Trip to CA (and Disneyland!)

January 2011
(01/11-01/18)

Shortly after the New Year the kids and I headed out to California to see Bumpa and Grandma Toria for about a week. While I found that they didn't transition easily to their new environment or even the new time zone well, we still had a fun time. Jacob in particular I think does best at home in his usual daily routine. Despite this challenge, we had a nice visit. I think visiting the ocean (several times) and spending the day at Disneyland were the two highlights of our trip. Oh, and it was warm for January in CA! I packed far too many long sleeves and pants given the temperature each day! (And my final PS - we also learned that Catherine is extremely allergic to cats just like Dad and Grampy...!)

I love the pictures of Catherine beach combing with her grandma and also the Disneyland pictures in general.

DISNEYLAND:
As usual the fun began for the kids just with the tram ride from the parking lot to the park! : ) Catherine insisted on walking the entire day much to her grandfather's amazement and they were especially cute in the store following the Buzz Lightyear ride where Bumpa got Catherine a large Jessie doll (which she toted around with her the rest of the day) and Jacob got some favorite Toy Story figurines. With two small children it is amazing how little you can accomplish and so I'm not even sure we made it on 5 rides! At the top of their list, however, was "It's a Small World" (which still had its holiday decorations up) and the train ride around the park (also a favorite of mine.) I would've loved to have gone on Pirates of the Caribbean (different than the one at Disney World), but I didn't want the kids to be frightened so alas. We went for Mexican food after wards, but the kids were so exhausted they BOTH slept on me in the booth the entire meal.



THE BEACH:
The kids loved the waves and just being by the ocean in general. Walking along the shore for me too has such a comforting feel since it is a strong memory from childhood. Jacob was really funny on one of our later trips to the ocean. He walked up to a random group of people and asked them all about their surf boards and gear, etc. (Further confirming my knowledge that we really needed to work on NOT talking to strangers!) The surfers of course loved him and his inquisitive questions. What an imp! Greg in particular loves the picture with Catherine lying in the sand and thinks she looks like a GAP baby model. : )