2010 Vacation, Part III- San Diego

After 5 nights in Anaheim and pretty much exclusively on Disney property, we drove down to San Diego for 2 more nights. These pictures are all out of order and it won't let me change them, so bear with me! We checked into our hotel and got a great deal at the Courtyard Marriott thanks to a good friend. It was in a great location and the room was really nice. That night we went to the downtown area of San Francisco because I really wanted to go to the Ghirardelli ice cream shop. So, we had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe and then ice cream.

The next morning we met my friend Amber and her 3 boys at the San Diego Zoo. We had a great morning playing with them, and after they left we stayed a little longer and did one of the bus tours. Lots and lots of thanks to Amber for saving us a ton on admission too! Joel loves zoos, and I was pretty enthralled by the pandas, since most zoos don't have them and they're so darn cute!

That afternoon we went to the Mormon Battalion Museum, which is really nicely done, and a lot of fun. It was also nice to go there because we got to see what they call "Old Town San Diego," which is a really charming part of town.

So, here are the randomly placed pictures from our first night and day in San Diego!

The Mormon Battalion Museum is very informative, and run by missionaries, so it's interesting to talk to them. I guess they mostly have Sister Missionaries who serve a portion of their mission there, kind of like Visitors Centers. But the day we were there was their P-Day, so there were just Senior Missionaries.
I thought the building was beautiful. I read and heard that it's been recently redone. The Sister who toured our group told me that it used to be more of just an open area and now it's an interactive, guided tour. Very fun.
Christopher and a seal at the zoo.
Christopher and Amber's boys climbing on one of the statues. I forgot how much boys like to climb around!
Oh look, more climbing! C1 was so sad when the boys left. He said he wanted to play with them forever! :)
Cute Panda!
Front entrance
Yummmmmmmmm!
The view from our hotel was gorgeous
Half of our hotel room
The San Diego Temple, which I had really wanted to see, but is barely visible right now!

2010 Vacation, Part II- Fun in the Parks

So, we spent 5 days playing in Disneyland and California Adventure. Mostly switching off every other day. We brought our baby-sitter Mady with us to have an extra set of hands and hopefully reward her for putting up with our boys and our crazy schedule so much! This turned out great, especially at night when we would have 2 conked out boys and a stroller to carry!

Christopher was tall enough for a lot of the rides this time, but as soon as we got to the parks, he informed us he didn't want to go on any rides that were "tall, dark, or fast".....which rules out a LOT of them. We did make him go on a couple, but for the most part we let him be. He did try Splash Mountain, which he said he liked but didn't want to go on again. He also did Big Thunder Mountain with Joel and HATED it. But he was a pretty good sport.

Here are some highlights (otherwise known as "the times I remembered to pull out my camera and therefore have record of" :) ) :
All of us and the required picture with Mickey. We visited Mickey at his house 3 times! We're regulars :)
Christopher dancing with one of the performers in the Celebrate! Street parade. His moves were...interesting. But he had a lot of fun, and that's what counts anyway!
All-Star Mickey. I really wish I could have gotten a pic of the Rockies one, but it was out in Irvine, so this will have to do. I have a miniature of the Rockies' at home.
Also required, pic of the castle.
Paradise Pier at California adventure at night.
World of Color is a new fountain and lights show at DCA. It had just debuted and is a pretty big deal right now. You have to get a fastpass just to reserve a spot to see it! It was a cute show, but our view wasn't the best even though we woke up early and raced to get those fastpasses!
Christopher and Mickey. They're old friends :)
Mady and the boys on a Dumbo. Christopher always thinks he wants to go on it until we get there and he remembers how high it goes. I never mind because the line is always huge too. This little picture opportunity next to the ride is perfect for him!
The boys playing around
Teacups, which Christopher LOVES. I have decided that it's not my favorite ride. When I was younger I got lost leaving this ride, a nice cast member helped me find my mom. It took a while.....Anyway, this time, we got off and Cameron promptly threw up on me. Yeah.....I think I'll pass in the future!

Christopher's favorite rides were Toy Story Midway Mania, It's a Small World, and Heimlich's Chew Chew train. All of which he made us go on at least 3 times each. A lot of rides seemed to breakdown this trip too. Mady and I had just gotten on Space Mountain when it broke down while we were pretty much at the very top and mostly on our backs. We had to climb out and all the way down the structure of the ride. Also, It's a Small World broke down and we were stuck in the white and blue room for about 20 minutes. If only the music wouldn't have been playing the whole time! And Christopher still wanted to go on it again!

We had a great time. Much better than when we were there in 2008. It was still crowded, and very hot, but we had plenty of time to do everything we wanted to do. There was something for everyone and it's always nice to see the original Disney theme park!

2010 Vacation, Part I- Disneyland Hotel

We had a really fun vacation in July and I'm excited that I finally have the time (well, kinda :)) and got the pictures uploaded to blog about it! The evening of July 13th, we started the drive to California. We did this hoping the boys would sleep most of the trip, and it worked for the most part. At least, it did on the way out there. Joel and I switched off driving and we drove straight through to Anaheim. Once there, we checked in for our 5-night stay at the Disneyland Hotel. A gentleman from Ault, CO checked us in and gave Christopher and I birthday balloons, which Christopher still says was his favorite part of the trip. Wow, I can get a balloon anywhere! He also gave us both birthday buttons to wear and Christopher a signed picture from Goofy. We then went up to our room on the 3rd floor of the main building. I believe it was room 2105.

DLH is a great home away from home. We ended up so glad that we had decided to stay there. It was really convenient with 2 small kids to have the option to take a break in the middle of the day and not have far to go "home" at night when we were exhausted. There were other benefits too, the whole "enhanced magical experience" and all of that. It was nice to really do Disneyland once and take the time to explore everything.

Here are some highlights from the hotel:
Cameron with my balloon. Christopher claimed the orange one, so I got purple, which was fine by me. It ended up pretty much being Cam's anyway! Doesn't he look so happy?
This is the hot tub. I'm not sure why we spent any time there, cuz it was HOT, but I seem to recall that was the only place we could find to put our stuff down one of the days. Anyway, notice Ariel in the backround :)
The main pool is Peter Pan themed. Well, more Hook themed, but it's all from that movie :)
I know it's kind of weird to put pictures of just waterfalls and stuff, but the grounds of the hotel were really pretty, and soon they're tearing it all down to expand the pool area, so I wanted to remember what it was like while we were there.
They also had koi ponds which will be sacrificed for the new pool, which I'm sure will be amazing. But so is what they're losing.

The TV cabinet. I took pictures of almost every square foot of this room. I am sparing you most of it :)
Mural in the front lobby. Love it!
Just before you walk into the lobby. There are a couple of my boys on their way in.
The very front of the hotel, which is pretty plain without the Mickey statue. It's interesting to note (for those who may not be as Disney-oriented as we are). That unlike WDW, this hotel was not built as a Disney resort. They had to buy it and "Disneyfi" it. Considering this, they did a great job. But it's definitely different than the Disney resorts we're used to.

They are currently renovating this hotel and making it awesome. I really wanted one of the new rooms, but since we only paid ONE arm and ONE leg, it was not to be. It's OK, still loved it! Goofy hangs around the lobby and the pool a lot, and it was fun to just randomly see him around. It's right next to Downtown Disney, and to get to the 2 parks you can either walk thru Downtown Disney to the main entrance they both share; or just walk thru a little bit to the monorail (which takes you into Tomorrowland), or across to the Grand Californian which has a private entrance in to DCA for the resort guests. Like I said, very convenient and helpful!