, but he still didn't want to look at the camera.  Oh well...better luck next time!


By the time we made it to our last ride of the day, the kiddie roller coaster, the kids were deliriously tired.  They were a little slap happy, screaming every time the coaster went over our heads.




Everyone around us was probably most happy when it was finally our turn (and I'm sure their ears were thankful too).  Thomas was happy when he got in...


But he wasn't a fan of the roller coaster.  I was glad it was really short because I'm not a fan either.  We made it through and there were no tears, but he did yell out most of the end of it, "I don't like this!!!!"  Sheena has a video of it; I'll have to get it from her!

On the way out, we stopped at the Disneyland fire station and the kids had a blast playing in there.




Somehow Thomas managed to stay awake for the ride home (just barely!), but Katherine gave in to her body's better senses:


The next morning at breakfast, they were still very much in a Disney sort of mood:


Many thanks to Sheena (and Pete) for sharing such a fun adventure with us; and to their church friend with connections for making it a free adventure! 

More California stories to come...

Our California adventure

I have been terrible about this blog lately. I'll blame part of it on my lame (as in injured) computer that makes blogging a bit of an uncomfortable chore and the other part on myself--someone who is still lacking her blogging mojo. But Thomas and I did recently have a wonderful trip to California, and I must share all the details here!

We set off on Thursday, March 11 for sunny California and Thomas was so excited he couldn't stand it. He didn't even seem to mind that I dragged him out of bed at 6:30 a.m., because hey! We were going to California! We got through security pretty easily (luckily it was a calm morning at the Charleston airport and we were the only ones in line), which is saying something considering the fact we had two carry-on bags, a stroller and a carseat. Anyway, we got on the plane and he couldn't wait to take off!


He loved takeoff, he loved landing and he loved everything about being on that plane. Though I do think he's in for a bit of a rude awakening in future flights. We were able to fly first class the entire trip and that was worth every cent and Skymile. :) In the future though he might be shocked to see that people won't always be bringing him food and drink constantly and he won't have quite the wiggle room either (or anything close to it!).

One of his other favorite parts of the trip was the subway/underground tram-thing at the Atlanta airport. He loved, loved, loved, loved riding that thing. We had to ride it further than we needed just so he could have the thrill of the ride. We ended up in the first car at one point (I think it was when we took the tram back from our first ride all the way to E terminal and we needed to get back to B (we landed in A). Anyway, he sat right up in the front window and he was in absolute heaven.


The only way I could get him to get off that ride was to promise him that we would ride it much more when we returned in a few days. I knew we'd have a longer layover then.

Soon we were back on the plane and headed to California. They served us lunch and Thomas thought it was delicious. But his most favorite part of that leg of the trip was the television screen in the back of the headrest of the seat in front of him. He was again in heaven. Since he doesn't watch much television at home, he was almost comatose after watching Nickolodeon for two hours or so.


I did let him have his paci on the plane (and yes, I know that nearly-four year olds should not have pacis...and he is aware that he has to give it up on his 4th birthday in a few weeks (of course now he says he wants to be three forever!)), to help his ears and just generally to kep him happy. It must have worked because several passengers in first class commented on each leg of the trip about how well behaved he was and that they didn't even know there was a little boy behind them.

We finally made it to Los Angeles and Aunt Sheena and cousin Katherine were waiting for us when we arrived. Thomas was so happy to see his cousin Katherine. He had been looking forward to it for so long. Pretty soon, they were best buddies and they got along perfectly. At dinner they were being a little silly...but I had to snap this picture because it looked so California with the palm trees and pretty skyline in the background. But they wouldn't really be still...




Does he look happy, or what?

Mountain trip

I need to start trying to catch up in here. About a month ago, we went to the mountains of North Carolina (near Brevard) for a lovely weekend at my sister-in-law's family's home with my parents, and my brother and his family. We never seem to make these sort of getaways, so it was very welcome. Trey had to fly into Asheville (from working a project in Colorado) to meet us there, but it was a great weekend.

It was a great house, and the boys had a ball...




The view from our bedroom in the guest house...


On Saturday, we only had a limited amount of time to play before we needed to get back to watch the Gamecocks play the Gators (and they ALMOST won!), so we went to check out a nearby waterfall in the Pisgah National Forest: Looking Glass Falls.








Thomas and his cousin Eliza checked out the falls...






And then we went to a nearby fish hatchery and let the kids feed the fish.








Later that evening, after we recovered from the heartbreaking loss to the Gators, the boys built a fire and we sat around and enjoyed that. Later on, we even roasted some marshmallows. Thomas got to come out and enjoy a little bit of the fire before he went to bed.






The next morning there was a little bit of playtime before it was time to head home. I didn't get any decent pictures of that and my brother (hint hint) has yet to post his pictures to a place where I can steal them. :) So until then, this is all I have...


I'm so thankful that we were able to go and even more thankful that Beth and her family so graciously opened up there fabulous house to us. I hope we get to return one day!