Disneyland Day 2 - The "REAL" Disneyland

I think my boys were perfect ages for their first trip to Disneyland.  They were both so enchanted by it, loved everything, we did have to mention a few times to Roman that things were not real so he wasn't afraid, and Hudson had a few rides that he didn't care for but overall they were just in awe of everything.  The second day was our long day.  We went into the park right after it opened at 8 and were only planning to stay until noon but we were getting right onto the rides and having such a great time we stayed until 1:30 before breaking for lunch and some much needed naps.  

As we were walking in Roman was so excited to see the streetcars pulled by horses, and the castle, and the characters.  It was all so "magical."

 We had heard that the Nemo ride was pretty busy so we went there first.  There wasn't even a line and we got right on the submarine.  Both boys really liked it and wanted to go again (but we never made it again.  Roman saw these pictures and said "I wanted to ride that again!  We need to go back!")

 Next we went to Autopia and Roman convinced Grandma to go with him and he drove.  He couldn't even see over the steering wheel, but he was really excited that he drove the car.  (See my dad in the car behind them all by himself...he looks very serious about driving that car!)

After that we went over the It's a Small World.  We got there just in time to see the clock work on the front.  We had to lift them up so they were able to see it all and they were just in awe of it all.  

The whole morning, from the moment we got to the park Roman asked if we could go to Mickey's house.  When we finally got there he was so excited he gave Mickey's mailbox a hug.  We went through (again, no lines yet!  YAY!) and were able to go in and see Mickey.

As soon as we came out of Mickey's house the boys got to drive Mickey's car.  Hudson talked about that for days.

Next door to Mickey's house was Minnie's house.  Roman wanted to go there next.  The line for Minnie's house was actually longer than the line to see Mickey.  Hudson wasn't so sure he wanted to see Minnie so Marla got to pose with them.

The rest of the morning we went from ride to ride finding more favorites than we could count. Every ride Roman told us was his favorite.  We finally took a lunch/nap break around 1:30 and went back to my parents hotel room so the boys could have a little down time.

As we went back into the park we let the boys get Mickey ears.  I showed them so many fun ones but in the end they settled on these.  (I was shocked Roman didn't want toy story, or Mater, or even the pirate one)

While we were waiting for the parade to start I took these pictures of Hudson's shadow.  I took a LOT of pictures to get a few that worked, but look how cool that is!

The boys thought it was so exciting to watch the parade.  They loved seeing Mickey and Minnie, Pluto, the princesses and the Lion King.

After the parade we went over to Fantasyland and took the books on the carousel, teacups, dumbo, Mr Toad's wild ride.  This was probably Hudson's favorite area.  While we were getting on the Dumbo ride Marla told me that our cousin Andrea was also in Fantasyland so while we were up in the air I watched for her, and saw her.  So I yelled "Andrea"  And she heard me.  And waved.  I think that means I am loud!  It was pretty crowded in fantasyland.

We went to dinner across the street at Mimi's cafe then went back into the park to watch the fireworks, we had time but it was so crowded, and we wanted a good place for fireworks so we ended up staking out a place in the middle of the road so we had a good view of the fireworks but also access to get out of the park quickly when we needed to.  The castle at night was beautiful.  The fireworks were amazing, and everyone enjoyed them....especially Hudson who slept through it all.  He fell asleep in the stroller and slept through everything.  Roman was so excited about it all he didn't fall asleep until we were almost back to my Aunt and Uncle's house.

Open adoptions are AMAZING!

Yesterday I shared the e-mails Roman sends back and forth with his birth mom.  Today she sent him this montage.  I LOVE it!  Roman and I watched it 4 or 5 times in a row.  We LOVE Katie!  She is amazing, and such a special part of our family.  I am so thankful for open adoptions!

Disneyland day 1

Thursday morning we got up and ready and told Roman we were going to go try out our new stroller.  Roman wanted to just try the stroller out in Dennis and Chris' neighborhood.  I told him we were going to go somewhere to try it out.  He wasn't happy about it.  He kept telling us we could just stop and try it.  Finally I pointed out a sign to him and asked him what it said.  Here's a video of Roman figuring out where we were going.

 

Roman was so excited that we were really going to Disneyland!

The first day we went to California Adventure.  (Roman kept asking when we were going to go to "The Real Disneyland."  He had fun at "the pretend" Disneyland too.  They especially loved the Bugs Life area and Monsters Inc ride.  I was sad that we just missed the opening of Cars Land, I guess we'll just have to go again to see that area.

  

 This wall is so cool...Can you tell where the road ends and where the wall begins?

 We met up with my friend Marlo and her adorable baby boy Robert for part of the day.  It was so much fun to see her and meet her son.  He is even cuter in person than he is in pictures.

 We didn't get many pictures of my parents.  My sister Marla had my camera and it was set on continuous mode so she took LOTS of pictures on my camera and this was one of them.  :)

Thursday was our short day at the park.  We were only there from about 10-5 then we went back to Dennis and Chris' house so that the boys could get to bed early for an early morning in "The Real Disneyland."  

Las Vegas

For the last several months we have been telling Roman we were going to go to Las Vegas to meet Spencer as he was finishing up with his conference.  Roman LOVES staying in hotels so just the idea of staying in a hotel made him excited.  The reason we were going to meet him in Las Vegas was just a stop over on our way to Southern California to take the boys to Disneyland.

We decided that the trip to Disneyland would be a surprise.  We would tell the boys as we pulled up.  My parents and sister decided to come with us.  Marla was flying into Long Beach, we found an AMAZING deal for her to fly down. We jokingly offered for Roman to go with Marla.  He didn't even hesitate.  He quickly responded "No, I'm going to Vegas."  She said "If you knew where I was going you would want to come with me."  Again he declined.  We told him "Marla's going to Disneyland."  He thought about it for a second and told her "Maybe we can go there next time.  I want to go to Las Vegas and see the hotel."  He was going to turn down DISNEYLAND to go see a hotel in Las Vegas.  Luckily he didn't have to choose.

The training Spencer had to go to was at The Paris Hotel.  We left on a Tuesday as soon as Roman was done with play group but by the time we stopped a few times for breaks and found the hotel, our room, got settled etc it was already bedtime.  Roman was so upset that we weren't able to go swimming or to even go out and see the Eiffel Tower.  I promised him that we would go to the pool and to see the Eiffel Tower and the Bellagio fountains and all sorts of fun things the next morning.  We were meeting my friend Julie at 9 to go see the conservatory at the Bellagio and to visit with her (and sight see) but I figured we would have time to go swimming before then.  I was wrong.  The pool wasn't open until 10:00 so we didn't get a chance to go to the pool so I made sure that we were able to see the other things he wanted to.

We went down and saw the Eiffel Tower, Roman LOVED that!  The boys had fun pushing the stroller around outside the Paris hotel.

 We walked around the Bellagio fountains, but they don't start the fountains until later in the day apparently.

 Then we met my friend Julie at the Conservatory.  I wish I'd taken more pictures.  It was amazing.  Smelled amazing!  It was a nice break to the normal Vegas strip.  It was flowers everywhere!

 Roman, Me, My mom and Hudson at the conservatory in the Bellagio.

 This picture was amazing, it's made entirely out of fresh flowers.

 The biggest chocolate fountain in the world!

 Julie gave Roman a piggie back ride through Caesars palace as we went to see the fish.

 One of the fountains in Caesars Palace

 We found the fish.  Hudson was fascinated

 Roman didn't want to leave.  He especially loved the sting rays.

Spencer's training was over at noon so we got on the road as soon as he was done and got on our way to California.  We knew Roman would wonder why we had gone to my Uncle Dennis and Aunt Chris' house instead of going home so we told him that we bought a new stroller and had it shipped to there house and we need to go pick it up (we did buy a new stroller, and we did have it shipped to their house, but what a long drive to pick up a stroller!)  As soon as we got to their house Roman was excited to put the stroller together and test it out.  We told him we would try it out the next morning.  We got it all ready and the boys LOVED the stroller. I think he would have accepted the stroller as worth the drive.  They had such a great time and Dennis and Chris' house and would have been happy to go home after that....they had no idea there was more!