Disneyland and California Adventure-days 2&3!

So, day 2 and 3 we spent at Disneyland and California Adventure. We had so much fun despite the fact that Cayden had a HORRIBLE cough and caught an eye infection while we were there and Ally had a bad sore throat. We managed well with medicine and had a great time anyway. We also celebrated Grady's 4th birthday on Friday Jan. 7th at Disneyland. It was fun because they gave him a Happy Birthday Button that he wore all day and so all the workers at the rides would wish him a Happy Birthday as we got on the rides. Disneyland was crowded but not as bad as we had expected. Using the "fast-passes" we were able to manage our time pretty well and I think the longest we waited in line was like 40 minutes and that was for the Toy Story Mania ride at California Adventure. Here are some pics of our fun! Grady walking down into the submarine for the Finding Nemo Submarine Ride,

 What would Disneyland be without seeing some of your favorite Characters. Grady was SO happy and excited to see Buzz, he is so obsessed with him and Woody right now. He was so funny, he said "I didn't know he was real" after he got to get up close and see him.

 It is hard to see but Grady is on stage fighting Darth Vader. They asked for volunteers to come up and get some jedi training. Grady surprised us all and raised his hand and was selected. After they get trained Darth Vader and Darth Mal show up and the new "jedi's" have to use their new skills to fight them. It was so stinkin cute!

 In this picture he is ducking as Darth Vader takes a swing at him. He of course wanted to buy his own "light saver" as he calls it after this.

 The 3 kids in Goofy's house in Toontown. This was especially cool for Grady to see where all the characters live.

 On the front steps to Mickey's House

    Meeting Mickey Mouse is always something special for anyone!

                                     Travis and Ally on the Jungle Cruise

                                                      The Treehouse!

                                    We got in line to see Woody and were told he was leaving in 5 minutes from the look of the line there was no way we would get to see him so we hung out over to the side where we assumed he would have to walk when he left hoping Grady could wave to him. It was even better, Woody walked right up to him and gave him a hug! What else could a 3 year old boy ask for!!!!!

 Not long after Woody had gone out came Jessie and of course he wanted to say hello to her too. I thought this picture Travis captured was so cute. He is peeking his head around the corner to catch a glimpse of her before it is his turn. So cute.

 Good ole Lightning McQueen. Grady wondered how come he didn't talk.

 Sad, but this is the only picture of the 2 of us the whole time. Apparently we were preoccupied in making sure our kids were having a BLAST and they were so I guess we succeeded and one picture will have to do!

 In front of the "Its a small world" castle. They had not taken all their Christmas lights and decor down from this ride and it looked amazing at night and was fun to go through and see their holiday version!

 Ok, I thought this was just so cute I had to capture it. We were at the airport waiting for our flight home and Grady was sitting over by the window watching the airplanes and then he came back and asked for his Mickey and Minnie Mouse guys he had gotten at Disneyland. The next thing I know he is over by the window showing the airplanes to them and talking to them explaining things. It was so sweet!

I am so glad we decided to do this this year. It was PERFECT. The kids were all at great ages to enjoy the magic and the excitement that Disneyland has to offer. Grady was an inch too short for some of the height requirements but being smart we went shopping the night before to find him some boots with a little bit of a wedge in the heel. We looked everywhere. Here in New Mexico you can find boots in any store, not so much in California. We went to probably 4 or 5 different stores and it was like 9 pm at night after being at Legoland all day and driving to Anaheim after that. We finally found a pair of rain boots at Ross that had a litle bit of height on them. They were about 2 sizes too big but it didn't matter because I shoved a sock in the heel of each one to add even more height and his feet didn't even go all the way in the shoe. We usually would carry him until the point where they would check his height since he walked kind of funny in these big sock stuffed boots, but he made it with room to spare on every ride (except the 46" rides). He surprised Travis and I and LOVED every ride, and I mean every ride. His favorite was Space Mountain and he kept wanting to go back to it and he would always ask ahead of time if it was fast like Space Mountain. If it wasn't he would ask "why" and say they should all be like space mountain. He was cracking us up. He even loved Tower of Terror and would scream in delight as we "fell" down the elevator. He never wanted us to hold onto him or touch him, he was pretty big stuff!  So much fun and so Glad we did it and So glad to be home :)