*post edit* California Adventures!

POST EDIT

***I got some pictures of our trip from Wesley's dad,

and I've put them in throughout this post ;)***

A couple months ago Wesley's family told us they would be traveling to San Diego in March for Wesley's grandmothers 86th birthday. We thought about driving down too, thinking we were due for a fun family road trip. Now that almost the whole family was going, the plans escalated. Before long, a theme park vacation was in the works!

We left on a Sunday and drove down to Las Vegas, where we all got rooms for the night. The next morning we set out at 7 AM and drove the 4 hours to Anaheim, where we would spend the next 3 days at the "happiest place on earth"!! Thats right--Disneyland!!!! On Wednesday evening we headed down to San Diego and stayed there until Saturday morning--and were able to spend time with Wesleys cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandma. While we were there, Wesley's dad introduced us to yet another fun theme park--Legoland!!!

We had an amazing time on the trip. The kids were so well behaved even though they were sleep deprived, overstimulated, and totally out of their routines. Wesley helped out a ton, especially with Jake, and with all the attention the kiddos got from the grandparents, I was able to enjoy the sights and not feel too stressed out. We took about 400 pictures, but I narrowed it down to my favorites. I hope you enjoy looking through them!

On our way!!!

Day one--walking from the hotel to Disneyland. We were able to stay right across the street!

Jake LOVED running around with so much family. Big thanks to Grandma & Grandpa--couldn't have had such a great vacation without you!

The month before our trip, we started watching youtube videos about Disneyland with Jake, just for fun. All he could talk about before our trip was how he would get to see the Castle, and ride the dumbo ride, and that he wanted to show his orange hat to Mickey, and Minnie, and Goofy (among others).

Wesley and I agree that our favorite moment at Disneyland was when Jake met Mickey--no contest. If you haven't been to Disney before, let me explain how it works. In Toontown, you can go visit Mickey's house, which is essentially a long slow line that goes through the rooms of his house, and ends with a special VIP Mickey moment. We waited for 45 minutes, and Jake had a blast patiently waiting together with our cousin's daughter Katelyn (they met up with us on our first Disney day.) When we got to the front of the line, they let about 5 kids at a time into Mickey's Showbarn, a separate room where they would each have a turn with Mickey.

Jake was third in line, and was laughing hysterically and shaking from head to toe as he anxiously awaited his turn. Finally I told him he could go hug Mickey, and he ran with all his might into Mickey's arms!! (seriously.. ran and jumped..almost knocked poor Mickey onto his bum). He couldn't stop laughing and smiling--I've never seen him so excited! Normally each child gets about 25 seconds alone with Mickey, but the employees could see that Jake was having the time of his life, and it wasn't until after about 3 minutes (when I told him it was time to go) that we left.

Can you see the speed behind Jake's sneakers as he leapt into Mickey's hug?

Jake's cousin Katelyn joined in the fun after awhile :)

Mia was such a little trooper!!! Even when it was 3 hours past her bedtime, she was still a happy little girl!

Wesley and Mia and I rode on the Dumbo that was just in front of Jake and Grandpa--so we were able to snap a fun picture!

Waiting for the Ferry to take us to Tom Sawyer Island!

When the kids crashed in their strollers we spent naptime at the Downtown Disney shopping center. It was so fun!

Can you see Jake's little shoe sticking out in the stroller? I think he slept for almost 3 hours in the middle of the second day. Thank heavens for my fully reclining stroller :)

I need to give a little shout out for the items that really made this vacation with a newborn not only possible, but low-stress for me.

1. My wonderful wrap.

Mia was snug as a bug in there for hours at a time, everyday, for 5 days straight. It was so nice to be able to nurse if she got fussy while we stood in long lines, and not have to go find somewhere to sit privately. I can proudly say that Mia nursed all the way through "It's a small world", "The Buzz Lightyear" ride, and a large portion of "Pirate's of the Caribbean." Luckily she's only 10 pounds, so we stayed pretty comfy!

(Lot's of people have been asking me about my wrap--for those who are still wondering, it's called a "WrapnWear", you can get them online at wrapnwear.com :))

2. My Fanny Pack.

That's right, I wore a fanny pack. I LOVED having everything accessible right on my hip. Before you laugh--just realize I was able to carry & feed my baby, and hold my phone, cash, camera, and flip video..all while sipping my Diet Dr. Pepper..and still had one arm to spare ;)

Jake was very excited to meet this huge Lego version of Woody that was at the Lego Store. He ran right up so he could "show" Woody his new souvenirs!

We spent some time over at the California Adventure park too, using our trusty "park hopper" passes. I'd never been to this park before, and it was pretty awesome. We didn't take much time to ride the adult attractions though--we just wanted to watch Jake having fun!

Getting ready to ride in a giant take-out box in "A Bugs Land".

I really enjoyed the 70+ degree weather all week, such a nice change from snowy Utah!

Mia snoozed whenever she could--what a little champ! (Thanks to Cheronne for lending us her Baby Bjorn..Wesley wanted to use something a little more manly than the Wrap..)

When I was 11 years old (living in Cerritos, CA) my family bought annual passes to Disneyland. We made wonderful memories that year, and it was so nostalgic coming back again! It was really special watching Jake take everything in.

LOVE HER!!!

We normally feel like Jake is a little bit of a scaredy cat. So we were very surprised when he was willing to not only ride all the rides, but seemed to love them too! He was totally fearless, and it made the experience that much more awesome!

In this photo, he is watching the toontown roller coaster flying by. As we waited in line for it, I thought for sure at some point he would decide that it looked way too scary. A few times he even started crying when the coaster roared by..and when I would ask what was wrong, he would tearfully tell me that he was tired of waiting, and just wanted to get on the roller coaster!!!! He loved it so much, and thanks to "kid swap" (where wesley and I took turns riding with Jake and holding Mia) he was able to ride it twice in a row!

Jake cried as we left Disneyland on the final day. Little did he know, there was tons more fun coming up!

Legoland is the cutest place ever--Lots of little ponds, water features, and trees were spread out all over the park. About 90 percent of the attractions were age-appropriate for Jake, and the lines were almost nonexistent. We will definitely be going there again in future trips to San Diego :)

"Mini-land" was my favorite thing at Legoland (besides watching Jake in his delirious joy). There were lots of Lego scale models of famous buildings. So amazing!!

On our last night in California, we went to a Chinese restaurant with Wesley's extended family to celebrate his grandma's birthday. I love spending time with them, and wish we could make it to San Diego more often. Everyone is so down to earth and welcoming when we are there. It was great to just sit and catch up, especially with Wesley's cousins, most of whom are married with little kids just like us! Unfortunately, we forgot our camera at the hotel when we went to dinner, so I have ZERO pictures with everyone. (It's really too bad, because the kids looked super cute that night!) If I manage to round up any pics from other family, I'll post them up.

I was able to get one picture from Wesley's dad--our little family with grandma, and great grandma :)

All in all--a very successful vacation. Jake and Mia did SO WELL sleeping in the hotels each night. Jake used to be awful at sleeping in new places, so traveling with him was always very stressful. But he seems to be growing up, and was able to roll with it much better this time. And I think we got lucky with Mia--she's still too young to have a preference about her bed, but old enough to sleep for a decent stretch at night.

As always, the trip came to an end, and although Jake started crying when we drove into our apartment parking lot, we were excited to be home again. it was wonderful to get away for a week, and afterwards I felt refreshed and ready to be productive again. A big shout out to Wesleys family for a top notch vacation. Thanks for all the fun times!