Late that morning we took a drive over to Griffith Park to take Harper on the train at Travel Town and then to ride the ponies. The kids both crashed on the way there and we felt bad waking them up:( We had a fun afternoon and ended with a lunch at a diner in Los Feliz. That evening we had a bbq at Katie's and my parents, Katie's parents and our friends Ed (Bryn's godmother) and Antonella joined us. It was a nice night and yummy food. Thanks Katie for hosting! We decided last minute to ask Nana and Grandpa to take Harper with them to their hotel in Anaheim so we would have one less kid to get ready in the morning before Disneyland. Brendan and I were a little nervous since we have never had Harper spend the night anywhere else without us (except once at Auntie Kaila's house). He had a great time with them, and was using the bathroom (potty training is going really well) and slept in the big boy bed in their hotel room. Bryn did well in her pack and play for short periods, but of course when she cried I put her in bed with us and she slept like a rock;) (Lately I have been sleeping in a separate room from her and she sleeps much better, most times with self soothe herself back to sleep. I think I just fed her to quiet her down and it was making her stomach used to a mid sleep feeding, which she doesn't need.)
We started out at California Adventure, as Brendan and I had never been there. We were able to visit the Crush Talk with the turtle from Finding Nemo, go through a Bug's Life, ride the Tow mater tractors in Cars Land (the fast passes were out for the race cars), ride the California Screaming roller coaster, the Grizzly water ride and the Soaring over California. We had lunch at the wine restaurant and Harper received his free bday cake (Mickey chocolate cake). Harper had a birthday button on so everyone we went the staff would always wish him happy birthday and treat him extra special. (Though I think he was mistaken a few times for a girl due to his long curly blond hair, but neither Brendan or I are ready to cut it;)
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| Shirts courtesy of LaShawn |
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| Tow-mater ride, Harper is squeezed in the middle of us |
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| Mickey Mouse ears |
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| Special birthday treat |
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| Cars Land |
We headed over to Disneyland to catch the main street parade. Harper was able to take a turn on Peter Pan and then see all of the characters come down the street. After we headed over to see the superheroes, where Harper was able to talk with Captain America and take a picture with him. He did kind of freeze up, but did pretty well. The last activity we took the kids on was the carousel (since Dumbo was too crowded) and then headed back to the hotel since it was around 630 and Harper hadn't had a nap yet, so he was getting a little crabby. The biggest surprise of the day was Bryn, she was an angel and hardly ever let out a whimper. She took a nap in the ergo, but pretty much rode around in the stroller and was so content to see all the surroundings.
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| Godmother fun! |
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| Eating lunch on the terrace |
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| In a good mood all day at Disneyland! |
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| There was a long wait to meet Captain America... |
At the hotel, Nana and Grandpa offered to watch the kids, bathe and put them to sleep for the evening so Brendan, Katie and I could go back and enjoy a little of Downtown Disney and some late night rides. We ended up a jazz place where they had live music, good drinks and were super helpful catering to my dietary restrictions. We ended the night riding Pirates of the Caribbean, where we were able to step right on the ride with no wait in line!
Overall it was a great experience and can't wait to take them back when Bryn is around 2...we will definitely do 2 days next time!
