Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Disneyland

While we were in Palm Springs we took a few days to go to Disneyland. We were lucky enough to stay at the Grand California Hotel (love this place) and had a fun time walking around Disneyland. The decorations at Disneyland and our hotel at Christmas time were amazing! We didn't spend a lot of time riding rides because Andrew was scared of all the rides.
On Sunday morning we drove from Palm Springs to Disneyland (about 1.5 hours). When we got to Disneyland it was about lunch time so we decided to go on one short ride before getting something to eat. We went on the Buzz Lightyear ride in Tomorrowland. Bad idea, it totally freaked Andrew out and he didn't want to go on anymore rides. Most of the time we were there he kept saying that he was tired and wanted to go home. Nate and I were frustrated but we just decided to just stroll around the park and enjoy it. That first day was rough, it rained and Andrew and Ava were fussy so we went back to our room, took naps and met up with our friends the Riedels for dinner. It was so fun to see them and Andrew perked right up when he saw the girls!
The next day was sunny and beautiful! Andrew was in a better mood and was very excited to meet all the characters. He had his little autograph book and went looking for all of his favorite friends. We spent most of our day getting autographs and taking pictures. We did go on Dumbo a few times and rode the carousel. He asked several times to ride on Dumbo because he liked getting to control going up and down with the lever, it was definitely his favorite ride. He also rode Autopia and loved it. We took him on Small World and he ducked his head and hid for most of the ride. Ava loved it though and loved all of the rides. Jungle Cruise was another of Andrew's favorites so we rode it a few times as well. Andrew and Ava got to see Santa and his reindeer as well and Andrew really loved that! We went back to our room for a little rest and some dinner and then headed back to the park for the fireworks. Disneyland Christmas decorations at night are amazing! Andrew kept saying, "it's Christmas!" He loved all the lights. He was still pretty tired so he didn't care much for the firework show and snow and stayed in his stroller the whole time. Nathan and I loved it though (and so did Ava). After the fireworks and snow were over he kept asking if Santa was coming. I told him we'd go see if he was at our hotel and sure enough he was! We even saw carolers roaming our hotel. Andrew wasn't too excited about seeing Santa (a second time that day) so we took a quick family picture and headed to bed.


Our beautiful hotel at Christmas time!


Andrew loved the castle and wanted to go in it several times.
The next day we spent the morning cruising main street in the firetruck, hot rod, double decker bus, and carriage. Andrew was so funny...he wanted to ride all of them, but only with me! We also rode Dumbo again as well as the carousel and jungle cruise. We wondered around California Adventure and through the shops at main street and then went back to Palm Springs for the night. Ava didn't sleep much most of the time we were in Disneyland and wanted to be held a lot, so I'm looking forward to next trip when maybe she isn't so high maintenance and he isn't so scared.

Andrew loved Lightening McQueen but was totally freaked out and didn't want to take a picture.


Both of the kids loved the carousel.

We had a great time spending the week together and hope to go back again soon! Andrew is already asking to go back to Disneyland and I'm hoping he will go on more rides next time :)
Dec.5-7, 2010
Andrew 3yrs & Ava 6.5 months

2 comments:

Andrea said...

love these pictures.

Janet said...

Ava has the biggest smile!