CA Trip-Part III

The 3rd day we went to the Swap Meet.  I really like going even though Erik doesn't.  I like looking at all the stuff and finding good deals.  I didn't buy too much-just a few hair bows for Elisa and some silver sparkly MaryJane shoes that squeak when she walks, and a couple of pairs of sunglasses, $10 for both!  Sorry, no pics of that.   Then we went to the Crab Cooker, a seafood restaurant that we always go to when we are down there:

 A literal tree-huger!!

Next we drove up to Hollywood.  Not nearly as glamorous as I thought it would be:

We actually stopped a bit short of where the "action" was going on.  We missed it, but I'm not that sad because it to me looked like a bunch of teen-age party-ers. 

It was more entertaining to watch Elisa giggle as we played peak-a-boo:

Then we stopped by Farmer's Market, just a little ways past Hollywood.  It was fun to try some treats and just look around.  Elisa got to practice being a star:

Gabe had fun too.  He loved the trolley train that drove by a few times:

The next day we drove home.  But before we left we made sure to go to Newport beach.  Gabe absolutely LOVED the beach and still talks about it.  Even Elisa had fun. The water was pretty chilly but the kids enjoyed it nonetheless. 

 

We stopped by McDonald's for lunch and then left for the 5 1/2 hour drive back home.  I don't remember the drive too well so the kids must not have been that bad!

CA Trip-Part II

Our next day was spent at California Adventure.  It doesn't have as many worthy attractions as Disneyland, but it has a few that make it worth going to.  The first being Soarin' Over California.  Gabe got to ride it, I think he liked it I know I sure did.  

Gabe absolutely LOVED the Redwood Creek Trail playground area.  He liked the Bug's land too:

The past 3 times we've gone to CA we took Gabe to Playhouse Disney (currently known as Disney Jr.).  Elisa really liked the bubbles that can from the ceiling and Gabe liked the "money":

The highlight of going to CA was taking Gabe on the Tower of Terror!! I was afraid he would freakout but he kindof liked it.  I think he is too young to understand the scary-ness behind it all.  The video following the ToT ride is too cute!  One of my fav videos of Gabe!

One of my other favorite rides is California Screamin'.  Gabe missed the height requirement by a long shot, but I got to ride it 3 times! Gabe got to ride the carousal with his Grandparents while he waited for us:

 

 After we were done with CA we went over to Downtown Disney.  I really wanted to buy Gabe a remote control train for $25 but no one would let me :(  So I bought Gabe a trolley train toy (he liked it almost as much) for an inflated price of $7.  *Sigh*

Just a note:  Unless YOU really want to go, it's honestly not worth it to take kids under 5 if you're JUST going for them.  Not that they won't have fun--they will--but seriously Gabe had just as much fun if not more, going down the slides and playing at the little parks, something that can be done for free at home and closer too.  Disney Land tickets are just too expensive!  Just go to have fun yourself and the kids will get out of it what they will. Just some friendly advice :) 

CA Trip-Day 1

I'm going to break up our CA trip into several post because it is way too long and I'll probably never finish if I don't!  We took a trip to CA with Erik's parents to celebrate Gabe turning 3, but mostly for the fun of it!  We wanted to make sure we went when the crowds were low and before Gabe turns 3 so we didn't have to pay for his admission.  We left Wednesday around 4 pm and got to the hotel around 9:30 or so.  We stopped for dinner and a break at McDonalds:

Let me just add here that the hotel was one of Gabe's favorite places.  He seriously liked it more than Disneyland (good thing he was free!).  I don't know why he loved the hotel so much-who knows though what goes on in those toddler brains!  He chanted the entire trip back and even now, almost a week later, "I want to go back to the Hotel".  He says it over and over!  He doesn't stop talking about waning to go back to the hotel!!

Anyway, the next morning (Thursday) we went to Disneyland!!  The first part of the day went almost exactly the same as our trip in October:  Gabe was tired and Elisa was indifferent.  Plus they were in the exact same outfits as before!  Poor Gabe kept telling us he wanted to go home.  After a couple of hours though, he started enjoying himself.  Gabe is tall enough to ride almost all the rides! He rode Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain! He wasn't allowed on Space Mountain-they thought he wasn't tall enough, but I'm sure they measured him wrong because he met the height requirement for all the other 40" rides.  Whatever.  We all had a lot of fun.  With crowd levels being so low and Erik's good timing (getting those fast passes!) we walked onto a lot of rides.    We also enjoyed trying new snacks and eating at Cafe Orleans.  They have the yummiest french fries in the world!! One downer though is that our pre-paid cell phone (of which we just put a lot of money on) was lost on Thunder Mountain.  We tried over and over to find it hoping someone had turned it in, but no such luck. We think someone stole it or it fell into the water.  No matter though, we just had Verizon transfer the money onto my old cell phone.

Elisa was a big hit again in her Minnie Mouse outfit!

Autotopia: One of Gabe's faves!