California Trip!

I felt bad that we didn't take Jackson on our trip to Disney World so I kept teasing CJ that we needed to take him to Disneyland for his 2nd birthday. Our good friends Tyler and Jen were moving back to California at the end of December and we really wanted to see them. That was an incentive for CJ to really go to California. Then when Tyler said that they would go to Disneyland with us for a day, we were sold. We had been trying to figure out a time in February, but it wasn't working with every body's schedules and so we had decided on sometime in January. We planned it all on a Wednesday and that Sunday, we left! It was very last minute and I was nervous leaving so quickly, but I am so glad we did! CJ had to go to Arizona for four days so it was perfect for me to head to California with Jackson while he was gone.  I drove to my sister Jodi's house after church on Sunday so Jackson could nap in the car and CJ flew to Arizona later that day.

We played at my sisters house until Tuesday morning. It was cold in St. George so we didn't play outside at all. I was bummed because I was so excited to get into warmer weather so Jackson could play outside instead of being cooped up in the house. We had so much fun hanging out with my sister and her family. They all loved Jackson and Jackson loved playing with them. 

Tuesday morning I headed to our dear friends Spenny and Nellie's house in Redlands. Nellie is due at the end of January so if we went in February it would have been too  close after the baby to really stay and visit with them. So it worked out perfectly! We haven't seen them for so long. Jackson and I were able to spend two days with them at their new place. It was beautiful for the two days we were there. A little chilly, but nice enough to go outside and enjoy the sun. Jackson had so much fun at the park and playing with Logan and Grace. Logan has a train table so Jackson was in heaven. That is all he did during our stay there.  He even wanted to sleep with them at night. I was horrible at taking pictures while we were there, but here are a couple of pictures of our fun friends! 

Nellie was so cute with Jackson and she made him feel right at home making his favorite foods. She even made Mickey Mouse pancakes! I think I was more excited then Jackson, but he knew the shape and kept saying, "Mouse!" We had lots of fun and were sad to leave Miss Nellie. We definitely don't get to see them enough. 

Thursday we headed to my Aunt Nae's house. We were able to see my cousin Amy, her husband Chris, and my cousin Alli and her cute girls. We ate Los Golandrina's for dinner, which is just delicious! One of my favorite things in California. CJ flew into the Orange County airport that night so he was finally able to come play with us! My Aunt had a train track so Jackson was very happy playing with his cars and trains. We thought it was so funny that he liked to sit in the track to watch a movie. 

We only spent one night at my Aunt's house and then we headed to Tyler and Jen's house for a couple of days. We went to the outlets and hung out at the park and their house. 

On Sunday we headed back to Spenny and Nellie's so that CJ could see them also. We had a great dinner and had fun hanging out. The kids had so much fun together. Jackson made great new friends. I am just sad that they live so far away. Nellie knew we were headed to Disneyland on Monday so she made Tyler and Jen's little girl, Eliza and Jackson gift bags. She had asked who their favorite Disney character was and got them gifts with those characters.  Jackson got a notebook, giant pens, glow stick, snack box and treats that had Lightning McQueen and other Cars characters. Jackson loved it all and was so excited to draw in his notebook with his pens. 

After we were done playing, we headed to Anaheim and spent the night in a hotel so that we could get up get to the park when it opened. Jackson thought it was so fun to wake up some place new. He ran all over and thought he was pretty cool. 

The park opened at ten so we headed over around nine so we could walk around Downtown Disney and buy our tickets. It was stinkin' cold! The wind was horrible and made it a ton worse. Thankfully, the wind stopped and it turned out to be a decent day. Just a little chilly and cooled off quite a bit at night. 

Jackson with his First visit Pin. He held it for the first couple hours until he got a new pin with a car on it in Cars Land. 

We had decided to go to California Adventures with Tyler and Jen instead of Disneyland. When we entered the park, it was only 9:40. CJ had gone ahead and got in the fastpass line for the Racers ride in Cars Land. While Tyler, Jen and I were walking in, Goofy came and stood not too far from us so we decided to hurry and get in line to see him. Jackson watched him and recognized him, but he wasn't too sure about it when we got closer. He never smiled and just stared at him. He gave him a high five and when I asked if we should take a picture with him, Jackson leaned back in protest. We took a quick picture and then watched as Little Eliza cried when she got close to him. It was so sad. She didn't like any of the characters that we met and Jackson didn't really either. He didn't cry, but he never smiled. 

Tyler and CJ were waiting in line and when it started moving, Mickey came out and stood where Goofy was. Jen and I were in the perfect spot to get right in line to say hi to him. I felt bad CJ wasn't there, but again there was no reaction from Jackson. I thought for sure he would be excited to see Mickey. He gave him five and then we said our goodbyes. 

 

We first headed to Bugs Land to do some kid rides and see how the kids handled them. They both loved them! As soon as we got off Eliza would say she wanted to go on another ride! Jackson really liked them too. 

After Bugs Land we headed to Cars Land!! I was so excited to see this new part of the park and it definitely didn't disappoint. I love how Disney makes everything look so real and just like the movie. 

While we were hanging out in front of the Cozy Cone, Lightning McQueen came driving down the street! It was so awesome!! He is really the size of a real two door car. Jackson thought it was so cool to see him. Jackson kept saying "Ka-Chow!" We ran over to get in line so we could get our picture taken. We were really lucky with all the lines for characters. We didn't see very many, but when we did they were just coming out and we happened to always be in the right spot. We never had to wait more then ten minutes. 

We went to Playhouse Disney afterwards and Jackson just stared. He wouldn't dance or move at all. I wasn't too sure that he was enjoying it, but finally when it was over and they were playing music while everyone walked out, he started dancing. 

My sweet boy napping while we all ate lunch. 

One of mine and CJ's favorite rides is Toy Story Mania. We walked up and it was closed, they were trying to fix something. We were so bummed. We just hung out for a minute deciding what we should do next and then they opened it! We got in line and waited maybe five minutes. It was awesome! Jackson kept his glasses on the whole time and he loved it! Eliza thought it was great too. We went on it again right after we got off and didn't have to wait long at all. 

I had watched a documentary on netflix about fun things to do in the Disney Parks and one of the things it said was there was a playground area in California Adventures. I hadn't heard of it before so we decided to check it out so the kids could run around a bit. Russell from the movie up is the one in charge of this. There are six different obstacles that you can do and once you have completed all of them, you can get a special badge. We didn't do this, we just let the kids run around, but they had a lot of fun. There was a little play area where there were two slides that Jackson loved. 

Above was a big slide that CJ was going to take Jackson on. When they got to the top, the lady said Jackson had to go by himself. I was at the bottom to catch him, but I was nervous because it was a long tunnel one. I wasn't sure how he would like it. He loved it though and ran around to the stairs to go down it again. 

Minnie's Fly Girls were doing a show so we stopped to watch it for a couple minutes. Minnie came out and sang and danced. It was so fun to watch! By this point, Jackson was exhausted and just relaxed in his stroller. 

We headed back to Cars Land to go on the tractor ride since we didn't do that one earlier. Just a few minutes after we got there, the song Life Could be a Dream started playing and one street lamp after another turned on. Then each buildings neon lights turned on one at a time. It was just like the movie! It was so awesome and I am so glad that we were able to see that. Just fun surprises! 

We were able to see Mater driving down the street, but he was done taking pictures so we just followed him for a minute so Jackson could see him. 

DJ came out playing music and these waitresses come out and sing and dance. It was a dance party in the middle of the street. It was so fun to watch everyone. DJ's back goes up and down. Disney did an awesome job putting Cars Land together and making the cars so real and fun. 

We had so much fun on our first day at Disney.  It was such a relaxed, slow moving day. We just took our time looking at everything and we were still able to do everything. It was Eliza's first time to Disneyland as well as Jackson's so it made it even more special to go with Tyler and Jen. We loved it! It was a good day spent with our awesome friends. Thanks Ty and Jen for the fun! 

After the park, we had to walk to our car at the hotel and then headed back to my Aunt Nae's house to spend the night. They are only twenty five minutes from Disneyland so it was perfect. Jackson was out like a log after a long day of fun.