When we got home everyone was waiting with a special party and BBQ to celebrate her special day! She had a very special birthday weekend! (I just realized that I don't have the pictures from the party. It did look great though! Maybe I'll post those later!)
Three days after I got back from the coast Dan and the boys and I left for California for a week long family vacation. The boys were great for the drive down. Desmond pretty much entertained himself with his toy cars, planes, and figured for most of the ride. He was excited to find out that we did have a portable DVD player so that he could watch some 'shows'! ( I don't know how many times we got to listen to Chuggington!)
Torian didn't sleep as much in the car as we would have liked....Desmond did a lot better at that when he was a baby, but he didn't have a big brother to keep him up. Torian would start shaking his head back and forth when he was putting himself to sleep and Desmond thought it was funny and would make a game out of it. He'd laugh and say, "Again, again!" Torian was still great! You almost didn't know he was back there!
If you know our family you know that In-N-Out if a big thing. The second day we drove over to the In-N-Out store and picked out shirts for the boys. Desmond loves to wear his 'car' shirt!
The main reason we went down to California was for the 'Truth Matters Conference' at Grace. We'd take turns watching the boys in the hotel while the others went to the conference. It worked out great because they needed some down time with all the driving and going, going. They also got to swim in the pool, but I wasn't the one who took those pictures so once again, I don't have them....sorry!
And of course, since we were only an hour away, we went to Disneyland on Saturday. Around lunch time Torian got a little grumpy because he wouldn't fall asleep in his stroller, but we did some walking and he finally went out....from there on out we had a really great time with the boys. Desmond was very good! He just looked and looked and he a blast going on the rides and seeing the characters he knew from his movies!
The first ride of the day was Small World (pretty sure it was Desmond's favorite.) Desmond thought that he spotted 'MacGyver' in his hot air balloon!(A scene from one of the two MacGyvers that he is allowed to watch.) The best part was watching Desmond as we went through the ride. The best part is seeing it all through your kids eyes! He had fun spotting Woody and Jessie and finding Nemo among the Small World dolls.
While I fed Torian a much needed bottle, Desmond and Daddy got to ride on the Disneyland train. We were going to ride Casey Jr, but the line was way too long and we figured he wouldn't know the difference. He had a great time. After they got off he told me all about the dinosaurs that he saw! (I haven't been on that railroad since the first time I was there so I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about, but he sure had a lot to say about them!)
Much better after a full tummy! He's a little tired though....let's take a nap in our stroller now! While Torian took a nap Desmond and I went on the Pirates ride. He wasn't too sure that he liked it. You wouldn't think it's scary, but it is load and dark at times. When we got off he had a lot to say about it though! You would have thought that he LOVED the ride!
Now onto the Winnie the Pooh ride. Much better and low key! Torian was awake and enjoying it too!
On our way out of Disneyland and over to California Adventure, we had to stop and get a picture in front of the castle! There were a lot of people getting their picture taken so we weren't able to get someone to take one of all of us. Oh well!!! Now it's time to go see some of the new changes they've made over at California Adventure.
Here's the new California Adventure entrance. I'm not sure if I like it was much as the huge California Adventure letters, but this is a fun idea! (It looks like Torian might fall asleep again!)
Yep! He did! Don't you just love the 'toy' that he enjoyed the most?! The wipes wrapper!
Look at the happy boy!!! "See, you feel so much better after you've taken a nap!" He was full of smiles again!
Here he is with his other 'favorite toy'....an empty water bottle!
Someone was nice enough to take a picture of us in front of the new Little Mermaid ride. They did a fantastic job on this ride!!!
I love how hard it is to get them to smile in the same picture!!! Another bottle break! It is, for sure, a little different with kids! You take a lot more breaks!
Mommy and Torian on the caterpillar ride!!! Doesn't he look so excited?!
Daddy and Desmond in A Bug's Life land....Don't you feel like a bug?
On the way home we stopped by Solvang to get pictures of the boys in the 'red shoe', something that Dan's family did when he was little. Too bad I don't have one of Dan as a little boy to put on here! We even had one taken on our honeymoon!
So our first family vacation together was a success! We had our moments...Desmond getting sick in the car at one point because he didn't like the sandwich we got him, a grumpy Torian for part of our time at Disneyland (something that just isn't normal for him), taking at least one wrong exit and adding 30/40 minutes to that trip, ANOTHER stop because of a messy diaper...and any stop takes longer with kids, Desmond going in his pants (not sure why....) and pulling them off in the gift shop at the Apple Farm because they were wet...luckily no one else was in there at the time with him and Dan, and the LONG drive home (it's always longer on the way home and they were actually still great in the car, we were all just very tired and ready to be home!).....but we really did have a great time and can't wait until the next road trip with the boys!
