The Happiest Place on Earth

Ok, as I look back on my last post, I see how negative it was... what a big complainer I can be! Sometimes this is a great place to vent though... so I'm glad I got it off my chest.  I just don't want to seem like I don't realize what a great problem it is to have that there is so much baby gear to pack up between our two boys. I have experienced loss on my road to mommyhood, and I wouldn't have our crazy life any other way- the chaos that comes with kiddos is what I wanted (and continue to want) more than anything in this world!!  

So, back to Disneyland.  We went down on Wednesday night so we could get an early start and be there when the park opened on Thursday morning.  That didn't happen, but we still got there MUCH earlier than if we had left from home that same day.  We were so thrilled to have the hotel to come back to if our older son needed to nap or if the baby needed to nurse.  As it turns out, both Disneyland and California Adventure have an awesome "Baby Care Center".  They have private, quiet areas to breastfeed, plus CLEAN, sanitary diaper-changing areas.  In a word, they are freaking amazing.  Disneyland is so fantastic that way- they know how to take care of their guests.  I was beyond grateful and impressed by this setup.  We actually didn't need to go back for our monkey to nap either, as he just slept in the stroller.  Still, having the hotel was the best thing ever.  Waking up and being able to pack them up and walk over to the park was great!  We of course needed and brought TONS of stuff- but had we run out of diapers or gone through all the spare outfits for the boys, we could have been back in business in a matter of minutes. Awesome! 

Our day was great, because the weather was cool enough to keep the big crowds away, but we were lucky and never got rained on.  We bundled our little guys up like crazy and enjoyed a brisk day in the Magic Kingdom.  Our older son LOVED all the rides, and the baby did great- he was happy just looking at everything and sleeping most of the time.  The little one's one and only ride was "It's a Small World", but he missed all the excitement because he was under the nursing cover the whole time we were in the boat.  Hey, a baby's gotta eat!

This was actually our big guy's third trip to D-land.  We took him for his 1st and 2nd birthdays too. People told us we were crazy to take him so young and that he wouldn't remember it, but you know what?  WE will always remember it, he absolutely loved it each time, and kids are free until they are 3, so why not?  I am thrilled that we live close enough for him to have already experienced such a magical place so many times in his young life.  We plan on taking them every year in December- both to celebrate our big boy's b-day and to see the spectacular Christmas decorations.

Two things that we were pretty proud of remembering this trip: to bring our own water, snacks, etc. to avoid spending hundreds of dollars on food our big one would barely touch, and to bring our buggyguard.  We just got our double-wide BOB a few months ago, so between that and the diaper bags I am in love with, I was nervous to leave our stroller unattended while we rode the rides, but with the buggyguard, you can lock everything so no one walks off with it! Win!

We had Park Hopper tickets, so we started off at California Adventure, which has a bunch of rides for the under 3 crowd.  After our big guy fell asleep, we left the park to grab lunch at Downtown Disney (read: hubby wanted to have a beer or two!).  When he (the toddler, not my hubby) woke up, we went to Disneyland.  We got lots of rides in, his favorites being Dumbo and Autopia. Around 7:00p.m., we were all pretty tired, so we headed back to the hotel and watched the fireworks from our room while we had dinner in our jammies.  Again, I have to say, when you have little ones, a hotel is a must, even if you live in so cal.  We would have been pretty bummed to have to make the drive home after such a long (but of course, fun) day. 

I took a bunch of pictures of the littles, that I'm not sure if I should post or not (more on that tomorrow), and we all had a wonderful time.  It is a family memory that I will cherish always, no matter how much craziness went into the prep work and packing.  Btw, we have been home for five days and I still haven't unpacked everything yet. Whoops!