Disney Day 1

This is our family journal. I really blog for myself and for my family/friends who don't live close. Sometimes I wish I was clever and witty and could write a cool blog about something, but I think I just have to be content with this blog being our family scrapbook. There are going to be four posts about Disneyland because I don't want to forget anything! It was a great trip that I have been dreaming about for years!! 

Luke was finally old enough and I finally convinced Dan that the time had arrived. We planned and executed a trip to Disneyland!! I have planned and proposed many trips, but this is the one that finally happened. I was a little nervous because I didn't know how Luke would react. Would he like the rides? Would he want to meet the characters? Would he melt down and have tantrums in public? Well, you will soon find out!

We found some decently priced airfare and jumped on it! I am SO glad we did. I think it would have been torture to drive 16 hours with an almost 2 year old. He shocked and surprised me by sleeping on the first leg of the trip (we flew from PDX to Sacramento then to John Wayne). When we got on our second flight we were sitting by a mom with a baby and they told us there were only 4 oxygen masks and that someone had to move. So, Daddy had to sit in front of us and Luke was not too happy about that at first. Luckily the flight was about 1 hour and we all survived. I seriously can't believe that he slept for almost an hour on his Daddy. This is a kid that has never taken a nap on the go (in his car seat a few times but that is it!). I was seriously so   grateful to God for this blessing! 

The next morning we headed off to Disneyland bright and early. We decided to take Luke on Buzz Lightyear ride first. He LOVES Buzz and anything Toy Story, so of course he will love the Buzz ride, right? WRONG!!! Here is he pointing at the Buzz Lightyear that is in the line area. He was excited and pointing at Buzz so our hopes were high! 

The moment we sat down in the little car he began to scream and cry and tried to climb out of the car. He was climbing all over us the entire ride and I was a little big freaked out! "Crap, we just paid a bunch of money to come and torture our child!! What have we done??!?!?" 

I wasn't giving up! My kid had to like Disneyland!! We headed over to Dumbo. It is outside and you get to use the little control to go up and down. He liked it! He wasn't thrilled, but he seemed to enjoy it. Then we hit up Casey Jr. Train and he really liked that one. He would pump his little arm and say "choo, choo". It was adorable. 

We needed to let him run around a bit so we headed to Toontown where they have some playground type areas for little people. He loved going down the slide and climbing in the tunnels. Things were definitely improving by the moment!

I saw Goofy walking toward us and he was coming to meet and greet with guests. So, I jumped in line to give it a try. Dan and Luke came over when it was time to meet him. As we approached he kept pointing at him and I think he called him Dog. I know he looks really mad in this picture but he really wasn't! He kept pointing and waved bye to Goofy. I could finally breath! He liked the rides, he liked the characters and we hadn't had any tantrums (unless you count the freak out on Buzz!)

We met Mickey! We had been showing Luke pictures of Mickey and so he knew who he was. He pointed and said "mickey" and waved bye bye to him. It was really sweet.

So, now that we knew that Luke liked meeting these people in giant costumes we decided to find Woody. Luke loves Woody. He loves his hat and his boots and his favorite thing to say is: "Woody, hat, boots". Seriously, I hear it all day long!! We found out where Woody was going to be and went to meet him. When Luke saw Woody he just started yelling, "Woody, hat, boots!!" It melted my heart. He was very patient and waited his turn to meet Woody. 

We look at this picture everyday and he always says, "Woody, hat, no boots". Since we can't see his boots in the picture I guess Woody doesn't have any boots.

When Woody left we waited about 10 minutes in the same area because we knew Jessie was coming out next! Luke and Daddy spent some time walking on stone walls. 

He gave Jessie a high five and just kept pointing at her hat! It was very cute!

I love the food at Disneyland. I know that theme parks often get a bad wrap for food quality and price, but I have found many restaurants that I love at Disneyland and the price is very reasonable. We went to the Jolly Holiday Bakery and it was TO DIE FOR! I got the Caprese sandwich and a Matterhorn Macaroon. I have been hearing about these macaroons for the past couple year and I was dying to try one. 

Luke ate a very random assortment of things on this trip. It was hard to get him to eat well becuase he was snacking often and was distracted at meal times, but somehow he survived on protein bars, fruit, smoothies, cheerios, goldfish, yogurt and cheese. Oh well! I really love these little plastic mats that stick to the table because then I don't have to sanitize the table and can just throw away any leftover bits with the mat at the end.

Ahhh, the Matterhorn Macaroon! I have to admit that I would have liked it more if it was covered in milk or dark chocolate. That didn't stop me from getting two more over the course of our 4 days!! 

In the afternoon we met up with our cousins and played on Pirate's Island. (I still call it Tom Sawyer Island most of the time. I still think it is dumb that they changed it.)

Lukers loved chasing his cousins all over the island and only got hurt once

We went on lots of rides and waited in lots of lines! I was worried about Luke waiting in line, but he was a serious champion. I never pulled out stickers or even snacks while we were in line. He would play with the chains or ropes or would make Daddy hold him and tickle him. 

I really wanted to see the fireworks with Luke so we braved the first night and again I was worried how he would do staying up 2 hours past his bedtime! He surprised me again and sat with us on the pavement and waited 45 minutes for the fireworks. I brought some light sticks from home and he seriously sat there and played with them for 45 minutes!