California Adventure

Well, we have survived yet another trip to Southern California and a wonderful time was had by all.

We drove out on Thursday afternoon and luckily escaped the heat here in the Valley of the Sun. On Friday Brian went on a fishing trip for the day while I had breakfast with a dear friend. Later, Andy and I met my brother and his family at Red Robin in a local entertainment district so that we could help to celebrate Ryan's third birthday. The kids were so excited to be together! Afterward Andy refused to ride the merry-go-round with Ashley and Ryan because there wasn't a "Mick Mick" for him to ride. (That would be Mickey Mouse). We shopped for a bit, then returned to Brian's parent's house. When Brian's fishing boat returned we left Andy with Nonnie and Papa while we went to the Angel game. What a beautiful night for a ballgame it was!

On Saturday we went to Ryan's birthday party at the nasty rat pizza place. You know what I'm talking about. It's so weird how kids just go completely nuts there. After having a great time with his cousins we dragged Andy out of there. We all went to visit a wonderful friend of mine who had just returned home from the hospital. And, if we hadn't had enough visiting for the day, we had dinner with Brian's parents and grandma.
On Sunday we went to California Adventure, it was Andy's first time at that park. We rode a couple of rides, visited with some characters, and saw a little traveling Toy Story green army men show. Let me tell you, Andy put on quite a show when it was his turn to visit with Mick Mick, even kissing him square on the nose. When Andy met Chip and Dale he hugged them each so tight and wouldn't let go, he literally needed to be dragged off. We've decided that when we return next month we are going to take Andy to one of the hotels for the character breakfast to celebrate his birthday.

Sunday evening Brian and I had another date night. We went to Disneyland and walked around and rode a few rides before walking out to Downtown Disney to have dinner and do a little shopping.

Yesterday we were charged with driving home. While we had lots of fun and enjoyed visiting with so many people, it was time to return home. The hardest part of this trip was getting Andy to sleep at night. And forget about napping! If he wasn't in the car, he wasn't napping. It was impossible to get Andy to go to sleep anywhere near his regular time. He was up until anywhere from 9:00 to 11:00 each night, and up each morning by 7. Ugh. I can only hope that this too will get better with the more practice he, and we, have.

And now we are home. Brian is at work today and Andy and I are stuck home waiting for a furniture delivery. I'm really excited about getting the furniture, but bummed to have to wait at home today. Such is life . . .