Disneyland Here We Come!

I think that Disney is one of those things you talk about when you decide to have kids.  Do you take them?  When do you take them?  FFM's a fantastic hiker/walker and can last all day now, so we seized the moment.  Travis and I both asked some Disney veterans for advice since 1)tickets are spendy and 2) we didn't want massive meltdowns for anyone to ruin our time at the happiest place on earth.  We stayed in the park (totally awesome, best advice we took) and bought hopper passes (totally awesome, 2nd best advice we took).  We stayed three days, which was enough for us.  During busy season I could see spending more, but we rode every ride we wanted to at each park and even had time to swim at the resort pool for an afternoon.

Disney is prolific with their pre-trip mailings, which all seemed to have the monorail featured on them.  Couple that with the toy monorail FFM borrowed from his cousin and the ONLY thing he wanted to see at Disney was, you guessed it, the monorail.  Once at the park he figured out that there was more than just Mickey and a monorail, but he was still pretty stoked about this supercool mode of transport.

Kiddos favorite ride?  Space Mountain of course!  If you aren't familiar with Disney, it's an indoor rollercoaster totally in the dark with only the stars to light your way.  You can't see the upcoming drops, twists, etc.  We rode it four times.

 Of course we rode all the classics, too.  Teacups and Mr. Toads Wild Ride were my personal classic favorites.

 I opted for the phone app that lists all the attractions and their wait time.  We didn't really use it much, lines weren't an issue the days we were there, but Travis liked to check to make sure we were riding EVERYTHING so I'd tick of items as we did them.  When we got to the Princess Fantasy Faire I asked FFM if he wanted to wait in line to meet the princesses.  YES!  Before meeting the three Princesses of the day the Disney dude of the day asked FFM who is favorite was, "BELLE!"  Whew, good thing she was on duty that day.  She even let FFM give her a smooch on the cheek.  Wee lad turned bright red and was actually speechless.

 All in all FFM met 13 characters, and he spotted every single one of them.  I'd feel this smack on my elbow and look down to see him pointing and sure enough, there would be Pluto or Goofy or Jesse or Chip and Dale wandering through the park.

 Tigger loved FFM because they were both wearing orange stripes.  They had a bouncy dance together.

 I took a photo of the photo taken of us on Splash Mountain.  This is the least scary face FFM had.

 Woody!  We met him at Disney California Adventure, it's nice that we're all smiling and actually looking at the camera.

 One night none of us was hungry for dinner so we all just had ice cream sundaes instead.  That's what vacation is all about.  Yum.

Bye Mickey!  Thanks for a really good time!

Sand between his toes

Being born on an island must have done something to FFM.  Travis doesn't have any great affinity for the beach and I really enjoy some good beach time but I don't CRAVE it like our kiddo.  He has a nose for saltwater and is happiest with sea spray in his hair and sand between his toes.  If his skiing/beaching interests keep up some day we may lose him to California altogether.

The weather in San Diego was cool when we visited.  Not uncomfortably so, but while it was 80s back in Denver San Diego was having 50s/60s.  Not really lounge at the beach weather.  Instead of hanging at the beach for hours we squeezed in little trips between other adventures.  At the first sign of the sea FFM was kicking off his shoes, rolling up his own pants, and headed for the beach.

view of downtown San Diego from Coronado

Chilly sandcastles on Coronado beach

Legoland

Most of our trip wasn't a big surprise for FFM.  He knew we were going to San Diego, knew we were staying on the beach in Coronado, and he knew we were going to the zoo.  He also knew we'd spend the last three days of our trip in Disneyland.  He did NOT know we were going to Legoland.

As we pulled up to the gates of Legoland the chatter in the backseat changed as he tried to read the signs which were so obviously made out out Legos.  When he figured it out the chatter was replaced by whoops and hollers.

 The good news, FFM is tall enough to ride every ride at Legoland.  Which meant he could ride all the rollercoasters there.  First up, the Technic car test track.

 We checked our "ACTION PHOTO" after the ride, you know the one the park takes of you during the big drop?  FFM's face looks like pure terror.  What do you think he said the second we got off the ride?  "Let's do that one AGAIN!"

We went to a show at SD Zoo and FFM was heartbroken not to be a participant. Luck was on his side, he got picked right away to be in the Lego show.  His job?  to tell Stay the Lego dog to stay and to push the big button to turn on the alarm to call all the firemen.  Kiddo was ecstatic.

 More rollercoasters?  Why, of course!  The dragon coaster through the castle was another big hit.

Legoland was great fun, we had no lines at all so could ride our favorite rides over and over.  It was a great warm-up for Disney!

San Diego Zoo

March was our scheduled Spring Break, but our REAL Spring Break was last week.  The Moores opted to skip the crowds and take a family vacation in late April instead.  First stop, San Diego and the famous San Diego Zoo.  Someone had told FFM that the zoo was famous for pandas so he got really excited to see one as soon as we walked in the gate.

 Like always, however, the highlight for him wasn't the main attraction but the mode of transport inside the attraction.  Yes, the buses and gondola ride inside the zoo were the biggest hit by far.  Although he did enjoy the purple tongued giraffe...

 Travis had a good time talking about all the animals, and a really good time explaining the display of carnivorous plants.  Look out kiddo!

 Try as he might, FFM could not get Daddy to do silly monkey faces though.

Before the Snow Totally Melted

How could I forget?! Perhaps because Travis took the photos and they got stuck in email limbo...

 Before the snow totally melted in our fair mountains we invited some friends up to hang out with us for the weekend.  We had a great time and the kiddos all managed to play and play and play for 2.5 days without injuring, fighting, or even raising the decibel level to painful ranges.

FFM and Julia enjoying crepes rinkside.

The whole H. Clan relaxing at the Beav.

It was great fun!  By the second evening even though all three 'big' kids were in the bunk room together they only giggled for a few minutes before sleep took over.  Perhaps the trick is greater or equal number of parents to kids.... ;-)